Memoirs of an editor : fifty years of American journalism / Edward P. Mitchell.

66

MEMOIRS OF AN EDITOR

through from the first of September to Christmas they average
more than sixty pounds.
This was written from knowledge, for it was my special
duty as a cotton-planter to preside at the scales when the
hands returned at night from the fields, and to weigh
their respective offerings and enter the amount due them
in the little memorandum-books with which each man,
woman, and child was provided by the management. We
paid a cent a pound, so the process of reckoning was
simple. It is human nature, I suppose, without regard to
age, sex, or previous condition of servitude, to take advantage of extreme youth in a temporary post of responsibility. But so childlike were even the grizzled veterans of
the field that when they approached the scales with dishonest intent the self-consciousness of their demeanor and
the chuckles of their companions almost invariably notified me beforehand that bricks or stones had been enwrapped artfully in the fluffy boll-flakes inside the basket
or bag brought to me for weighing.
In Strutt's "Sports and Pastimes of the People of England," is described an ancient game called "tilting at the
ring." This was the fashionable sport and pastime of the
North Carolinian gentry in our neighborhood. "Tournaments" were held from time to time at some level stretch
of sandy road, usually at crossroads, among the lightwood pines. Over the highway and opposite the grand
stand a slight framework of poles was erected. From the
horizontal piece there hung a right-angle hook, whereon
was placed an iron ring about an inch and a half in
diameter.

The local and visiting chivalry, bedecked with their
chosen colors, spurred, and equipped with long wooden
lances, in turn charged at full gallop, endeavoring to
pierce the ring and carry it off on the point of the lance.
They were obliged to start from a standstill, make the