The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1905-11-10

| ~
any attention to county politics
or county offices. This is the
year Buck Owen was elected to
the Legislature, and Billie Bates,
now of Houston, ran for the Of
flee and was defeated. | know
there was a long string of the
candidates for county offices,
and | know l was struck with
the appearance and speech diff
ficulty of Mr.. Bonun. He was
very unfortunate in this respect
having about as bad stoppage in
his speech as any man | have
ever known. Often you would
almost come to the conclusion
that he would not be able to speak
the word; but by dint of splitting
and sticking his fingers on the
table by which he was sitting or
on the chair post, or fence rail
| where he might be standing he
| managed to finally speak out the
words. He was a very intelligent
man, wrote a good hand, kept
nice books, and made very ex-
cellent Treasurer for the county
of Itawamba. He had as many
friends as almost any man | ever
knew, and but for the strong
POLITICAL feeling engendered by
the Knownothing movement, |
feel sure he would have been re-
elected in 1855. But he was whig
and they were in the minority
in old Itawamba, and it was only
occasionally that a whig could
slip in by being unusually popular
and running only on merit and
qualification, and say nothing
about politics, exceptit it were
for some political Office, such as
the Legislature or congress or
some state office. But politics
ran very high in 1855, extending
from the highest state office to
constable, and in that year the
Democrats made a clean sweep
and uncle Dick Bonun fell with
the others, Notwithstanding his
great popularity. But | must say
that | always looked upon Dick
! Bonun as more peculiarly fitted
for the home life than that aris-
ing from the strife for office.
There he was at home, and there
much more amply and comfort
ably could he entertain and care
for his friends. He lived in the
county, some seven miles from
Fulton in a south westerly direc-
ton, and had a nice farm, and
comfortable house, beautifully
situated amid the pines, oaks and
| hickory, and which they called
"Woodlawn', and when | now
write of it, and think of the long
ago, a different picture is pre-
sented to my minds eye to that
which the place presents now.
Then it was presided over by the
lovely matroa AMI the rugg, d,
honest and intelligent head, and
as lively and interesting set of
young ladies and misses, includ-
ing Mrs. Bill Shelley, decked it's
precincts as l have ever seen.
And when you visited old Wood
lawn to to see the young ladies,
you also felt like Mrs. Shelley was
one of them, and that uncle Dick
came in for a share of your at
tention, and you left the place
admiring him as much as you
loved the young ladies, and was
ready to crown Mr.. Shelley and
the mother as the most charming
of hostesses. And when uncle
Dick took up the song book, and
forgot his speech-tr ouble, and
gathered around him the home
girls and visiting boys and young
men, the music you then heard
will linger with you a lifetime
and be a benediction when you
come to die. But the "silver cord
| is broken, and the pitcheris broken
at the fountain, and the mour-
| ners go about the street. while
silver strains Of music are heard
no more on porch, or beside the
cracking fire place amid the
precincts of old Woodlawn. The
scenes have changed, the house
has changed, and the old time
inmates have gone from the old