The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, December 31, 1908, Image 6
REMINISCENCES '
OF POOR CONRAD. I
i
PLAYMATES AND ASSOCIATIONS OF BYGONE
DAYS-TRIBUTES TO DEPARTED i
FRIENDS- TOUCHES UP DELINQUENTS. |
Editor County Kkcokd:?
Christmas has heen coming a long!
tinie hut the time of skyrockets and'
tin crackers are not far away and I
wish to get one more letter in Till-: I
County IIeuokh before the end of
lOOt" and i hope \ou will lie able
anure me room 111 \Y T Valuable i
~I ? .. ,
paper.
It surprises me so much fo -?*e
such good improvements going on
at the capital of Williamsburg euun-1
ty. Kingstrce is putting on much !
airs. Those sidewalks aie lovely,
quite graud. They astonish the natives.
Kingstree is a city on a hill
with fine farming country on all
sides, healthy climate, tiue water
which some large cities would give
millions to have, free from the
dreaded mosquitoes and has as handsome
women as are to be found in
our South laud, with many ministeriDg
angels among them. God
bless them! Great shall be their j
reward.
My old fiiend and comrade, Jimmy
Chandler, called to see me a few
days ago. I had not seen him in
many years, but his familiar voice
made me know him at once.
I have just returned from a pleasant
trip to Mr J J M Graham's of
Cades. I leeeived a letter from Mrs
Graham asking me to come and mend
the cooking range as she said she had
so much baking to do and I can al*
most guess why so much baking is
to be done. Well, I went up aud
mended the stove. Mr Graham's
children are a due, healthy lot and
they were all so glad to tee me, as I
stayed with Mr Graham several
months about three years ago and 1
am always welcome at his house
Mrs Graham, like many other good
ladies, knows how handy I am.
There are always several small jobs
foTConrad, no matter at whose
house I happen to be. Most of them
know 1 can mend the stove, put
new locks on the doors, make new
gate latches, chop stove wood, walk
and sing for the crying baby and if
no horse is handy can trot for the
doctor, if necessary.
Well, I will go back to old Black
river and Pudding swamp. I catw
not forget Mr S R Mouzon aud his
family. I was np to see him some
time ago and we talked aboat the
present and a good many things
that happened in the past.
"When I was married to my lirst
wife Mr Ruffin Mouzon said to me:
"Conradf come down and live here.*'
Well. I went down and lived in the
same house with Mr Mouzon for
one whole year. His poor mother
was sorely afflicted with the saddest
case of rheumatism and was confined
in bed for 1G long years, but
her loving kindness never grew cold
while her true Christian life lasted
She was a kind friend to Conrad,
the name by which I was called and
am to this day by all the old ones.
Yes, the Mouzons are a friendly,
kind-hearteu people. I have known
them for nearly GO jears, have lived
by them and we have never quarreled
or had a dispute of any kind, and
while I am writing about the Pudding
swamp people 1 will mention
the name of some of the Burgess
family. Many members of that
family gave their lives for the cause
that was lost. Mr Alexander Burgess
lost a son,the only child the old
man had. Mr doe Burgess, 1 believe,
lost four sons. The first, I
think, was killed at the first battle
of Manassas. His name was Neddy.
I will relate what I was told occured
while the tight was hottest. J)r
John McLeod, who was near Neddy,
got a ball fastened in his musket,
and as it was hard to ram down, began
to cuss. Neddy was a pious
man and said: "Oh John, better be
praying." "No time for praying
now," said John, "give 'em h?!''
Dr Samuel Burgess lost his oldest
son. John was his name, and lie
was a line specimen of manhood. He
had been married only a few years
to a Miss Brand, a lovely lady, as
good as she was lovely. She was
very pretty with ro3y cheeks. 1 can j
\
remember what an old colored man
said on seeing her at a party on
Black river before she was married.
His name wasOyrusFluitt and while a
slave ht belonged to Mr James Epps,
the father of Mr J I' Epps of Cades,
borne one asked Cyrus if Miss Brand
was not a pretty lady. lie said: "I
'clare to God, moss, the backra gal
face look like one town apple."
"Town apples'' were not so common
in those days a? nor. Yes, poor
John went away to Virginia to war
and Eft his pretty wife and two
darling babes, but th-y had hopes
that pupa would come back home
before long. Thev would sit around
the fire place at night and talk about
papa's coming home and til- poor.
almost heart-broken mother would
weep. But papa never came.
"To ham cam the saddle.
All bluidy to see
To ham cam the steed.
Hut to ham never cam he."
Yes. Mr Editor, those were hard
times.
"Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn."
Well, readers, I have been saying
a few words abont the war the cruel
war. Talk of the tented field! The
veterans thut followed Lee and
Jackson through the campaigns in
Pennsylvania and Maryland, from
Wilderness to Appromattox, knew
no tents. Their tent was the sky
above them. Poor Conrad was there
as well as George Graham, Pete
Epps, Lonnie Flagler, Louis Jacobs
and manj other dear old boys. Yes,
I must mention W D McFaddin,
Billy, we call him. He was a son
of Mr John McFaddin, who was
always glad t? see Conrad.
Dear readers, when I mention the
children's names that takes me back
to the old?yes, the old ones. Forget
them? Oh, no! Sometimes I
think of many of the old ones and
imagiue what joy it would be to meet
them all on that beautiful shore and
6ee them as we so often saw them
here. It would be bliss beyond compare.
I say so much about my old
friends the readers of Thb Record
perhaps would rather have something
else and do not know in what
way 1 have traveled a good long
way through life and cannot be far
from the last mile post,almost to the
top of the hill and I look back.
Younger people want to look ahead,
but when we have seen the sights,
the ups and down6, and get as far
up the bill as we think we can go,we
1 U U??l, .
are sure iu iwi u?ur .
"And now we maun totter down."
And now I want to say something
for the editor. Ah, the printer!
Think of him; go to the printing offfce
and watch him setting type: pick
up, pick up; look here, look there;
his eyes, his fingers must know those
type faces. It won't do to make a
miss and get the wrong letters. It
must be done quickly; often toiling
with fingers, eyes, brain; he can't
stop, sick or well. The paper must
come. He knows that hundreds snd
perhaps thousands are looking for
the paper in the next mail. Some
one will think the editor has failed
to send my paper and be mad, and
* > '
prooaoiy mac very one is uemxu iu
paying his subscnption. There are
several things that cause the paper
to fail in reaching the readers,and it
is seldom the editor's fault. I see in
almost every issue the editor says so
many are behind in paying their
subscriptions. Friends and readers of
The Record, give the printer what
i6 due him, one dollar. What is one
dollar? Poor Conrad is often minus
that much, but he looks upon thatas
very little or nothing. But it means
a good deal to the printer. Now,
readers, if there are any of Poor
Conrad's friends, or any that like to
read his letters who are behind,don't
put it off. We all know what put-off
will cause. Don' t say if the editor
had not pressed me I would luve
paid it long ago. Suppose he should
be behind a year or perhaps two
years in paying for the different,
kinds of material it takes to get up a
newspaper, or fail to pay his employees.
We would soon miss getting
our news. The Bible says man cannot
live by bread alone; so the printer
cannot live bv breath alone. Pay
him if It takes an t-yetootb.
Well, Mr Kditor, i hope you will
pardon me,but 1 want to give you one
more broadside. So here's at you
again, a few more sad lines. I must
i . - - - - mention
the death of three of my
old friends who have passed away in
the last 12 months. The tirst was;
that of Mr James Reardon of Clarendon
county. He was a Confederate
[veteran, llis father, Mr John J
; Reardon, was the man that brought!
j me from Charleston when I was a j
Ismail boy 50 years ago. Ilis wagon !
| had been to Charleston with cotton
and on returning passed through i
' Kingstree. I was homeless, without
a single relative in America. Well,1
poor Jim is dead and ] will not see!
the one whom I hunted, fished, ate
! j
and slept with any more. Jim was my
'd- f"nder until I was able to defend
j myself. He would not allow anyone
o lay rude hands on me: he would
1 take me away fron: the plow handles
; fbhing with him. His elder brother,
! Daniel, attended to the farm and
I world be ready to whip me when I
returned, would sometimes have ai
| lot of long switches ready to whip
me, but poor Jitn stood between me
land his angry brother, saying: "If'
I you touch Conrad d?d if you don't j
have me to whip."' That would settle
the case for good. Poor Jim! It
makes the tear-drops flow to write
about him and the past. He was a
great hunter and fisher. He was also
a good mechanic and famous cypress
canoe builder. Hundreds of his
make can be seen from one end of
Black river to the other. I could tell
his make of axe handles from any
otbei maker's. His canoe paddles I
find broken pieces mil down tlb
river; if only a half 1 know the
piece.
I will now mention Mr G T
HVorsham, who also died a fe*
months ago. A more value c-;ee
could not be tr -d. I pleasant
days ? fa / .e,
Esquire P W m, a ?irginian
* birth a"'-1 .?vud to the poor.
.lis house efrge to those wh )
had to fly fir their homes in South
Carolina's troublous times. Poor Talbot
was his oldest son. Twooftne
oldest died in the Civil war. Talbot
met me soon after my return from
Florida after an absence of 18 years.
He came for me in bis buggy and
took me to his home. His good wife
was a daughter of Mr John McFadden,
of the Douglass Swamp section.
I need not mention what a gentle,
man he was. He was always glad to
see wandering Conrad. Well, poor
Talbot's wife and children did all
they could to make me feel welcome.
The children were all at home but
one, Willie by name, whom I had
met a short time before in Kingstree.
Well I staved one or two days
with Talbot, and last Christmas I
paid him another visit. He wrote
me tnat ne naa asaeu ?>n & xw-jgers,
who is rural route mail carrier from
Lake City, to bring me. The dig*
tance out there is about 14 miles.
Ed is a good fellow and knows me
quite well and it was a pleasure for
for him to take me. Mr Worsham
was out on the road looking for us.
He was delighted to see me. His
wife and children all met me at the
door. Mr Editor, do you love children?
If you mingle with them
much and do little kindnesses to
them you can trust them and you
can tell as'soon as you get into a
home what the old folks think of
you by the children's actions. Treat
children and dogs kindly and they
will never go back on you. As ,1
said, Mr Talbot Worsham and his
family did all that people could do
to cause me to feel welcome. I in
tended to spend only one night and
one day there, then there were some
others I wanted to visit; but my
friend put on a sad look and said:
"Conrad, you must not go away
tonight. J have made arrangements
to have a barbecue cooked for your
especial benefit." So I stayed three
tiim un.l flnrinor <1?V3
UU|9 n l Lii uiui ?u'a J ~
we walked through the fields down
by the swamp, would sit on some
old log and talk over the past and
many of those who have departed,
for ne loved to talk on those things,
lhs son George had lately been married.
A noble young man, I hope
he will be happy aud prosperous
with iiis wife, who is a nice ladv.
When 1 got ready to take my leave
Talbot took me bv the hand in the!
presence of his wife and children !
and said in the warmest, kindlest!
words: "You must come and see;
us again, and if you should get sick !
come to our bouse and if you are'
not able send me word and I will i
come for you or will send some one;
to fetch you. My house will be!
yeur home and hospital." Now,
readers aud Mr Editor and friends,
listen to those words, "If you are
sick, come to my house." How
many can be found who will say to
a homoless sick :>ne, ''Come, I will
f.,r vaii " A K' fun words
ever be forgotten? In Vritj
there will be many wh? say
come and see me, but v> * ->!
adversity overtakes you and
know you then. Christmas
soon l>e here but that good frienu ?s
gono. Peace to bis ashes.
I will now mention Mr R S Smith
of Florence, who died a few montl I
ago. Sid, I called him, and he
called me bv no other name but
"Steen."' We were boys together.
He was a good Christian man. lie
was a son of Mr John Smith whose
wife was a sister of Mr Q^vid Epps,
| the father of Mr 1)/ Epps of
Kingstree.
Well, I have been p to Mr Graham's
again, rnnni : planing
mill. I did not get through,will go
back after Christmas aud finish. As
usual, there were two or three small
jobs to be done for Mrs Graham,
i i rv.ario hoi- ft iipw o irn dasher and
she thanked me and said that if I
had not mad"H she did not know
when sh^ wcv'd have got one. I
aleo ' ;^:e piano stool for Miss
Pf jn'e same trip and made a
jller for Mrs John Sauls of
1 did not give Mrs Sauls
e to thank me, as there was no
in the house,and I left the roller
; chair and went my way rejoicing.
I hope, Mr Editor, you will pardon
me for sending you this long
letter, but I feel like it will not
cause you to lose in the long run.
I promise to remember you when
the fish begins to bite. Here's
wishing The County Record
great suecess and that the hearts of
all delinquents will get soft and pay
up. This last remark makes me
remember what some newspaper said
about a certaiD subscriber who had
not paid for his paper. He was out
inthe swamp and a bear pursued him
and he crawled into a hollow log.
It beiDg wet inside his clothing
made it so ugnt ne couiu nut ^ct
out of the log, eo be wsls about to
give up to die wtfen he remembered
he had not paid for his paper and
he felt 80 small 1> crawfished out
quite easily.
Yours truly,
Poor Conrad.
Hoarse coughs and stuffv colds
that may develop into pneumonia
over night are quickly cured by
Foley's Honey and 'Par, as it soothes
inflamed membrauts, heals the lungs
and expels the cold from the system,
W L Wallace.
Departure of Passenger
Trains at Kiagstree.
The Atlantic Coast Line railroad
has promulgated the following
schedule, which became effective
Monday,September 7, 1908.
?NORTH BOUND,
No 80 7:40 a. m.
*Xo4G 11:42 a. m.
No 78 5:53 p. ni.
?SOUTH BOUNDNo
79 10:52 a. m.
*No 47 5:53 p. m.
No 89 9:0G p. m.
DAILY EXCEPT SUNDAY.
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