AROUND THE YEAR WITH COTTON 157 



necessary to make such advances. ... As a general thing 

 the [tenant's] surplus melts away without substantial return. 

 Whiskey, gambling, indulgence in sexual pleasures, purchase 

 of useless articles of luxury, and excursions to distant towns, 

 absorb their profits. . . . Christmas money is commonly ad- 

 vanced on the agreement of the tenant to renew his contract 

 for another year. It is said that the landlord who would 

 refuse to make these advances would very likely be unable 

 to secure tenants. 5 



It is doubtful if the white tenants enjoy the vacation 

 so much. Hunting, driving, loafing about the small town 

 stores are regular pastimes with them. But puritan 

 strains have rendered their pleasures less simple and di- 

 rect than those of the Negroes. In many places the merry 

 square dances once prevailed. The rural preachers have 

 ruled dancing out. The southern cotton farmer does not 

 know how to play. His recreations are little mixed with 

 the strains of culture, and he is likely to grasp pleasure 

 with a crude and brutal hand. Before prohibition the 

 orthodox dreaded Christmas in the little inland towns of 

 Arkansas, Mississippi, and Georgia. Drinking sprees and 

 shooting affrays were common during the winter months. 

 With the passing of time, manners and customs have 

 softened somewhat, but the rural distiller and bootlegger 

 plies a brisk if less obvious trade. "If cotton prices are 

 low," the saying goes, "there will be a quiet Christmas 

 this year." 



The fields are left barren from the last year's harvest 

 with black and withered cotton stalks straggling down the 

 old rows. The farmer's first task is to cut or break the 

 old stalks. He may clear the land in January or Febru- 



5 The Agrarian Revolution in Georgia, 1865-1912, p. 99. 



