The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-06-11
THAT BAD BOY.
His Report Of His Trip to Florida
with His Father.

of oranges in front of the store,
? "Florida oranges" said the gro
ceryman. 81 should think you
would know Florida oranges after
being in Florida all winter" He
had just returned north.
ooh, nothing, only 1 thought
they were wilted base balls with
the juice all knocked out. Pa tele-
phoned you to send up some Flori-
da oranges last night, and we had
them for breakfast this morning.
l had just as soon eat q piece of
sponge. Say, do you know you
could be arrested Tor obtaining
money under false pretenses, when
you sell such things for Florida
oranges? You can't fool us on or
anges any more. The resl Florida
oranges are"
"Oh, give US a rest" said the
grocery man. You are getting
too particular. If these oranges
don't suit you all you have got to
do is to pay your bill and 60 some
where else. People who have al
ways lived here buy these oranges
and think they are the best, and l
don't want any customers that
kick on my oranges. Here, eat
that one and say it is good, or L
will kick nine kinds of Florida
sand out of your pants" And the
grocery man handed the boy an or
ange of the vantage of 1884. The
boy took a silver knife and began
to remove the peeling, carefully,
laying a handkerchief across his
lap, and was working as delicately
as surgeon would cut out a can
Ger, when the groceryman, after
watching him a few moments, said:
i The time has been when you
would grab an orange, rip open the
side and run your face in clear up
to your eyes and dig out all the
juice and pulp, like a hog shelling
a year of corn, and then eat the
skin, but since you have been to
Florida you are too nice Look out,
or you will get drop of juice on
your delicate fingers. Here, let me
pass the finger bowl" and the gro
ceryman brought an old tin wash
basin full OF soapsuds and set it
down before the boy, who went on
with his orange peeling, until the
grocery man saw he could not EN-
barrass the youth, so he said,
"Well, how did your pa get along
with the rebels down south? Did
he have any chance TO pull his re-
volver on any of them2 He was
loaded for bear when he went
away"
"Never saw a rebel,' said the
boy, as he placed piece of the old
dry orange in his mouth. "There
amt any rebels down south, unless
it is JEFF Davis, and we didn't see
JEFF. Pa wanted to get in a quarrel
with some old rebel, 1 guess, and |
get thumped, SO that he could |
have chance to be a martyr and |
tell when he got home what a mar
row escape he had. When he |
would see man on the cars with a |
slouch hat on, after we got in Ten
nessee, he would scrape an acquain-
tance with him, and talk about the |
war. The first man pa struck looked |
hard and pa thought the man was
regular fire eater, and he throwed |
out some remarks to lead him on,
but pretty soon pa left the man |
and came back to where 1 set. l |
was tickled to see pa back, cause l !
expected the floor of the car would |
be covered with gore. Pa looked |
disgusted and said: He amt no
rebel. He is from Massachusetts,, |
and runs soap factory at Chatta-
nooga.' Pa couldn't realize that |
the war was over when he went |
south. and expected that when the |
people found he was from the north |
they would elbow him, or look sau-
cy, like the picture he had seen DUR
ing the war. He expected to see
young southerners come through |
the cars, drunk and staggering, |
with revolvers, like he reads of in |
the papers sometimes, but nothing !
of the kind ever occurred; and pa |
was disappointed. At Atlanta pa
got acquainted with a nice old gen.
tleman, who bid him several favors,
and he was so kind to pa that pa
was mashed on him, and invited
him TO come and see us up north,
and before pa left him he found
that his friend commanded a con-
federate battery during the war.
Pa was surprised to find that those
who were called rebels twenty years
ago did not have horns on. Well,
| H. e
more rebels, but he had courtesies
extended to him by many of the
best people of Georgia, Tennessee,
South Carolina and Florida, and
when he found that the most of
them were once Confederate SOL
diers, who believed they were do
ing right in defending their homes,
pa weakened. The last l heard pa
say on the rebel question was when
he was guest of a minister near
Charleston. The minister was a
regular nobleman, and when he
told pa he was a rebel during the
war, and recited to pa a history of
the time preceding the war, and
how it was as natural for southern
people to take the side of the con-
federacy as it was Tor northern peo
pie to take the other side, pa slap
ped the minister on the leg and
said: We'll, if l had lived in the
south I'd been a rebel, too, and
damme if 1 wouldn't have been
proud of it, too, the same as you
fellows are 1 thought pa was
falling from grace, and told him we
had better be starting home, but he
said he didn't care if he stayed all
summer. No, SIR" said the boy, as
he finished the orange and looked
up at the groceryman, Gas mean
man as you are, you can travel
through the south and never be in
any danger at all, unless they
should hang you on suspicion,
and they would be just as liable to
do that in the north"