A certain man had, as was said to be the custom when running for office, given an order at a grocery for all to be “treated” who applied in his name. The grocer, after the election, which resulted in the defeat of the treater, presented what was thought an exorbitant bill. He refused to pay it, and a lawsuit ensued. A gentleman in the witness box being asked if he thought it possible for the whole number of people taking part in the election to have consumed the quantity of liquor alleged, answered—
“Moy Goad! Judge!” (reproachfully): “Yes, sir! Why, I’ve been charged for a hundred and fifty drinks ’fore breakfast, when I’ve stood treat, and I never thought ’o disputin’ it.”
At supper, Mr. S., looking at the daughter of our host, said—
“What a pretty girl that is. My dear, do you find any schools to go to, out here—eh? I reckon not. This isn’t the country for schools. There’ll not be a school in Mississippi ’fore long, I reckon. Nothing but Institutes, eh? Ha! ha! ha! Institutes, humph! Don’t believe there’s a school between this and Natchez, is there?”
“No, sir.”
“Of course there isn’t.”[14]
“What sort of a country is it, then, between here and Natchez?” I asked. “I should suppose it would be well settled.”
“Big plantations, sir. Nothing else. Aristocrats. Swell-heads, I call them, sir. Nothing but swell-heads, and you can’t get a night’s lodging, sir. Beyond the ferry, I’ll be bound, a man might die on the road ’fore he’d get a lodging with one of them. Eh, Mr. N.? So, isn’t it? ‘Take a stranger in, and I’ll clear you out!’ That’s the rule. That’s what they tell their overseers, eh? Yes, sir; just so inhospitable as that. Swell-heads! Swell-heads, sir. Every plantation. Can’t get a meal of victuals or a night’s lodging from one of them, I don’t suppose, not if your life depended on it. Can you, Mr. N.?”
“Well, I believe Mr. ——, his place is right on the road, and it’s half way to the ferry, and I believe he tells his overseer if a man comes and wants something to eat, he must give it to him, but he must not take any pay for it, because strangers must have something to eat. They start out of Natchez, thinking it’s as ’tis in other countries; that there’s houses along, where they can get a meal, and so they don’t provide for themselves, and when they get along about there, they are sometimes desperate hungry. Had to be something done.”
“Do the planters not live themselves on their plantations?”