Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1902-07-17
OLD SETTLERS.
Hon. G. w. Beal's Address
at the Laddonia Cele-
bratiOn.

lived near the edge of Rails County
where he reared his family. | re-
member Ben Elliott who lived Il
few miles north of here, Uncle
Jesse Gilliland. w. T.. and W. r..
Cook, whose home was almost in
sight of this little city, and b. F..
Manuel, who lived just across the
creek.
| remember many others, but
lack of time fOrbids the mention
of their names. When these men
came to Audrain County, the voice
of the coyote was a good deal more
familiar to them than that of the
locomotives. Those whom | have
mentioned were here during the
war. You will remember that we,
who were residents of Audrain
County mt that time, had our views
as to which side was right and
which was wrong. You see one $
environments have much to do
with his views on all public ques-
tons. Had | been citizen of
South Carolina at the time the leg
islaure of that state passed the or
dance of secession, it is more
than probable that | would have
gone off with the tide, but living
here in Audrain County. where we
claimed a right to an opinion on
the late unpleasantness and cXer-
cising the right to express our
views when my parents told me
the North was right, accepted
this diagnosis of the case and my
heart went out in sympathy for
the cause of the Union, though
according to tradition | was but Il
few months old, and when the
splendid army under the com
mand Of General Irwin Mcdowell,
upon which was laid the duty of
removing the distractions which
had been thrown in the way of the
execution of the law. had encoun-
cred the legions of Beauregard
and Stonewell jackson at Bull
Run had been driven back in de-
feat and confusion upon Washing
ton, they say that showed strong
symptoms of fight but that my
mother, who always exercised eX-
cellent Judgment under all circum-
stances, promptly administered the
necessary discipline and put the
obstreperous youth to bed.
Missouri never went out of the
Union, as You remember, though
repeated and determined efforts
were made to take her out, but eff
forts just as determined and just
as courageous were made on the
other hand to keep her steadfast.
We had no great armies marching
or counter-marching through this
part of the country, but the coun-
try was constantly infested and the
non-combatants terrified with the
incursiOns of predatory bands of
robbers who made it business to
steal or burn everything not made
of stone or frozen up in the earth
My father had joined the state mi
litia and could not have remained
at home in pence had he desired to.
My mother remained at home and
sought to keep her five baby boys
together. You may talk, if You
will, of the devotion of the Spartan
mother who, history tells us, said
to her son when he departed for
the field of battle, "return with
your shield or upon it," but there
were mothers in Audrain county
whose devotion to duty would have
been a credit to the mothers Of any
country in any period of the
worlds history.
A little incident will serve to
illustrate some of the hardships We
had to endure in those days not
altogether of happy memory. We
had been without a sufficient sup
ply of the necessities of life for
several days and the situation was
getting desperate, Our good moth
er finally went out and dug some
parsnips which were frozen in the
ground, put them in kettle, boil