CHAPTER XV.. Labors on Sugar Plantations--the Mode of Planting Cane--of

Labors on Sugar Plantations--The Mode of Planting Cane--of Hoeing Cane--Cane Ricks--Cutting Cane--Description of the Cane Knife--Winrowing--Preparing for Succeeding Crops--Description of Hawkins' Sugar Mill on Bayou Boeuf--The Christmas Holidays--The Carnival Season of the Children of Bondage--The Christmas Supper--Red, the Favorite Color--The Violin, and the Consolation it afforded--The Christmas Dance--Lively, the Coquette--Sam Roberts, and his Rivals--Slave Songs--Southern Life as it is--Three Days in the Year--The System of Marriage--Uncle Abram's Contempt of Matrimony, 208