The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1906-06-29

through the wilderness, bring.
ing to mind how easily all grave
and solemn thoughts can be dis.
sipated. These old time soldier
| singers did not confine them
selves to religious and plaintive
airs, but gave their hearers the
benefit of love ditties, such as
"The Girl l Left Behind Me-" OF
annie Laurie" with many
more of like kind. Then, once
in awhile some special singer,
such as Duke Shelley, of whom l
have written heretofore. would
appear with all the charm of a
Jenny Lind and almost take the
soldiers off their feet. can now
in my minds eye look away
down in Georgia, and see Duke
Shelley sitting by a camp fire,
with his head, large and massive,
thrown back, with the left hand
placed behind his ear, enjoy
ment depicted on every Inca
ment of his features, singing
song after song till the night was
waning into morning and never
repeating song, unless specially
asked to do so. Reading was
not a general diversion in the
army, for the reason that it was
impossible to carry many books,
and besides, many soldiers were
not readers even at home. Many
soldiers carried their bibles all
through the war, and many read
them often. l remember to have
read my bible through from Gen.
esis to Revelation in eighteen
days and travelled three hundred
miles horseback during the time.
Occasionally we would remain
long enough at one place for
those wishing to read to borrow
books of the citizens, and who
were always glad to accommodate
us in that way.
Another source of amusement
and recreation was what | call
"piddling." You will always
find some out of a regiment as
sembled together whose bent of
s~tl is for producing some me-
chanical contrivance for sale and
for their amusement. And if
you will show me a man of real
mechanical genius, | will show
you one who can make almost
anything on a small scale with a
pocket knife and some few other
small tools which he can carry
in his pocket or saddle bags. Pipe
making was one of the amuse-
ments by which some passed
away the time and made money
too. The root of the sour wood,
found both in the hills and low
lands of Georgia, furnished ex-
cellent material out of which to
make a good, beautiful pipe.
With an axe to take the root out
of the ground and a pocket knife
and a small gimlet, the pipe ge-
MUS was heeled. And l defy the
pipe man, whose business it is
and always has been to make
pipes, to surpass our pocket
knife army genius. You see he
had at his command time that he
did not know what else to dc
with, and so he kept on marking
and carving until he produced q
thing of beauty. Then once and
awhile you found a comb" ge'
MUS. We had a man in our reg
iment by the name of Carp Mitch.
ell, who always kept a lot o1
cows horns on hand, and his
small saws, some of which ht
made himself, and dressing files
and he would make you any kino
of comb you wanted, from :
common coarse comb to a ladies
cupped side comb, making yol
as nice fine comb as a yankee
could make. l know the ole
Confederate generally will un
derstand the ''modus operandI
by which combs are made from
cows horns; but for the benefit
of the younger generation wht
have not weathered the storm ol
war, I will state that all yol
have to do to make a comb of
piece of cows horn is to saw of
a circle as wide as you want tn
comb, saw it open on one side
boil in water till perfectly soft
then straighten it out altogether
or so much as desired, owing tt
| whether you wish a straight O
cupped comb, let it remain press
ed out till dry, and then it i
ready for sloping for the teetl
side, and then for the saw ant
dressing file.
Fourth Of July Excursions
! Mobile & Ohio Ticket Agent!
south of Carlo, ILL.,, will sci
Fourth of July Tickets to al
points on the M. & O. R. R. ant
to all points south Of the Obi
and east of the Mississippi riv
ers at rate of One and On
Third fare for the round trip
Ack AGENTS for narticularS.