The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1881-11-03
persisted A PAUPER.
Pony Pillow, the Noted Dwarf, Yields
to the Last Enemy.

Pony Pillow, known by all men,
women and children in Giles county,
died at the county asylum last Sun
day afternoon at O'Clock. He was
thought to be about rs years of age
and was known as "Old Pony" long
years ago by men and women who
themselves are now trembling with
age. Ever since the time whereof
the memory of this people runneth
not the contrary, Pony Pillow has
been a frequenter of town on all
public days. 1t was said before the
war that he was the only profes-
sional beggar that ever lived in
Giles, and many were the arts he
employed to induce the gift of a
nickel to get him a little coffee, of
which he was passionately fond
His only vocation was to make
walking sticks and AK handles, and
many's the man now who supports
his tottering steps with a cane
whitfield out Of the forest by this
cunning carver. There never was
any harm in him. Indeed, there
was a streak of kindness that glim-
mered obscurely in his nature, as if
in compensation for the great wrong
done him in creating him so unlike
other humans. Generations of chill
dren yet unborn will be RECALLED
around the evenings hearth with
amusing anecdotes and hobgoblin
tales of the life and times of this
hero of pauperism. His family was
not without responsibility, but his
roman physiqUe weaned his kindred
from him, so that he stood alone in
the world-about four feet in his
stockings. The greatest incident Of
his life occurred about 1856, when
Barnum came through with his
menagerie and saw and persuaded
Pony away. He was taught to tell
of his strange discovery in the wilds
of Nova Scotia and how he was
taken up and forced to be civilized,
until his reason was gradually de-
veloped and he grew to be veritable
human being. The show went to
Columbia the next day and Pony
was caparisoned in tinslled garb and
stood upon platform in a side show,
gaping at the crowd and delighted
with the screaking old pile of un-
creased cog wheels called an organ,
himself the most interested specta-
tor. His unique shape, set off more
grotesquely by his absurdly gor-
geous dress, attracted great atten-
ton, and the Columbians (that APP
preciative, good people-G. b. 'em) J
crowded up to gaze upon him and
catch the echoes of his voice. They
asked him where he was from, and
it brought him down to business.
He stopped to think, and perhaps
would have remembered his part
correctly if he could have scratched
his head, but he could never reach
higher than his mouth, and so he
staggered at it and muttered: 81 til
a wild man from Novy-Novy-
Novy-Giles county, by, and Eth
goin' back thar toor and down from
the platform he lit, and straight to
Giles he struck, and here he lived
and now he is dead. He was
grossly addicted to drink from his
youth up to about seven years ago,
when some of the boys for fun in
duced him to join the temperance
society. The men who laughed at
Pony Pillow swearing to abstain
from drink ere long forgot their
own VOWS, but this friendless imbe
Gle exhibited a resolution that
would have honored any living man
and overcome in one night a habit
that had grown upon him for a half
century. From that day he was
never known to take a drink. And
vet, men stern and resolute, gifted
with strength of body and stalwart
in mind, piteously proclaim their
inability to release themselves from
the bondage of drink! All honor
to Pony Pillow! Humble and de
formed in body and mind, he lived
for men to make sport of and chill,
dren to laugh at, but his life and
death was not without its lesson OF
profit; and if he was not a blessing
to the world, in his life mankind
was honored in that it was proven
that the weakest of us may over
come the strongest temptation and
rise superior to habit. Will a teal
be shed at news of his peaceful tax
ing off? Perhaps not, and nothing
will mark his resting place, but the
achievement of his life should live
| in the memory of man for his en-
enlargement and imitation, and the
good that may come from it will be
his monument here and serve tc
| show the nnrnose of his strange