The National tribune., 1883-05-03
GOODBYE TO DIXIE.
Bound for Gods Country" IA Kind
QuakereSs.--Chased by BlOOdhoundS.
[By John F. Hin, Co. Z, saho. FIJI


we drew sticks as to who should go in search of
help. AS | always draw a prize, drew the |
long one. So off went, and managed without !
being observed to get pretty close to what |
proved to bea comfortable little hut, which, from
the singing within, judged to be occupied by |
negroes. l knocked, and when the door was
opened found that I had not been mistaken |
There was whole house full of colored people,
who had convened for some kind of religious
services. Their voices were raised to high
pitch, and they were in the middle of stanza,
but as soon as / entered the door the song
stopped instantly, and dead silence prevailed.
Observing that all eyes were intently fixed
upon ME, spoke in whisper to two or three
that stood near the door, and they stepped out
into the yard, where l made myself known
to them, as well as the nature of my mis-
sion. They were greatly astonished, and
hardly knew whether to believe me or not.
Indeed, they wanted to go back to the
house at once and tell their people who l
was, but objected to their doing that until
after had gone, for did not covet much no.
toriety just at that time. At last, after much
talk, they said they could set us across, as the
stream was not deep, though very swift. Brud-
der Somebody" who had an old "hoss that
they declared could carry as safely over as
any bridge in the country, was sent for and one
of the men went back with me while the good
brother started off to get the animal. He soon
met us at the river with his horse, and, to make
sure of a safe crossing, we induced him to try
it alone first. The experiment proved that the
stream was so swift that the beast could hardly
keep his footing and they tried to persuade US
to wait till morning, as it did not take the
streams in the mountains long to run down.
But we were not willing to run any risks by
waiting, so Stookey pulled off his shoes, rolled
up his pants above his knees, and jumped astride
of the horse behind the negro. After considera-
BILE heel kicking and "ye-upping " by the negro
the horse plunged into the stream and carried
both of them safely to the opposite shore. He
then returned, and / took passage next, but
kept my shoes on. 1t required much persua-
sion to make our hero take the water the second
time. The negro kicked, Thompson pounded
away with a switch at the stern end, and
finally, the horse made plunge into the angry
waters AS he did so Thompson yelled. By
golly, it is no use to stay behind" and plunged
into the water also, catching the horse by the tail
When, after much struggling, we reached the
opposite shore, we proceeded to scold Thompson
for his rashness; but he declared that he was
afraid the old horse could never be induced to
take the water again, and in that case he would
have been left behind But he was a noble old
horse-God bless him
sUPPING WITH UNCLE SOMEBODY.
We pressed the negro to go with us and
act as our guide until we had passed the
town and got safely over the railroad,
back-alleys for couple of miles, until
we were safely past Big Lick Station. Our
guide then took us to a negro cabin off
of the road, where Uncle Somebody"
| lived. AS we crossed the old mans thres-
! hold we received an introduction to the black
est negro we ever saw. The old African pa
| triarch turned up his nearly sightless eyes and
exclaimed: "God bless you, Massa Lincum's
brave brave boys Take a seat" This we did
cheerfully, seating ourselves on one of unele's
| best six feet benches. As we sat there, we ate
one of the best meals, although of the roughest
nature that we hsd ever had; it was kindly
| rendered by one of natures simple children.
| Here we received instructions to keep to the
| northwest and pay no attention to roads, but
stick to fields, woods, &C., for about twelve
miles. whereby we would cross the valley in a
| diagonal line and strike the Allegheny Noun
/ tainS near the main road crossing the same. So
] after an hours rest, We started. The moon
shone brightly, and every thing wore a lovely
aspect after the gloomy day we had spent. We
/ traversed that night some of the finest planta-
! tions in the State. The improvements were of
the best class, and the soil appeared as if it was
rich and had been brought up to q high state
| of culture. Appearances indicated that at one
time the planters of this valley had been very
well situated and as yet had seen but very little
| of the evils of war. We kept our course very
| well, and by 2 or o'clock at night had reached
the foot of the mountain. Our ascent was now
much obstructed by underbrush, rock and
cliffs and at times so steep that we could hardly
get along. We had failed to strike the right
road across the mountain and we were travel
| ing under many difficulties. Our strength
| was about exhausted. The moon had gone down
| west of the mountain, and it had became so
| dark we could not see, and at last we ran up
| squarely against a perpendicular cliff, many
| feet in height. We could go no farther and so
concluded to halt for the night. We threw our
selves down upon o fat rock, spread out our
covering and tried to sleep, but we We're too
tired to slumber. We did not have long to
| wait for dawn. As soon as it was light we saw
from our high position house about half mile
off to the right and below u.s. 1t was on the
"bench' of the mountain, and there was a small
clearing around it. Thither we made our
way. As we approached the house we were
surprised not to be saluted-as we usually were
at all houses in Virginia-by the barking and
yelping OF half dozen dogs or more, but re-
membering that the day was Sunday, we thought
it probable that the dogs were off keeping the
Sabbath with their masterS-hunting. How
ever at the kitchen door, we met very pleas
ant, middle-aged woman, and we instantly dis
covered by her talk that she was Quakeress
BEFRIENDED BY FRIEND.
"Will thee come in and rest ?' was the well
come she gave us, as if we had been old friends
and acquaintance of hers.
AS usual, we told our story, and received the
assurance that we would be welcome to break
fast We took our seats in q neat, tidy little
kitchen, around hot cooking stove, and chat
ted with the old lady while breakfast was being
prepared. As no one else appeared at the table
for breakfast we inquired about the "men
folks" She told us that John, her husband
had gone to one of their monthly meetings
some distance off, and had started the day before
We sat and talked at the table long hour
after we had finished breakfa She declared
that her religion was opposed to the spirit oi
war in any shape but that the South had
brought it on, and it WAS the duty of the North
to defend itself Her prayers and sympathies
were with the North, and at last she frankly
admitted that, after all, the war would be the
salvation Of the Nation. 1t would wipe out the
curse of slavery and build up a country where
every man would enjoy civil liberty and posses
equal rights, without respect to color, rank OF
race. We were shown from her kitchen win
dow very large town on the railroad, called
Salem, and a place of much Importance to tht
Confederate government, and we were told
that it had several fine Touring mills, a large
supply of commissary stores for the rebel army
besides wagons, mules, munitions of war, &c.
under the guard of but small detachment o.
rebel troops.
She gave us, indeed, much other valuable
news in regard to this place. and it was in par
the information derived from this good OLD
Quaker lady aud by US communicated to one
of our own military departments afterwards
that was the meas of General Kelley being
sent there with Union frooDs tha foilowjnS