The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1895-02-16

<%&& S~9XSs ~A tin e,:. The good
NM EM&SSM Nix ~ that gray head
WMHS%W%SANA Y is crown OF
wSA"MAmNsN's glory, and to me
there is always somethin ruther catch
in and takin about these good old-timey
man that has faced the storms and
trials and troubles and tribulations of
this vain and feetfn world long enough
to catch the snow of winter on his head.
IT q man amt Of some account to him
self or his family or his friends, it is
powerful seldom that the good Lord
will let him live a long time. A man
that was born with nothin much to do
and nothin in particlar to live for can
mighty soon git through with his part
of the job and retire. The man that
knows the road is the man to blaze the
way, and I am always more than vvillin
to let the gray head of some good old
man be q light to my path and a torch
to my hayward and svanderin feet.
When He Was . boy.
''when was q boy'-says Uncle DAN
settlement, the last time was over to
his house-''wllen I was a boy you
didn't hear people talk about hard
times and sl<eerce money like they do
nowadays Naturally of course there
was rich folks and poor folks in the
land in them days like there is today,
but it seems to me somehow like they
was more on a general average then
than what they are now. They didn't
fly SO high up and they didn't drap SO
low down. We didn't have nigh SO
much fopperies and finerics and high
hyin tonfoolery as you can notice in
this present day and generation. The
rich folks didn't make SIGH a terrible
big blow and show, and poor folks
didn't whine and pine and fret and
fume around about bad luck and hard
times like they do now.
Nov as to me-" the old man went
on, anybody and everybody that knows
anything about the family records of
Daniel Rutherford can tell you that
come down from a long line of plain,
common stock and poor people. But
when I was a boy-in all my GROWN
up never knowcd anything about ralc
rale hard times. And never heard
much tell of sicll things till here of late
years. You don't have to pile up money
Till you can call yourself rich in order
nlent to be fixed up comfortable and
mug and independent of the settlement
around you aud the world in general.
Whilst the Rutherford generation of
people was always plain and poor if
you counted the dollars and cents on
them, yet at the same time L never
heard tell of any Twin maj by the name
of Rutherford that went around begin
or stealth or made q landin in the the
Poor House or the Penitentiary. I was
born and brung up poor, and yet still
have always lived in the midst Of plen-
ty as it were. My old daddy before 1ne
was poor, as the world goes--poor in
regards to cash money. But if there
ever was day when we didn't have
plenty of somethin to eat and drink,
and plenty of clothes to wear, it was be-
yond my recollection, and if we ever
Sz1Y- =
II never heard tell of it. Sometimes
NO doubts we had to wear plain clothes.
but they was always clean and COM
forta b1e-warm in winter and cool in
the summer-and the sun never went
down on a day at our house when there
want meat in the smol@ehouse and corn
in the crib, and meal in the barrel and
molasses in the jug. and eggs in the
basket and lard in the gourd. When
was n boy folks was folks, but times
was way yonder different then from
what they arc now.''
How it Come to Pass.
':1sut let me tell you, Rufus, how it
has come to pass that times are SO diff
ferent with this present day and gen
eration,' says Uncle Daniel, as he back
ed his pipe into the tobacco box after a
fresh load of the weed
when I was a boy people that lived
in the country didn't hurry and worry
and stint and starve themselves to
death in the hopes of maxim money.
The mainest thing with people in them
days was to make a Twin, and they most
generally made it. If a farmer will but
only work and manage as to make
Twin it is more than probable that he
will make a little money too. But if he
makes Twin he don't need no money
eXceptin for some little extrics, and if
he don't particlar need any money what
would he want with it anyhow? To
make livin-to have somethin to eat
and somethin to wear-that is the first
md mainest pint in the battle of life
anyhow and if a man can win that he is
more than probable to run out ahead
of the hounds.
when I was boy every boy wore
clothes the same as they do now, but
people that didn't have plenty of money
to buy their clothes with got them
made at home. They didn't go in debt
knee deep and then waist deep and then
chin deep in orderment to fly as high
as anybody else and keep up big APP
pear meats.
when 1 was a boy people didn't live
in the country and draw their rations
in the city like a heap of them do now
adays. On every well regulated farm
there was one of these big old-fashion-
ed corn cribs, and naturally of course
that meant fat horses and cows and
hogs and chickens. That met the great
and proyyin issue of bread and meat