The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1916-06-23

her old age, recite ballad after bal
lad that she had learned in her youth,
was familiar with the early English
authors, quite an admirer of DIR. John
son. Her favorite maid was called
Peknah after one of Johnson's hero
ines. She was always ready with a
quotation from some favorite author
and could make apt application of it.
1 remember after she was very
old lady, widow living all alone up
in the hills, taking young friend of
mine to visit her. The young lady
was very beautiful and her name was
Aurora. When introduced my
| friend, Mrs. Murray took her hand
and smilingly said, "She is neither
Rora nor Dora nor Sheleneghira, but
her name is the fair Deginira.' A
finished woman of society could not
have made more graceful compli-
ment and it took me many days
searching before 1 found the poem
amongst the old British poets that
she quoted from. But her mind was
storehouse filled with poetry and
romance.
She was the welcome guest at all
the gatherings in the country, and was
related or connected with a great
many of the families. l can remem-
ber at the grand dinners and family
gatherings at the Nuckolls mansion
how the kind and courtly William
Nuckolls would take Mrs. Murray on
his arm, giving her precedence over
all the assembled guests, and escort
her to the table, and how the bright
old lady was the life and soul of that
table.
A Visit to Charleston.
One of the incidents of interest in
Mrs. Murray's life handed down to us
was her visit to Charleston. In the
early times just after the close of the
Revolution, Miss Sally, as she was
then, had always felt an earnest de-
sire to visit the city and see the ocean
so she resolved to go. There were no
travelling facilities in those days, so
Miss Sally mounted her good steed,
and went along with her brother when
he carried their produce to market by
wagon. She arrived in the city, found
suitable quarters, had he's crop sold
and set about spending her money.
She bought for herself a handsome
blue silk gown and an adornment for
her head which she called her jockey
cap, crowned with an ostrich plume;
and neglace of brilliants known as
her diamond necklace. She explored
the city from one point to another,
seeing all that was of interest to her.
One evening she was missing and
Brother Billy set out in search of
her. After much trouble and hard
walking, he traced her to the wharf.
There was in the harbor fine British
man-of-war, and on finding that she
had gone on board he followed, and
there was Miss Sally in all her glory
dining with the British officers and
just having a royal time. She would
relate this episode with the greatest
delight.
The famous costume, the blue silk,
jockey cap and diamond necklace, ap-
peared afterwards on all grand occa-
sions. Our old ladies did not change
their fashions often, but when they
got costume it cost money, and it
served more than one generation.
Mrs. Murray was not handsome, but
had fine, strong face. She was
sometimes accused of vanity, but
really what often appeared vanity in
her was only a proper self-apprecia-
tion that went to form the beautiful
roundup of her character and make of
her complete and perfect woman.
A Sensible Woman.
Mrs. Murray was member of the
Fair Forest Presbyterian church and
ia deeply religious woman, but her
mind was too broad and comprehen-
$ive to be influenced by the very rigid
and sometimes fanatical views of the
churches in those days. When the
religious reaction set in after a long
period of license in the Church of
England, one of the very earnest but
unwise old Methodist circuit riders
berated the ladies of the settlement
from the pulpit for their fine clothes.
Mrs. Murray met him soon after and
took him to task for desecrating the
pulpit with such trivial matters as a
woman's dress. "As for me-" she told
hihi' cohsioei auoihhehI hcces-
sity "a thing women owe to them
selves. l would as lief have a COW
without tail as bonnet without a
bow" Mrs. Murray settled the old
fellow; he let the women alone after
that.
She was fond of dancing and en-
joyed it long after the period when
most women give it up. She once said
in defense of dancing that she thought
it made the heart rejoice and grateful
to the Creator "to move by sound of
flute and fiddle, clap hands and down