Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1883-05-17
MEXICO, MISSOURI THURSDAY 1888
DOWN SOUTH.


At the Home Of Jefferson Davis...A
Social Chat with the ex.Presi.
dent Of the Cenfederacy.
1t is drive of five miles over q
sandy road and through the oaks and
pines and palmettoes from Mississippi
City to Beauvoir, the home of jeff
erson Davis, and as I passed over the
other April day, frightning an alli-
gator here-skirting an orange grove
there,s and all of o sudden breaking
out of the forest upon the sandy
shores washed by the waves of the
gulf, l. felt that he had well-chosen
the home of his old age. His had
been q life OF. turmoil, even before
civil war was whispered. He had
been a giant in politics, a warrior in
Mexico, diplomat and an antagonist
in all the main issues of the day and
the problems of civil government!
Few lives have been so eventful.
HIS NEIGHBORs.
l asked the Justice of the Peace
who drove me down in his springless
wagon drawn by a span of too-fat
horses if he knew Jefferson Davis,
and he answered.: 49,
"Why, of course-known him for
thirty years. @
"And how do the people in this
neighborhood feel towards him?" &.
Everybody likes him. He is a
good.neighbor, jsst-minded citizen,
and has the respect and good will Of
every man, woman and child.'
Are any of his former slaves in
this neighborhood?" -
''Plenty of them, and what's more
number of them are now in his en-
ploy. He was kind to his people,
and when the war closed and he final
ly came here to settle down dozens OF
his old slaves were ready to hire to
him at any price. Of those in his
employ there isn't money enough in
the State of Mississippi to hire them
to leave him. He has two large cot
ton Plantations outside of the Beau
voir property, thus directly and in
directly employing hundreds. of col.
'ored people; and you can't find one
who hasn't a good word for him. Nc
stree, mister, there isn't a man in this
part of the country better thought Of
as a neighbor, a citizen and a mar
than jefferson Davis"
AT HOME.
The house is what-we in the NORTH
would call a story and a haff cottage
in height, and it faces the gulf
Around it is famous grove Of oak:
and other woods, and from here ant
there a tree, the long gray moss
hangs down and swings in the breez'
in its weird and dreamy way. Ma
ture has done much to beautify th'
grounds, and they are kept in tidy
The house is roomy, finely furnished
and, while there is no ostentatiou
display, there is a homelike atmos
phere and a look of cosy comfort
/ One can see refinement and taste ev
erywhere, and none of the home com
forts are sacrificed. From the yer
anda one can look out upon the tire
less white-caps rolling. in upon tn
sandy beach, and the neighbors ar
all the word implies.
! THE EX-PRESIDENT.
had only moment to wait befor
the ex-President came in and CAV
me hearty grasp of the hand an
words of welcome. Tall, almos
snow-white hair and whiskers, blu
eyes, face wrinkling with age, voic
as soft and kind as a fnother,s-sle
was the picture of the man who fo
four years held the destinies of
continent in his iron grip. In til
zenith of his power he may have az
peared naughty and imperious t
some, but not to the generality.
kinder. face I have never met, an
though there is something in the voic
to warn one that it's owner has hel
place and power, one is soon charme
with its kindness and touch of pathos
Mr.. Davis is 70 years of age, an
his health is not of the best. It
evident that his life of vissitude
drawing to close, and as one rea
ICES 1t he can not but admire the ply:
ical and mental machinery which hs
/ stood the strain of so much labor
Manya man of equal age had lai
down his burdens of public life whe
Mr.. Davis assumed his greatest. H
has been a man without rest unit
within the last few years. His lite
ary work, entered upon long aftt
his sixtieth birthday, was tas
which would have discouraged man
an author twenty years younger, "
he made no pause until the last chal
ter was in the publishers hands.
i NORTH AND SOUTH.
He asked me about my Souther
trip-where I had been, whom ha
met, and what opinion I had forme
of the sentiment of the masses; al
when answered that the North ar
+ South seemed more closely unite
to-day than at any period in our hi
tory, he expressed deep gratificatio