The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1891-09-11

timber ana thick undsrbrush. NOW you
may go dden fhere and begin the work
Of cieari1 your three acres. For the
present will trust you, and you can
pay me Of the proceeds OF your hfst
crop. The land Is very rich and will
grow about three bales to the acre. II
rou go down this summer and commence
clearing yh,r Land, you can make nice
little sim seilino the wood 90. 80 AZ a.
land to the sstesmboats when they come
up the r,yer twill give you permission
TO cut wood sAere you please, as it will
help cless,ths md, aEd IL you can clear
.adGarf 1s5Ib ban three. acres, 60
,head and do it, and pay me out OF yo''r
FIRST CROP 1.-THE Oxalaloo is not naviga'
BILE at aV seasons. but when the winter
rains sseIl it. steamboats, come up to
carry of the tAll cotton crop. You will
need sses, cart and mule--and you
can by cheap old mule that will do
for alyear or two-and few sacks OF
cornrleal and rasbers of bacon. Your
passgc down the river will cost you very
iittt. Yes, think you can n.auage to
qetstarted on $50.
Jpon the first day OF August the boys
fond themselves sitting upon an ancient
stump and eating ash cake as they gazed
at the okalaloo sullenly flowing past
ther new home. Three days later q
rud, cabin had been built, and the boys
turned to the labor of cutting timber
and clearing land. Their life was un-
evenful. Choppiug and hauling timber,
cutting aud burning underbrush, occu-
pied heir time. No visitors disturbed
| them, i,r the nearest house was eight
miles awasJ.a ~ lsssts...sonville, the nearest
town, was fifteen. Day by day their
clearing grew wider, day by day their
woodpile grew higher, until on the 1st
of December tncY sold 100 cords to the
| first steamboat that had come up the
river that season. Three hundred and
fifty dollars was the reward OF their
| four months harl toll, and they could
tav all that the owcl and even think
| of better house and a few sim pie com
forts. 1t had been raining heavily for
some days, and rs the boys turned from
the landing after he steamboat had dis
appeared tho rain was falling in sheets.
In the outskirts Of :Stctsonvillc, on the
| fat land lying along the Okalaloo, stood
pretty white home with green blinds.
| Sly years before a young Massachusetts,
doctor had settled in Stctsonville with
his young wife. Beginning with
almost nothing, aud owing large sum
borrowed to defray the expenses OF his
education, Dr. Young gradually built
up rood practice, and at the end OF
! i've years hrd paid all his debts and was
the owner OF pheasant home. But
when a. last he seemed fairly on the road
TO prosperity au epidemic of yellow fever
| swept over the State, and he was among
| the first to fall. He left his widow moth
| ing but the homestead and 5000 with
which to support herself and four year
old daughter. 4 yeav had elapsed since
the Doctors death. Mrs. Young had
cndeavored to devise some means OF sup
porting herself, but Stetsonville offered
no opportunity. The people we're kindly
disposed, yet there was nothing which
they could do for her. The schools
were supplied with teachers, there were
drcSsmakers and millincrs in plenty, be-
yond this, there was nothing for a
woman to do in Jacksonville. Little by
little the slender stock of money in the
bank mad grown smaller, and on the first
anniversary of her husbands death Mrs.
Young knelt by the bedside of her sleep
% x tiii mrr, TOT nc last dollar had been
spent that day. Without the rain was
falling heavily. 1t had been raining for
several days, aud the Okalaloo boiled
with Its over charged flood. Rising
above the roar o. the rain and river a
hoarsc, distant whistle told the town that
the first steamboat of the winter was
coming ny the river for a cargo of the
cotton. Worn out with sorrow and lulled
by the pattcring rain Mrs. Young fell
asleep. The bell of the steamboat rings
as it is nearing the town. Men with
lanterns come out from the warehouses
along the levee. The steamboat re-
verses its engines and hoats slowly to-
ward the wharf. To the men standing
on the shore the black chimneyS Of the
boat seem to tower nnusually high, and
even the hull seems to rise above them
The furnace doors are opened and a
great bar of rel light streams across the
raln-dlmpled water Now the men see
why the steamboat lo~~>a 80 iiSn ABOVE
them, the river has risen clear to the tor
OF the wharf aud is rising above it! The
Mississippi has broken its levees aud con-
ncctcd with the headwaters of the Okal
aloo by the northern passes! a food is
coming the lower part of town will be
under water in an hour. Quick, warn
the people! Men disperse through the
lower town, awakening the SLEEPING citi-
Gvn>, the river comes creeping up into
the streets, everybody rushes for the high
land, At last the messengers themselves
must tuin from their errand of alarming
the sleeperS.
HAS everyone been warned"
Everyone has been warneh," is the
reply, and the messengers run for the
high land with the water close to their
heels. they have overlooked one house.
No one has raped on the door of the
white house with the green blinds, the
last house on the street. The river
crccps up, it laps the doorstep of the
,,bit. bo -------'-tr 49,. UtrI.s, it >-a-~t.
uh,icr IN" door it climbs the wall, high
er and higher. The sleeping mother and
child hear nothing, they sleep on. There
Is slight jar, the house trembes, is