Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1883-06-16
.eeklg gutelligenfer,
OFFICIAL COUNTY PAPER.
Our Agents.

~; mon: UE ~.
10. A.. Edmonds z. Waterloo
Charles b.. stone.
Iii iando.f
b. W. Neal .Ai3s
John p. Ardfngef
A CAMP ON THE Usage.
On THE Usage, JUNE =, 1883.
EDITOR ENTHUSIASTICALLY dear friend:
Here we are, camped upon the south bank
Of the Usage river for three or four weeks
recreation. The particular place ? O,.never
mind that; I'll tell you all about it except is
geographical location. Tom says if I ever
'tgive it away" in print, to make its loneliness
- common property as the charms ofa Lille
Langtry, that he will cut my acquaintance.
The weather has been horrid. for out-of-
door sport, with the thermometer lowering
ut nights about the ffties, and in the daytime
not rising much above seventy, but it is now
delightful, the air redolent Of balmy breezes
laden with the odors Of belated spring how-
ers. It has rained q great deal, and the
swollen waters Of the Usage are not fit for our
Limericks, but in the beautiful little trfbuta-
~, near whose mouth we are camped, bass
and crappie are revealing, only awaiting the
invitations Of the angler to respond with their
plucky battles at the end of q well tested
leader.
Let me briefly describe our party, in order,
II keep my promise Of writing two or three
times, That your readers may be familiar
with 1t. Lmprimis, there Is the head and
front oithls ofending,your correspondent who
after q long business life Of very scant leisure
finds himself with SO little to do that he may
cen go a fishing and take his time to t.
Would make his neaferaequaintancef Well,
imagine him, as in hes early evening, Stand
Ing atthe WATERS margin IN contemplation, as
the hush Of III dying day imposed its solem-
nifty upon him. His hat in hand, with head
bowed down-there il q lock or tive of gray
mingled with the red upon it now, and
perhaps it u only natural that the sadness of
the hour ippresses itself upon him-the fig
ure Il that. OF smiddling steutish man, clad
in blue-gray flannel, o~f-roughish features,
rather, but who. mayhap, Is not 30 bad a fel.
low rs he looks, or IS he has occasionally been
panied by his competitors In i rather active
business walk Of life. His companion Is some
ten years younger-not 20 young, either, a.
he used to be, but still in the prime Of Q lusty
manhood. l Hens botp spottsman, who ham
dies equally well q rod or gun, and who rides
"A unbrpke1 eoltorinenages q boatin . gale
- coofly Is he Joins in q country dance. he
has his shsrs ofgood looks, too, shasTom, and
Che IL but mortalJ he knows it well. Though
<lAro ESQ <Shoirno 10, ~orLl-,1 =, hia~harnv
home, the rogue can no more help making
love to every pretty woman he meets than he
can resist the temptation to pour out his
heart IN song on . bright, pretty morning
when all nature is Plume. He means no
harm in the world byitIhe thinks It is their
due. Tom is q good fellow through and
thfough-a Jolly companion and q 1ithfnl
friend. As I;write he sits yonder on . camp
stool, with his back against one limb >ofa
PROSTATE tree and his legs resting upon an
other; smoking aipipe and ehstfng old Ben,
the sable ttenda who looks after our crea-
ture comforts. Old. Ben, W the way, is .
character. Ben was IN the army during the
war. He prides himself on his career there as
much as II he had been major general though
he was no soldier at, al-only his masters
cook-but such . cook; and such q forager!
fthere was anything to eat or drink within
i've miles Of the line d march Old Ben was
sure to knowit and bring. in his share Of it
orA little more. HIS master, Col L. was
an epfcure; he.knew Just how things gusta-
tory ought to be prepared, and many . time
when my own harder was low the hard lines
of soidisrss Hfaxaea-.oassed for ma. by an
invitation to share . bounteous repast from
rAe mp o. ms mas e6eetS oldBen WIN al
ver1 jealous Ie6e1. He Has not eyen yet got
used TO The new order Of thiBgsEmeselikely
hSheer will He ssss.: saDe young crap NV
niSgerswatsasg rowin mp noWsdsys Tint wuf
KILN. SWy,s dey sea an sets srosn' an
don't donnfin.. Ar dfessi Wy its pulect-
lyfedikiousf TO sse sam, yen you Knows dey
Amt got . doilar,A d half to der names. An
de- gals is 70, times wusser IN de -boys!n Ben
Is sort Of ahsristocrat. BE has the ideafhat
the old southern families are the sait Of the
earth. and that other kindssef people e-gen-
ericaily ODE 7classed as "po' white trash. = He
is q medium height; rather slight; has hair of
iron gray which he keeps in very neat condi
ton; has q keen black eye that he knows how
touse over q shot gun as well as afrying
pan Is quick aud active, and as polite as a
French dancing master. What is more, Ben
expects people to be polite to him. His dig
NIFTY II by nj means to be trfied with. He
loves the friends Of his ante-hellum white
people. BE likes to. serve them; 11d limo
way better than on such an excursion as this
one that Tom and I have engaged him for.
Ben has traveled.a great deal, both before
the war and since, and his quaint converse
ton as he sits at a respectful distance, with
Us, near the camp fire, is always Of interest.
Especially do we enjoy his religious expert
enses, for Ben il very religious. He was an
unbeliever for q long time taking his skeptl
cism as he did his graces of manner) from his
master, but finally he found faith. Even the
religion Of a simple, emotional nature such.as
that Of this old negro, should be held sacred.
and 1 hope I respect it, but he never tires of
talking Of it, and as it is illustrative Of the
character of his race. I win tell you how he
says he got religion and became convinced
that he was one Of the elect. He saws that
for a long time he attended church a. . mere
matter Of form. That sometimes he enioyed
the preaching and the singing, but someway
1t did not seem to do him much good. But
day there came a preacher, Brother
johnson, and che var a preacherp Brother
johnson shook up the brethren and sisters
''powerful." Under his illustrations scores
Joined the church. Dinah Darlington, the
daughter Of the barber, and the belle of her
dusky circle, who had been pretty wicked in
her way. was SO much affected the second
night that Bro. johnson preached that she
had to bs carried shriekin, out of the church.
her arms and legs involuntarily jerking in
such 3 way that four men couldn't hold her
still. There wasn't any doubt about her con-
version. Finally, Ben said, his turn came.
he bscame convicted Of sin. He at last saw
the bl":kness of his s lul; the blasphemy of his
unbelief. As the preacher told him to do. he
wrestled in prayer. But no light came. Only
darknes and gloom. He began to think that
he was lost. He'll yawned at his feet. He
saw down into its abyss. The flames pointed
up their forked tongues as il they would lick
him into their embrace. Tortured souls were
writhing under his gaze with eyes upturned
to him In pitiful appeals for relief. Serpent.
crawled upon the floor of liquid fire and dart
cd out their envenomed tongues to sting the
helpless creatures about them. There was
M VYQfaP fhero. M cool;o~ h.ao,..-