The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-06-03
name Of Todd.

Nancy thought we'll of them both
and was at a great loss to know which
to accept.
Finally she concluded to take it to
the Lord; so going into the barn one
day she prayed somewhat as follows:
"Oh Lord, please to direct me in this
my dilema!-which of the two shall l
take, Lathers or Todd?"
Now it happened that just at that
time Jacky was coming along a path
that led close by the barn, and hear
ing Nancy's prayer, he said-"Hae
Lathers, hae Lathers for Lathers hath
iva kline and Todd hath name" which
in plain English means-Have Lath-
ers, have Lathers, for Lathers hath
two COWS and Todd hath none. And
So, believing that the Lord had ans
wered her prayer, she married Lath-
ers, and they soon afterwards came to
America, and settled in this country.
| have heard it said Of Old Nancy
that on one occasion finding a rat
which had fallen into a bowl Of cream,
after fishing 1t out with a spoon, she
took it by the head and drawing 1t
through her thrumb and fore-finger,
threw it away, saying you brot nath-
irg vie We and veil take nathing vie
|ye."
The late Judge Thomas Thomson
was, for a long time before becoming
a Judge, a practicing attorney at the
Abbeville bar, and cotemporaneous
with Mr.. Burt.
He was a very modest man, as quick
to blush as was any young girl, at
that time, and was readily confused
when made the butt of a joke.
I remember Mr.. Burt disconcerting
the Judge very much by telling bis
experience with him while attending
a meeting o fthe Supreme Court in Co.
lumbia on one occasion.
It seems that the hotels were very
much crowded and Mr.. Burt and the
Judge had to occupy the same room
hut had separate beds. Mr.. Burt said
that in a short while after they had
retired, or gone to bed, Tommy began
| snoring at a terrible rate and kept 1t
10 the entire night, so much so that
he, Burt, got no sleep at all. The next
lay, Tommy, having gotten through
with his business, left for home, leaV-
ing Mr.. Burt sole occupant Of the
.oom the second night. Being tired
| md very sleepy, from having been de-
orived Of sleep the night before BY
~eason, as he said, Of Tommy's snor-
ne, he retired very early thinking to
get a good nights sleep, but to his
great disappointment he couldn't
sleep at all and the reason for it was.
he missed Tommy's snoring.
In the early fall of 1861, I became &
member of the company Of whicf
Judge Thomson was the Captain. We
we're at first sent to Sullivan's Island
and was the %ncucleus around which
was formed the End Rifle Regiment.
In the following spring the regi
nent was sent down on the coas;
about Adams run.
Shortly afterwards Captain Thorn
sons Company was detached from the
regiment and sent to guard a brigade
connecting Johns Island and Ward
law Island.
At that time 1 held the distinguished
position of Corporal. 1 remember the
first night after we arrived at the
place to which our Company was as
signed, Captain Thomson took charge
Of the guards consisting of some II
or Is men and I was Corporal OF the
guard.
The guards we're changed every
two hours and when not on duty &C.
cupied an old out house in which
there were a lot of shucks.
That night there vas a fellow on
guard whose name was Beasly and
his post was very near the waters
edge.
A regiment Of Yankees were sta
tened on a point Of land, at a little
village called Rockville, which was in
plain sight.
This fellow Beasly vas the most
nervous, excitable person I ever saw,
and every now and then he would call
for the corporal of the guard" and
of course I would have to go to see
what was the matter.
When I would get to where he was
he would have the anne tale to tell
that he had distinctly heard the
splashing of the paddles Of a boat IN
the water, and could see lights on the
boat.
After being called by him several
times and getting pretty tired of it,
resolved to thoroughly investigate the
matter and on dong so, I found that
what he had taken for the sound of
the paddles Of a boat, being rowed-|
was the tide coming in and the lights
which he had seen were nothing more
than the phosphoresent lights to be