The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1946-08-16

cepllnP the anu TWO SUITS,
were barefooted, and yet the
dancing girls sported finger-rings
in abundance, and wore basque
dresses of calico. Only two of
the eighteen children had ever
travelled from home as far as
Mobile, and the first crop knew
not how to read; the second were
more fortunate, for a school had
lately been established in a set
Element about five miles distant,
which consisted of fifteen schol-
airs, seven of whom were the
children of the host. He was the
postmaster for that region, and
the uncalled-for copies of certain
weekly papers were used to orna-
ment the walls of the habitation.
During one of the nights that l
spent under this roof. the school
master was abroad" for he had
come on a visit to the planters
family, the event was celebrated
by a jo~llification which beggars
description, and, when he started
Or his log cabin, which was three
miles distant, he went alone
through the painless woods, carry
ing a CUR in one hand, and a pine
torch in the other. In the yard
attached to this house, pigs, dogs,
geese and chickens, were abun
dant, and kept up a perpetual
clatter; and, hanging from the
beams, or stacked in corners, were
no less than thirteen guns.
Hunting
With regard to the surrounding
attractions of this Mississippi
home, so far as the glorious pine
woods, the neighboring cypress
swamp, and the abundance OF
game, were concerned, it would be
difficult to exaggerate. From the
lord of the manor | learned that
deer were abundant, but were
hunted chiefly by torchlight. He
knew a small party who, in q
single week, had killed one hun
dred; and. while he did not think
this mode of hunting cruel, he was
very severe upon the hunters, be-
cause they sometimes killed his
cattle instead of the game, by
mistaking the shining eyes (tht
mark shot att of the one fol
those of the other. He stated tina
the deer always ranged through
the pine-woods at night for the
purpose of feeding, remaining hid.
den in the swamps during the day
that a good hunter could always
tell, by the noise the deer made
in leaping, whether he was NOR
tally wounded or not; and thai
many Of them were also killed by
still-hunting and driving, but tina
fire-hunting was the most prof
table. In speaking of the hab'
its of the deer, he told me tina
they were much more tame il
summer than in the winter, anc
that he had often killed then
wandering about his cleared
fields in company with his cattle
that he has known them to feec
upon green corn and upon various
kinds of soft-shelled nuts, As wei
as tenoer buds and wild grass
that ne had witnessed some ter.
rible fights between the bucks
and that fawns. when kindly
treated, are easily tanned, but very
mischievous. Another very abun'
dant .denizen of the Mississippi
woods is the wi!d-turkey. o.
these, my host told me that they
were exceedingly cunning, but
not sufficiently 81 to avoid the
bats of corn that are laid fol
them, and which, with the gu;
or trap, secure their destruction
by the hundred. They are alsC
deceived by the call which tn,
hunters make by means of a whis'
tie. formed out of the wing-bont
of the same fowl. They spenc
their days in the enjoyment of the
happiest freedom. and, on return.
ing to their roosts at night, never
fail to have at least one sentine
on duty. The average weight Of
the female turkey in Mississippi
is estimated at twelve pounds
and that of the male at twenty