METHODS OF CULTURE IN THE SOUTH 1 59 



sionally enlivened the field with a red bandana. Over all 

 the stooping, moving, oddly apparelled forms, a June-like 

 smi was shining with summer warmth. Beyond the field a 

 branch of Tanner's Creek shimmered in the light, tall pines 

 sighed in the breeze on the right, and from the copse-wood 

 at their feet quails were calling, their mellow whistle blend- 

 ing with the notes of a wild Methodist air. In the distance 

 rose the spires of Norfolk, completing a picture whose inter- 

 est and charm I have but faintly suggested. 



Several of the overseers are negroes, and we were hardly 

 on the ground before one of these men, in the performance 

 of his duty, shouted in a stentorian voice : — 



" Heah, you ! Git up, dar, you long man, ofPn yer 

 knees. What yo' mashin' down a half-acre o' berries 

 fer? " 



Mr. Sheppard was quick to see a good subject, and al- 

 most in a flash he had the man posed and motionless in his 

 attitude of authority, and under his rapid strokes Jackson 

 won fame and eminence, going to his work a little later the 

 hero of the field. The overseer's task is a difficult one, for 

 the pickers least given to prayer are oftenest on their knees, 

 crushing the strawberries, and whether they are " long " or 

 short, much fruit is destroyed. North and South, the effort 

 to keep those we employ off the berries must be constant, 

 especially as a long, hot day is waning. Indeed, one can 

 scarcely blame them for " lopping down," for it would be 

 inquisitorial torture to most of us to stoop upon our feet 

 through a summer day. Picking strawberries, as a steady 

 business, is wofully prosaic. 



While the sun had been shining so brightly there had 

 been an occasional heavy jar and rumble of thunder, and 

 now the western sky was black. Gradually the pickers had 

 disappeared from the Wilson field, and we at last followed 



