Year: 1879

II Au'HCehG Flhey WOOuSs
MISSISSIPPI CITY, March, Goth, 1879.
: Give me elbow room old fellow, turn mt
loose and let my pen, erst~while all rusty
sing the praises that months ago it pined
to sing of the deep blue sea and the depths
of the piney woods.


We live, we breathe, we have our being,
but we know nothing until we travel
You in the billy district of the State, shell,


tered over by the canopies of Legislative


halls, know nothing of the pleasures that


mankind enjoy about the coast. Hence say


stand aside old fellow and give me elbow


room.


Sitting to-day in balmy atmosphere


with warm summer wind blowing over
the gulf and tanning away the hot blasts of


the sun, I listen to the music of the ocean
waves. Far out on the CULTS deep bosom
I see the white capped breakers beating so
slowly but so surely to the beach. Feath-
cry and light, conceived in natures womb,
growing stronger and stronger with each
heart throb of this mighty globe, they come
towards Inc and dashing on the beach, with,
a crash they disappear in spray like dreams
that l have dreamed in days gone by.
Again with melancholy swish they die the
death and make no sign. By the gods, old
fellow, but love the ocean with its roar
and music, love to hear its waves when
they thunder on the strand, and 1 love to
hear the gentle tapping of its waters when
they come in gentle dreamy movements and
die and give no sign.


But business calls me from my dreams.
Forty miles away my camp awaits my
presence and bid adieu to oceans sights
and ocean reveries. saddle my sprightly
mustang pony and with the morning sun l
leave these sights and scenes behind and
take to the piney woods. Ger long Dixy.
The coast is behind US, we leave / andsboro
with its busy mills and piles of sawdust far
behind. Brother Crav foot crosses us over
the bayon Bernard in the flat, the town of
Stonewall looms up in the distance and is
rapidly passed. We near the church house
on the hill, and passing that, are in the piney
woods.


Ger long Dizzy The pine straw from the
trees form splendid road for the little
mustangs hoofs, the green grass is sprout-
ing over the late burns and the daises are
blooming all about us. The hill sides are
focked with sheep and lambs and the bays
are peopled with cattle and hogs in multi
tudinous profusion. There is not house
in sight, nor fence for miles, nothing but
the magnificent pine forests that stretch
on either side, in front and rear. Dear
jump before my view, wild turkeys rustic in
branches, the sweet health giving breezes
of the woods fan my brow, and over all the |
tall pine tops wave signing and singing
their mournful melodies-the voice of God
in the wilderness.


'Whoo Dizzy 1t is noon and a'log cabin
by the roadside offers inducements for man
and beast to stop and refresh. Come here,
old fellow, and see log cabin. l might
tell you some time hereafter of its comforts
and conveniencies but not now. My mind
IS too full of the blessing l enjoy in this
heaven blessed country for me to stoop to
plain descriptive and must fly. hate to
MENTION the milk and eggs drank and ate,
hate to tell of what I saw, but love,
lid time permit, to dwell on the hospitali
les of the people of the piney woods.
Re-saddled and refreshed with a short
est and bountiful feed Dixie bears me on.
Through boggy bays and deep slues,
through dark avenues where the rays of
he sun scarce shine, with no sound save
he moaning of the winds in the tree tops
md the clatter of the mustangs hoofs over
he straw bestrewn path, we wend our way +
nd the sun setting in the west finds us {
orty miles from our starting point, on the 1
hores Of dead lake. am expected and nc I
ime elapses ere a bountiful supper of
resh fish and biscuit, such as only an old Z
can prepare, is placed before L
ne. The tired pony is lariatted and on a S
ed of pine straw lay me down to sleep, a
appy, so happy, with no care, no trouble, 9
nd as slip off in the land of dreams I 7
IN lulled by the songs of the raftsmen. '


"I care for nobody, no not l, N


And nobody cares for mo-" 4


WM G.. I