Fraternity (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 14, No. 5, Ed. 1 Saturday, May 1, 1915 Page: 1 of 8
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'OFFICIAL. ORGAN OF THE ORDER'
Volume XIV
'Nothing
FORT WORTH, TEXAS, MAY, 1915
Impossible"
Number 5
PREMIUMS PAID PROMPTLY PROCURED PAST PARTICIPANTS $820,365.10
RECOLLECTIONS.
\\
By One of Fort Worth's Oldest
Writers.
Long ago,—when you were boys and
girls, or youths and maidens,—did you
gather round the good old-fashioned
fire-place at night and watch for the
"Castles in the Coals," while listening
to a'loved voice recounting some of the
many incidents of his College days?—or,
if in Summer, in the lovely hush of the
twilight, with the perfume of cape jas-
mine, honeysuckle and old cloth of gold
roses fanning youthful faces, as gath-
ered on the verandah—or as we called
it in those days,—the colonade,—listen
to the same dear voice in those "Recol-
lections" of the Past?
Old, though I may be in years,—my
heart has ever kept young, and I love to
remember those "Recollections" of a
dear one, long since passed to the
"Bright Beyond."
My Father was a graduate of old
Randolph Macon College, Virginia, and
in those days, many of the students
boarded with widow ladies, who kept
regular "Students' Boarding Houses."
For a year or so, my Father was at a
"Students' " Boarding House," — and
among the many stories of that time
several have always lingered in my
memory. This landlady, or mistress of
the "Students' Boarding House," was
Exceedingly stingy and close, so much
so, that she usually sold ALL of her
turkeys, not even reserving from her
large drove, enough for Thanksgiving
dinner. Having ascertained this fact
from the boys, who had gone TURKEY-
LESS on the previous Thanksgiving,
these wild College lads determined to
have revenge for all former slights and
scanty fare.
A few days prior to the season of
thankfulness, when their landlady had
been summoned to the bedside of her
daughter, who was quite ill,—these bad,
bad College boys killed and BURIED
the whole drove of turkeys!
The old darkey cook spied upon the
boys, and reported the affair to her
mistress, on her return home,—the sec-
ond day after the "Massacre of the
Turkeys."
The old lady had them promptly
exhumed and prepared for the table.
The little dining-room maid, a second
Topsy,—gave the secret away to one of
the lads, as they filed into the dining-
room.
By some act or sign of Freemasonry,
known only to themselves, all were soon
aware of the truth, and the wit of the
party,—my Father,—was called on to
ask the blessing;—and while all the
other boys sat with eyes cast down, and
heads solemnly bent,—he,—with earnest
gaze upon the turkey before him,—in a
deep and vibrating voice, invoked this
blessing:—
"Oh, Lord, look down upon us,—
And bless this turkey hen,—
Which was once dead and BURIED,
But now, appears again."
Another "Recollection."—There was a
beautiful mountain maiden, living with
her parents, some distance from the
town,—of whom the boys were exceed-
ingly fond,—and often on Sunday
afternoons, several of them would make
a pilgrimage to offer up their devotion
and admiration to this lovely Virginia
wild-flower of a girl, whose home was
built upon a kind of plateau,—a double
log cabin, with a wide hall or passage-
way between the rooms,—open wide to
the mountain breeze.
During the Summer months, the boys
often remained to the family supper of
mush and milk.
They had heard from time to time
that the girl was "keeping steady com-
pany" with a young mountaineer,—who
was "pretty well to do" in that part of
the world, but so far they had failed to
meet him.
One Sunday afternoon,—as they were
filing out to the open-air dining-room to
the usual fare of mush and milk,—which
could be plainly seen upon the table,—a
member of the family, glancing up, saw
coming down the opposite plateau or
mountain-side, a man on a horse. Im-
mediately all was confusion,—the boys
were hustled back into the living room,
where the young mountaineer, the girl's
"steady," soon joined them.
After some half hour or more, they
were again invited out to supper,—and
great was their astonishment to be-
hold,—instead of the usual mush and
milk,—CAKE and TEA!
On being requested by some one
present, to "ask the blessing," my
Father did so,—in these words:
"Oh Lord, be praised, how I'm amazed
To see how things have mended,—
Here's CAKE and TEA, for supper, I
see—
While MUSH and MILK were in-
tended!"
So many "Recollections" come
thronging from Memory's Hall, and
clamoring for a "hearing," when I think
of the "dear old days" of my girlhood in
our fair and beautiful Southland, that I
fain would write all through the night;
and only one thought,—the fear that my
article may prove too long for this
issue,—silences the clamor from Mem-
ory's Bells. H. C. L. G.
1007 East Belknap, City.
"The Nest," April 19th, 1915.
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Schmidt, Henry C. Fraternity (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 14, No. 5, Ed. 1 Saturday, May 1, 1915, newspaper, May 1, 1915; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth233210/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.