Argosy All-Story Weekly, October 6, 1923 — page 90: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

By E. K. MEANS fall friends were picking the coverlid. Cotton had slumped, times were hard, jobs were scarce, the white folks were feel- ing poor, and the three comrades were woe- fully lamenting that they had ever been born to die of starvation. ‘“‘ Times is so hard, people is stopped git- tin’ buried,” Pap Curtain, the grave digger mourned. ‘“‘ Dey done stopped eatin’ at de resteraw, too,” Shin Bone, the proprietor of a hot- cat stand, sighed. ‘‘ When times is good, Fiat ens speaking, three Tick- niggers lives on beefsteak, when times is - hard dey eats brisket, but when times is like dey is now, dey lives on de mem’ry of how good eats is.” “Peoples ain’t lookin’ fer no loose nig- ger to gib him a chance job,” Figger Bush, man of all work, lamented. Despite their gloom, the three still had a place to sleep. Up to this time they had not been deprived of three meals a day, for they humbly besought sustenance at the kitchen doors where their lady friends cooked, and were supplied with contemptu- ous magnanimity with “some hot biscuits an’ a few sirup.” But money was totally lacking, and their wearing apparel had been reduced to the minimum permitted by law. Each man had a ragged shirt, a pair of patched overalls, and a pair of worn shoes —that was all. Children of the sun do not need a hat except when it rains. The three stood upon a sandbar on the shore of the Mississippi. They stepped out of their shoes, took off their shirts and overalls, and waded into the river, carrying their garments with them. With one thin cake of soap among them, they proceeded to wash their tattered clothes. This was laundry day. “Don’t waste none of dat soap on yo’ skins, niggers,’ Figger Bush warned them. ‘““T swiped dat soap from de hotel fer our clothes. Scour yo’ hides off wid sand.” After a while they brought their gar- ments out of the water and.spread them out upon the scorching hot beach to dry. They sought a shady spot for themselves and stretched out to wait. In half a min- ute the voracious mosquitoes had found 872 COMiIiclooe (©