The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1902-03-06

let no man put hasunder." "Old dock"
was a patriot, good, honest and true
man. His neighbors at his home In
Dawson county all loved and honored
him, and there was not man in his
regiment (the Eleventh Georgla) more
beloved by the men that ne fed, for ne
was chosen their comm!ssary early in
the war, and you know It is so natural
to love those who feed you well. When
rations were short he would travel all
night to secure supplies, and the boys
knew that if "Old Hook" couldn't get
what they wanted nobc dy could. But
in course of time the old man got sick
and wanted to go home. other officers
had got furloughs, but he had never
asked for one. He went to bed and
sent for me and told me he was sick
and If he didn't get furlough he be-
lieved he would get sicker and perhaps
die away from 'ome. | suspected that
he was homesick, but he looked sick
and sent up his application. The ar
my had been for some days sweltering
in the hot summers sun not far from
Richmond. The application was re-
ferred to headquarters at Richmond,
and l took it in to the proper official,
who glanced at it and said: '1mpor-
tant movements are daily expected,
and all furloughs to go home are strict
ly prohibited. The best | can do is
to send the captain to Farmvllle Tor
thirty days" There was an army hos
pital at Farmville, which was only 80
miles south of Richmond, where sick
officers we're sent to rest and be treat
ed for their ailments. And so ne In
dorsed upon it Farmville, and in the
next blank said thirty days. Suddenly
thought struck me that could not
resist. l knew that ''old Hooks" post
Office in Georgia was named Farmvllle.
I stepped into a hotel and took a pen
and quickly added Ca" to the word.
| knew that this was risky and ras-
cally, but told him to get ready to
leave next morning. How quickly he
frightened up and how thankful he
was to me- He went home on that
pass and came back in due time, re-
newed and recovered. He said the
conductor looked ard at him and at
the pass, but let him go by the hos
pital and then he felt safe. l knew
II I had told him what l had done he
couldn't face the music and tell a lie.
After the war his people sent him to
the legislature and my people sent me
there. too, and we rejoiced to get to-
gether again every night and rehearse
the soul-stirring times that we had IN
old Virginia.
From time to time l receive good,
earnest letters from the young folks
girls and boys-asking what books to
read and where to get them. One
came today from a young miss who is
teaching a country school. She says
she cannot go to college, for she is too
poor, but manages to save a little mon.
ey and wants to know what books to
buy to improve her mind. Well, if
was too poor to buy some good ency-
clopedia, l would buy Shakespeare,
Macaulay, Goldsmith, Tom Moore,
Burns, Pope Gray. Cowper, Campbell,
Tom Hood, Caldridge, Wordsworth and
some of SCOTS novels such as Ivan
hoe" "Kenilworth" and anne of
Buy some of Dickens
works, as "Dombey and Son" and ''Da-
vid Copperf1eld." Then there is John
by Mrs. MULCH, and "TSn
Thousand a Year" by Warren. Buy
"The Vicar of Wakefield" for the sake
Of the hermit. OF course our own au-
thors should not be neglected, such as
some of Irving's works and Haw-
thorne and Longfellow and Bryant.
Buy Halleck for his Marco Bozaris'
if nothing else. There are two text
books by Miss Rutherford, of Athens,
Ga, the cultured principal of Lucy
Cobb institute, that should be in ev-
cry respectable household. One is
English authors and the other is Amer
lean authors. Both together make a
good library and are always ready for
reference. l had rather give up any
two other books than those. THE
Prayer" by Jean Ingelow,
In the first named is worth twice the
cost of the book. Now most of these
books can be bought nicely bound at
prices from so cents to 81. But there
are hundreds of good books by such
authors as Mrs. Austin and Charlotte
Bronte and Mrs. Hermans, Mrs. ST.
Courtney and others. l name only a
few to fit the slender purses of our
young people. You can now buy the
plays of Shakespeare separately for a
small cost, and so l would get Ham
Iet," Macbeth" Romeo and Juliet"
and Merchant of Venice" When you
are able by all means get Cyclope-
dia of biography, so that you can
turn to the interesting sketches of any
great man or woman, such as Gallileo,