labor keeps down the wages of the white laborer. It is also one explana- 

 tion of the coni])arativc lack of labor-saving machinery in this region. 



About GO per cent, of the negroes can read and write. The illiterate 

 negroes are largely the older ones, who had no ojij^ortunity to learn 

 when they were young. 



The negroes live for the most part in small houses of less than three 

 rooms, generally unpainted. Many of the negro settlements are back 

 from the main highway. Some of these can be reached only after opening 

 a number of gates. The average size of family for 84 families on which 

 figures were secured was 4.8. 



Some of the negroes are guilty of petty thieving, but for the most part 

 they seem quiet and orderly. "Every nigger gets drunk" and ''Every 

 nigger steals," the investigator was told by more than one white neighbor, 

 but when pinned down and asked in regard to particular negroes, "Did 

 you ever know of this man being drunk?" "Did you ever know him to 

 steal?" the charge in many cases fell flat. 



THE HOME 



Gibson County has never had large plantations. The small farmer 

 has occupied the land, and it is he who has built the houses. The pre- 

 vailing type of house is a long, low building with two rooms in front and 

 a dining-room and kitchen, separated by an open vestibule in the rear. 

 Occasionally the vestibule runs the other way, separating the two front 

 rooms. There are no modern conveniences, but almost invariably you 

 find one luxury, the open fireplace. The genuine, old-fashioned fireplace, 

 which burns real wood and creates an atmosphere of dreamy charm and 

 romance, all in keeping with the delightful Southern hospitality that you 

 find there. Practically without introduction, the investigator was 

 received over night into fourteen of these homes. Only twice was he 

 turned away, each time with good reason, and only twice would his host 

 consent to take any pay. 



The average size of family is 4 5-10. Family affection is strong. " The 

 fact that agriculture is still a family industry, where the work and the 

 home life are not divorced, and where all the members participate in the 

 common toil for the support of the home, gives a natural basis for a 

 type of family life which it is very difficult to maintain in the city," says 

 Professor Carver. Nowhere is this truth more apparent than here, 

 where the whole family not only cooperate, but also actually work 

 together out in the cotton-fields. Even little children, six or seven years 

 old, can make themselves very useful picking cotton. Children are 

 therefore an economic asset in any country family. This is perhaps the 

 reason why the average family is larger here than it was in Missouri. 



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