The Tupelo journal., 1905-06-23

to him, as the expression goes
! He was a fine scholar, and a gen
ial, companionable fellow. H,
looked well to the interest of hi.
school, and had a very fine Sc
of young men under his tutilage
as well as many boys of younger
age. OF course | cannot speak o.
all the young men whose acquain
lance | there formed, nor will
be able to write Of all the ole
residents and tell what has be.
come Of them; but l hope none
will think me partial. | write al.
so wholly from memory, having
kept no diary Of transactions in
those olden times. Richmond was
agay place then, and attracted
more visitors and was a better
town even than the capital of the
county. The people in the sur
rounding country were well to do
farmers, owning many slaves and
plantations, and many of them
often came to town and put up at
the old hotel and spent consider
able time with their friends there
while their overseers attended
to their farming interests. twas
a very social place. The men
generally had leisure and the wo-
men no cares. The lawyers at
tended the Justice Courts there
from Fulton, as if it had been a
Circuit Court, and well they
might, for there was much bust
ness requiring their services.
Rhoden w. Palmer was the JUS
tice of the peace then, and for
years before and for many years
thereafter, and Col. W. M. Pound,
who married my sister, was the
constable. In the month of De-
cember, 1856, | assisted Col.
Pound in riding for the January
term of the Justice Court, and
there were something over three
hundred cases heard at that
term. The business of collecting
was worth money to the lawyers
in those days. For instance a
lawyer was entrusted with a lot
of claims for collection, and he
would see the debtor, and he in
turn would deliver to the lawyer
collaterals to cover his own debt,
and the lawyer would collect the
collaterals, apply the proceeds to
the. discharge Of the original
claim, and thus receive pay from
his client for collecting his debt,
and from the debtor for collect
ing his collaterals. Nor was a
debtor broke every time a lot of
claims were placed in the hands
of a lawyer against him, neither
were the exemption laws so COW
eriug then as to shield a debtor
from paying his debts. Such a
thing as making an assignment
for the benefit of his creditors
was never heard of in those days,
but when a man got into fnan-
cial trouble he used every means
as a general thing to pay out and
take a new start. | remember a
little incident that occurred with
me and a debtor on whom Col.
Pound had a claim for collection
that was really amusing. He was
a man of means, but like some
men whom you find now, always
seemed to think the next call
will do as well. l was only eigh-
teen, and a beardless boy, and
Col. Pound told me this man
would not be likely to pay, but
that he would make the excuse
that he had no small bills, the
claim being about twenty dollars.
So he supplied me with plenty OF
change so | could accommodate
his excuse. When | approached
him for payment he said, "All
my bills are big ones | asked
the size Of his smallest bill, and
he very readily said that the
least bill he had was one hundred
dollars, supposing of course that
| would not be able to do any.
thing with it. But, thanks to Col
Pounds providence, | was ena.
bled to say very promptly, s
am prepared to break that, anC
so there was no further excuse
| have thought it more than like
ly that if he had been postet