Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-12-27

| mcet1nG-ttBe, 10 c&ftss tfutps /,
sometimes even three on one dejec'ed
little mustang brute, and many more
: patiently trudging through the woods
: loaded with food, quilts. and babies.
These devout pilgrims did not tail 20
! turn the occasion Of each journey W
their movable Mecca into one OF Joy
! Gus, feas.ing and frolics. Those VINO
. had come from FAR were made welcome
, 10 the cabins nearest the meetin' place.
, The air resounded with the vociferous.
hearty Howdys" from friends and
relations long separated, and with tue
yelping Of dogs and crying of children
The coffee-pot stood brewing before
the Goals from morning till night, ana
the mistresses Of these hospitsoie, IL
J humble, homes apologisingly allowed
as how they was just out OF sweet
enin'," but with generous hand they
made il up to the hungry ones in pei
lucid chunks Of fried fat, known as
"hawg's meat" in potatoes yellow as
gold and sweet as sugar-cane, and IN
tasty ssb-cskes.
AT the above-mentioned twenty-mile
point on Black-Snake bayou the red
and yellow earth is upreared into
rugged hill, at the foot Of which lays
the deep, steely pools Of the stealthy,
repellant river. On the top Of this hill,
overlooking the piney woods for miles,
until they melted to gray mist in the
distance, or were merged into the gloom
of that fearful unknown region of Snaky
Swamp, stood a cabin locally known,
although the nearest neighbor was
five miles off, as "Ruggleses." The
cabin was a regular backwoods home,
built of ioblolly-logs and plastered
with mud. There were two large rooms,
separated by a hall or entry open at
both ends. and producing an erchi-
tectural effect not unlike a pair OF sad
dle.bags. A rickety porch crossed the
front of the house. There were no
windows in the house at all, and no
openings save the two doors, which, as
they both gave on to the entry, kept
the smoky-smelling rooms in a per-
petual dusk of twilight. A ragged
cotton-feld trailed off behind the house,
and a few pigs and chickens were
viciously roofing and clawing in an I'M
promising potato-patch. The we'll was
in the front yard under sweet-gum
tree. Everywhere else except towards
the bayou the gray pine forests were
extended.
The Ruggleses were considered the
best.to-do people in Black-Snake neigh
borhood. The preacher always put up
at their house. Cic'ly Ruggles wore
shoes and stockings on week days, an
exhibition Of feminine finery consider
ed the essence Of aristocracy, and Ly-
sander Ruggles had said more than
once that if his women folks wanted to
they could jest root, hog, and die in
milk, bein' as he had nigh fifty head of
cattle roamin' loose in the swamp.
1t was the day before the fall preach,
and signs OF great hustle were apparent
at Ruggleses. Smoke poured from both
chimneys, and sparks spangled the
frosty air. The bare rooms were swept
almost to desolation, and the narrow
mantel shelves were set out with
punches Of flaming golden-rod, to the
disgust Of Cic'ly's mother, who had not
an uncommon rural horror of such be-
litterment and wood truck. In addi-
ton to the event of meeting, the NOR
row was to be signalized by the we'd
ding Of Cic'ly Ruggles and Lum
Cherry. BY that mysterious te-
legraphy that no man can de-
scribe the whole country had
been made aware in couple Of days
that Cic'ly and Lum were going to step
of, and the unbidden but no less well
come guests were swarming in ria all
the cOw-paths of the forest. Both
rooms were full of company and the
space in front Of each huge fireplace
was piled with fat, sleeping babies and
lean ditto hounds. Sallow-iaced, fair
haired women, with that dragged-down
look that comes of hard work and too
many children, sat around on benches
and stools and smoked and Cos
siped, and with a friendly de-
sire to help Emeliny Ruggles, mind
ed the skillets full of hog
meat sizzling dangerously near to the
babies and dogs. Naturally, the bride
and groom were the favorite subjects Of
conversation. 1t is almost impossible
to describe to one who has not heard it,
the mellifuous, soft, easy-going accents
Of these women; their voices were in
variably low, mellow, and words lin
gered reluctantly on their lips. The
darkest corners Of the cabin were red
with light. The big table, at which
newcomers were constantly appearing
for q bait Of victuals, was pushed
against the wall, and even its pile Of
stone china plates and yellow bowls
and half-emptied crock Of stewed pump
kin did not lessen the appearance Of
cheer and homely comfort. Once in
while dog pulled down a greasy plat
ter and some voice would be raised with
"you git out from there, Lige - that
Lige paid not the least attention to, and
the remonstrant returned to her inter
rupted confab with renewed interest.
"They tell me Cic'ly's got new
muslin dress to be married in" re-
marked Melindy Allen. "She's pow
erful well favored, but reckin new
duds II make her look pretty 'nough
TO meet"
"Cic'lycan't look no way but pretty.
She's got dreadful nice ways of talkin'
an bein' polite. She's skittisher'n a
young colt though" The last speaker
was an elderly lady who had formerly
kept perambulating eating-house for
the slowly-migrating railroads hands off
beyond Bayouville. Her powers Of acu-
men were tacitly conceded to have been
accumulated by her larger experiences
Of life. Once when young girl she
had made the trip to Orleans on a
charcoal schooner. This and the fact
that her seven children were named
out Of story papers made her, so to
speak, the intellectual autocrat of the
swamp. Mrs. Hicklin rumiuated with
one eye fixedly staring in blind alb
! straction at the nearest skillet. She
gave her right eye-tooth vigorous
1 i