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Mississippi Historical Society.
in old age, when the dear ones of the fireside have wandered off like bees from the parent hive; when neither office nor wealth have charms and nothing remains but memories of early joy and the enduring companionship of years?the blow that severs this and calls one away forever, strikes the survivor also. This indeed is death; for in the dim future there is no smile. The old can then but count the weary hours of their pilgrimage and the soul wait, like an impatient and imprisoned bird, to wing its flight to heaven. It was thus we found and left our venerable friend?a man without an enemy, almost without a fault?an humble Christian and a genuine Democrat.
After a brisk ride we reached Augusta, the county seat of Perry. We had long heard of this old town; Judge Black, Judge Buckner Harris, Jacob J. H. Morris (universally known throughout the East as old coon), and two or three other political characters, had taken their start there; it had long been the seat of the United States Land Office and a branch of the great Union had been established within its walls. The country through which we passed after leaving Mr. Sumrall?s was poor, the settlements scattered, and exhibited no indications of our approach to a commercial town, such as our imaginations had pictured. We rode on, however, expectation on tiptoe for an oasis in the desert, the sun pouring down upon us almost vertically and our flagging horses sinking fetlock deep into the sand, when lo! the ancient town stood before us, an extensive parallelogram garnished round with some eight or ten miserable tenements?the wrecks of better times! Scarce a tree stood in the gaping square for the eye to rest upon; the grass was all withered up; the burning sun fell upon the white and barren sand as on a huge mirror. Even of these dilapidated dwellings several were unoccupied, and we rode round half' the town before we could find a living thing to direct us to the tavern. We finally reached it and found it "alone in its glory,? a small log cabin with one room and a shed! Stable there was none, nor bar, nor landlord, nor barkeeper. We stripped and tethered our horses and took possession of the establishment. Not a human being was to be seen; we were hungry and fatigued; the idea of a town and its hundred and one little comforts for the traveler had buoyed us up during the morning?s ride, and
A Trip Through the Piney Woods.?Claiborne.	519
our fancies had diagramed something very different from that we were now realizing. In a few hours, however, the landlord made his appearance. Not expecting us until next day he had gone out on a foraging expedition. We found him a jolly bachelor and a Virginian at that. He soon concocted for us a delightful julep and feasted us on delicious venison. The gentlemen of the town came in and we spent a very agreeable evening. No man can live in such a place without losing his energies. Every day adds to the stagnation of the mind, and in less than six months one would find himself completely asleep. We never before saw such a picture of desolation. The vestiges of numerous and extensive buildings were still to be seen; the town itself had been planned on an imposing scale; the landing on the Leaf River, where formerly barge and bateau deposited their rich cargos, was pointed out; the courthouse?once thronged with suitor and defendant?but now all was silence and solitude.
?-------the sounds of population fail,
No cheerful murmurs fluctuate in the gale,
No busy steps the grass-grown footway tread,
But all the blooming flush of life is fled.?
The town, however, next day presented a more lively scene. That certain premonitory of a public gathering, the ginger bread and beer cart, came tumbling towards the square. Rickety vehicles of different shapes and sizes laden with melons, came trudging after. A grocery, with sundry suspicious iook-ing jugs and tin measures, was discovered. Swart negroes, dressed up in their holiday clothes, were seen striding in, gazing about for the candidates as one would for the giraffe. It was quite an event. Except the Hon. Robert J. Walker no aspirant for a high office had visited the place for many years. Finally, the sovereigns themselves gathered?the real yeomanry of the county?and then the game commenced. Our friends went at it in good earnest, and we strolled from place to place. The largest portion of the crowd remained, of course, in the courthouse with the orators, but we found a pretty respectable group about the grocery. Four or five of these were playing seven up, old sledge, or some such game, on the head of a whisky barrel, and others were discussing the prelimi-