Not to be drunk during the holidays,{195} was disgraceful; and he was esteemed a lazy and improvident man, who could not afford to drink whisky during Christmas.
The fiddling, dancing and _"jubilee beating_," was going on in all directions.

This latter performance is strictly southern.

It supplies the place of a violin, or of other musical instruments, and is played so easily, that almost every farm has its "Juba" beater.

The performer improvises as he beats, and sings his merry songs, so ordering the words as to have them fall pat with the movement of his hands.

Among a mass of nonsense and wild frolic, once in a while a sharp hit is given to the meanness of slaveholders.