The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1873-05-16

ole old eontry, I comes up NIT q
Nashville road, it ish worser as ne7
er was, by tam"
And ] found afterwards he wa
fright. "
say?
l will give you little sketch O
hlm. Imagine a man forty-fy
years old, perhaps, and perhaps not
put with very little hair on his head
with a color or complexion of tn
SKIN resembling a calf-skin after tn
halr mas been taken of, and it haC
lam IN the vat say two weeks, ant
then II hung over his face as tn
calt-skln would over a nail wher
out to dry. His eyes looking at m1
point of the compass at the samI
time so that you would suppose hf
was looking at you, and Won bavt
the best description of him I car
give you. He rejoiced in the name
OF Bill - and he was bound bt
said for Orleans.
On the I'd day out, when on deck
ne came up to me and said:
mighty cold, Colonel, amt it;
Right smart Of wind too, never seed
such a storm on the river before, and
I've been on it right smart for TWEEN.
ty years. Going down the river
Colonely' l tod him 1 was qoino
down the river, but that I was moi
colonel.
"Well, Major then" said he. aNo
| am nota major"
"Why, said he, you arn't down to
Icaptain?'
NO, sir; I am a preacher"
The HI you are, why I didn't
think that" said he, ''better not 90
down thar. They cut um up in
strips, and make soup out on um fer
the fourteenth amendments. You
better not go thar. Inever seed if
myself, but allow it is a fact"
Perhaps you misunderstood me, .
said |. Il am not a clergyman"
"OhP you amt hey, well give us
your hand, Major. l thought you
was q priest, dogond if 1 didn't.
MY name is Bill -; they call me
Old Bill, up in our parts, 1 suppose
because l am so dogond ugly look
ing. Your family with you, JudgeY'
81 am not judge, said II
"Oh yes, / forgot. Well, / call
You Major, you ranked so in the
army, didn't you? 'sYes," said /
"when l was in the service / did,
"That lady on the boat your wife,
Major?"
(Which one do you mean?" said I.
course"
No. sir, l have no wife"
Hi! you don't say so. Well, that
is just my fix. / hain't."
That rather surprises me-" Ire
marked; certainly 50 good a look
ing man rs you are, should have
one"
Mary any wife, l did cum nigh
ty near it once though. I'll tell YOU
how twas, Major, you'll never say
anything bout it up" ooh;
no" said !. II shall not be likely
to ever go there, and if I should, /
shall keep num-"
swell, You see Judge, Major, l
mean; twenty years ago Bill had
right smart of land, horses, cattle,
and other fixings, worth nigh on to
fifty thousand, (the old man pegged
out and left it to me, and there
was not a gal in them parts that
didn't think that Bill was some.
Well they all set in, but thev could
not halter this calf, and every one
said | want going to have anv bits
IN my mouth. Well, bout now, you
see, old Staple, from up north, moor
ed over the river, he had feminine
Sail. She was about the pertest
gal l ever did see. / tell you, Major,
she was right pert; well, she seed
plain enough had sort of banker
ing arter her, and she knew | had q
heap, and she set right in; that's
fact Major, | made it right sure in
my mind she could just trot in my
harness for the balance of this terra
tirma, when long comes one of them
taller hard chaps as said he was q
perfesser Sal sot up to him right
smart, until he got into her affect
tions mighty deep, and also into the
clearinghouse keepers debt right
steep, and then he lit out, with the
perlice arter him. Sal tried to make
up to Bill arter that, but 'twan't no
go; 50 you see Major, I never look
ed for any samples in calicer since"
On my leaving the boat on the
lower Mississippi, Old Bill gave me
a kindly grasp of his hand, with the
that if l come up in them
ere parts, to look for Old Bill, land
| certainly SHALL
| landed at Hickman, doing my
business as soon as l could, and
started for Columbus Ky. Here,
and on the opposite side of the river
at Belmont, Missouri, was where
Grant had his ve-y friendly meeting
with the Rev. Leonidas Polk, Gen.
Polk This is a dingy dull looking
place, said to contain before the
war, three thousand population, but
there is not half that number now.
1t is dull enough, and | don't see
in its population or sur
roundings to improve it any.
Off for Cairo. This you know is
what is called the lower Egypt of
Illinois, FIVE steamers starting nearly
abreast the lower Mississippi, cover
ed almost entirely with floating ice
from the upper river, each croWding
steam to their utmost, made one
wish that 8 life insurance agent were
on board, but after the first mile or
two was passed, we thought but lit
tie of anything except to be ahead
Of the Others. We made the run in
safety, and here we are at this city
built up by the food wood and mud
from the two rivers.
This place resembles very much
a tannery on a large scale, the lots
are the tan vats, the streets the run
ways between, built from the muck
laken.from a bar in the river. You
can bet it is nice stuff for roads.
The streets, as they are called, are
about eight or ten feet higher than
the lands they surround. The hous-