Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1911-02-24
AN ECHO OF
THE LONG AGO
when the Summer Days
Are Gone, Dear, and the
Leaves Begin to Fall.

oSSi tSSO"h, Ay.s hcp' IOs ISII
142 Chambers Ave.
Dear Bro. Leslie: My daughter,
Mrs. 1. w. Baldwin, has just handed
me your receipt for the dollar l sent
you. On the back of which / find n
request for something on my long ago
school days. Two or three years ago,
while talking to old Bro. Jno.
Sweeny, of Paris, KY, and one of
the brainiest men l ever met, when
he told me that during the late un-
pleasantness, his regiment camped
near farmers house. One "of the
boys" asked permission to go into n
forest close by squirrel hunting. Af-
ter hunting while, and finding no
game, he started back to camp, and
seeing crow sitting on the farmers
yard fence shot it. While standing
with the crow held up, looking at it,
the farmer stepped out on him. 81
see you've killed crow" said the
farmer. eyes" said the soldier.
"Gun good y" said the farmer. 81
can knock Yankees eye out 200
hundred yards, "said the boy. "Would
you let me look at it?' said the far
mer, and the boy handed him the
gun. The farmer stepped back, cock
ed the gun, and said, "Now, eat
that crow, or 1'll put hole in you. "
The sold er, seeing there was no way
out of it, stripped the feathers from
the crows breast and took bite. The
farmer said, "That will do sir Go
to your command and kill more crows
you find sitting on yard fences" The
soldier made few steps, turned
around and said, care you going to
keep my gunl" NO." said the far
mer, "take your gun, and git" The
soldier reached for his gun, stepped
off few steps, turned ON his heel
and said, "Now, d--n you, eat the
balance of that crow, or I'll put a
hole in you'll The farmer took a
bite, and the boy told him that would
do and walked off to camp. After a
while the boy was summoned to the
Generals tent and there sat the far
mer. Said the General, "Do you
know that gentleman?" pointing to
the farmer. Certainly" said the
soldier, 1--WE dined together today.
Now you are young, with a good head
and splendid digestion, eat your own
crow
Seven years ago the sweet, patient
sharer of the joys and sorrows OF
more than so years of my life, left
me for country where sickness, sor-
row, pain and death are absent. Just
two weeks before she died, she told
me she couldn't live, and recited the
chorus of an old song that fingers
with me yet:
"When the summer days are gone
dear, and the leaves begin to
fall,
Will you be just the same as now,
and sweetheart vows recall?
Will the remory of our love, dear,
be just like an old sweet song Z?
And whisper the sweet old story,
when the summer days are
gomez"
l have been reclining these last
three months, in an old arm chair in
my daughters house here, who treats
me all right, and is as sweet to me
as the smile of sleeping infant
bleeding to death by inches, and am
preparing gossip FOR the starlight of
my boyhood," who stands waiting
and watching" at the gate to well
come the man who still remembers
the chorus and loves her in the same
old way. 1 shall enjoy the News
while live, and when forget to
pay, don't hesitate to remind me.
You have no warmer friend than
your absent, sick scribbler.
Yours truly,
r. GILLESPIE.
P S. / notice you are little bit
absent minded and I've been thinking
perhaps you had strained yourself
trying to lift Russell county into
Congress. I'm glad for your sake il
was the lower in place of the upper
house, else the News might be wear.
ing Grape.