The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1885-03-04

applcs-good horses to ride-good fish
ing and swimming and hunting. We
didcnt have railroads and tclegraphs and
telephones and sewing machines. and so
forths, but we di,lent need them. We
neod them now for the world is
full Of people that the old ways wouldn't
feed and clothc thom. The right thing
always comos along at the right time
If the clock was set back 7 wonder how
! this generation would manage about the
cooking business. Fifty years ago there
were no cooking stoves. The ovens and
skillets and sbitlcrs we're big heavy
things that had to he lifted on and off
the fire with pair Of pot-hooks. They
had heavy lids and the cooking was
done by putting Goals underneath and
coalson top. 1t took bark and chips
to make Goals quickly and our old
cook used to say, Now git me some
bark, little master, and glib you a blk
kct when he done.' There was no soda
or tartaric acid or baking powder. The
biscuit were made by main strength.
The dough WAS bented with the rolling
pin until it blistcred. When the dough
blisterod it was good and made good bis
cult. can't say that we have any bet
ter cooking now than We had then; but
the stove makes it n great deal easier to
cook.
The hoys had no baseball but thcy
had bullpcn and bat and town ball and
rolly hole and tag and sweepstakes and
pull over the mark and foot races and 30
forth and they thought there was moth
ing better. they had the best rubber
balls in the world and made them them
selves. Some Of them could bounce
thirty feet high. They were made by
cutting an old rubber shoe into strings
and winding the strings into ball and
covering it with buckskin. But after
while the rubber shoes where not
made Of all rubber. They were mixed
with something that took somo Of the
bounce out and our balls dcgcncratcd.
There Was an old man living near US who
was called Lying Tom Turner, and lie
| told us boys one day that when he was a
boy he had a rubber ball that he was
afraid to bounce hard for fear it would 20
up out Of sight and he would lose it. We
asked him what became Of his ball, and he
said he bounced it one day most too hard
and it went up in the clouds and was gone
half an hour, and when it came down
his little dog grabbed it in his mouth
and it rcbounced and carried the dog up
with it out Of sight, and lie had
never seen the ball nor the little dog
since.
Well, Idon't know which times arc
the StSt the old times or the new. It il
very nice to have nice house andffur.
niturc end nice clothes and lots Of mics
story books and 70 ride on the cars, but
in the old times, people didn't banker
alter such things and they were easy to
please and wero in no hurry to get
through life, and there Voc no suicides
and very few crazy folks, and no pistols
to carry in the hip-pockets. Nowadays
there is skeleton in most every house
| don't mean real skeleton, but some
great big trouble that throws a dark
shadow over the family. There were
not any exciting books to read, no SEN
sation novels that poison the mind just
like bad food poison the body. There
were but half dozen newspapers in tn,
whole state and they didn't have whole
columns full Of murders and robberics
and awful fires that burned up poor
lunatics and all other horrid things to
make tender heart feel bad. There wa.
nobody very rich and nobody very poor
and we had as great men then as We
have now.
If tho clock was set back, and the little
girl who wrote to me wanted TO 90 tc
Augusta with her grandpa to visit he,
kinfolks she would have to get in the
mail coach ard jog along nil day and al
night at four miles m hour and pay ter
cents q mile, and it weuld take two day.
and nights and she would be tired almos
to death and so would her grandpa
Well, they just couldn't go. But nov
they can 60 az cheap to stay at home, ant
do it in less time, AZ the Irishman said
But the clock will not be set back
and 30 ". must all he content will
things as they are and make them bette
IL VIC can.
Bill Arr.