The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1885-04-10
War Times.

uAs 4As GOicOui3 VI AuCAICuSs Ods1
contributed the following to the
last issue of the VGldOstG Times, on
how necessity became the mother
of many quaint inventions:
The days of my childhood were
spent amid stirring scenes and
troublOus times. Southern ports
we're blOckaded by Federal gun
boats and the frontiers beleaguered
by Northern armies.
Did you ever see a Georgia
button N Those shirt buttons were
queer looking things. With their
own hands our industrious mothers
spun the thread, aud needles we're
needles in those days. Provided
with needle and thread they Sc
lected the site for the pnrpOsed
button and began sewing in aud
out aud round and round until, by
simple operation, the button was
made and sewed on fast. The but
ton was made altogether of thread,
aud possessed a decided advantage,
it never came off. 1t lasted just as
long as the button hole.
Homemade tumblers were an in
geuious contrivance. A round
bottle, white if it could be obtained,
was selected, aud stout cord was
wrapped once around it. One per-
son held one end of the cord,
another held the other; and
moved the bottle, quite rapid
ly, until the glass become hot,
when it was plunged into cold wa
ter, which caused the bottle to
break in two quite smoothly. Queer
tumblers they were, with their
sharp edges out they did splendid
service.
I Out in the interior one may still
find an old-fashiOned spinning
wheel. All, me! How sweet was
the hum of the old wheel as the old
shadows crept slowly eastward,
and the ''swisb, swish, swish" OF
the cards kept time to the dreamy
music.
And the old ''Georgia loom, with
its queer looking beams and we'll
worn treadles. The "clIck" of the
shuttle and muf1ed "bang" of the
beam, haved lulled me to sleep
many a time, as my dear old moth
er worked with untiring energy to
furnish "copperas and checked" for
my little breeches.
In the manufacture of hats there
was a wide field for the exercise of
their inventive minds. The tender
shoots of the saw palmetto, plated
in round, square or "notcbOdy"
stripes, was most frequently brought
into requlsition. But then there
were cloth hats made of that same
home spun by cutting conical
pieces of cloth, some times of diff.
ferent colors, and sewing them to-
gether, the points meeting at the
top of the crown aud the brim
made separately. These funny hats
were worn by some of the last con-
scripts, aud gave them the name of
the ''flOp-eared-millish."
ShOemakers were exempt and
they showed wonderful skill in the
manufacture OF shoes. The hides
were tanned with red oak bark, and
the shoes we're made for use and
not for show. When any one was
so fastidIOus as to desire black
shoes, the shoemaker employed "a
solution of vinegar and rusty nails
to blacken the leather.
Soap was made from the ashes of
oak and hickory. Negroes and
boys we're sent to the woods where
they cut and piled great heaps of
oak and fred them, guarding the
ashes carefully from the rain until
cool, when they were taken home,
thrown into hopper and leached,
the lye being used for soap making
and for ''setting" the dye in color
ing the homemade cloth.
Going to Deadman's Bay and
other points for salt was a panic
for the boys. They dug pits i'm
the sandy beach, boiled down the
brine which arose in them, aud
then returned after having made
sufficient quantity to supply the
nelB0OOf0OO0.
But some times the salt gave out
and they hadn't time to go to the
coast, so they just scraped of the
soil of the dirt-foored smoke
houses and boiled that down. True,
it was rather dark, but it was
''salty." There was one thing that
we could never find a successful
for. That was coffee.
We tried corn, wheat, rice, bran
aud other things. Okra seed made
the best imitation coffee, but it was
a poor substitute. 1t is amazing
to think Of these clumsy efforts
and curious cOntrivances but
there is pathetic side OF the ques-
tion.
CORN SoCIAL-At a church