Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-04-14

and which we believe Captain Bent has
correctly mapped out.
~-
For The sunday Appsal.l
COUNTRY R~ECREATIONS.
GRoss COUNTY, April 10, 1870
your Cotton Exchange Is going to be a
fizzle after all. I was hoping some
thing would come Of It. If it was to
be a machine constructed merely for
gambling In futures 1 should not
have cared much about it. But 1 had
some hope that it might be the founda-
ton of an organization which would
prove to be of real service to the cotton
growing interest. l did not care so
much about the buying and selling in
terest. That always is sure to take care
of itself, 50 that the largest margin of
the profits is pocketed by somebody else
than the producer. But Major Sykes
well said, the other day, that the South
had not as yet learned the advantages
of cooperation. He might have made
it stronger. he might have said truly
enough, that in Memphisa at least, if any
enterprise is proposed by one nan or
one set of men, other men and other
sets of men are sure to think their duty
to fight 1t. Hence there is not a sue
cessful association in Memphis that con-
tains any considerable number of her
business men. The fact speaks well for
their want of intelligence and narrow
ness. Memphis will never be a city in
the true sense until her citizens can get
beyond that stupid and contemplate ig-
noranee which supposes that each one
for himself must be a leader and exclu-
sive possessor of the honors and bene-
fits derived from civic association. 1
pelted away about an organization in
the interest of our great and indispensa-
BILE industry until I got tired, so 1 have
concluded to sit down, like the fool in
the story, and wait until the river of ig-
and individualism has run BY.
[ am a little cross, and not very fas-
tidious about nay language, you e e l
believed will try a little mental hygiene.
l will go out and see my wife's chickens.
l hear some of the combative fathers of
the broods Dragging about their victories
over each other, as I sit here. I wish
they could ever be done with their bat
ties. Each one, instead of being the
last, Is only the precursor of another.
There are infinite last chapters of Ras-
silasamong them-"conclusions in which
nOthingis concluded War may be the
ultima ratio TeQUn-the last argument
of kings-but / think it Is only a COM
mon incident ofdaily intercourse among
cocks. An Irishman would say that
they can eve be friendly without
fighting. It is good fun enough
sometimes to watch them. You
are apt to take sides, although
there is no chance to bet. 1 con-
fess l took q lively interest in the for
tunes Of a fine white old fellow that l
brought home from a midnight visit
not to a hen-roost, but to a patient-be-
cause 1t was convenient to catch him at
that hour. He makes no p%retension to
any game blood. do not know how
he styles himself, but / shall be much
If his numerous progeny do
not exhibit fine qualities, whereWith-
as h g. would say--tO grace the
pot or the gridiron. / turned him
loose among five or six others, some of
whom could never be done Dragging
about their game blood and their fight
prowess. My poor unpretending old
fellow could not avoid showing his
white feathers, but he evidently made
up his mind that he was in for it, and
hat fighting was safer than running.
The result was, that like a neighbor OF
mine who "came 10 this country pore,n
she hilt his own" and Is now conceded
BY all chickendom to be the "cock of
the walk" Well, here we are among
the little chickens, some two hundred of
them more or less, according to my
last census of her Israel. She
beats David In her impiety In this re-
spect. l do not know what alternatives
would have been offered him If he had
been guilty of the daily sin of number
his people@Ikeep both barrels of
my fine shotgun loaded for the avenging
which I am daily expecting to
execute swift Judgment. The chickens,
however, maintain a serenity which
argues confidence IN a different dispen-
They are little beauties. love
10 squat on the ground and call them
me, spread my warm hands over
them and listen to their delighted ex-
preston of satisfaction at this sham
Ahevering.u There are some characters
among the "biddies.U / used to have
Tally amusement in feeding q speckled
One merely to hear her gossip. She
would pick up q few kernels and then
could no longer restrain herself, but would
open her noisy mouth and tell me q
.ong story as ineoherent as Mrs. Nick
1t was probably all about her
self and her family. / eve could
quite make it out, although l was much
Interested. and thought l was fast
earning her language, when one
light the hen-hOuse YVES invaded,
and her voice with those of some fifteen
)r twenty others, Is now silent forever,
Or heard only by the ears of some imam
and brother" who, like the pestilence
hat he Is, walketh by night do not
1now what that strutting old fop of a
would do If he did not have the
chickens for spectators of bis intermiHa-
Die exhibitions of himself. be brushes
Up his clothes, initiates himself to his ut
most capacity, stalks about In his loftiest
tage manner, and winds up with burst
out at the top of his voice: "rm a
yentle-gentleman," or "words to that
fleet as nearly as / can make them
,ut. ] am getting to be almost a be
lever In metempsychosis. fancy l
ave known this old gobbler of mine in
lis previous state Of existence. He was
hen quite ~corpulent, with red face as
veil Is a red neck, walked with a big
tick, had a quick ear for invitations to
: take something was very fond of
lsserting himself, talked much about his
,edigree, and had the ready elincher for
u arguments-8I'm 8 gentleman, sir,
rom Old Virginny, sir.p To be sure
hese u~tterances did not deceive any in
eligent auditor, for every n knows
hat there Is no purer or nobler type of
he real gentleman than the old Virginia
Gentleman, and that he, like all other
rue gentlemen, is undemonstrative, and
lever has occasion to remind those who
'ome In contact with him that he is or
iver can be anything else than what all
nstinctively feel him to be. / suspect
old gobbler, In his former state, was
My a ncorn-cracker,n after all, who
west when land was cheap, I'M
.xpectedly found himself In q con-
lition quite different from that In
which he was born, and, thereupon
attempted unsuccessfully to initiate the
banners Of those whom, In his early
lays, he had only seen afar of and en-
lied. His strutting and pulling conceal
They only make his de1cien-
les more apparent and, by turning I'M
Necessary attention upon him, expose
i'm as q snob and a sham. This is the
essen that my majestic old tufksy-cock
caches. I have other recreations than
hose I enjoy among thepoultry. Hove
O watch the gamboh OF the calyes, I
.annot AVOID admiring evan the anus
ng freaks of young pigs before that ma