The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1909-08-20

While the boys were sitting around
the stove in the corner grocery, talk
ing Of the dangers and hardships of
the soldiers during the War Between
the States, the old veteran on the
nail keg slowly knocked the ashes
from his pipe and said:
"Boys, you waste lot Of unde-
served sympathy upon the old SOL
diers. Now, they had their inning,
too, they had their bright sides as
we'll as the shadows. Did ever tell
you, boys, about our trip down the
James? Or, rather, about 1.-The
seven girls that danced at the Model
Farm" No? Well, III tell you.'
The old follower Of Lee had gotten
his pipe reflled by this time, packing
the weed down in the bowl with the
little finger Of his left hand, and he
struck a match, and began:
Well, there were really eight, but
Connie being widow, she didn't
count. Down the James, mile or two
below Richmond, in little dell, sur
rounded by high cliffs, the promontory
Of old Chimborazzo, jutting out over
the stream, is the little city Of Rock
etts. Who built it, or what it was
ever built for, in that God-forsaken
hole, no one ever seemed to know.
At first glance it seemed perfect
human cesspool, where the offscour-
ing Of Richmond and the coast cities
could collect and live.
You could get anything in Rock
etts, from a jack-knife, to having
your throat cut, mostly the latter.
There were no police regulations and
robberies, sandbagging and throat
cutting were Of frequent occurrence.
It was filled, at the time I'm telling
you about, with sailors, river thieves,
smugglers, and blockade runners,
chased up stream by the advance OF
Grants gun boats. All the denlzens
of the underworld seemed to seek a
home there, and just such a go-lucky
free and easy city was the haven Of
the soldier. There were dance halls,
gambling hells, and gin shops, going
night and day. You could get a
clean, straight game there, too, if
you. set with. a cooked revolver at
your right. Standing in the big bluff
overlooking the little city, at night,
you would think for moment it was
the red light and demimonde district
Of great city, but it was not. There
were some as fine girls there as ever
lived. even daughters Of the F. F. v,
driven there by stress Of circumstan-
ces.
Oh: Rockets was dandy in those
days for the soldier, always a frolic,
a fight, or just any old thing in the
way Of sport.
But between the girls Of Rockets
and those of Richmond there was a
continued feud. If you went with a
girl Of Rockets, the Richmond girl
| was sure to down YOU, and vice versa.
Why the deadly enmity between
! neighborilg towns l never understood.
Rockets called Richmond "uppish, -
and Richmond retorted by calling
Rockets, "common.
In the army, like in the far West,
We never enquired very closely into
ones family or antecedents, so long
as the party was all right at the time.
And our girls of Rockets were just
splendid.
After Cold Harbor, and the bloody
battle from the Wilderness to the
James, Kershaw's South Carolina
Brigade lay for awhile just below
Rockets, and the alluring tales the
privates would tell Of girls, dance
halls and grog were too much for the
young officers to stand. The privates
would run the blockade" as slip
ping through the sentinels was called,
and just here the times of their lives,
while the officers. You know 1t
wasn't good form. in fact, against
army regulations, for officers to min
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