The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1913-06-26
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
5 A LETTER FROM "Po0R CONRAD"
Editor County Record

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Editor County Record
This will inform the readers Of
your valuable and ever welcome pa
per that the writer is now located
on the bank of the old, historic (Wee
Nee) Black river, where bis dreams
of more than half a century are re-
allied at last, and l mention this as |
believe it will interest my friends,
many Of whom l have never seen
from boyhood days up to the pres
ent time. have been rambling up
and down this old swamp, sometimes
wading the murky waters, a string
of fish in one hand and fishing-rod
in the other; sometimes on the way
back would be creeping through the
darkest recesses after wild turkey
or duck; sometimes drifting down on
the bosom of the river on a raft to
Georgetown; sometimes flatboating
rosin and turpentine, polling up the
river with three faithful colored
hands through heat, cold or rain
old ante-bellum slave time workers,
only one of them left around here
now. will mention his name-An-
trum Reardon. He still meets me
with his familiar laugh and hand
shake and still calls me Mas Con-
rad, though l was not his master.
AS ! have mentioned that am To-
Gated quite near the river, will tell
the readers of The County Record
that Mr. w S Dennis has erected a
nice building over his saw-mill, with
an upstairs apartment with comfort
able rooms for himself, one brother,
an uncle and myself. He has given
me the most desirable room, fronting
on the river, where I can sit, look,
gaze up and down the stream, won
der, and, as Bill Arp used to say, ru-
inmate on the way back, and of time
in its flight. As l notice the drift
wood, trash and bubbles as they come
floating down and soon pass out Of
sight, l am reminded of many things
and scenes of our lives. We notice
more closely the large pieces of trees
and drift and make some remark of
round saw-log that is of value still
passing down the stream, like the.
big people of our land, and often the
small rubbish and trash, like the
writer, are scarcely seen at all, but,
Mr. Editor,I think it is good for some
of us to be obscure as well as poor.
We shall have our day here, rich or
poor, high or low. Like the drift
wood, we are passing down, some
times sailing along quite smoothly
and again whirling fast or slowly in
some eddy or in a rapid against a
snag, not knowing what will happen
next.
We are quite comfortably fixed up
in our upstairs apartments. Mr.
Dennis has placed a nice cook stove
with kitchen furniture outfit, and
with some l had of my own, it makes
housekeeping arrangements COM
plete. We do our own cooking, hav-
ing plenty of the best stove wood
and an excellent well of water at
our hands. AS am an early riser |
usually cook breakfast and when
nearly ready give a vigorous rap and
the other sleepers are soon on hand,
each with his spoon and plate, help
ing himself right from from the
hominy pot and frying pan. When
ever | do the cooking Ihave the ket-
ties with hot water and let some one
else wash the dishes, and if water is
not poured into the hominy pot to
make it easy to clean, or if dirty wa
ter is left in the wash-pan after wash
ing face and hands, they have a
short, snappy sermon from me.
l suppose some reader perhaps
would like to know what | do for a
living. Well, a good deal of logging