Chariton courier. (Keytesville, Chariton County, Mo.) 1878-current, 1891-01-15
Our GeOYgid Letter.

uEpOse IOr lODR tune tO uIOp
line for your columns, but 1t is so
easy to wait and delay and thus fail.
read Charlton county news with
great interest and while l see the
names of many old friends and ac-
quaintances, yet new names are COM
ing 10 the front.
1t would be a great pleasure 10
me to drop IN and spend few days
with old friends in Charlton county,
but as the years pass by the pros
pect of such u privilege becomes
less hopeful.
] am still in Georgia and while
the deep SHOWS continue to come in
Missouri and the blizzards howl over
the prairie, it is comfort to he Sc
cure from their approach.
Last winter was very open, but
this winter has attended to business
little more promptly, and we have
had "real cold" snaps of late. No
snow has ventured into our borders
although 1t was near US in Tennes-
see and North Carolina. 1t would
not be regarded much winter with
you, since the ground has not been
frozen more than one-half inch and
the ice would scarcely bear the soft
step of well-fed cat. Yet it was
real winter here and sent some off
to Florida to spend the winter.
Our crops have been fair this year,
except in fruits. Peaches utterly
failed. Corn was good for this soil
and cotton abundant, but the prices
came down sadly under the financial
pressure. Many farmers still hold
part of their crops, hoping for bet
ter prices in the near future. This
is pretty good country for vegeta-
bles of all kinds, but of course they
do not grow so extravagantly here
as they do In the black dirt of Mis-
souri,.
Living is pretty high here. But
ter runs from % to 40 cents, beef
from u! to 15 cents, and it all comes
from the West. Dressed turkeys
claim to be worth from 10 to 1Scts
per pound and chickens vary as to
sizes. 1t requires only a small fry
ing chicken all through the summer
to bring 30cts, and the largest and
best ranged from 80 to 40 cents. 1t
is rare treat for some folks to taste
chicken more than once a month.
Atlanta grows. The census man
gave us &c POO people, and that rath-
er shocked some of us, but a new
city directory has set the matter all
right since 1t puts down 10000 for
Atlanta.
notice with sadness that some of
my old friends in Keytesvllle have
crossed the river. Sister Applegate
is gone. We lived near her fer two
years or more and her kindness new
er failed US, and we left Keytesville
with great gratitude to her. Her
rest on high must be sweet and soul
comforting. My old friend, Mr.
Dick Young, has also gone. He
told me once in the woods that he
was driven from the churches and
the gospel by wrangllngs of preach
ers immediately after the war, when
the oath question so sgitated the
people of Missouri. His passing
away reminds me of the remark Of 9
would-be wit al nY expense when ]
LETT my old native home in Beford
county, Va. He said that when il
was known among the wild beast;
that 1 was gone there was a grea
gathering of game in tae vicinity
rabbits, foxes, coons, squirrels, pos
sums, etc. held high old time anC
jollification meeting, and the chorus
of their songs was that their torment
or was gone. l never did bellev,
that the aforesaid meeting was eve
held, and if 1t hal been it would
have been feast of fat things TO
me to have stepped in at the toI
e round of their joy with my faithful
+ canine friends at my side.
] 1 read with peculiar interest you
warfare upon the gamblers, and
{ was hopeful that your really manfu
e stand would rally the moral senti
ment of the community and driv
out the pestllential scourge. 1 wa
grieved when saw the names of th
: evil-doers and / did hope bette
f things Of some of them.
: This recalls q remark of the lat
Eand excellent DIR. j. B. Jeter, o
. Va. He and ! were raised IN tn
same county. Just before the wa
a man named Reed, from the sam
county, and professional gambler
D jumped from hotel window i
Richmond, Va, aud broke his neck
r evidently the best thing for his cour
s try that he was ever known to dc
DIR. Jeter aud myself met and th
e matter was mentioned, as it was II