The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-04-27

excited by theiy jabhcring, us we call
cd it.pS twas as l1nintcllfgiblcto us as
the Chinese languAyc is now. thini;
it was in 1909 that the memorable
COMET with its loug. tnil appeared
abOVcIhG western 'horiLoii, about fit
teen degrees, Ii!ink. This appeared
for some time, and caused much alalas,,
many btlicriigi it ain. omen OF war, or
some other national calamity. An
embargo on all foreign imports was
laid about this time, or soon after.
which caused suit and other articles
Of ncccssity:to; run up to fabulous
prices. rccolcct hearing my father
tell Of the prices he paid in Charleston
for these articles, but have forgotten
the figures. There was but little cot
ton plnutcd before the war Of 1872,
but it commanded a high price. 1t
was planted in hills, and three light
bales was counted a large crop. There
was no cotton gin nearer than CRANKY
and cotton waShaulcd in wagons there,
q distance Of iorty-five miles. MOI
long after Capt. Jas. Kincaid bought
and put up a water gin, the only one
in the up-country. They packed lovg
bales with Il pcstlc, each bale weighing
about 250 pounds. Bagging was made
in looms at home, as well as cOrdaoc.
1t was not until about tic year 1914
that l ever saW'a cotton gin or screw, ,
or that cotton was planted in drills.
In 1909 there was, but one wagon with
iron tires in our vicinity, as [ heard,
and that was built and owned by Col.
Arromanus Lylcs, and but two four
wheeled carriages and they owned by
Maj. Thos. Means and John Means,
and regarded us Il curiosity. In 1913
! knew Of but two two-whcclcd gigs,
called chairs, and all these without
springs and poorly put up. Those
who had bale Of cotton or more to
sell would bring home from market,
for the years supply, about two gal
Ions Of molasses, ten pounds Of sugar,
five pounds Of coffee. and that was
only used OF church days or when Il
wedding took place, or on some visit
ing days. Two or three barrels Of
flour only were used in largo families
for tho year, yet we had plenty Of hog
and hominy. Flour, bacon, lard, but
ter, corn and fodder were carried to
market and sold, and every scvenpcncc
to Il dollar was deposited in Il chest
and safely locked, to remain there I'M
tifcnOugh was accumulated to buy q
.'nigger'- ruin of our once fair
land, both in Il pccuniary and moral
sense.
We had 40 post-office, before aud
during the war Of 1912, nearer than
Winnsboro, Il distance Of twenty miles.
Men would walk five, six and seven
miles to hear Major Means read the
aU0r neacS. | remember the intense
excitement occasioncd by thc burning
of the capital at Washington by the
British, the various land and naval
conflicts, and the lass and memorable
battle at New Orleans between Gencr-
al Jackson and Lord Packcnhan on
tic Sth January, 1915. After the war
the returned soldiers were fond of
singing war songs at country stores,
and both they and our. fair country
girls thought il no brcach OF etiquette
to sing at private parties. Cuttings
and aitcrward dancing was the Gus
tom OF the day. a c"tillion, quad
rillc, waltz, promenade or scrcnadc
was never known in the country, and
but few in towns, if any, in our State.
In The first four schools (of about six
months dura!ioM Of my instruction,
there was not an English grammar,
geography or dictionary. Dilworth's
Spelling Book W ebster's not publish
'caC, the "Amcrican .Prccrplor," and
tir Testament constituted the readers.
Ir'ccollcct if there were two as ut The
lcg.,,nin.: ola wortl-tor instance the
word Aaron-wc were required to
spell il as iullows: BiY-A-lil!lc-;-
r-o-n." NJ elder brother told me that
lie was required at school to spell
acre. ."Abic-aapha-c-r.c," and so with
all tho words Of that class. If YOU
have read 'Gcorgia Sccnes," YOU saw
this mode Of spelling in the "Turn
Out" In my ncxt L will describe the
"Turn Out" and give some other
"reminiscences, fashions, etc, between
the years lS10and '35 for the amusc-
ment of your juveniles. w. e.
p. S.-Thc late heavy rain has done
more damage to land and crops in this
vicinagc than had been informed of
until to-day. The damage is irrepara-
BILE. The early wheat is seriously i'll
Jurcd by both frost and hail.