Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1892-01-21
THE MOUND IN THE GARDEN.

In Eastern Tennessee, December,
1863, all the men, old and young,
had gone to the war, save those who
were hopeless invalids or hopeless
towards. To the latter class be-
longed Beriah Tubbs. He said he
was 'porely' and, to maintain it,
drank quantities of boneset tea.
Whenever the enrolling officer was
around, he would take to his bed
and groan aloud, with a 'mizzery
in his back and a hurtin' in his
chist." For all this his neighbors
knew he was not sick, but a coward:
and better than all the neighbors,
his brave wife knew it; and the
knowledge ranked, like a broken
barb, in her breast.
For number of years Beriah
Tubbs had served as 'overseer' on
the plantation of a wealthy gentle
man but at this time there was
little to Oversee 'The family had
gone South-taking the negroes
with them to prevent their falling
into the enemy's hands-and Mr..
Tubbs had moved from the cabin
in the meadow up into the MAN
sion.'
The whole country which, three
years before had been one smiling
valley of pleasing verdure and wav-
ing grain, was now a desolate waste
stripped of all provisions and means
of support. Cows, hogs, fowls and
all domestic animals were rarer than
snakes in Ireland. Every horse
and mule that could draw a wagon
or carry a man had been pressed
into the service of one side or the
other. There was neither grain to
plant nor men to plant it. The
few bushels of corn that kept wo-
men and children from starving
were slowed away under beds, in
closets and cellars and even then
were by no means safe.
Lincon coffee was ten dollars
pound, and scarcer than diamonds
at that. Mrs. Tubbs had few
pounds she had saved and hidden
away in a gourd. Every Sunday
morning few grains of this were
brought forth, and mixed with rye,
potatoes or dried apples, and with
long sweet'nin,' presented to the
Tubbs family as rare treat.
Now, young uns, rickolec, who
ever drinks the most buttermilk
gifts the mos Coffee was the invari-
able prelude to the Sunday morn
ing feast 4; and it never failed to
fire the little Tubbs with such ex-
ira valor, that by the time the cof-
fee came on there was little butter
milk or appetite left.
Mrs. Tubb's antecedents were
not without some claims to gentili-
~ and independence and she at
times, protested that she was not
born d a low-life overseer's wife.
This she never did, however, un-
less intorlerably 'harrass d and tar
ritied' by her lazy, cowardly hus-
band.
'Ef you d only be a man and 90
and fight it out like other men, Be-
riar Tubbs, l could forgiv yer lazi-
ness and the dogs life you've led
me. But to see you settin' thar
trying to look sick, and a-whittlin
sticks as onconsarnd as ef thar warnt
no sich thing as war, nor bleedin
country calling you, is that harrass-
in and tarrifyin that l cant sleep
o nights. All the men in the coun-
try's off doin ther duty but my
man and here he sets. Oh, l wish
l wer a man-ketch me at home
a-whittling sticks I'd do my whit
tin on Yankees, that / would
And, to look at her no one would
discount her sincerity. But the
facts remained-Beriah was q cow
ard, and she was u woman. Thus it
was her warlike spirit could but vent
itself on her husband, unless the
little Tubbses were more than usu-
ally 'harassin and tarrifyin' and
then, it must be admitted, she con-
WINGED them that the war was q ter
rible reality.
There were eight of them-be-
ginning with Semanthy Myrandy
Josifena and ending with Stone
wall jackson Tubbs, a registering
youngster of two years, whom his
mother carressed and scarified by
turns. Stonewall Jackson Forrest