Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1901-12-14
Saturday, Dec. IA. 1901
Letter from ]. X.

Dear Phil
1t is showing this morning and as am
housed for the day l am Illuminating.
This sort Of day always puts me in a
Tuminatiye mood and every time l get
that way think of the good old times
| had when | lived in dear old Noxubee.
1t makes me feel good to go away back
adown memory's pathway and dwell
upon the events and incidents of my
early manhood and think of the friends
who participated in them. | find great
pleasure in refreshing my memory and
IN drawing upon its ample store of rich
things, which come up in freshness
and brightness as if they were laid away
yesterday for the solace and comfort
which they bring to me in my old age.
Under wise and humane provision of
our great Creator, who 'moyes in
mysterious way his wonders to per.
form, - it is mans nature, when he
looks back over his life, to dwell upon
its happy parts with its flowers and
beauties, instead of upon its ills and
sorrows. As the wayfarer, when he
has crossed the great desert, in telling
of his weary journey, speaks of the
cooling draughts Of sparkling water and
the refreshing shade of the sheltering
palm trees, of the GASES where he found
rest. so man, when his allotted three
score years and ten have been swept into
the shadowy past, recalls the bright
spots, the loved friends, the early home
with its joys, the pleasures and aspira-
tons of young manhood, and all that
has sweetened life for him. and forgets
Its heartaches and bitterness as the tray
eler forgets the burning sun and blind
ing sands Of the desert
| went to Noxubee county in 1852 and
lived year at Brooksyille. | boarded
with Judge Thomas j Dixon, whose
wife was Miss Ann Roger, daughter of
MAJ. Joseph Roger, who was state sena.
tor from Noxubee and Winston counties
He was a wealthy planter and fine cit
izen and a true-blue democrat. Mrs.
Dixon still lives and is one of the few
links lef, in Noxubee county to bind the
present to the past She is now far adj
Yanced in years and lives with her
daughter, Mrs. Walter, Price, in X.
Prairie, There are not many such links |
left, and when think of them "sorter |
feel like the generation to which thew |
belong had fully as much to be proud of |
as the present has. Mrs. Dixon came |
OF strong and sturdy ancestry, which |
left its impress upon the history of the |
county May this venerable mother be
spared, in health and happiness, to her
people, for many years yet, is my sin.
cere wish and prayer.
Noxubee county. al that time, was
grand and great. Nearly everybody in
1t was rich and proud. Every man,
was good for his debts and could buv
anything and everything he wanted on
credit The fertile prairie lands east
OF Noxubee river were fresh and new
and crop failure was unknown. A
considerable portion of the prairie lands
was still unbroken. All the plantations
We're fenced and great herds OF cattle
and droves of horses and hogs roamed at
large IN the swamps and over the prai.
RES, Many. planters had hogs by the
hundred, and to buy meat was a thing
unknown. All the money that was left
after paying expenses, was spent for
hne horses and mules and niggers, No
matter now much cotton a planter made
he never had any money about him,
bis commission merchant at Mobile
sold his cotton, bought his supplies.
paid his drafts and kept him in debt
eternally. The few merchants in the
country Isold a good many goods and
always took planters drafts on Mobile
in settlement, The planter who made
i've hundred bales of cotton year Of.
zen would not handle hundred dollars
u It's proceeds. He left everything to !
MS commission merchant and drew on
Inn at will, whether he had money in ;.
lis hands or not. tell you Pill, that
vas a glorious way to live. wasn't it2
From 1850 to 1860 there was more
lyle and elegance and pleasure in Nox. L
bee county than there will be in
lousand years to come, if things don't
lange nightly. Almost every planter as
Ii