Jogging round the world

Here is a happy farmer taking his family out for a drive in his big ox-cart. He is very proud of his cart, and of his little farm where he raises vegetables and melons for the market. When he was a little boy his father and mother were slaves on a large plantation, and although they were treated kindly they belonged, like the horses and dogs, to the white people who owned the plantation.

This man is happy to think he is free, and he works hard to keep his family supplied with all they need. See the dear little baby in his mother’s lap. Perhaps when he grows up he will go to one of the schools in North Carolina, where the negroes learn to be good farmers, able to take care of themselves and their families. Perhaps he will be a teacher.

This road looks very sandy, doesn’t it? You know it is in what is called the Sand Belt of North Carolina. All along the eastern part of the state the country is low and flat, much of it sandy, with here and there a swamp; but farther inland it is good farming country with fine soil. North Carolina has a wonderful climate, and it is so warm and pleasant that a bigger variety of plants grow there than in almost any other state. We should like to see peanuts growing, shouldn’t we? They grow in great abundance here.