The Lexington progress. (Lexington, Tenn.) 1884-current, 1921-04-08

| famlly.
The other Tom Chappell owned and
lived on a good farm on Buffalo riv-
ser, near Flatwoods and owned and
operated a gristmill for both corn and
wheat, on Postum creek, perhaps a
mile from his home. Tom Chappell
finally went to Tennessee River and
bought an old steamboat boiler, with
which to enlarge the scope of his mill
and l remember seeing thirteen yoke
of oxens pull that immense boiler, on
a log wagon across Buffalo river, the
loose rock bar on the border of the
river and then on through Flatwoods
to Postum creek. After old man
Chapel installed his big "biler' and
otherwise improve his mill-adding a
large capacity saving outfit and
FIGURING mill, used to take turns OF
wheat to that mill and if did not
choose or did not have time to wait
for my own particular wheat to be
ground, if of good quality, the old
man would give me for it 40
pounds of flour with the regular pro-
portion o fshorts and bran. Old man
Tom was a great talker ana they did
say that on occasion he was exceed
ing economical in his use Of the truth;
so, while we lived over there it came
to the ears Of Jim Riley, who ran a
little water mill on Beech creek-the
kind that will stop grinding to play
with a grain of red corn--that old
man Tom had been handling his
name. Riley lost no time in gurding
up his loins, mounting his dimuni-
tive specimen Of the only amman
in the world that is said to have Meth
pride of ancestry nor hope Of pos
terity, and faring forth for his
demesne on Beech Creek to the
balwich of old man Chappell on
the little more than a branch, call
ed by the natives Postum creek-the
fact that an apostrophie should be
used at the beginning of the word
to indicate the commission of the let
ter, having never reached the confines
of that particular erosion in the
Earth's surface. Reaching the Chap
pell mill, Mr.. Riley was not deturred
from consummation Of his mission
from calling the old gentleman from
the midst of crowd and thus max
ing known the cause of his presence
on the property of his brother miller.
"Mr. Chappell, / hear so-and-so has
been said, it is an unadulterated lie
and | have traced it to your door. You
have got that falsehood to swallow
here and now or somebody about the
size Of you or me is going to take a
licking" Just as soon as Riley made
a pause and gave old man Chappelf
half chance, the old man raised
his right hand and replied in an ex-
preston, the first part of which I
have heard him use on various and
sundry occasions, to-wit: "Now looy
here boss. II you hain't caught me in
five hundred you amt as shary as
thought you was" Jim Riley said
that if old man Cheppell was willing
to acknowledge that falsehood and
400 others, he had nothing left to do
but to remount his beast of burden
and return to his mill on Beech creek.
With all that old man Chappell was
a good man at home with most ex-
cellent wife, fine daughter, Eller, a
likable son called "Min," still another
and the younger, Bob, Of whom the
old man said that when Ben died he
was going to have inscribed on his
monument, "Here lies the Truth
taking it for granted that there is
some truth in everybody, but added
that he'd take Bible oath it has
never come out of Ben.
Religiously old man Chappell was
some sort of Methodst-and q
backslider. One of the parts of four
summers we lived over there came the
usual big Meetin'" of the year held
in the Flatwoods church and old man
Chappell came considerably worked
up, went home and fell across his
bed from some sort of stroke-never
again to arise or to regain conscious
ness. My daddy was his doctor and
they put me on an old mule named
"Gin," whose natural gate was run
ming away, las Carmack said of
Roosevelt) to go to Clifton after my
uncle, DR.. William Barry. Old "Gin"
wore army bits with prodegious lev
ers to which the bridal reins were at
tached and chain curb--but such
equipment did not alter the fact that
every time old "Gin" started she
stopped with planted fore feet and
every time | induced her to start by
use of clud and spur she ran away
but this was intended for disserta-
ton on the Chappell family, not old
"Gin," so | must desist. Old man
Tom died from the stroke and il there
is single one of his immediate fam
lily living, | do not know it.
w. V. BARRY.