Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-07-05
wanted any war; neither did any of m!

| suDpOSe II We on our SlQe anu you oL
YOUR side had been more particular
about the men we sent to congress anc
to the legislatures-if we had thought
more of our country and less Of oul
party, there wouldn't have been any
! war"
There's a right smart lot Of sense In
that" said the farmer after momentt
reflection. Then he looked sad eyec
and continued, "But it doesn't give me-
back my trees"
AS the farmer wandered away Of
fered the captain: an argument or two
Which seemed to me first class clinchet
OF the rightfulness Of his position, bu'
he smiled sadly and replied:
"It's of no use. my boy, to fuss ovel
q mans head when his hearts turned
upside down"
But began.
.Oh, 60 back to your ak" interrupt
ed the captain. "Any logic that have
l need for use upon myself. If yor
live through the war and have a farm
and a family of your own some day
and look back to this particular time
you'll probably believe that I'm about
as unhappy over this work as the
farmer Is at his loss"
l was made 30 wretched for two days
by this sad eyed farmers manner that
| tried to devise ways of escaping 1t
1t wasn't long before I found one
Many Of our logs had to be foated te
the point where we were massing the
timber preparatory for use, and 1t was
not easy for men walking along the
shore with long poles In their hands to
prevent an occasional log from drift
ing out of reach and escaping us en-
tirely. I suggested to the captain thai
single rowboat or skiff would helI
US greatly, and the captain agreed with
me, but wanted to know If I had never
heard that for military reasons al
boats on streams in a fighting country
were destroyed.
"If southern boys are as smart as
northern boys" said I, 81 guess boat
or two escaped and lie hidden away In
the bushes somewhere along the
Shore"
couldn't forget how many times
had stumbled over boats while roam
Ing along the edge Of creeks and ponds
not far from our village up north.
Very WELL" said the captain. with an
odd smile. IF that Is true and northern
boys are as smart as southern boys,
you may 20 and find one Of those boats,
Take two or three men with you. Don't
20 without carbines. And be in hur.
ry about it. We do need boat"
Hurrah! Here was to be an outing
that would bring back q taste Of old
times. | wasn't long in selecting my
party. BrainaAs>.lmost danced with
joy when | asked him to come along,
and two other fellows about as old as
we begged to go with us. Just before
we started the captain handed me q
canteen of whisky, telling me not to
use any unless some one fell into the
water, in which case was to dose him
frequently, a few swallows at time.
We were on the search within quar-
ter of an hour, and | felt year youn-
ger in each successive Eve minutes.
Blessed be nature! There isn't much
difference 'twixt north and south as tc
the underbrush and dry leaves along
the banks Of small streams during
winter. 1t was almost as jolly q trip
as If we were out chestnutting In the
woods about Summerton. Once In
awhile we would startle squirrel and
long to fire at him. 1t was so hard to
be bound by the rule to fire at nothing
but the enemy when outside our OWL
picket lines! What enemy could hear
us, anyway? There was no road with
in three miles except that which was
broken by the bridge. The temptation
to shoot became still stronger when we
saw the head of a deer on the other
side of the stream. but Brainard re-
minded US that the deer would do us
no good unless we could cross the
stream to get him.
So on we tramped. 1t was as good
as an excursion. We continued to be
reminded of old times at home. In one
place were the remains Of toy boat
such as each Of us had whitfield from
sticks in other days. Then we came
upon path which cattle and pigs had
made in tramping to the river to drink
A little farther along was little dock,
such as northern farmers with water
fronts generally have. All Of these dis
coveries had no suggestion Of war
about them, and we all agreed with
Brainard when he said:
81 feel as If I weren't down south at
ALL"
Suddenly my heart bounded with JOY
and shouted "Hurrah" for through q
screen Of bushes l saw the side Of O
boat. 1t was only skiff, made OF
about four boards. but hadn't just such
boat often been as good as wanted
at home? We surrounded 1t In an In
slant and murmured a chorus of de-
light. The oars were In 1t instead OF
being hidden q little way off, as they
would have been had the owner been
northerner, and it seemed In as good
order as If recently used.
"The captain ought to make you
sergeant for this, Frost" said one ol
the boys.
| Flat bottomed skiffs make up In
weight what they lack in grace. so we
laid our carbines in heap and began
to lift and drag. The boat was fully
50 feet from the waters edge, so we
had a great lot of tugging and shout
ing Of "Noww "All together" "Again!