The Tupelo journal., 1909-12-10
Snap Shots
BY COL. W. L. CLAYTON.
Author Of Pen Pictures Of the
Olden Time.

3 well, oiHSO "iiibs my q . oiAeA~
for the Journal, I've maae~a few more
observations, and this time | left the
! city and went to the country to make
I them. All, the country! What a hap
ply name! / was myself born and
raised in the country, and although |
moved from it into town when | was
twenty-five years old, and have lived
in town ever since, the country has
ever had a charm for me, and for
many years desired to return to my
first love. And right here ! desire to
say I have thought many young men
make the mistake of their lives in leav-
ing the farm FOR the store. Most young
men raised in the country seeing the
town boys wear finer clothes than they,
and imagining their work is much
lighter than that on the farm, have
a desire TO move into the towns and
have a good time. They make two
mistakes: First, in thinking the town
man has an easier time than he, and
secondly, in laying too much stress
on the clothes we wear. Many young
men leave the country and 90 to town,
work hard and keep late hours, and
when ten years have passed they are
no better off than when they began
their career. There may not be big
money in the farm, but the farmer
works for himself and plans for him
self and goes at the command OF none
but himself and his better half, while
most of the men coming from the coun-
try to the town are simply employees of
others and must do as they say. But
the charm and loneliness of the coun-
try. the singing Of the wild birds among
the forests, the cackline and %gobbling
of the domestic fowls, the lowing of the
herd as they slowly wend their way
homeward as the sun sets beneath the
western hills, the frolicing of the young
colts on the hillside, the cheerful reCo9-
milton of the porkers as the feed is
/ fbrotyn 10 thor, tho hoo rtiF,11 t1rFnlH-
ing of the growing crops, the smell of
the new mown hay and the thousand
varied hues of the autumn foliage, vel
low, green, brown and carnation, all
mingled and blended by the great
Master Painter, tar surpass, in my
judgment, anything that the town or
CITY can give. And then when the
crops are all gathered in and the rainy
days come the cheerful cracking of
the old-time wood fire lends a charm
and interest to reading not to be had
elsewhere.
But | started out to tell of soma
things | saw and observed on a trip
from the city to the country. 1t was
a trip from Tupelo to Shannon by
way of Verona. Beyond Verona | took
the road on the west of the railroad,
and when | got south Of Verona a short
distance, on the Davis old place, where
my old-time friend Tom Cunningham
lived so long, | found the road still
turned square to the right, as it has
for many years, and gees in that direc-
ton for about one-half mile, and then
turns back interesting with the line |
left just east of the old John McGauehy
place. Following a south line for some
| distance below or south of the said
McGaughy place, the road is all right,
when it again turns a short distance
directly to the west, or right, and con-
tinues in that direction into CooneWah
bottom, and then again turns square to
the left a distance of about a quarter
Of a mile to the railroad. In the win
Ter and spring this Coonewah bottom
part of the road is almost impassa able,
while there is a good RIDGE route from
the place where the road turned west
south of the McGauehy place to the
point where it comes back TO the rail
road, and at least a quarter nearer.
Surely the attention of our present
board of supervisors has not been
called to these two crooks in this road
or they would have corrected it before
now. | have travelled that road for
many years and this blight has always
existed, and yet | have gone on and
said nothing about it, and | suppose
everybody else has done the same, 5
you know SO much is being said now
days about good roads and better road
that | think it a good time 10 make
some suggestions about correcting such
unnecessary lengthening of roads. Time