Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1903-10-21


All arrangements being finished,
our party--G. N. @. Boleman, j. @.
Watkins, Thos. Earle, d. w. Wright,
j. r. Earle and w. M. Fennell--left
Walhalla on August 31st for ten
days. outing in the mountains of.
North Carolina. Boleman and Wat
kins hold the offices of Auditor and
Clerk of Court of Anderson county
respectively Tbos. Earle is recog,
nized as high private; Mr.. Wright
is popular young farmer of Green
wood county, while j. r. Earle ard
myself are Oconee high grades.
Before we get too far from Wal
halla, let us take look at Ander-
sons officers and compare them with
ours. Amt they small fellows?
Why, they are not at all like ours.
Some of our officers can't look into
flour barrel, as they are of such
immense size. It's funny. Ander-
sons men represent the "before TAX
ing" and our men represent the
"after taking" class, don't they? But
we will give Anderson time and she
will come yet.
AS started out to tell you we
went on to the mountains. We
made slow time, as it was up hill
most of the way; besides, we got
late start. We ate dinner about two
miles beyond the Toll Gate and
watered and fed our horses good, as
they had been faithful in drawing
us over the hills of "Vashtie."
The party separated then. Wat
kins, Wright and the writer drove
the buggies to G. M. Ridley's, while
Boleman and the Earles took asquir.
rel hunt, Boleman, after making an
unsuccessful search, came up to Mr..
Ridley's, and he (Boleman) and I
took still hunt q mean still squir-
rel hunt), but to no avail
After the Earles came in with
their game bags full of emptiness,
we struck camp. Mark, our cook,
spread our supper, consisting Of
loaf bread, butter, salmon, or aliga-
tor tail (for it looked too blue for
salmon)-and eating loaf amounted
to about the same thing as lying on
your back and letting the moon
shine down your throat. 1t was all
good, though. After we had finished
our supper we sat on the grass and
enjoyed our cigars and conversation.
Mr.. Ridley then invited us to occupy
one of his rooms, which we gladly
did. Capt. Earle and myself made
our bed on the floor, and it was only
matter of a short time until we
were all in the land of pleasant
dreams. Gentlemen, my dreams
were exceedingly pleasant, as /
dreamed l was in the midst of the
Texas oil fields. was walking
around with my thumbs hung in the
arm holes of my vest, figuring, as I
thought, on taking oil stock. l have
been told that what man eats for
supper makes him dream, but have
abandoned that idea. If it had been
eatingf would have dreamed of ali
gator, for Pm sure / ate piece for
supper. No, sir, | believe its what a
man smells sometimes that makes
him dream. l thought the whole
air was heavy laden with oil, and
sure enough it was, for when awoke
l found Mr.. Earle sitting near me
with the burner and wick out of the
lantern and it lighted, rubbing him
self to kill the chiggers that got on
him while hunting the evening be-
fore. He came very near being
burned. / asked him what was the
matter, and he said, "I'm killing
these blamed chiggers." l turned
over and went back to sleep, but
didn't dream any more that night.
We all arose early next morning.
There was a stiff breeze blowing
from the east, with the sky covered
with broken clouds. We ate break
fast and started out on another days
journey to no particular place. We
went up as far as Round Top,
stopped and fished and hunted some.
/ was walking alone in an old field
with my gun, expecting to flush a
drove of turkeys or some other large
game at any moment, but | had
nothing to show when went back,
but nine rattles from an old rattle
snake. Pll just say right here, too,
that | did not take them off during
the snakes natural life, either.
We were very much pleased to
have Major Stribling join us here.
AT length we decided to drive on
further. We drove slowly, as some
of our party walked and hunted on
the way. At length we crossed the
rushing waters of the picturesque
Chattooga. We drove some two OF
three miles into Rabun county