Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1910-09-16

BY BENZ. F. WULFF, OF STOCK
: TON. CAL. A FORMER GREENE
COUNY, MISS. RESIDENT.
$~111111~N

Editor Greene County Herald
Another September will return
In good autumnal fashion,
And the pc Il fall upon his harp
In something of u passion
Gande rbones in Herald.
Then old October will bob up
With taters sweet. and sop
And all the gals ard boys will sup
The joys of life, and dance the hop.
IS you like it.
Now all this may not be smart
writing, but Ganderbones went to
September and stopped. l wanted
to give October q chance.
Some time ago +. NJ. Baldwin of
Nicely, gave me Il bunch and now
comes Watermelon of Janet with
another, so it appears that l must
make amends or fall into what Mir.
Cleveland, our former President, was
pleased to call ''innocuous dessue-
tude. -
Some time ago | intimated that |
might say something about my eX-
periences in this state, and us some
of your readers might possibly find
some interest in such story, | Will
begin what may be Il series OF stories
by cling something of the first Years
of d green young Greene County man
| in the Golden State.
In the first part of the centennial
year, 1876, | landed in Santa Clara.
California, fresh from Mississippi.
had the Mississippi backWood> lam
guage, manners, and all, perfectly
apparent all over me. One could see
it in my clothes, in my face, in my
face, in my WALK, and, indeed, III ev-
cry attitude [ might assume.
About the first thing | did was to
come down with very severe attack
of the measles, ard some six weeks
later, | emerged from my sick-room
with very little flesh upo nmy bones,
and a cough that could be heard all
over the neighborhood. Thus | be-
came an object of interest in the COM
munity.
A prominent doctor, living some
blocks away, was aroused one morn
ing by what he supposed was the
sposmadic belching of d rather hoarse
but newly form volcOnO out west OF
him and he proceeded to investigate.
AS il result of his Investigations and
subsequent discussion with my uncle,
[ was requested to retire to the red
woods in the mountains OF this coast.
They suggested this they said for my
health, but | suspect it was for their
/ own. Nary ID mountain move for me.
A little latter on Il suggestion wa S
made by this doctor via Of my uncle
thatlattend the State Normal School
for the Education of teachers, that |
might become teacher as had cOu-
sumption and would never be strong
again. This suggestion 10 attend
that school, which | may say paren-
tbeticalIy was the best perhaps at
that time extant, struck me in the
right spot and DIT once determined
my future career for at least d score
Of years.
Now l went abruptly enough into
new suit of clothes and into the
school. but went gradually out OF
the cough and into a less cad1yerous
condition of physique.
At this time my backwoods man
ners and backWoodS language laden
with the provincalisms OF the South,
made me d sort Of curious Specimen.
At the school they had in the library
various specimens of bugs and other
insects pinned upon cards, that they
might be studied at times by the pu
pills. The people whom / met about
the school looked at me with sort of
round eyed observation with mark
ed tendency to suspect that | was a
huge chronological specimen that
had escaped from the card in the Ii
brarv.
Then my aunt who thought | ought
to have IA sweetheart selected for that
purpose u fet dutch girl and intro
duced me Said Dutch damsel after
inspecting me, pronounced me too
green and again [ was left in the cen
ter of d vast solitude in q civilized
community.
AsIwas left alone by others ex-
cept on occasions of inspection, | had
nothing else to do but apply myself
to my books. This | done every
night until about eleven oc''ck, and
| T spent the days in school and riding
ON the street cars back and forth a
distance of three miles between Santa
Clara and San Jose.
This close application to books and
close observation of things about me,
in time wrought a change in my per-
sonal appearance, in my language, in
nv manners, in my educational
standing generally, and particularly
among the members of my class.
NV memory is that there were in
| 81. 81 ~ +hat t;p,o about six or