The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-04
Struggle Of Pettus
 t0 Secure Education

occasion to regret that she had made the sacrifice to send me to school, and when the time came for school to open, | mounted the little old pony, bade my home folks and my sweetheart good bye. and. turning the horses head to- ward the mountains of Tennessee, he old home folks I loved so we'll were soon out of sight behind me.
 'In a week or ten days reached the school and after I had gotten a good boarding house few miles out in the country. as cheap as 1 could pro- cure 1t, l showed up at the school the first day that it opened and if a fellow ever did study, I certainly did. The four or five mile,- ride morning and house did not seem to be much, for I had goal In vbw. an education to get, and life before me looked like some beautiful panorama.
 Well, l remained at this school fer four long years before I returned home. l did not have the money to pay my expenses over the mountains to the home back in Alabama. and remained in the neighborhood of the school and did something during vacation to help my mother pay my expenses at this boarding school.
 Finally the four years were up and the time had come for me to wend my way back over the path that I had come. l saddled the same little old pony that had been so faithful to me during all of these your years, Dade the good folks with whom I had lived so long, adieu. and. with a heart full of happy anticipations. turned the head of the little old pony toward the south again.
 When I got within thirty or forty miles of home, the idea occurred to me <, NRP fo. so that l could play practical Joke on my mother and the boys when I got home, for I had changed from an awkward box of l6 to a well-developed man of 20.
 T made the swap for a mule and next day made it convenient to ride up to my mothers home about dusk and holler, hello, as was the custom in those days, when you wanted to get lodging for the night and my sweet old mother came to the door and stood on the piazza and answered my call She told me in that mild, gentle man. her of hers. that she was not prepared to take in strangers for the night, but that if I was willing to come in and make myself ome-folks that 1 was welcome
 Of course I told her that nothing would delight me more than to partake of her hospitaiIty under such cir cumstances, and l got down off my mule. took the saddle off, went to the horse lot with the boys and helped them to feed the stock, and then saun- tered on back to the house with them. I went out on the back piazza to the long board on which the water bucket and wash bowl stood, and washed my face and hands and dried off the water on the clean, white towel that hung against the wall. as had done thous- ands of times before. all the time chatting with my brothers and making myself agreeable.
 After awhile the time came for sup per. I was invited in the same old dining room where I had eaten 50 many times before, and in short while I was eating the finest of fried chicken. ham, eggs, fresh butter and |. other good things that were always raised on the farm back in those good old days, when the soil of Alabama was so fertile and 1t was impossible for us to keep our smoke houses and corn cribs in the West, on account of | the impossibility of transporting these | commodities from one section of the | country to another, for there were no railroads in those days in this section | of the country.
 q sat there at the table and ate and talked about everything that I could think of, being afraid all the time | that some one of the family would | recognize me. Finally I heard the ne- | gro servant whisper in my mothers | ear.
 Missus. fo'. God I believe dat is 1 Mars Edmund
 l II thought that the jig was up then, | but was treasured in moment. when I heard my mother say under breath:
 "No, it's not; I would know my boy.'
 At this remark I commenced to talk faster about something else so | as to throw my mother off the track. | and l succeeded. for l got through supper without being recognized.
 After awhile. bed time came, and
 I was shown to my room. and l
 thought that I had succeeded in fool | ing them, intending to break the good
 news to them in the morning after a
 good nights sleep, for I knew if l
 told them who I was that there would
 be no sleep in that household that l night.
 My mother told the boys of the old | negro servants suspicious as to who | I was. and before I had gotten to bed 1 one of my brothers walked into the | room and, looking me square in the
 face, said:
 Look here ain't you my brother
 Edmund"
 q knew it would do no good to try
 to fool them any longer, so l said:
 ."Of course I ann didn't you know
 tT
 "Then there was a reunion scene in
 that house. and 1t was many hours
 after midnight before any or us
 thought about going to sleep. so busy
 were we telling each other of what
 we had gone through with since we
 had separated.
 Next day about noon l told my
 mother that was very anxious to sec
 an uncle who lived some hfteen or
 twenty miles away, and that I thought
 I would get on my mule and ride over
 there, and surprise him betore he