This morning, at 2:00 a.m. a woman came into work shopping. She was whistling a tune, which I could not help but think was light-hearted in intent and in sound, but dark in history. I looked over at Ron who was taking cases of paper towels off the tops of the freezers I was loading and an old cartoon lyric came to mind.

By Adriana Caselotti

"Just whistle while you work

And cheerfully together we can tidy up the place

So hum a merry tune

It won't take long when there's a song to help you set the pace

And as you sweep the room

Imagine that the broom

Is someone that you love And soon you'll find you're dancing to the tune

When hearts are high the time will fly so whistle while you work"

Music has long been a way of establishing work and marching rhythm among men. It has also served to alleviate boredom and toil for lone servants and other un-free folk for ages.

In considering the above lyrics, a woman servant of a puritan mistress 200 years ago would want to avoid lines six and seven, lest she be burned for witchcraft.

Two little known uses of whistling among servants were mandatory:

Kitchen servants would be required to whistle so as to provide proof that they were not munching down the master’s victuals.

In the fields and particularly for land clearance and road work, lone men would be required to whistle so that their presence was known. As soon as the whistling failed to come to the overseer’s ears, he would go looking for the servant. This is depicted in the movie Cool Hand Luke, in the “Shaking the Bush Boss” scene. Runaways who had been recovered would be fitted with bells so that they could be easily located and that any idleness they might engage in could be immediately detected. So, a belled servant must ever bustle, toil, work, less he be suspected of running away or of being idle, either of which offenses might call for a beating, or worse. The clink of shackles and iron chains could serve the function of bells for detecting idleness and also prevent flight altogether.

The reader should recall that all forms of early 19th century corrections methods were carried over from plantation to penitentiary and chain gang.