The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1889-02-08

saw was your fathers store-his
stock Of goods. You see he was on
duty at Macon, holding some kind
Of a court with Judge NeSbil to
try spies and traitors, and when
the court was not IN session he
came home. But the Yankees
had broken up the court and turn
ed all The spies out Of Jail and so
your pa and Bob largrove opened
a store. 1t was the biggest store
in town and they had twenty thou
sand dollars worth Of goods in il. :"
"Why, mamma, where did they
get so many goods?'
"Why, yourpa gave jew who
run the blockade five thousand
dollars for a pound OF opium and
five thousand dollars for four dozen
cotton cards that had no backs or
handles. They were on the leaf
as it was called. A little small
yalise held the OPIUM and the cards
too. Mr.. HargroTe put in "A half
box of tobacco and few punches
of factory yarn tor his ten thou
sand dollars aud they went to tra-
ding. You could have put all their
stock in a BIZ wheelbarrow. They
had the only stock of goods in
town and they traded and battered
around until they got about twenty
five dollars apiece in gold and felt
like they were rich. They sold the
opium at five dollars an ounce in
gold, and some Of the leaf cards at
two hundred dollars a pair in Con-
fSderate money. You see there
were no cards in the country. The
old women had worn ont all their
old ones and they would BRING in
cotton, or a chicken or two, or
some phtatOeS, or Il piece of bacon,
and swap Tor cards or factory yarn,
and so we got along splendid. For
awhile we all slept on The floor
and cooked in a skillet. We had
no sugar or coffee OF milk OIL wheat
bread. Yous pa heard of a COW
and paid three thousand dollars
for her. Confederate money was
most as plenty as leaves on the
trees. Most anybody conld show a
hundred daliar bill, hutit was only
| fit to look at. Before Sherman
came it had GOT so bad that your
grandpa sold his farm near Rome
for fifty thousand dollars and in
vested the money IN cotton in Co
lumbus aud Wilson's raiders burn
ed it all up. Poor man! but he
was like Job-he never lost his in
legrity nor his cheerful disposition.
l never heard him complain about
anything
"Tell on, mamma"
"Well, you must know that
Sherman wanted to make The pe0-
pie tired of war, and 50 he took
away all the horses and cows, and
sheep and hogs, and chickens that
he could find. Men were most all
in The army, and The women and
boys hid out their stock as well
as they could until The Yank-
ees went away. Sam Jones and a
few like him, used to steal the
horses and mules back again and
drive them off at night and hide
them in the swamps. Sam was
nothing but boy Of sixteen, but
they say that he stole over a hun
dred. Some nights he would get
half a dozen. You see, he got
some old blue clothes and went
about among the gaurds Just like
he was a Yankee too, and he gen.
orally had a bottle of whisky and
a deck of cards, and he gambied
with them and drank with them,
aud when they got sleepy he stole
their horses and mules. Sam gave
away all he got. He was just as
full Of mischief then as he is now,
but his mischief was of a different
kind. He Sas fighting the Yank-
ees then, aud he is fighting the old
boy now, and there isn't so much
difference after ALL"
"Why, you ought TO have seen
our smOke-house when We got
home. They had converted itlnlo
a bakerg, and had the finest bread
troughs you ever heard Of, They
made them out of The pews of the
church, but they will find out they
can't live by bread alone"
'Bui, mamma, they had all your
meat"
eyes, that's so. But that won't
do them any good in The next
world They built long stable in
our garden and made the horse |
troughs ont of the church pews,
too. We cleaned out the smoke
house and dug mp the dirt and
boiled 1t down and made salt. I
Smoke-house dirt that has received
the drippings OF the sailed meat |
for years makes splendid table salt /
when 1t is clarified. We made /
right good coffee out of dried sweet /
potatoes. | used TO make hats Tor
the bows out of scraps OF cassi-
mere. Your pa built a fence aud
a boat without a using nail. Tie
bored holes in the plank and PIN
ned them OIL with wooden pins. I
The war made us all powerful |
shifty, as Cobe says, and so we got 4
along pretty well. The children 4
all KEEP; well and strong until the |
war was over and The doctors came /
back from the army, and there