The National tribune., 1893-01-19
HE HAD TO GO TO WORK.
The Trials of Virginia Major immediately
After the War.

The Trials of Virginia Major Immediately
After the War.
Everybody knows about COL Carter, of Car
tersville, and F. Hopkinson Smith, the man
who presented the Colonel to an sdmiring pub
lic," says the New York World. Here IL .
brand new story of Mr.. Smiths, which, alas,
can only be half enjoyed In print, whore 10
lacks his inimitable manner of telling IL, and
that dialect that the type cannot exactly
catch:
81 was in o hotel corridor in Washington
some years ago, and / met one Of those peculiar
looking Individual from Virginia, with typical
slouched hat, hair rather long, with low.cus
vest, and with pair of bombazne shoes" said
Dir. Smith. He wasn't type of man like
my Colonel. dear old Col. Carter, but he hap
pened to fill that exact type that the Northern
people generally consider Southerner to be.
He was giving an account of his sufferings i'm
mediately after the war; and he said to me:
You know, sub, that Immediately afteh the
wah our people had gone through great deal
of misfortune. Our property had been urested
from US and our slaves had been freed, and it
was necessary, sub, for some of our people to 90
to work. want to tell you, sub, that, Of
course, the Yanceys never done any work since
they landed in America, and our family, sub,
is some mo- than 40H years old.
So when il became necsry for me, sub, TO
20 to work, suh-(ani when / tell you that my
wife had no shoes to her feet and my chipren
were also barefoot and had very little TO eat,
owing to some very ungentlemanly foreclosure
proceedings which occurred Just then, in which
/ was interested, you see that / just had to
make up my mind to do somethin' III thought
I'd open livery stable. Don't start, sub. I
know you consider it disgrace, but my chipren
were barefooted. At that time there'd been .
circus pass through our part of the country. The
circus man had left two spawned horses up in
Judge Barbour's lot, and the bill for their
pasture, sun, was $4.75 I borrowed Judge
Keerfoot's notes for 500, which, with my in
dorsements. sub, sold for enough to pay the
pasture bill for the two circus horses. Then 7
mortgaged the horses, and after feedin' them
up / got enough to get harness and . wagon.
So by the end of the week had o very good
wagon to seat eight people, and the two horses
and harness. and / started in the livery BUSH
ness, sub. / had not been in the business mo-
than two weeks befo' Col. Talcott's Black Sam
came down to see me and said: Maj. Yancey,
there's going to be ball down at Bsrbours-
VILE"
"'That SOP
eyes. We want you to take eight Of Us over
to the ball.
"'Whatl take you eight niggsrs over to the
ball, you Internal scoundrel?'
"'Major, dom get het up about il. Eight
niggers at so cents apiece is TO- dollars
"Then I says to myself, Yancey. brace up.
This is one of the great crises of your life. II
you are ever going to support your family now
is your chance / turned to Sam an said:
Bring on your mokes.' Well, that night, sub,
he came down and he brought four bucks and
four wenches. 1t was very cold night sub, q
very cold night / have not seen any such
weather in that part of the State fo' years.
hooked up the team an drove over to Bsrboars-
Vile. The ball was over grocery store.
There was grocery store below and hall
above, with kind of balcony out of this up
Der place. and there was a ladder on the outside
leading to the balcony above. After tied up
got into the room. Perhaps you don't know
the effect of q room in which there are IS or 30
niggers and two playing their fddles at the
end of the room and a red hot stove in ths
middle, sub. OF course you don't know tho
effect of thing of that kind, but want to as
sure you, sub, that the atmosphere was-weu,
oppressive.
81 stood il as long as could, an then shs-
shayed between the balcony and the inside Of
the room, and finally went out on the balcony,
catching my breath between times. When I'd
been there while says, Brace up, Yancey;
you're trying to support your family. There's
no reason why you should die of pneumonia.
Go in and sit down on a bench
al hadn't been there mon five minutes when
Black Sam came up an said: Maj. Yancey,
would you've any objection to step out on the
balcony, sur?' 'Why?' Because, sub, some
of the ladies object to the smell of horse In your
eInthaaiv