Page 1
      DO YOU REMEMBER? 
Early Days in Luling, Texas 
            by 
       A Pioneer Citizen 
     (Anne C. Huff Bridges) 
with corrections and some additions 
       by her daughter 
   Mary Louise Bridges Witt

Page 2 (blank)

Page 3

         Dedicated to
The Citizens of Luling, Texas 
      Especially those of 
       Pioneer Descent

Page 4 (blank)

Page 5

FOREWORD 
	This treatise was published in serial form in "The Luling Signal" in 1945. 
The author modestly concealed her identity by using as a by-line the 
following: By a Pioneer Citizen. It is a true account of the times and 
customs prevailing during her own childhood and early youth. 
	Born May 26, 1862, during the conflict between the North and South, 
Anne Corder Huff grew up on the plantation of her father, Leonard Corder 
Huff. A photostat at Lamar Tech in Beaumont shows that L. C. Huff, born 
in Tennessee, was 47 years old, had 4,000 acres of land, other assets to the 
value of $65,000. His second wife (nee Martha Louise Meriwether) was 
then 23 years old and is erroneously listed as born in Georgia. She was 
actually born in Tennessee. The children listed were her step-children. 
	In 1880, Anne Huff was married to James Pierce Bridges, founder, 
owner, editor of "The Luling Signal," a widower with one child. As far 
as she could without neglect of home duties, Mrs. Bridges took part in 
the civic, religious, and social life of the town. With her keen intellect, 
she was a help to him in his career. In addition to his work as a news- 
paperman, he became a writer of plays and poetry, a politician, known 
throughout the state for his oratory, and a civic leader in his home town 
where he served as mayor and school trustee, also as a major in the home 
guard, appointed by Gov. John Ireland. 
	After the death of her husband on February 12, 1893, Mrs. Bridges 
took over as editor of the paper. She soon found it was better to lease it 
and turn to a sideline Mr. Bridges had worked up. She became the third 
lady fire insurance agent in Texas. 
For thirty years she was engaged in that business, and through the 
kindness shown her by relatives and friends, including her husband's fellow 
lodge members, she became the leading fire insurance agent in the town. 
More than one business man in Luling has said, "Mrs. Bridges is the 
smartest woman in town." 
	During the time she was writing this column, she remarked, "I have 
never put myself forward, but always hid behind some man." 
	That was her wish, from the days of her beloved uncle, John Meriwether, 
through her married life, and afterward to her retirement, through her 
capable sons. She raised four sons and a daughter. 
	Anne C. Bridges, as she signed her policies, died in Luling February 26, 
1960. Before retiring from her insurance agency she helped several other 
ladies enter that occupation. She was a charter member of every worth 
while organization of the town, including the Cemetery Society, Order of

Page 6

Eastern Star, Rebekah Lodge, Pythian Sisters, United Daughters of the 
Confederacy, Woman's Club (which merged with P.T.A. ), Ladies' Study 
Club-no, by then she was willing to let her daughter take over. 
	Three of her sons became newspaper editors and owners. The oldest, 
J. P. Bridges, went to Cuero where he had a big part in putting over 
the famous Cuero Turkey Trot. He later became County Clerk and still 
later Justice of the Peace. He died in November, 1963. H. Frank Bridges 
owned newspapers at Waelder, Flatonia, and at Nixon where his grandson, 
G. Frank Bridges, is now editor. L. E. Bridges had no inclination toward 
newspaper work. He became a cattle man and farmer, using some of the 
land that had belonged to his grandfather. He died February 9, 1950, 
always a Lulingite. L. H. Bridges, the youngest son, is present proprietor 
of "The Luling Signal," with his daughter, Mrs. Kathleen Edwards, as 
editor. In charge oŁ the printing department is her husband, Robert 
Edwards, and the linotype operator is J. P. Bridges III, though Hal still 
does some of that himself. 
	The daughter, Mrs. Louise Bridges Witt became a teacher in public 
schools, later turning to private work with pre-school children. Her 
certificate states "good for life," so she is still teaching, though she limits 
her class, since she is in her 80th year. She also compiles family history 
and genealogy, and is the author of this sketch.
February 14, 1965


Page 7

AFTERWORD
	Among the papers left by Mrs. Bridges was found these poignant 
couplets, which is an explanation in itself why she did not write more 
of her married life and her widowhood.

	Happiness 
	Handsome, gallant husband 
	Loving little wife; 
	Healthy, romping children 
	The ideal married life.

	Misery
	Little wife a widow 
	Husband in the ground; 
	Children all in tatters 
	Scarce food to go around

	Mrs. Bridges was never a person to indulge in self-pity, and she had 
little patience with people who did. In spite of her busy life she was always 
available to nurse the sick, lay out the dead (before the day of morticians), 
care for children and comfort the troubled and sorrowing. 
	At the time of her death notices appeared in many big city dailies, 
including Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Houston. As the widow of a past 
president and charter member of Texas Press Association, and mother 
and grandmother of prominent present day members of that organization, 
she was well known and highly regarded in Press circles. Her youngest 
son, Hal, was elected President of South Texas Press Association in 1949 
with his brother, Frank, as his assistant. Frank has fame on his own 
account as the father of the largest newspaper family in Texas, including 
his only son, his two daughters, two grandsons, and others. He carries 
a gold headed cane awarded to his father as President of Texas Press 
Association at the close of his year's tenure in 1889-the 8th president. 
His son-in-law, C. K. Mick, retired as president in 1966. All are in the 
editorial field, most of them proprietors of newspapers in Central Texas. 
Mrs. Bridges was Charter Member of Texas Woman's Press Association. 
July 1966.

Page 8

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To my two nieces, Anne Bridges Broussard and Kathleen Bridges 
Edwards, who listened to the reading of my foreword and afterword 
expressed their approval of the subject matter; my typist friends, Dorothy 
Lane Huffman, who began the main job of putting my mother's column 
into presentable form; to Linda Stewart Blackwell, great-great-granddaughter 
of my father's uncle, Samuel Bridges, who finished the job when Dorothy 
could give it no more time; and last, but by no means least, to Emily 
Burgess, who typed so accurately my own effort, my gratitude is hereby 
expressed.

Page 9

ACROSTIC FOR BIRTHDAY 
May 26, 1928

M Mother, may you always be 
O Oh, so happy! and so free, 
T That your sorrows will be few. 
H How I want these things for you! 
E Ever in this heart of mine, 
R Rest assured a place is thine. 
A At last, mother mine, your birthday's here; 
N Now let me assure you (you are so dear) 
N Never on earth nor in Heaven above 
I In truth, at no time will I cease to love 
E Ever forget you, though far I may rove. 
-Mary Louis Bridges Witt

OUR TOWN'S NAME

Luling was a good-sized town 
The day she got her name; 
"Five hundred people," records say. 
Since then she's grown in fame. 

The "Sooners" came before the rails 
Were laid beyond Plum Creek; 
Gregg, Redus, Keith, McGaffey 
Their names we need not seek. 

Now in the town a good Chinese 
Did laundry work and more. 
His name, Lu Ling, by chance 
Was known quite well before 

The chosen name was told, 
But records of the railroad show 
This name did honor the good wife 
Of railway's chief promoter. So 

The time has come to state this fact. 
Many, many years ago 
A friend in Louisiana wrote, 
"Our Luling got its name you know

Page 10

"From the same judge Luling, 
"Known to be the holder of some stock" 
So evidently Col. Pierce was wed 
To that man's daughter. A shock? 

To us who've heard the tales 
Of Luling's early days 
From our forbears, it's known that youths 
To tease Lu Ling did raise 

The idea he was meant to be 
The honored one; for too 
They pestered him about his looks 
And once cut off his queue. 

"I can't go back to China now 
Because my hair's been cut," 
Wailed Ling with sadness in his soul. 
And then his mouth he shut. 

Then Ling (or John, he said it meant) 
Stayed on for many years; 
He tended to his work so well 
He could forget all fears. 

Now Weimar, Waelder, Converse, 
Each new town along the route 
Was named for some stock holder 
As told beyond all doubt. 

And Louisiana had no Ling 
Nor Mississippi, further east, 
Yet each one has a Luling, 
So that's some proof, at least.

		--Mary Louise Bridges Witt

Page 11

DO YOU REMEMBER? 

PIONEER DAYS AND WAYS
	When there were but few fences, made of split rails, an industry made 
famous by Abraham Lincoln? These were laid in a zigzag manner called a 
worm, four or five rails high, then "staked and ridered," with few gates 
but many stepping blocks, or stiles. Old "Bob Wire" had not arrived. 
Private premises, fields, orchards, gins, and lots for domestic animals 
were fenced; while unfenced land was designated as range, and was used 
by everybody's cattle and hogs. I have in my possession an old hand 
written tax receipt (or can get it) in which 4000 acres of improved and 
unimproved land and various other items yielded to the state and county 
less revenue than the heirs of that man pay on three or four hundred acres. 
	Yes, Luling is a part of that 4,000 acres. Of course at this time cattle 
were identified by marks in ears, brands on hip or side; horses were 
branded, very small on shoulder; hogs were marked, one or both ears, 
by slits, crops, overbits, or underbits, or combinations of these mutilations 
in one or both ears. 
	And do you remember round-up time when marking, branding, and 
selection of heifers for milch cows, and converting male calves into beef 
stock or oxen; for any not branded were mavericks, while any pig not 
marked became a "wild hog" and anybody's property. It is noteworthy 
that immigrants from Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and other Southern 
States brought with them cattle with crumpled horns, spots, line backs, 
while the native longhorns were always solid red, black, dun, or brindle. 
	Remember there was not a bridge on the San Marcos River or Plum 
Creek from source to mouth? Where wagon roads went through the river 
it was a ford, while on the creek it was a crossing. That the post office 
was at Prairie Lea to the west and Atlanta to the east---until Johnston's 
store, with "Hardeman Lodge" (AF & AM) upstairs, was established at 
the confluence of Salt Branch and Plum Creek, and Billy Smith brought 
the mail from Lockhart by "pony express." 
	Johnston's store, flanked by the dwelling and "black Abe Brothers" 
blacksmith shop and mule (factory) barn, a cotton warehouse, and topped 
by Hardeman Lodge (Masonic) room, was a lively place on Saturday 
on or before the first quarter of the moon. Mr. W. R. Johnston (Bill) 
carried a line of staple and fancy dry goods, hardware and groceries, 
including barrels (with spigots) of molasses, vinegar, and whiskey; which 
was sold by the quart, gallon, five gallons, or more, but a drink was free. 
	It was a great joke to shift the vinegar and whiskey barrels, and hang

Page 12 
 
the tin cup on the wrong barrel. No Mason ever told his fellow members 
of the exchange. Always at this meeting, was slim, six-foot Uncle Joe 
Johnston, with his eight hound dogs; Marcus, Aurelius, Americus, Vespuccius, 
Julius, Caesar, Nip and Tuck. Sometimes the names of Nip and Tuck 
were changed to Ulysses and Grant, with the saying "Grant got mixed 
up with a bull dog" (meaning Gen. Joseph Johnston). 
	The two Johnstons and their brother, Rev. Robert Johnston were 
cousins of General Joseph Johnston of the Confederate Army and came 
to Texas after Sherman's march through Georgia, the close of the war. 
They and Hardeman Lodge moved to Luling at about the same time. 
	Living on this side of Plum Creek on what is now the Alex farm, was 
a fine family from Mississippi, Dr. Davis, a physician of note, whose wife's 
sister had married a "person from the North" named Jordan. This Mr. 
Jordan built a log cabin just the other side of the crossing, called it a 
doggery, and sold strong drink. He allowed white and black boys to pitch 
horseshoes, play poker, seven-up, and other card games together on the 
premises. Dr. and Mrs. Davis were the parents of Mrs. T. E. Cocreham 
(of whom more anon).

PLANTATION LIFE
	Do you remember the charcoal burners that had a thriving business 
in this community when the farms were being cleared of mesquite and 
black jack? They were half burned into charcoal and delivered by the 
wagon load to blacksmith shops for use in furnaces. It was also used in 
grates for heating, in braziers for cooking purposes and for heating sad 
irons or a tailor's "goose" on ironing day, also the G.H. & S.A. Ry. to 
supplement wood chunks in the engines in the early '70's. 
	Do you remember when every plantation had a big house, a detached 
kitchen, a back yard usually surrounded by the "cook's house," smoke 
house, chicken house, and two store rooms, forming a rectangle in which 
the ground was swept clean and level? These outhouses were usually built 
of logs or stone, all with dirt floors except the cook's house and kitchen 
which were floored, like the big house, with split logs, the round side 
down and the other side "adzed" as smooth as sawn timber. 
	The kitchen always had an especially built chimney and fireplace fitted 
with hooks from which to hang iron and earthenware pots for boiling 
meats and vegetables. Large and small Dutch ovens always had legs, with 
loops at the end if oval, at each side if round, and on top of the lid (to be 
handled with large pothooks) to facilitate the use of just the right amount 
of coals. 
	The skillets for frying and griddles for hot cakes rested over the coals 
on trivets. Nearly all of this equipment was made in the plantation black-
smith shop. 

Page 13

My! what good food was sent into the dining room, about 
twenty feet away in the big house! 
	Do you remember the ash hoppers, V-shaped structures that stood be- 
tween the smoke house and the "Backy," where ashes from all fires in the 
house and kitchen were stored throughout the year, kept damp so the 
lye could run down for soap making at hog killing time? It was a favorite 
for the children when playing hide-and-seek. 
	And "hog killing," when the hogs, which had been penned from the 
range and fattened, were butchered-usually eight to twelve at a time? 
The back yard became a scene of activity. Water was hauled up from 
the branch or creek in barrels on "slides" (made of a forked tree to 
which a mule was hitched by trace chains hooked to a clevis in the big 
end of the log) to be boiled in washpots and poured over the hogs, after 
killing, in barrels tipped up at one end so the hair and bristles could be 
scraped off, after which the animal was hung up on the side of the smoke- 
house by "stretchers" or sharpened sticks thrust through the leaders in 
the hind legs, for disemboweling. 
	The carcass was expertly split from throat- to tail on the under side 
(the contents being placed in tubs), washed out and flattened against the 
wall to cool. This was usually done the first heavy freeze before Christmas. 
At this point the women began cleaning and cooking hearts, kidneys, melts, 
livers, chitlings and tripe, and fixing casings for sausage, also cooking 
great pots full of stew to be eaten with shortening bread, lye hominy, and 
roast sweet potatoes. This work lasted a week or more, including cutting 
up the meat, salting, packing, smoking, and curing, followed by the making 
of lye hominy and soft soap. 
	Do you remember the candle stick maker, the maker of candle molds 
and snuffers? These artisans also made brackets to hold the candle sticks 
and sconces to hold torches. There was also the spinning wheel for making 
candle wicks and thread for other uses, with accompanying "cards" for 
softening and fining up cotton or wool fibers for spinning. Candle wicks 
were enough strands of cotton threads loosely twisted to form a cord 
about as thick as a lead pencil. 
	There was a lot of preliminary work incident to candle making, so we 
will assume that tallow, beeswax and vegetable wax were in storage. This 
description is for tallow candles only. The wick string is cut twice as long 
as the candle will turn out, is doubled over a stick, given a few twists to 
keep it from separating, six or eight wicks to the stick are laid over the 
bottom of the mold and the wicks pulled through, the small other end

Page 14

carefully adjusting to the exact middle of the mold. The mold is filled 
with melted, not hot, tallow and set aside to cool. Each double mold 
held ten or twelve candles and each pouring yielded 50 to 100 candles. 
Of course you know candlesticks held the candles for burning, the snuffers 
were for removing charred bits of wick and the brackets held the candle 
sticks at any time.

Ku KLUX--FIRST SCHOOL
	The Ku Klux (the third K was not used at this time) was organized at 
the Big Gate of Col. Huff's field. Because Mr. Huff was in California 
and could not be implicated, and the Big Gate was a quarter of a mile 
from any of the buildings no one ever saw anyone arrive. But the silent, 
well-covered horses and riders left that rendezvous by twos, threes or 
fours to "patrol" the country, and were likely to appear at any gathering 
of ex-slaves, carpet baggers, or other trouble makers. Their efforts were 
directed at black and white pistol toting men who preferred stealing to 
work. This organization was also called "Patrollers" (Paterollers by the 
negroes) and the negroes originated a song that could hardly be called 
a spiritual:

		"Run nigger, run, patter roller get yo' 
		Run nigger, run, it's almost day."

In long after years Mr. Len Barnett acknowledged leadership. 

	Judge Mackey of the Federal Bureau held court near Prairie Lea on 
the banks of the river. He was a fine gentleman, and.did his utmost to 
put an end to this and all other lawless practices of the Reconstruction 
Period. Every grown man wore a pistol when he left home and was not 
considered well dressed without one. 
The settlers had become reconciled to having neighbors and had quit 
quoting Daniel Boone's saying: "It is time to move-can see the neighbors' 
smoke and hear their roosters crowing." They decided to build a school 
and get a teacher. "The children are getting big and should learn something." 
	A snug log house about twenty by twenty feet was built on the Barnett 
land on Salt Branch. It had one door, no window, a puncheon floor, and 
the benches were also made of puncheons (split logs, flat side up), with 
auger holes bored at each end to hold the legs-no backs. A Mr. Bean, 
said to be related to judge Roy Bean, west of the Pecos, was engaged 
as teacher. A hide bottom hickory chair and a table distinguished his 
place in the room from the scholars. First week in March school opened 
with 25 or 30 pupils. They were the Binnz and Dick Barnett, Huff, 
Scoggins and Hale children from on the Branch, the Biggs, Gant, West, 
Gooden, McAllister and Mrs. Susan Smith's children from along Plum

Page 15 

Creek. Mr. Smith had been killed in the war. The Elam and McFarlane 
children and Jim McCutchan came from Seals Creek. All pupils used 
McGuffey's Bluebacked spellers to learn spelling, reading and writing- 
older children had arithmetics, readers and grammars. All used slates and 
slate pencils. 
	The school was not a success. Mr. Bean lacked ability, vigor, and maybe 
health. He dropped into the habit of long siestas after the noon meal, 
which all brought in covered tin buckets. He ate indoors, while the pupils 
disported themselves on the sandy, pebbly acre or two nearby, wading 
the branch, climbing small hickory, haw, mesquite, or blackjack trees, 
especially those overgrown with mustang or wintergrape vines; gathered 
wild flowers and cacti, sorted and piled up large and small round stones 
(they called them God biscuits) suitable for throwing in slings or by 
hand, soon becoming reluctant to obey or failing to respond when he 
appeared in the door clapping his hands, calling "Books, Books." 
After a few weeks some of the small boys began to cushion (?) his 
chair with grass-burrs, dewberry vines, chaparral twigs, and other un- 
pleasant things to sit on. Some of the large girls borrowed horses from 
older boys to go dewberrying or visiting, not attending the afternoon session. 
His efforts to control reached a climax when he threatened to whip a 
twelve-year-old girl whose sixteen-year-old brother said, "You'll have me 
to whip first," and while the teacher turned to get his hickory switch 
from the wall, stepped outside, calling back: "Come out and fight like 
a man. I'll give you a smell of God biscuit." Exasperated, Mr. Bean 
returned to his place and sat down on a mesquite thorn sticking up through 
the seat of his chair. It was noon. 
Travis McFarlane, Henry Elam and Bud McAllister asked Mrs. Len 
Barnett what to do about it all. They were told to get help and duck 
the teacher in the horsepond. They replied: "We don't need any help." 
Mr. Bean had not taken a nap that day and never did come back. 
School opened again some days later with Miss Laura Johnson of 
Johnson City in charge. Most of the young ladies were sent to the Academy 
at Prairie Lea. The young men had business somewhere else. 
Miss Johnson was Mrs. Len Barnett's niece and a sister of Congressman 
Lyndon Johnson's father (or grandfather, Sam Johnson, Sr.).

GINS AND MILLS
Do you remember the numerous cotton gins, grist mills, sawmills,. on 
the San Marcos River? There seemed to be one with its inevitable dam 
above every ford: Fentress, Mooney's, Dunlap's, Greenwood's, Ussery's, 
Meriwether's, Andrews, are those I remember best. 
Fentress Ford was a few miles west of Prairie Lea on the road to 
San Marcos, via Staples Store. Mooney's gin, grist mill, and sawmill was owned 

Page 16 

and operated by the father of Billy and Floyd Mooney of Luling, Mrs. 
Mae Ganbrell of Lockhart and Mrs. T. J. Smith of Prairie Lea; from it 
were turned out hundreds of bales of cotton, hundreds of bushels of meal 
and grits, many thousand feet of milled lumber-cypress, cottonwood, 
hackberry, and walnut (used for window and door facing, stairways and 
furniture). Many chairs, tables, wardrobes, secretaries, cradles, now treasured 
as antiques, were made from lumber turned out by this mill. 
In Prairie Lea, McKean's gin, operated by mule power (later by steam) 
was built of rawhide lumber from Mooney's. Dr. Jessie Pryor told me that 
her grandfather Mooney was a brother of that Tom Mooney who built 
the covered bridge across the Guadalupe at Gonzales, a toll bridge where 
two elderly ladies in a buggy asked the price for crossing, and being told 
"two bits for a man and a horse," replied "We are two old maids and a 
mare," and went on their journey free. 
Dunlap's and Greenwood's were gins only and not very near a ford. 
Do you remember when young Tom Greenwood was drowned while 
crossing the dam in high water? He was the father of Ex-Mayor C. T. 
Greenwood, brother of Emmet and Paul Greenwood, one time city attorney; 
son of Rev. T. C. Greenwood, Baptist preacher, owner of the gin. 
And do you remember that this sudden flood of the treacherous river 
caused the J. Josey family, new comers from New York, to take refuge 
in the second story of Ussery's gin? Neighbors salvaging bales of cotton, 
floating down from up river, rescued them by making rafts of cotton bales 
and towing them to high ground and tying them to mesquite trees. The 
raft was separated and two bales were used as a hospital room for Mrs. 
Josey, Mr. Ussery "accoucher," and their youngest son was born and 
named Noah. 
The Ketchums extended the customary Texas hospitality until Mr. Josey 
had bought several hundred acres of "raw land" and had built Josey's 
store, with living quarters. You guessed it-Luling! 
Ussery's gin in after years became the property of F. Homan-a factory 
manufacturing horse collars, harness and saddles. 
Meriwether's gin and mill was not erected until a number of years later 
and a great sensation resulted when a quantity of fossil bones and teeth 
were excavated in digging the mill race. A ferry boat to cross the mill 
pond was very popular with youngsters who had to wait while the meal 
was being ground. Often a number of boys and some of the men would 
load up and cross to the other side for the novelty of it. 
Mr. J. W. Meriwether and his brother, James, operated at a loss for 
several years, when, for financial reasons, they surrendered it to Walker 
Brothers, J. K. and J. P., who later sold it to F. Zedler. It is still Zedler 
property. 
Andrews' mill stands out in my memory as the place where Mrs. Blanche 

Page 17

Miles' parents, Mr. and Mrs. Andrews, and their sister, Miss Fannie 
Andrews, lived. The two ladies taught school across the river until Miss 
Andrews was married to Capt. Bob Nixon and her relatives moved to 
San Marcos. The mill was taken over by the Words. Their sister, a beautiful 
young widow, Mrs. Spraggins, with a seven-year old daughter Katie (later 
Mrs. W. A. Evins) and a three-year-old son, Bobby, taught the first school 
in Atlanta (Near the Y on Highway 3). 
Do you remember those other gins and baling presses operated by 
"mule power" and later, of course, the steam gins? In one of the latter 
type gins, owned by Smith and Malone, Luling's cotton (cloth) mill was 
operated, having been liquidated and bought a few months later by the 
stockholders of the one at Gonzales. 
There were, are, other gins down the river from Andrews, among them 
being Zedler's at Ottine, and one at Oak Forest. You may remember 
more about them than I do.

BATTLE OF PLUM CREEK
Do you remember the Battle of Plum Creek? Or have you been told 
about that famous engagement between the Comanche Indians, the 
Caranquays, and settlers, appropriated by Lockhart? I was told that the 
Cherokees and Apaches went on the warpath, attacking settlers, Lipans 
and Caranquays near the gulf coast below Victoria. They were pursued 
along the Guadalupe and San Marcos to the mouth of Plum Creek, and 
in crossing the quagmires and quicksands in what is now Palmetto Park, 
many Indians bogged down and did not reach the other side. Their bodies 
were used by others for "stepping stones" and the running fight continued 
up the creek until the last Indian was either killed or escaped. 
Gonzales had several other historical events, and Ottine was getting 
the park and Warm Springs. Luling was never within a mile of the creek 
until the extension of Bruner Oil Field, so Lockhart is entitled to it. 
We, in this part of the county are also proud of the marker, the golf 
course, park, and recreation center; and what not marking the battlefield.

RECONSTRUCTION
Do you remember when the Carpetbaggers and Scalawags induced 
many negroes to migrate to the new state, Kansas, with the promise of 
40 acres and a mule? Approximately one hundred families from these parts, 
some of them white, were sold the "gold brick;" This movement was called 
the exodus. 
Land owners and their families tried to do the work formerly done by 
field hands and house servants; young men from Missouri and other 
states and some older negroes rented land third and fourth or hired out.

Page 18 

Prices were high-meat was sold, sugar was from 10c to 25c a pound, 
flour was $20.00 a barrel (biscuits for Sunday breakfast only), children 
were said "to put coals of fire on their backs to see if they would stick 
out their legs like turtles." 
Cattle were being driven "up the trail," so milk and butter were scarce 
as were nearly all other food items and money. Confederate bills were 
valueless (re-read Father Ryan's poem), gold was coined in $50, $20, 
$10, $5 and $1 pieces, silver in $1, 50c, 25c, 12 1/2 c, 10c, 5c, 3c or half 
dollar, quarter dollar, bit, dime, half dime and picayune pieces. United 
States currency was not in circulation. The Mexican centavo or clacko 
was the medium of exchange. Of course, there was barter or trade of one 
thing for another. 
At harvest time there were a few sweet potatoes to store in A shaped 
bins, made of poles banked with dirt with cornstalks or weeds to hold the 
dirt in place. Most of the corn was nubbins. Cotton sold at $1.00 a pound 
in Galveston and New Orleans and cost an extra dollar a hundred for 
picking to the producer. Remember the cotton pickings, promoted to get 
the cotton out of the field and to the gin? The big barbecue dinners 
and the cakewalk at night, with prizes for the best picker. Some of them 
had 600 and 700 weighed in the sack in the field. Soon the qualification had 
to be changed to most and cleanest (that is free from leaves, bolls, sticks 
and stones) 
White children were permitted to pick cotton (not at a cotton picking) 
and work in gins, milk, make butter, cook, garden in addition to carding, 
spinning and sewing, hauling or bringing water, boys and girls, white and 
colored, together, taught by the lady in the big house or the cook in the 
kitchen. 
About this time cook stoves, conestoga wagons and oil lamps were im- 
ported and kerosene oil from Pennsylvania. 
At this time I got some extra teaching, or information, not intended 
and not included in the school curriculum. I got a habit of lingering un- 
noticed in the doorstep or edge of the gallery when company came. Ladies' 
conversation was not very interesting, while that of men, doctors, preachers, 
lawyers and judges, held me spellbound. 
I learned that the cause of the war was not sympathy and pity for 
"the poor mistreated slaves," but rather envy and jealousy. The Southern 
people had servants without pay(?) at all times, did nothing but sleep, 
dress, play the piano and embroider. Southern gentlemen left the manage-

Page 19 

ment of their estates to overseers and got richer while they drank, gambled 
and went to horse races, cock fights, etc. 
I learned that Johnny Reb was an Insulting word used by the Dam 
Yankees to rub in their victory and keep the breach between the states 
from healing. That Lincoln was a westerner, a smart man, but not the 
equal of Davis. That Lee outgeneraled Grant on every encounter and 
only surrendered to save his friends from Grant's numberless mercenaries, 
Hessians hired as substitutes for Northern men in the army.

CONVEYANCES
Do you remember the stage coach lines and wagon trains? The stage 
like all other conveyances, four in hand team, from Indianola to San 
Antonio, also carried the mail. Passenger fare from one terminus to the 
other was $50.00, to intermediate points in proportion. There were sta- 
tions for changing horses, with frequent detours to outlying plantations. 
Col. L. C. Huff and Capt. Bob Nixon operated wagon trains for trans- 
porting their own and their neighbors' corn, cotton, and other produce 
to the coast, usually Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Rockport, Indianola (Port 
Lavaca after the great storm) for transshipment' by water to Galveston, 
New Orleans, New York or for export to Europe. The ox wagons, three 
or four yoke to the wagon, were fitted with a frame of uprights or stand- 
ards to hold the bales, while those of corn, shucked, shelled and sacked, 
were customarily of the covered wagon variety, with mule teams, four or 
six span. There were no springs and no brakes-in lieu of brakes 
trace chains attached to the side of frame or bed with both ends hanging 
were used down hill; by passing the end with staple, around the tire be- 
tween two spokes and slipping the staple through the ring in the other 
end of the chain, locking the wheel and causing it to drag and preventing 
the wagon from running down on the team. 
Getting ready to start was an interesting time, loading up, selecting 
teams and drivers and the addition of a neighbor's outfit. The cotton wagons 
started several days ahead as oxen could only make ten miles a day. The 
driver, bullwhip in hand, must walk alongside to make his team respond 
to "gee and ike." The whip, not to strike with, was popped with a loud 
crack to emphasize the commands. The near ox of the lead yoke had a 
rope line around his horns to help in guiding; the off ox and middle yokes 
followed the leader, and the wheel yoke did the hardest pulling. 
The mule teams could make fifteen to eighteen miles a day and the 
driver either rode his pony alongside or one of the wheel horses, had to 
dismount to lock the wheels, unless he had a helper, while the owner, 
the boss or the trader, maybe all three, rode in a good buggy or carriage 
with driver, a fine pair of trotting horses, and starting last, arrived first. 

Page 20 

On the return trip the wagons were loaded with merchandise for the 
general stores in the interior. Wagon train song:
I spoke to my leaders and the leaders sprung, 
Up jumped a nigger to the wagon tongue. 
Pop my whip and the wagon roll, 
The horses pull through that mud hole.
If you remember this, you also remember that these cotton wagons for 
the return trip were loaded with sugar in hogsheads (wooden tanks), bar- 
rels of syrup, vinegar, hardware that could stand the roughness, and rum. 
The covered wagons were loaded with more perishable goods-flour in 
barrels and half barrels, fine wines, cognac and other brandies in wicker 
covered glass demijohns, crated and packed in straw. Also in the crates 
were Charter Oak cook stoves and utensils from Indiana, knocked down 
parts of buggies and carriages, Conestoga wagons. These top buggies 
and the carriages were equipped with both shafts and tongues. Ladies 
and elderly folks drove a gentle, faithful horse in the shafts. The tongue 
with its accessories, double tree and single trees, was used if a span or 
four-in-hand were driven. These turn-outs, when new, with good or fine 
teams, filled the hearts of their owners with pride (if not egotism and 
exaltation). 
The imported wagons were an improvement on those in use, having a 
body or bed that could be built up high or used low, with strong iron 
hasps at the upper edge of the lower planks to hold the braces or stand- 
ards on the lower edge of the top planks, which in other hasps at the 
upper edge held bows when a wagon sheet was needed. When assembled it 
was a gorgeous thing. The tongue and cross-tree was a bright yellow, the 
wheels, hub, spokes, and "fellys" (felloes) were a bright red. The body 
with its seat swinging across was a vivid green, with bright yellow letters 
on each side, "Conestoga Wagon Co., Milwaukee, Wis." It also had a 
hand-brake on the left side. It could be seen a mile away. 
Do you remember that all the young folks rode horseback? Ladies used 
side-saddles and wore riding habits (or at least long skirts) almost to the 
ground. Riding double or riding bareback was often done. Even small 
boys and girls were "at home" on horseback.

OLD ATLANTA
Do you remember the San Jacinto and May Day picnics and the two 
weeks camp meetings at Sulphur Springs? Of course the first two events 
were one-day affairs. Silver tongued orators, on April 21st, told us of 
the powers of Gen. Sam Houston and Texas soldiers; the wonders of the 
Lone Star State and "Tall Tales" then as now, while on the 1st of

Page 21

May the Queen of love and beauty was crowned, dancing around the may- 
pole and other sports afforded an excuse to get together for a happy time. 
But oh! the big camp meeting, usually around the Fourth of July when 
the negro help had recovered from their Emancipation celebration and 
were willing to help "the white folks jess lak befo' de wah" when several 
families pitched their tents under the shade of the elm and cottonwood, 
oak and pecan trees which made an ideal grove west of the Lamkin home; 
and kept open house for others who came "for the day." There was a 
great revival, sunrise and sunset prayer meetings (away from the tan- 
talizing odors of the barbecue pit) and the fine sermons by circuit riding 
preachers such as Fighting Andy Potter, Orceneth Fisher, DeVilbiss, Horton, 
Abbott, Onderdonk from Goliad, the horticulturist, who also took orders 
for fall delivery of fruit trees, ornamental shrubs and hauptberry vines. 
The local preachers were Revs. Jas. Powell from Mule Creek and T. C. 
Greenwood from up the river. One or the other of these good preachers 
held services at Lone Oak so that the community had public worship 
once a month. 
Do you remember that Atlanta was a small collection of dwellings- 
12 or 15. The Lamkin and Nations Store (John Lamkin and John Nations 
had married Norwood sisters), Dr. Williams' Drug Store and office, Mc 
Gowan's blacksmith shop and the public well were on the north side of 
the road (the only street) with Dr. Williams' home, the school house and 
teacher's home and McGowan's boarding house well back. Fuqua, Nations, 
Lamkin and Womack homes, all in spacious grounds, with servant houses, 
were to the south. Dr. Williams' field skirted along Wolf Branch to where 
D. H. Reeves built his home near the Y. The first term of pay school was 
taught by Mrs. Spraggins. Next Mr. John Lewis taught a five-months 
free school with a complete change of text books from Webster's, Davies' 
Maury's. We changed to Independent series by American authors de- 
signed to teach patriotism and that all the greatest heroes did not originate 
in Dixie. A four-horse wagon load of books arrived at the store and parents 
to buy and enroll their children for the first free school, in examining 
the readers, found a lesson unfit to be seen by their little ones. It was 
about a "hen that went into a garden and found a large green tobacco 
worm. She looked at it and when the worm hunched its back the hen 
TURNED TAIL and left the garden." This lesson was always omitted. 
As Mr. Lewis could teach anything, school opened with a full house. 
There were Rocellus and Enoch McKinney and George Hysaw from 
near Belmont, Alex and Richard Brelsford and two sisters, John and 
Dick Norwood, Charlie Richard and Albert Mills, Julius Lockridge, 
Albert and Dora Powell and Word boys and girls from down the river, Tom