The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-01-17
Barlow Man Tells Of Some of His
Earliest Reoolleotions.
REMEMBERS NOTED SHOWER OF STARS
Describes His Trip From Savannah TO
Boston When There Was Not a
Railroad In the Country.

eNy MI AAuNSuI ulu lAey III MS own
day with any distinct lines OF demar.
cation between them. They glide into
each other and ii Is hard to tell where
the one quits and the other begins.
We have Infants and school boys and
lovers, but very few are soldiers, and
not one in a hundred ever becomes a
justice Of the peace. His sixth age
does not do justice TO our men and wo-
men OF three score years and ten, for
most Of them grow fat instead of lean.
and our big manly voices have not
turned to treble nor do they pipe and
whistle In their sound. can still sing
bass to the long-meter doxology and
my wife can sing MARY had a little
lamb" to the baby. AS to the seventh
age, which he pictures as second child.
mood and mere oblivion without teeth
or taste or eyes or ears or anything,
we never see them-our old people die
before they get to that But In the life
Of every man and woman there are
epochs, events, mile stones, as it we're.
that stand out prominent in memory
and mark their progress from youth to
old age. My earliest recollection is
the killing of our dog Hector, who was
supposed to be made, and it grieved us,
for we loved him and he loved us.
Next recall the falling of the stars in
1888. My father held me up and with
my feet upon the top railing Of the
bannisters, l saw them come down in
myriads as quietly and softly as snow
fakes and they went out as they near
ed the earth. They were separate and
distinct as the stars, but as near to-
gether as the sparks from the chimney
Of an oldtime blacksmith shop. George
Lester was my playmate and lived
close by and the next morning he and
l hunted all over his mothers garden
to find some signs of the stars that
fell, but saw none. While they were fall
ing our negro cook, Aunt Ailsey, was
down on her knees praying, and as she
chung to my mothers night gown, she
called on Jesus to come and take us all
to heaven. That night was an epoch
and it is worth being rs years old to
have witnessed it, My next remem.
brance Of note is a journey to Savan.
nah with my father and mother and
brother, where we took a sail vessel
for Boston. / remember the magnif.
cent double row of china trees in the
long street and l wonder now if there
is a person living in Savannah who
was living there then and remembers
that row of beautiful trees that are
long since dead and gone. remember
that voyage Of thirty-three days
around Cape Hatteras, where our ship
was almost wrecked, and mother held
fast unto herr children and silently
prayed for deliyerance. l remember
when we reached Boston and how, af
ter our visit was over, father bougH
a carriage ,and pair of horses, and
we journeyed by land from Boston to
Georgia and never crossed railroad
for there were none to cross. | re
member our stop at the natural bridge
in Virginia, and how we walked way
down in the gorge and looked up and
afterwards stood on the bridge and
looked down from the dizzy height.
When l was about ten years old
had another epoch, for had a fight OF
Sunday at camp meeting and go
licked and my fine Sunday clothes
were all spoiled with mud and dirt.
country boy said I was a town boy
and was dressed too fine and he wal
gwine to take the starch outen my
ruffied shirt. And he did. fought al
hard as l could, but he licked me ant
l cried. l had gone to the spring tt
get some water and the fight came of
there. My father whipped me mex
morning and the school teacher start
ed to whip me again, but l showed hin
my legs and he let me off with a talk
My next episode has left an indeliDh
impression. We had to walk two miles
to school and about half way there wal
a big gully that we used to slide dowl
in. One morning Bill Maltbie ant
Overton Young and Jim Wilson ant
myself stopped to slide down and Bill
pulled out a deck of cards and saiC
he would show us how to play. hat
never seen a deck before in my life
but had hearn tell of EN-. They wert
mighty pretty, and he taught US how
to shuttle and cut and deal and turf
Jack and play seven-up. One morninl
Tom Wilson and Jim Alexander CAM
along as they were going to school AM
heard our racket in the gully and the,