The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-01-13
VOX POPULI
DEFUNIAK is ENTERPRIsINe.

Editor of The Journal:
The frequent harping upon the
Southern people, telling that they
need the push and backbone of the
Yankee is entirely out of place. The
merchants in DeFuniak are with one
exception all Southern, and a place of
its size having better stores would be
hard to find in any part of our coun-
try. New York and Chicago being so
much larger than any of the cities Of
the South, have a greater accumula-
ton of capitalists and men of energy,
but they also have twenty times as
many tTamps and idle men. / went
to Illinois when there were but thirty
miles of railroad in that state, and
the Suckers" living there then could
eclipse in ignorance any parties liv-
ing in the piney woods back from the
railroads.
The year before we were married
nay wife taught a school within sixty
miles of Chicago in a school house
that had to be bTaced up with rails
to keep it from tUmbling down, and
with knot holes in the floor, conVen-
lent for snakes TO become school Wis
itors, She got a dollar and a half d
week and boarded around. At many
of the places she had to wash her
face and hands in an iron skillet, as
with wheat selling at twenty-five
cents a bUshel, wash basins could
hardly be afforded The Russian war
raising the price of wheat to two dol
lars and the coming of the railroad
enabled us to have a nice brick school
house later on. Before the influx of
summer boarders from Boston, the
ignorance and superstition found on
Cape Cod would be hard for one to
believe who had not been there.
In the winter of 1883 / taught
school on the shore of NarraganSett
Bay, not far from Newport. Boarding
round the constant feed upon Indian
meal pan cakes and salt pork made
one banker for CLANS for a change, so
one Saturday afternoon l asked the
old man on whom / was CHARTERED to
help me dig some clans. Holding a
black cat up to the window and look
ing into her eyes, he said the tide was
low and we dug our clans and as a
result we Toasted on CLANS for several
days The next morning when we
knew the tide was high. 1 tOld the old
man that if he would hold his black
cat UP to the window the light would
make heT eyes give all the Indications
/ of 4 low tide. He would not do ii, as
If / vas correct ne could not tell how
the tide was any more by looking in
d Dihtk Cdt , Cs g. d. Et udU uOliS lOi
over nifty years
To match the snuff sticks. when I
was n boy in Boston. very many of
/ the best ladies in that city carried
! their snuff boxes. and some times took
| a pinch of snuff in church. In 1852
! I had d tenant on my farm in Illinois.
who with his family, was born and
/ raised in Cazenovia- y. Y, one OF the
/ most high-tOned places in tnat state.
( [ boarded with them in a log house,
/ the logs Of which / sawed with my
| own hands The woman was q great
smoker and having lost a tooth in the
| lower left hand corner OF her mouth.
/ her old black pipe constantly hung
down at an angle of Is degrees. One
day as she was making bread 1 tolG
1 her that some of the ashes from her
| pipe fell into the dough. Never you
mind" said she 1T viii take less
saleratus having some soda
/ in them
In conclusion, 1 would say that IL