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NYPL  RESEARCH  LIBRARIES 


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OF 


THE  FIGG  FAMILY 


FROM 


1719  to  1921 


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BY 

EDWARD  CLARENCE  FIGG 


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EDWARD  CLARENCE  FIGG  AT  THE  AGE  OF  40 


SKETCHES 


or 


The  Figg  Family 


FROM 


1719  to  1921 


BY 


EDWARD  CLARENCE  FICG 


1  9  2  I ,   J 
PRESS  OF  MOLL  &  COMPANY 

120   South  First  Stract 
LouisTilU,  K|r. 

J 


THE  >:EW  YORK 

PUBLIC  LIBr.ARY 

ASTCi:,  LENOX  A'Sit 
TILUEN  FOUNUAXiONS 

B  iy4i  L  , 


PREFACE. 


The  object  of  the  present  work  is  to  present  in  a  condensed 
form  a  true  sketch  of  the  Fig-g-  family,  and,  also,  in  addition  to 
the  family  history,  is  added  a  little  outside  information,  etc., 
that  occurred  to  the  writer  while  dotting  down  the  brief  family 
happenings,  which  no  doubt  will  be  appreciated.  The  writer 
of  this  little  book  has  endeavored  to  give  a  sketch  of  the  family 
record  in  a  plain  and  impartial  manner,  which  will  be  of  in- 
terest to  some  and  others  perhaps  it  may  not,  as  there  is  no 
book  or  writing  of  any  kind  that  pleases  everybody ;  not  even 
the  Bible,  for  I  heard  a  man  say  once  that  the  Bible  had  less 
sense  in  it  than  any  book  he  ever  read ;  I  asked  him  what  ivas 
his  favorite  book;  he  said,  " Jack-The-Giant-Killer ;"  so  there 
you  are ;  some  prefer  the  Bible,  while  others  prefer  " Jack-The- 
Giant-Killer." 

Therefore,  the  object  in  having  this  little  book  diversified 
with  different  information  besides  just  the  family  record,  is  to 
meet  the  various  tastes  that  the  different  readers  might  have. 

If  anything  has  been  omitted  that  some  may  think  should 
have  been  inserted,  or  even  otherwise,  just  remember  that  this 
is  not  a  complete  history  of  eveiy  man  that  is  named  "Figg," 
as  that  would  fill  many  volumes.  Every  man  in  the  world  has 
a  history  of  his  own  of  some  kind;  so  this  book  is  only  his- 
torical sketches,  in  connection  with  other  interesting  reading 
matter. 

If  you  find  any  mistakes  of  any  kind,  don't  think  strange 
of  it,  as  your  humble  servant  is  only  a  man  just  like  you,  and 
doesn't  claim  infallibility.  If  you  think  you  can  write  a  book 
without  making  a  single  mistake,  just  try  one  once  for  fun 
and  see  how  far  you  get. 

Through  this  book,  in  different  places,  you  may  come  across 
where  the  writer  referred  to  his  father,  or  grandfather,  etc., 
in  describing  who  a  certain  relative  was;  in  explanation  of 


why  it  was  done,  was  to  make  it  plainer  to  you,  as  to  who  the 
relative  was;  there  being  so  many,  you  are  liable  to  get  con- 
fused in  tracing  relationship  between  them  and  yourself  un- 
less made  very  plain.  I  assure  you  the  author  doesn't  enter- 
tain the  slightest  egotistical  feelings  whatever. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Frontispiece,  Edward  Clarence  Figg.  page 

James  W.,  Margaret  E.  and  Elizabeth  H.  Figg. 12 

Lillian  Hortense,  Sherman  and  Lindsay  Figg 14 

L.  R.  Figg  (group  picture) _ 23 

Hamilton  T.  Figg... 32 

Ellis  Lee  Figg... 40 

The  Author  when  a  coal  miner 54 

Elizabeth  (Figg)  Riley ....105 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  1. 

PAGE 

Section  1 — Genealogy  of  the  Figg  family 9 

Section  2 — Includes  the  brothers  and  sisters  of  my  grand- 
father   - 16 

Chapter  2. 

Section  1 — Embraces  the  original  William  Figg  and  his 

son  James,  and  his  descendants - — - 17 

Section  2 — Represents  Wesley  Figg,  second  son  of  William, 

and  his  descendants 19 

Section  3 — Represents  Francis  Asbury  Figg,  third  son  of 

William,  and  his  descendants 20 

Section  4 — Represents  Nathaniel   (Nat)   Figg,  fourth  son 

of  William  ....._ 21 

Section  5 — Represents  Benjamin  Figg,  fifth  son  of  William, 

and  his  descendants 21 

Section  6 — Represents  Wright  Figg,  sixth  son  of  William, 

and  his  descendants..... 22 

Section  7 — Represents  Thomas  Figg,  seventh  son  of  Will- 
iam, and  his  descendants 24 

Chapter  3. 

Section  1 — Represents  Seeli  Figg,  brother  of  William,  and 

his  descendants 25 

Chapter  4. 

Includes  sketches,  pranks,  jokes,  etc.,  on  some  of  the  rela- 
tives whose  names  and  relationship  have  al- 
ready been  given 29 

Section  1 — Represents  Nat  Figg  and  his  pranks 29 

Section  2 — Sketches  of  Hamilton  and  Benoni  Figg 31 

Section  3 — Describes  Wright  Figg  and  his  predicament —  35 


PAGB 

Section  4 — Embraces  James  Madison  Figg  and  his  mis- 
fortune    37 

Section  5 — An  account  of  Warner  T.  Figg,  Sr.,  and  three  of 
his  nephews,  James  W.,  Charles  and  Taylor 
Boswell,  and  his  nephews'  descendants 37 

Section  6 — Refers  to  sketches,  jokes,  etc.,  on  James  W. 

Figg  38 

Section  7 — Relates  to  Warner  T.  Figg,  Jr.,  who  ran  away 

from  home  when  a  boy.... 41 

Section  8 — Refers  to  John  T.  Figg  and  his  son,  Howard, 

and  a  brother,  William  J.  Figg 43 

Chapter  5. 

Section  1 — Represents  the  closing  sketch  of  the  four  Vir- 
ginia brothers  and  descendants 44 

Section  2 — Pertains  to  James  Figg,  the  pugilist,  and  the 

substance  of  pugilistic  rules. 44 

Chapter  6. 

Section  1 — Consists  of  sketches  about  sales,  etc 47 

Section  2 — Contains  information  for  school  children 50 

Chapter  7. 

Section  1 — Embraces  the  writer's  first  trip  westward, 
through  Indiana,  Illinois,  Missouri,  Kansas, 
Texas,  etc 54 

Section  2 — Tells  when  the  writer  first  began  merchandis- 
ing, also  other  enterprises,  etc 62 

Section  3 — Description  of  New  Orleans  and  surrounding 

country,  also  return  from  the  South 81 

Section  4 — Religious  belief  _ 88 

Chapter  8. 

Section  1 — Poems  of  the  writer's  own  comiwsition 91  to  105 

Section  2 — Selections  from  other  writers..... 105  to  118 


Sketches  of  the  Figg  Family  from 
1719  to  1921,  inclusive 


CHAPTER  1. 


Edward  Clarence  Figg,  author  of  this  book,  was  born  in 
Shelby  County,  Ky,,  in  the  Olive  Branch  Church  neighborhood, 
eight  miles  south  of  Shelbyville,  January  3,  1863.  He  was  a 
son  of  James  William  Figg,  a  son  of  Warner  Taylor  Figg,  son 
of  James  Figg,  who  was  a  son  of  John  Figg,  of  Culpepper 
County,  Virginia,  who  was  in  the  war  of  1775  with  George 
Washington,  John  Figg  was  my  great,  great  grandfather ;  he 
had  four  sons,  John,  Jr.,  James,  William  and  Seeli,  who  emi- 
grated to  Shelby  County,  Kentucky,  in  the  year  1800  with  a 
colony  of  relatives,  composed  of  Figgs,  Taylors  and  Boswells. 

One  of  the  family  settled  in  North  Carolina  way  back  in 
the  early  days.  He  raised  one  son,  James  Figg,  who  was  bor7i 
in  North  Carolina,  and  who  emigrated  to  Alabama  and  raised 
two  sons,  John  Lewis,  who  died  at  the  age  of  81  in  1918,  and 
Joseph  James,  who  died  in  White  County,  Arkansas,  in  May, 
1919,  at  the  age  of  70.  Also  two  girls,  Mrs.  Mary  Edwards 
and  Mrs.  Martha  Rice,  who  are  now  living  in  Beebe,  Ark.  The 
said  James  Figg,  of  Alabama,  father  of  the  ones  just  referred 
to,  emigrated  with  his  family  to  White  County,  Arkansas, 
about  the  year  1870  and  died  there  in  1875.  His  son,  Joseph 
James  Figg,  raised  one  son,  James  L.  Figg,  who  is  now  in  the 
drug  business  in  Bald  Knob,  Ark.,  and  is  also  a  registered 
optometrist. 

While  the  descendants  of  James,  William  and  Seeli  do  not 
claim  the  Irish  ancestry,  yet  John,  Jr.,  a  half  brother  of  them, 
claims  the  Irish  for  himself  and  his  descendants,  so  some  of  his 


J   ) 

J  i 


10  SKETCHES  OP^  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

offsprincTs  say.  They  claim  that  the  half  brother,  John,  Jr., 
was  born  in  Ireland  and  that  his  father,  John,  was  married 
twice,  the  first  marriage  to  an  Irish  lady,  who  was  the  mother 
of  John,  Jr.  Whether  he  was  born  there  while  his  parents 
were  on  a  visit,  or  whether  they  lived  there  a  while,  I  do  not 
know,  but,  at  any  rate,  John,  Jr.,  was  born  in  Ireland  (so  some 
say),  and  that  made  him  an  Irishman;  therefore,  his  descend- 
ants are  of  Irish  descent,  according  to  their  theory,  but  the 
descendants  of  the  three  full  brothers,  James,  William  and 
Seeli,  claim  England  and  Wales  as  their  original  country,  from 
the  fact  that  our  progenitors  lived  in  England  and  Wales  as 
far  back  as  can  be  traced.  (Wales  is  a  little  country  adjoining 
England  and  might  really  be  considered  a  part  of  it.  Wales 
belongs  to  England.) 

The  half  brother,  John  Jr.,  settled  over  in  Nelson  County, 
Kentucky,  and  is  buried  there.  He  had  one  son,  Nicholas,  who 
lived  in  Hardin  County,  Kentucky,  and  died  there.  Nicholas 
had  a  son,  James  Jefferson  Figg,  a  blacksmith,  who  was  born 
in  Shelby  County,  Kentucky,  in  1827,  and  died  in  Hardin 
County,  Kentucky,  in  1879,  at  52  years  of  age  (died  of  an  acci- 
dent) .  He  raised  a  family  of  children.  One  of  his  sons,  George 
Richard  Figg,  was  born  in  Hardin  County,  Kentucky,  and  is 
at  present  a  nightwatchman  at  a  brickyard  works  in  Highland 
Park,  near  the  suburb  of  this  city.  George  Richard  has  a  son, 
Chester,  and  a  daughter,  who  have  a  grocery  in  Highland  Park. 

I  have  finished  with  the  half  brother,  John,  Jr.,  M^ho  came 
over  to  Kentucky  from  Virginia,  together  with  three  other 
full  brothers,  James,  William  and  Seeli  Figg.  Now  I  will  take 
up  the  three  full  brothers,  beginning  with  James,  and  give  a 
sketch  of  him  and  his  descendants.  He  was  in  the  war  of  1812, 
with  Andrew  Jackson,  and  was  with  him  at  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans ;  was  living  in  Shelby  County,  Kentucky,  at  the  time, 
and  had  a  family.  He  lived  to  be  65  years  old,  and  died  of 
dyspepsia,  and  was  buried  in  an  old  forsaken  family  burying 
ground  five  miles  south  of  Shelbyville,  Ky.,  on  a  farm  now 
owned  by  Noble  Rogers,  I  believe,  this  1921.  There  are  no 
tombstones  to  mark  the  grave.     He  married  Miss  Elizabeth 


«   ft  ( 
*  *    * 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  11 

Taylor,  in  Virginik,  sister  of  William  Taylor,  about  the  year 
1798,  as  his  first  child,  Elizabeth  (Betsy),  was  born  December 
29,  1799,  one  year  before  he  emigrated  to  Kentucky.  His  wife 
was  a  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Taylor,  who  died  in  Jefferson 
County,  Virginia,  in  1804.  Nathaniel  had  brothers  and  sisters, 
but  I  only  remember  the  name  of  one,  and  that  was  John. 

Nathaniel  Taylor's  wife  was  Nancy  Wright,  and  they  had 
eleven  children,  seven  boys  and  four  girls.  The  boys  were 
William  (my  great  grandfather),  Nathaniel,  Jr.,  Thomas  T., 
James  and  John  F.,  of  Augusta  County,  Virginia,  Bushrod  and 
Richard.  The  girls  were  Elizabeth,  who  married  James  Figg; 
Mary  married  William  Figg,  a  brother  of  James ;  Nancy  mar- 
ried George  Boswell,  and  Fannie  married  a  Mr.  Wright,  from 
whom  the  Wrights,  of  Shelby  County,  Kentucky,  descended. 

James  Figg  had  three  sons  and  three  daughters.  The  sons 
were  Warner  Taylor,  Edward  M.  and  James  Madison;  their 
ages  run  as  their  names  go.  The  girls  were  Maria,  Martha 
and  Elizabeth  (Betsy).  Their  marriages  are  as  follows: 
M^arner  T.  married  his  first  cousin,  Lucinda  Taylor,  oldest 
daughter  of  William  Taylor.  Her  mother  was  Mary  Murphy, 
and  Mary  Murphy's  mother  was  Rosie  O'Darnell. 

One  of  Mary  Murphy's  brothers,  a  wealthy  old  bachelor, 
married  a  Miss  Black,  daughter  of  a  lawyer.  After  their  mar- 
riage they  went  to  Philadelphia  to  live.  They  raised  three 
girls.  One  of  them  married  a  Mr.  Jackson,  a  nephew  of  Stone- 
v/all  Jackson,  and  one  married  a  Mr.  Sherman,  a  relative  of 
General  John  Sherman. 

The  Warner  T.  Figg,  just  referred  to,  was  22  years  old 
Vv'hen  he  married,  and  his  wife,  Lucinda,  was  20.  He  was  bom 
March  29,  1808,  and  died  January  17,  1881,,  of  no  particular 
disease,  just  general  breakdown,  at  the  age  of  73.  His  wife, 
Lucinda,  was  born  June  25,  1810,  and  died  March  8,  1888.  She 
lived  to  be  78  years  of  age.  They  both  lived  all  their  lives  in 
the  neighborhood  of  their  birth,  in  Shelby  County,  Kentucky, 
the  southern  portion,  of  the  county,  and  were  buried  in  Grove 


12  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

Hill   Cemetery,  at   Shelbj^ville,   Ky.,   in  front  of  the  chapel 
(cemetery  church),  with  tombstones  to  mark  their  graves. 

Warner  T.  Fig-g,  just  referred  to,  had  two  sons  and  three 
daughters  that  raised  families  of  their  own.  The  sons  were 
James  William  (the  oldest)  and  Bushrod,  one  son,  John  T., 
having  died  single  at  the  age  of  24,  being  born  June  3,  1837, 
died  September  7,  1861.  The  girls  were  Bettie,  Sarah  and 
Georgia,  all  of  whom  are  dead.  They  are  buried  in  Grove  Hill 
Cemetery,  Shelbyville,  Ky. 

James  William  Figg  (who  was  my  father)  was  born  in 
Shelby  County,  Kentucky,  October  6,  1831,  died  August  26, 
1903,  of  heart  disease,  from  the  effects  of  pleurisy,  which  de- 
veloped into  pneumonia  and  settled  on  his  heart.  He  was 
buried  on  the  same  lot  with  his  parents,  they  having  bought 
a  lot  together.  He  and  his  brothers  and  their  father  and 
grandfather  were  all  Masons.  He  married  when  he  was  22 
years  of  age.  His  wife  was  Margaret  Elizabeth  Riley,  of 
Alton,  Anderson  County,  Ky.  She  was  born  December  11, 
1838,  and  died  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  April  15,  1908,  at  70  years 
of  age.  Her  husband  was  72  when  he  died.  She  was  15  years 
old  when  she  married,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Daniel  Riley,  a 
Baptist  minister,  of  Anderson  County,  Kentucky.  She  became 
a  Methodist  after  her  marriage.  Her  father  was  killed  by  a 
horse  kicking  him  in  the  stomach  when  she  was  an  infant. 
Then  she  was  taken  by  an  uncle,  William  Settle,  and  raised. 
She  had  three  brothers,  James,  William  and  John,  and  one 
sister,  Mary,  all  of  whom  married  and  raised  families.  Her 
sister  and  her  brothers  are  all  dead  now.  Her  mother  was 
Margaret  Settle  before  marriage,  and  Margaret  Settle's  mother 
was  a  Miss  Edrington. 

Margaret  Settle  was  a  very  beautiful  woman.  Ske  was  as 
fair  as  a  lily,  and  her  eyes  were  of  the  black,  sparkling  variety. 
She  was  a  very  tender-hearted  woman.  When  they  brought 
her  husband  into  the  house,  after  being  kicked  by  the  horse, 
she  never  recovered  from  the  shock,  and  died  shortly  after- 
wards of  grief.  The  Settle  family  in  those  days  were  mill- 
wrights and  wheelwrights  by  trade,  and  were  of  an  inventive 


THS  NEW  TOtC 
PU3LIC  LIBKART 


JAMES  w.,  mar(;.\ri:t  e.  and  Elizabeth  ficg 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  13 

turn  of  mind ;  so  also  was  my  mother's  grandfather,  Riley,  a 
millwrig-ht;  her  grandparents  emigrated  to  Anderson  County, 
Kentucky,  from  Culpepper  County,  Virginia,  many  years  ago. 

My  parents  raised  four  boys  and  two  girls :  John  Dewitt, 
Joseph  Bland,  Annie  Lucinda,  Edward  Clarence,  Ellis  Lee  and 
Elizabeth  H. ;  their  ages  run  as  their  names  go:  John  D.,  the 
oldest,  married  Julia  Settle,  his  second  cousin,  daughter  of 
Dr.  Joseph  E.  Settle,  of  Nelson  County,  Kentucky.  She  is  now 
dead,  and  he  has  remarried  and  is  living  in  Lebanon  Junction. 
He  raised  three  boys  by  his  first  wife,  Samuel  Butler,  Guthrie 
and  Joseph  W.  Figg.  Two  of  the  boys  are  married.  Guthrie 
married  a  Miss  Sears,  of  New  York,  and  is  living  in  the  State 
of  New  York  now;  Joseph  W.  married  a  Miss  Watson,  of 
Nelson  County,  Kentucky,  and  is  living  there  now.  The  oldest 
son,  Samuel  B.,  is  single  and  is  a  soldier,  stationed  at  Newport 
News,  Va. 

The  second  son  of  James  William  Figg  is  Joseph  B.,  who 
married  Miss  Frances  Tichenor,  of  Spencer  County,  Kentucky. 
They  have  no  children  and  are  living  in  Frankfort,  Ky. 

The  third  child  of  James  William  Figg  was  Annie  Lucinda, 
who  married  Marshall  McClain,  of  Spencer  County,  Kentucky, 
but  moved  to  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  raised  a  family.  He  is  in 
Florida  at  the  present  time,  attending  to  his  orange  grove,  and 
f:he  is  assisting  her  son,  James  Wesley  McClain,  in  his  work 
during  her  husband's  absence.  They  raised  four  children,  two 
boys  and  two  girls,  James  Wesley,  Clarence,  Margaret  and 
Lottie  May,  all  of  whom  are  married ;  James  Wesley  married 
Miss  Julia  Caroline  Gilmore,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  June  28,  1910. 
He  is  president  of  the  Conservatory  of  Music,  Second  and 
Broadway,  this  city,  Louisville.  His  brother,  Clarence,  mar- 
ried Miss  Ellis,  of  this  city.  They  are  living  in  California  now. 
Margaret  married  Mr.  Oscar  William  Widman,  of  Louisville, 
Ky.,  November  13,  1911.  They  are  now  living  in  Ohio.  Lottie 
May,  the  youngest,  married  Dr.  Baker,  whose  office  is  in  the 
Atherton  Building,  this  city. 

The  fourth  child  of  James  William  Figg  was  Edward 
Clarence  (author  of  this  book),  who  married  a  Miss  Coley,  of 


1.1  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

Shelby  County,  Kentucky,  but  is  now  a  widower.  They  have 
three  children,  Lillian  Hortense,  the  oldest,  who  is  19  years  of 
age;  Sherman  Dewitt,  who  is  18,  and  Lindsay  Breckinridge, 
the  youngest,  is  12  years  old,  all  of  whom  are  single  and  living 
in  this  city,  Louisville,  Ky. 

The  fifth  one  of  James  William  Figg's  children  was  Ellis 
I^e,  who  married  Miss  lola  Snodgrass,  of  Shelby  County,  Ken- 
tucky. He  is  in  the  insurance  business  here  in  this  city,  and 
lives  at  2616  Hale  avenue.  They  have  three  children,  Forrest 
Riley,  Clara  and  Kenneth.  The  two  oldest  are  married.  For- 
rest married  Miss  Minnie  Schneider,  of  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  and 
is  now  living  in  Daji;on,  Ohio;  he  is  in  the  insurance  business. 
Clara  married  Mr.  William  Roberts,  of  this  city. 

The  sixth  one  of  James  William  Figg's  children  was  Eliza- 
beth H.,  whose  first  husband  was  Edward  L.  Gross,  of  New 
York  City,  and  her  second  husband  was  Gabriel  Riley,  of  Pitts- 
burg, Kan.  She  died  May  3,  1909,  from  the  effects  of  an  opera- 
tion for  appendicitis,  in  Pittsburg,  Kan.,  and  is  buried  in 
Grove  Hill  Cemetery,  Shelby ville,  Ky.,  by  her  parents.  She 
left  no  children;  was  34  years  of  age  when  she  died,  having 
been  born  September  22,  1875. 

My  father,  James  William  Figg,  had  one  brother  and  three 
sisters,  all  of  whom  are  dead.  Their  names  were  as  follows : 
Bushrod,  Bettie,  Sarah  and  Georgia;  they  all  raised  families. 
Bushrod  was  born  January  23,  1839,  died  February  25,  1895, 
at  56  years  of  age,  of  heart  disease.  He  married  Susan  Doyle, 
of  Shelby  County,  Kentucky,  and  raised  six  children,  Leslie, 
William,  Gertie,  Marvin,  Emmett  and  Stella,  all  of  whom  mar- 
ried and  are  now  living,  except  Gertie,  who  died  about  a  year 
after  her  marriage  to  George  L.  Goss,  of  Shelby  County,  Ken- 
tucky. Leslie  married  Miss  Callie  Fisher,  of  Shelby  County, 
and  raised  two  boys,  Roddie  being  the  oldest.  His  first  wife 
died  and  he  has  married  again. 

William  W.,  the  second  son  of  Bushrod  Figg,  married 
Roberta  Cosby,  of  Shelby  County.  They  have  one  son,  Stan- 
ley, and  one  daughter. 


'  I. 


LIM.IAN  IIORTENSE,  SHI  KM  AN   AM)  I  IM)S\^    F1G(; 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  15 

Marvin,  the  third  son  of  Bushrod  Figg,  married  Miss 
Georgia  Anderson,  of  Shelby  County,  and  have  one  son,  May 
Anderson,  and  a  daughter. 

Emmett,  the  fourth  son  of  Bushrod  Figg,  married  Miss 
Jusie  Donohue,  of  Shelby  County.    They  have  no  children. 

Stella,  the  youngest  child,  and  daughter  of  Bushrod  Figg, 
married  John  Carpenter,  a  farmer  of  Shelby  County,  and  they 
have  children. 

Bettie,  the  oldest  sister  of  my  father,  married  William  W. 
Jesse,  a  farmer,  of  Shelby  County,  Kentucky;  they  have  five 
children  living,  Warner  W.,  Tilden,  Minnie,  Virgia  and  Lillie. 
Warner  W.,  who  is  a  lawyer  in  Shelbyville,  Ky.,  is  married. 
Tilden,  a  farmer,  married  a  Miss  Thurman;  Minnie,  John 
Taylor;  Lillie  married  a  Mr.  Doyle,  and  Virgia  is  a  widow. 

Sarah,  second  sister  of  my  father,  married  James  Payne, 
a  farmer,  of  Shelby  County;  they  raised  two  children,  Thomas 
W.  and  Annie;  they  are  both  married.  Thomas  W.  lives  in 
the  State  of  Oregon,  I  believe,  and  Annie  lives  here  in  this 
city,  at  2506  West  Oak  street.  She  married  Shelby  C.  Figg,  a 
minister  of  the  Gospel  and  also  a  stock  dealer  at  the  Bourbon 
Stock  Yards,  here  in  this  city.  They  have  a  family  of  boys 
and  girls;  their  two  sons,  Thomas  and  Curtis,  are  interested 
in  the  stock  yard  business  with  their  father. 

Georgia,  the  third  and  youngest  sister  of  my  father,  mar- 
ried D.  J.  Doyle,  a  prosperous  farmer,  in  Shelby  County,  Ken- 
tucky. They  raised  five  children,  Lillie,  William,  Manda,  Susie 
and  Margaret,  all  of  whom  are  living  and  are  all  married,  ex- 
cept Manda  and  Susie,  who  are  single  and  are  keeping  house 
for  their  father,  their  mother  being  dead.  The  oldest  daugh- 
ter, Lillie,  married  Leonard  Scarce,  a  farmer,  of  Shelby  Coun- 
ty, Kentucky.  William  married  Miss  Amy  Harris.  Margaret 
married  Forrest  Coots,  of  Shelby  County,  Kentucky. 


16  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

SECTION  2,  IN  CHAPTER  1. 

My  grandfather,  Warner  T.  Figg,  Sr.,  had  two  brothers 
and  three  sisters,  Edward  M.,  James  Madison,  EHzabeth 
(Betsy),  Maria  and  Martha;  Edward  M.  was  born  in  Shelby 
County,  Kentucky,  September  20,  1818,  and  died  January  8, 
1899.  He  was  married  twice ;  his  first  wife  was  a  Miss  Dooley ; 
he  had  five  children  by  her;  John  T,,  a  real  estate  man  in 
Houston,  Texas,  who  is  now  79  years  old,  and  Columbus  C, 
who  lives  near  Bardstown,  Nelson  County,  Ky.,  a  farmer ;  and 
the  three  girls  were  Sarah,  Lydia  and  Melvina. 

Edward  M.  Figg's  second  wife  was  a  Miss  Carris,  and  to 
that  union  was  born  two  sons,  H.  C.  and  William  J.,  both  of 
whom  are  dead.  The  John  T.  Figg,  just  referred  to,  was  mar- 
ried twice,  married  two  sisters.  Misses  Threlkelds ;  he  raised 
one  son,  Howard,  and  a  daughter,  Mamie,  who  married  Will- 
iam Cardwell,  of  Shelbyville,  Ky. 

Columbus  C.  Figg,  brother  of  John  T.,  married  a  Miss  Mc- 
Gowan,  I  believe;  they  raised  one  daughter,  who  married  a 
Mr.  Muir,  son  of  a  banker  in  Bardstown,  Ky. 

H.  C.  Figg,  a  half  brother  of  John  T.  and  Columbus  C,  and 
a  full  brother  of  William  J.  Figg,  married  a  Miss  Jesse,  and 
raised  one  son,  Jesse. 

William  J.  Figg,  full  brother  of  H.  C,  married  Miss  Rosa 
Turner,  and  raised  one  daughter,  Ola  Logan. 

The  three  sisters  of  John  T.  and  Columbus  C.  Figg,  who 
were  Sarah,  Lydia  and  Melvina,  all  married  and  raised  fami- 
lies. Sarah  was  mamed  three  times;  her  first  husband  was 
Shepherd  Massie,  of  Spencer  County,  Kentucky;  they  emi- 
grated to  Kansas  and  raised  one  son,  Edward ;  then  her  second 
marriage  was  to  a  Mr.  Holms,  and  to  that  union  was  born  one 
son,  Jesse ;  then  her  third  marriage  was  to  a  Mr.  McAvoy. 

Lijdia,  second  sister  of  John  T.  and  Columbus  C.  Figg, 
married  Walter  Robertson,  Sr.,  and  they  raised  a  family. 
Melvina  also  married  and  raised  a  family. 
James  Madison  Figg,  youngest  brother  of  Warner  T.  Figg, 
Sr.,  was  married  twice ;  his  first  wife  was  a  Miss  Carrico ;  they 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  17 

raised  three  children,  Joseph  Butler,  Annie  and  Melvina;  the 
son,  Joseph  Butler,  emigrated  to  Claj'  City,  Illinois,  and  raised 
a  family.  The  girls,  Annie  and  Melvina,  had  government  po- 
sitions of  some  kind  the  last  information  I  had  of  them.  James 
Madison  Figg's  second  wife  was  a  Miss  Clements,  and  to  that 
union  was  born  two  girls.  After  his  death  his  widow  and  the 
two  girls  emigrated  to  Daviess  County,  Kentucky,  with  some 
other  relatives. 

Warmer  T.  Figg's  three  sisters  are  as  follows:  Elizabeth 
(Betsy),  who  was  born  December  29,  1799,  and  died  December 
16,  1877,  at  the  age  of  78 ;  married  Edward  Boswell,  her  first 
cousin,  who  was  born  December  4,  1798,  and  died  October  6, 
1853,  at  55  years  of  age.  They  raised  five  boys  and  three 
girls,  James  W.  Charles,  Taylor,  George  W.  and  Ben j anion  F. ; 
the  girls  were  Malinda,  who  married  Wm.  Smith;  Harriet 
married  John  Beckham,  and  Nancy  married  Harvy  Neal.  They 
are  all  dead,  except  Benjamon  F.,  who  is  now  living  in  this 
city.  Taylor,  the  last  one  of  the  Boswell  brothers  to  die  up  to 
the  present  writing,  was  born  in  1828,  and  died  in  1910  at  82 
>ears  of  age. 

The  second  sister  of  Warner  T.  Figg,  Sr.,  was  Maria,  who 
married  Wm.  Dulin ;  they  raised  a  family  of  children. 

The  third  sister,  Martha,  married  her  first  cousin,  Wright 
Figg,  and  they  raised  a  large  family,  whose  names  will  be 
taken  up  later,  also  their  descendants. 


CHAPTER  2. 


William  Figg,  one  of  the  three  full  brothers  who  came  over 
to  Shelby  County,  Kentucky,  from  Culpepper  County,  Vir- 
ginia, in  the  year  1800,  with  a  colony  of  relatives,  married 
Mary  Taylor,  sister  of  his  brother  James'  wife,  Elizabeth; 
therefore,  he  and  his  brother  married  two  sisters.  He  was  a 
son  of  John  Figg,  and  he  raised  seven  boys  and  three  girls, 


IS  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

James,  Wesley,  Francis  Asbury,  Nathaniel  (Nat),  Benjamon, 
Wright  and  Thomas.  The  girls  were  Mary,  Emily  and  Court- 
ney. Courtney  was  the  only  one  of  the  girls  that  married; 
she  mamed  a  Mr.  Hite.  Mary  and  Emily  lived  to  be  very  old, 
and  died  in  Shelbyville,  Ky.,  July  14,  1884.  Mary  was  bom 
March  22,  1802,  and  Emily  was  bom  November  15,  1808, 
making  Emily  76  and  Mary  82  when  they  died.  They  are 
buried  in  Grove  Hill  Cemetery,  Shelbyville,  Ky. 

James  Figg,  the  oldest  one  of  the  seven  sons  of  William 
and  Marj^  Figg,  was  bom  in  Culpepper  County,  Virginia, 
March  19,  1792 ;  died  July  3,  1883,  at  the  age  of  91  years.  He 
was  married  twice;  he  man*ied  two  sisters.  Misses  McCor- 
mack,  of  Shelby  County,  Kentucky.  He  raised  one  son,  John, 
who  was  born  December  6,  1824,  and  died  May  4,  1902,  at  78 
years  of  age.  He  married  Miss  Mildred  Wright,  of  Shelby 
County,  Kentucky,  who  was  born  May  25,  1827,  and  died  June 
8,  1907,  at  the  age  of  80.  They  raised  six  boys  and  four  girls, 
all  of  whom  are  living  except  the  oldest  boy,  James,  and  the 
oldest  girl,  Susan.  The  ones  that  are  living  are  George,  Ben- 
jamon J.,  Crittenden,  Edward  S.,  Shelby  C,  Margaret,  Mamie 
and  Sarah. 

George  Figg,  the  oldest  one  of  the  ten  children  of  John  and 
Mildred  Figg  that  are  living,  married  a  Miss  Clark,  of  Shelby 
County,  Kentucky,  and  they  raised  one  boy,  Clark,  and  two 
daughters.  He  is  now  living  at  714  East  St.  Catherine  street, 
this  city,  and  is  in  the  employ  of  the  L.  &  N.  R.  R.  Co. 

Benjamon  J.,  the  second  son  of  John  and  Mildred  Figg, 
married  Miss  Ida  Bibb,  of  Pleasureville,  Ky.  They  raised  one 
daughter.  Miss  Willie  May,  who  taught  school  for  a  while,  till 
she  got  married.  Benjamon  J.  has  married  again,  and  was 
living  at  Pewee  Valley,  a  few  miles  east  of  this  city,  the  last 
information. 

Crittenden,  the  third  oldest  son,  is  still  single.  The  fair 
damsels  seem  to  have  failed  to  captivate  his  palpitating  heart 
up  to  the  present.  He  is  interested  in  the  automobile  business 
in  Shelbyville,  Ky.  The  style  of  the  firm  is  The  Liberty  Garage 
Co.    He  is  also  a  live  stock  trader,  in  hogs,  cattle,  sheep,  etc. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  19 

Edward  S.,  the  fourth  son,  married  a  Miss  Cook,  of  Shelby 
County,  near  Mt.  Eden,  and  is  now  farming  in  that  neighbor- 
hood. 

Shelby  C,  the  fifth  son,  married  Miss  Annie  Payne,  of 
Shelby  County,  Kentucky.  He  is  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  and 
also  a  live  stock  dealer  at  the  Bourbon  Stock  Yards  at  the  east 
end  of  Market  street,  this  city,  and  lives  at  2506  West  Oak 
street,  this  city.  They  raised  a  family  of  boys  and  girls.  He 
has  two  boys,  Thomas  and  Curtis,  both  of  whom  are  interested 
in  the  stock  yard  business  with  him.  Of  the  four  sisters  of 
Shelby  C.  Figg,  they  married  as  follows : 

Susan,  who  is  dead,  married  Claud  Radcliff ;  Margaret  mar- 
ried James  Payne;  she  is  a  widow  now,  with  two  married 
daughters,  and  is  living  with  one  in  Virginia,  who  married  a 
Methodist  preacher;  Mamie,  one  of  the  four  sisters,  married 
Ruben  C.  Smith,  a  successful  farmer;  Sarah  married  a  Mr. 
LeGrand  McGee,  of  this  city. 


SECTION  2  IN  CHAPTER  2. 

Wesley  Figg,  the  second  one  of  the  seven  sons  of  the  origi- 
lial  William  Figg  who  came  over  to  Kentucky  from  Virginia 
in  1800,  married  Miss  Ann  Biyant,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  emi- 
grated to  Hendricks  County,  Indiana,  one  and  a  half  miles 
west  of  Coatesville,  some  time  between  the  years  1848  and 
1850.  He  and  his  brother,  Francis  Asbury,  emigrated  at  the 
same  time  together,  and  settled  near  each  other.  Wesley  raised 
one  son,  Millard  Fillmore,  and  one  daughter,  Marguerete ;  she 
is  now  dead.  Millard  Fillmore  lives  in  Irvington,  Ind.,  an 
annex  to  Indianapolis. 


20  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

SECTION  3  IN  CHAPTER  2. 

Francis  Asbury  Figg,  the  third  one  of  the  seven  brothers, 
sons  of  the  original  William  Figg,  was  born  September  1, 
1804,  in  Shelby  County,  Kentucky,  and  died  near  Coatesville, 
Ind,,  December  10,  1887,  at  the  age  of  83  years,  three  months 
and  nine  days.  He  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Rebecca 
Harrison,  in  Shelby  County,  Kentucky.  She  was  born  Decem- 
ber 10,  1808,  and  died  December  11,  1887,  at  the  age  of  79 
years  and  one  day.  She  and  her  husband,  Francis  Asbuiy, 
passed  away  together  and  were  laid  to  rest  in  the  same  grave. 
He  lived  one  and  three-fourths  miles  northwest  of  Coatesville, 
ind.,  where  he  first  settled  when  he  and  his  brother,  Wesley, 
emigrated.    His  brother,  Wesley,  died  first. 

Francis  Asbury  Figg  was  the  father  of  five  children.  His 
son  Gabriel,  who  is  now  deceased,  left  a  widow,  now  deceased, 
and  three  boys — George  M,,  now  living  in  Kansas  City,  Mo.; 
Charles  F.,  now  living  in  Topeka,  Kan.,  and  Wilbur  H.,  de- 
ceased within  the  last  year. 

Hiram  Figg,  the  second  son  of  Francis  Asbury,  is  past  87 
years  of  age,  and  is  now  living  in  California,  and  is  the  father 
of  six  children,  all  living  but  one.  They  are  located  in  Cali- 
fornia and  the  State  of  Washington. 

William  Henry  Figg,  the  third  son  of  Francis  Asbury,  was 
bom  in  Shelby  County,  Kentucky,  October  10,  1834,  and  died 
January  29,  1915,  at  81  years  of  age.  He  was  united  in  mar- 
riage January  17,  1861,  to  Luisa  Miller,  who  is  still  living  at 
this  writing,  this  May,  1921,  and  to  their  union  were  born 
seven  children,  all  of  whom  are  dead  except  Laura  A.,  Archi- 
bald A.  and  James  William,  of  Danville,  Ind. 

Robert  Figg,  the  fourth  son  of  William  Henrj'  Figg,  and 
grandson  of  Francis  Asbury  Figg,  died  during  the  World  War, 
leaving  a  widow.  He  was  the  father  of  four  children ;  all  are 
dead  except  John  W.,  a  prominent  and  prosperous  citizen. 

Archibald  A.  Figg,  the  third  son  of  William  Henry  Figg, 
and  grandson  of  Francis  Asbury  Figg,  lives  in  Danville,  Ind. ; 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  21 

went  there  in  the  fall  of  1898,  served  for  four  years  as  Sheriff, 
and  has  been  in  the  automobile  business  for  the  past  ten  years, 
but  retired  some  time  ago  to  engage  in  auctioneering  and  look- 
ing after  his  farm  interests.  He  is  an  auctioneer  of  consid- 
erable note,  specializing  in  the  sales  of  pure-bred  swine,  cover- 
ing the  territory  of  Iowa,  Missouri,  Illinois,  Indiana  and  Ohio. 

Wesley  and  Francis  Asbury  Figg,  the  two  brothers  who 
were  the  forefathers  of  the  numerous  families  just  referred 
to  in  Indiana,  were  always  considered  stanch  and  honorable 
citizens.  They  were  Methodist  in  their  religious  belief,  and 
the  descendants  of  the  two,  while  considerably  scattered,  have 
maintained  the  honor  and  integrity  of  their  forefathers,  none 
being  arrested  or  convicted  for  violations  of  the  laws  of  their 
State  and  country,  and  always  ready  to  honor  and  maintain 
the  flag. 


SECTION  4  IN  CHAPTER  2. 

Natlmniel  (Nat)  Figg,  the  fourth  one  of  the  seven  brothers, 
sons  of  the  original  Wm.  Figg,  who  came  over  to  Kentucky 
from  Virginia  in  the  year  1800,  married,  but  left  no  children. 


SECTION  5  IN  CHAPTER  2. 

Benjamon  Figg,  the  fifth  one  of  the  seven  brothers,  mar- 
ried a  Miss  Graves,  of  Shelby  County,  Kentucky,  daughter  of 
Edmond  Graves,  a  farmer,  and  they  raised  two  boys  and  three 
girls.  Hamilton  Taylor  and  Benoni  were  the  boys,  and  the 
girls  were  Jane,  Frances  and  Courtney;  they  all  married  and 
raised  families. 

Hamilton  Taylor  Figg  was  bom  in  Shelby  County,  Ken- 
tucky, June  15,  1811,  and  lived  to  be  96  years  old;  he  died 
about  January,  1907.  He  came  to  Lrouisville  when  a  young 
man,  and  was  the  father  of  five  living  children  when  he  died, 
two  boys  and  three  girls,  Hamilton  A.  and  Henry,  neither  of 


22  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

whom  had  any  children;  Henry  is  now  dead;  Hamilton  A., 
lives  on  Jefferson  street,  between  Second  and  Third;  one  of 
his  daughters  married  John  F.  Spangler,  now  of  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  and  they  raised  a  family ;  one  of  her  boys  is  a  minister  of 
the  Gospel ;  and  another  one  of  Hamilton  T.  Figg's  daughters 
married  Edward  Smith,  of  this  city ;  Miss  Anna,  his  youngest 
daughter,  is  not  married.    His  wife  was  Miss  Mary  Flemming. 

Benoni  Figg,  brother  of  Hamilton  T.,  married  Miss  Annie 
Liter,  and  they  raised  two  girls;  one  of  them  married  a  Mr. 
Gheens,  of  the  firm  of  Bradas  &  Gheens,  candy  manufacturers. 
Kenoni  died  in  Louisville  in  1904,  leaving  a  widow,  who  is  now 
dead. 


SECTION  6  IN  CHAPTER  2. 

Wright  Figg,  the  sixth  one  of  the  seven  brothers,  sons  of 
the  original  William  Figg,  who  came  over  from  Virginia  in 
1800,  married  his  first  cousin,  Martha  Figg,  sister  of  my 
grandfather,  Warner  T.  Figg,  Sr. ;  they  raised  a  family  of 
eight  children,  four  boys  and  four  girls ;  the  boys  were  Warner 
T.,  Jr.,  James,  George  and  LeGrand;  the  girls  were  Ann, 
Mary,  Carrie  and  Martha;  Warner  T.,  Jr.,  married  Mollie 
Combs,  and  had  no  children;  George  married,  and  had  no 
children;  James  married  Lucinda  Hiter  and  raised  four  chil- 
dren, two  boys  and  two  girls,  William  H.,  Alfred,  Emma  and 
Lizzie ;  William  H.  Figg  married  Elizabeth  Dettmer  and  have 
two  sons  living,  James  having  died  a  year  ago,  leaving  a  widow 
and  two  children.  William  H.  Figg's  two  living  sons,  William 
H.,  Jr.,  and  Harry,  are  both  married  and  have  children.  Wm. 
H.,  Jr.,  is  not  living  in  this  city  at  present,  but  his  brother, 
Harry,  lives  at  613  West  Broadway,  this  city.  Harry's  father, 
William  H.,  lives  at  1661  Gallagher  street,  this  city,  and 
is  employed  at  the  Peerless  Manufacturing  Company ;  so  also 
is  his  brother,  Alfred,  who  married  Mollie  East  and  who  lives 
at  1760  West  Oak  street.  Alfred  has  two  boys  living,  Alfred, 
Jr.,  and,  I  believe,  the  other  one's  name  is  May  Humphrey, 


THK  MEW  TORC 

PUBLIC  LfBRAKl 


TlLDf.N  rouNc*~!r  »*' 


I..  K.  I  K,(;     X     AM)  TIIRKl.  lU'SINESS  ASSOCIATES 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  23 

and  he  has  about  six  girls.  The  two  sisters  of  William  H.  and 
Alfred  Figg  are  Emma  and  Lizzie;  both  are  married;  one 
lives  in  Chicago,  and  one  lives  on  Cawthon  street,  this  city. 

LeGrand  Figg,  one  of  the  four  sons  of  Wright  Figg,  mar- 
ried Maria  Ann  Davis,  daughter  of  Isaac  Davis,  who  was  a 
first  cousin  of  Jefferson  Davis,  President  of  the  Southern  Con- 
federacy, whose  mother  was  Miss  Jane  Cook.  LeGrand  Figg 
was  the  father  of  two  children,  LeGrand  R.,  Jr.,  and  Miss 
P'annie;  their  father  died  while  they  were  very  small  children. 
LeGrand  R.  married  Miss  Fannie  Neff,  of  Louisville,  Ky.  They 
had  one  son,  Allan  L.  Figg,  who  died  of  influenza  a  year  or 
two  ago,  leaving  a  widow. 

LeGrand  R.  figg  spent  his  early  days  in  California,  fann- 
ing, with  an  uncle,  LeGrand  R.  Davis,  and,  on  returning  to 
Louisville,  engaged  in  the  coal  business ;  then,  afterwards,  be- 
gan contracting  in  street  and  road  making,  and  has  been  in 
that  business  continuously  for  the  last  thirty  years,  and  is  a 
shrewd  business  man.  His  office  is  at  Floyd  and  Lee  streets, 
this  city,  and  his  residence  is  11  Castlewood,  an  aristocratic 
part  of  the  city. 

Here  is  the  style  of  his  firm  : 

L.  R.  Figg,  President  F.  E.  Figg,  Secretary 

Dealers  in  Sand,  Gravel  and  Stone. 

Specialties:     Reinforced  Concrete,  Vitrified  Brick  and 

Concrete  Paving,  Wrecking  and  Excavating. 

L.  R.  FIGG  COxMPANY   (Incorporated) 

General  Contractors. 

Southwest  Corner  Floyd  and  Lee  Streets. 

Louisville,  Ky. 

The  four  daughters  of  Wright  Figg  married  as  follows: 
Martha  married  a  Mr.  Iceler ;  Mary  married  a  Mr.  Hemp,  and 
had  children;  Ann  married  Jacob  Spangler,  a  carpenter,  and 
they  raised  one  son.  Dr.  John  F.,  who  married  a  daughter  of 


24  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

Hamilton  T.  Fig-g-,  and  they  raised  seven  children,  boys  and 
girls;  they  moved  to  St.  Louis  to  live;  the  other  sister,  Carrie, 
never  married,  lived  to  middle  age  and  died. 


SECTION  7  IN  CHAPTER  2. 

Thomas  Flgg,  the  last  one  of  the  seven  brothers,  sons  of  the 
original  Wm.  Figg,  who  came  over  to  Kentucky  from  Virginia 
in  the  year  1800,  married  a  Miss  Smith  in  Virginia,  I  believe, 
and  emigrated  to  Shelby  County,  Kentucky,  and  raised  five 
children,  John,  James  and  Thomas  Jefferson  Figg,  also  two 
girls,  Mary  and  Martha ;  three  of  the  number,  John,  James  and 
Mary  died  many  years  ago,  leaving  no  children;  Thomas  J., 
who  died  September  15,  1881,  married  and  had  eight  children, 
but  only  three  are  living;  they  are  John,  Charles  and  Annie, 
of  Louisville,  Ky. ;  Charles  has  four  children  living;  they  are 
John,  Walter,  Lafayette  and  Lizzie,  and  they  live  at  133  Will- 
iam street,  this  city.  His  brother,  John,  has  two  children,  Ben 
and  Bertha,  and  they  live  at  133  William  street,  this  city.  Ben 
is  now  living  in  Detroit,  Mich. 

I  have  a  little  joke  on  Ben.  He  may  not  want  me  to  tell 
this,  but  I  will  tell  it  anyhow,  as  we  are  all  kinfolks,  although 
1  did  not  know  who  he  was  at  the  time,  never  had  heard  ot 
him.  When  I  ran  a  country  store  in  Shelby  County  several 
years  ago,  a  cei-tain  young  lady  in  the  neighborhood  sold  me 
some  eggs;  on  one  of  the  eggs  she  wrote  her  name  and  ad- 
dress ;  I  sold  the  eg-gs  to  a  market  man ;  the  market  man  sold 
them  to  a  commission  house  here  in  the  city.  In  course  of 
time  Ben  Figg  got  the  eg^  with  the  writing  on  it.  He  wrote 
to  the  lady  and  corresponded  with  her ;  had  up  quite  a  corre- 
spondence for  a  while,  so  she  said.  She  asked  me  about  Ben, 
but  I  could  not  give  her  any  information,  only  that  if  his  name 
was  "Figg,"  I  supposed  we  were  related,  as  I  claimed  them 
all,  good  and  bad. 

Now,  going  back  to  the  Thomas  Figg  we  started  with  in 
this  line,  who  was  a  son  of  the  original  William  Figg,  who 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  25 

came  over  to  Kentucky  from  Virginia  in  the  year  1800,  we 
will  take  up  his  daughter,  Martha,  who  married  James  Taylor, 
her  second  cousin;  she  raised  three  children,  Charles,  Van  S. 
and  Annie  Belle,  all  of  whom  married  as  follows:  Charles 
married  Mrs.  Lou  (Breemaker)  Mappin,  of  Louisville,  Ky. ; 
she  raised  one  son,  Orville  Taylor,  of  this  city,  her  husband 
having  died  September  11,  1881,  while  Orville  was  small,  leav- 
ing her  a  widow,  who  is  now  dead. 

Vail  S.  Taylor,  second  son  of  Martha  (Figg)  Taylor,  mar- 
ried Miss  Cora  Allen,  of  Shelby  County,  Kentucky ;  they  raised 
one  daughter,  Grace,  who  married  a  Mr.  Smith,  of  Finchville, 
Ky.    She  is  now  dead,  leaving  one  or  two  children. 

Annie  Belle,  the  third  child  of  Martha  (Figg)  Taylor,  mar- 
ried B.  M.  Beckham,  of  Spencer  County,  Kentucky,  a  farmer; 
they  are  now  living  in  Shelbyville,  Ky. ;  their  only  daughter, 
Ollie,  having  married  a  few  years  ago,  they  moved  to  town 
and  quit  farming. 


CHAPTER  3. 


I  have  finished  the  genealog>^  of  James  Figg  and  his  de- 
scendants, also  his  half  brother,  John,  Jr.,  and  his  descend- 
ants in  CMpter  One,  and  have  also  finished  the  genealogical 
sketch  of  William  Figg,  his  brother,  and  his  descendants,  in 
Chapter  Two.  Now  I  will  take  up  the  third  and  last  of  the  full 
brothers  who  came  over  to  Kentucky  from  Virginia  in  the 
vear  1800. 

Seeli  Figg,  son  of  John  Figg,  was  born  May  4,  1776,  in 
Virginia,  the  year  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  de- 
clared. He  came  over  to  Kentucky  when  24  years  of  age,  with 
his  brothers  and  other  relatives.  He  lived  in  Shelby  County, 
Kentucky,  for  a  long  time,  then  emigrated  to  Indiana,  and 
settled  one  mile  north  of  Ellettsville,  where  he  lived  the  re- 
mainder of  his  days.  He  died  September  11,  1855.  His  wife 
was  Miss  Mollie  Dean ;  they  raised  one  son,  Thomas  Figg,  who 
was  bom  October  8,  1805,  and  died  March  15,  1867. 


26  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

Thomas  Figg,  the  son  of  Seeli,  married  Rebecca  Howerton, 
daughter  of  Thomas  Howerton,  of  Shelby  County,  Kentucky; 
they  were  married  November  13,  1826.  Rebecca  was  bom 
March  8,  1810,  and  died  January  23,  1897,  at  87  years  of  age. 
Rebecca's  father,  Thom.as  Howerton,  was  married  twice,  his 
first  wife  being  a  Miss  Coots,  who  was  the  mother  of  Rebecca. 
His  second  wife  was  a  Miss  Gordon,  who  was  the  mother  of 
Old  Uncle  Tommie  Howerton,  as  he  was  called,  who  lived  to  be 
very  old  and  who  died  in  Shelby  Countj^  Kentucky,  a  few 
years  ago. 

Thomas  and  Rebecca  Figg  raised  thirteen  children,  five 
boys  and  eight  girls,  Jane,  Elizabeth,  Martha,  Nancy,  Sarah 
Ann,  Mildred,  Caroline,  Emiline,  James  W.,  Thomas  D.,  John 
S.,  Samuel  C.  and  Seeli,  Jr.  There  are  only  three  of  them  liv- 
ing now,  Nancy,  Caroline  and  Samuel  C. ;  one  of  them  died 
about  two  years  ago,  which  was  Dr.  John  S.  Figg,  who  lived 
in  Spencer,  Indiana.  There  are  73  grandchildren  of  Seeli  Figg, 
and  152  great  grandchildren,  and  about  60  great,  great  grand- 
children. The  old  Figg  farm  of  their  ancestor,  Seeli  Figg,  is 
situated  one  mile  north  of  Ellettsville,  Ind.,  and  consisted  of 
about  300  acres.  The  old  house  is  still  standing,  although  not 
used  any  more. 

The  kinfolks  here  used  to  tell  a  good  many  jokes  on  Uncle 
Seeli,  way  back  in  early  days,  in  Shelby  County,  Kentucky, 
before  he  emigrated  to  Indiana.  Some  of  his  friends  in  Shelby- 
ville  one  day,  just  to  have  a  little  fun  out  of  him,  made  it 
up  between  themselves  for  different  ones  of  them  to  meet  him 
on  the  street  and  tell  him  that  there  was  a  letter  in  the  post- 
office  for  him  and  Henry  Curtendoll.  The  postmaster  was  a 
very  high -tempered  man,  and  they  knew  that  Seeli  would  fight, 
too,  if  you  crowded  him,  so  they  thought  they  would  watch 
the  results.  He  went  in  a  huriy  to  the  office  and  called  for  it. 
Of  course,  there  was  no  letter  there,  so  the  postmaster  told 
him  there  was  no  mail  for  him. 

After  he  had  gotten  back  on  the  street,  another  of  his 
"friends"  spoke  to  him  and  said,  "Mr.  Figg,  I  just  came  from 
the  post-office,  and  the  postmaster  said  there  was  a  letter  there 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  27 

for  you  and  Henry  Curtendoll."  The  old  fellow  thinking,  of 
course,  the  postmaster  had  overlooked  his  letter,  went  hump- 
ing back  and  called  again.  The  postmaster  looked  at  him  a 
little  hard  and  told  him  that  there  was  no  mail  there  for  him ; 
hut  after  he  was  out  on  the  street  again,  walking  around,  he 
met  another  one  of  his  "friends,"  and  he,  too,  told  him  that  he 
just  came  from  the  post-office  and  the  postmaster  shotved  him 
the  letter  and  he  knew  it  teas  there;  so  he  went  the  third  time 
and  called. 

His  "friends"  knew  the  postmaster's  temper,  so  they  fol- 
lowed after  Uncle  Seeli  that  trip,  expecting  to  see  a  fight  sure 
enough.  When  he  called,  the  postmaster  made  at  him,  but 
Seeli  squared  himself,  and  the  gentleman  stopped  just  before 
he  got  to  him.  Seeli's  reply  to  the  offended  gentleman  was : 
"Why,  you  must  be  a  d — n  fool ;  I'll  knock  your  d — n  brains 
out,  you  fool  with  me!" 

People  in  olden  times  used  to  believe  in  ghosts  a  good  deal, 
and  the  superstition  still  exists  with  a  great  many.  In  one 
room  of  a  certain  house,  not  far  from  where  I  was  raised,  it 
was  considered  haunted,  and  the  cover,  it  was  said,  would  slide 
off  the  bed  and  could  not  be  held  on  by  whoever  v;as  in  the 
bed;  so  Uncle  Seeli  stayed  all  night  at  that  neighbor's  house, 
and  they  put  him  in  that  room  to  sleep,  knowing  he  Vv^as  not 
afraid  of  anything,  as  they  wanted  to  see  what  he  would  do ; 
so  when  the  cover  began  to  slide  off  Seeli  raised  up  and  looked 
around  awhile  and  finally  said :  "Good  morning.  Captain 
Snorts;  you  pull  and  I'll  pull,  and  we'll  sec  who  can  out-pull." 
While  the  above  anecdote  is  true,  yet  some  mischievous  person 
evidently  slipped  under  the  bed,  just  to  scare  Seeli. 

I  have  a  comb,  made  out  of  sugar  tree  wood,  that  Uncle 
Seeli  made  over  a  hundred  years  ago,  for  his  brother,  James, 
to  comb  out  his  horse's  mane  and  tail.  His  brother,  James, 
had  a  fine  stallion,  called  Llurdock. 

One  day  Uncle  Seeli  and  three  of  the  neighbor  men,  who 
had  come  over  to  see  him,  were  sitting  talking  on  Scripture; 
they  were  a  little  inclined  to  be  of  the  old-style  type,  and  it 
seemed  they  had  taken  a  drink  or  two  some  time  previously ; 


28  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

they  were  Bobby  Godfrey,  Heniy  Curtendoll  and  Billie  McKin- 
ley.  Billie  looked  over  to  Curtendoll  and  said :  "H-e-n-r-y,  do 
you  believe  that  Gawd  made  you  and  me  and  Baub  and  See-li  ?" 
Henry  jumped  up  and  said:  "Yes!  but  he'll  be  dad-dum 
sorry  of  it!" 

After  they  had  conversed  quite  intelligently  for  some  time 
on  Scripture,  Billie  McKinley  concluded  he  would  get  a  drink 
of  water,  so  he  started  across  the  floor,  taking  in  both  sides  of 
the  room  at  the  same  time,  and  fell  over  Curtendoll's  feet,  who 
was  sitting  in  a  chair,  with  his  feet  stretched  about  halfway 
across  the  room,  but  when  Billie  fell  over  him,  he  looked  up 
rather  angrily  and  said :  "Gawd  d — n  yer,  keep  off  my  feet!" 
Billie  stuck  his  lip  up  and  handed  him  this:  "Haneiy,  keep 
yer  d — n  feet  to  yer  self." 

No  doubt  they  knew  a  great  deal  about  the  Bible ;  Curten- 
doll especially,  as  he  was  a  veiy  intelligent  man.  He  sent  his 
boy,  "Little  Hen,"  as  he  called  him,  to  school  one  day,  and  that 
night  he  handed  him  the  Bible  and  told  him  to  read  a  chapter, 
and  v/hen  "Little  Hen"  failed  to  read  it,  he  said  he'd  never 
send  him  to  school  another  day,  as  he  had  been  there  all  day 
long  and  couldn't  read  yet.  "Little  Hen"  never  went  to  school 
any  more. 

Country  people  are  blessed  with  plenty  to  eat ;  true  enough, 
they  have  to  work  for  it,  but  they  have  it  just  the  same;  but 
sometimes  they  run  a  little  short  as  well  as  city  folks.  Occa- 
sionally their  milk  supply  runs  dow^n  pretty  low,  when  their 
cows  are  out  of  commission  for  awhile.  My  father  used  to 
laugh  and  tell  about  once,  when  he  was  a  boy,  his  father's 
cows  failed  in  their  milk  and  didn't  hardly  get  any  for  awhile ; 
during  the  time  Uncle  Seeli  dined  with  them.  At  the  table  he 
took  a  glass  of  milk,  the  very  thing  my  father  didn't  want  him 
to  take;  he  drank  the  glass  of  milk  and  passed  it  back  to  my 
grandmother  and  said  he  only  wanted  three  droops  more  of 
milk.  He  held  his  glass  in  his  hand  till  it  was  about  to  run 
over;  then,  in  great  surprise  (seemingly),  he  exclaimed: 
"Why,  there!  there!  Lucinda!  I  only  wanted  three  drops." 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  29 

CHAPTER  4. 

Nat  Figg-,  son  of  William  Figg,  who  was  a  brother  of  Seeli 
and  James,  was  one  of  the  most  mischievous  of  all  our  rela- 
tives. He  didn't  mean  any  harm  by  his  pranks,  but  some  of 
them  were  a  little  hard  on  the  other  fellow.  On  one  occasion 
he  was  sleeping  with  a  stranger,  and  he  concluded  to  have  a 
little  fun.  So,  when  they  went  to  bed,  he  told  the  fellow  that 
sometimes  he  had  fits,  but  there  was  no  danger  in  the  world  in 
him,  and  all  that  was  necessary  was  to  keep  a  little  out  of  his 
way,  and  that  you  could  always  tell  when  the  fit  was  coming 
on,  as  it  only  happened  while  he  was  asleep  and  that  he  would 
begin  to  grit  his  teeth  just  before  it  came  on. 

They  had  only  been  to  bed  a  short  while  till  Nat  began  to 
grit  his  teeth.  The  fellow  made  one  leap  and  landed  out  in 
the  middle  of  the  floor,  and  away  he  went  down  the  stairs 
like  a  bullet  shot  out  of  a  gun,  and  Nat  right  after  him.  As 
the  fellow  made  a  quick  turn  at  the  foot  of  the  steps  he  struck 
his  hip  against  the  banisters  and  hurt  himself  right  badly. 
Nat,  of  course,  regretted  the  accident  very  much,  as  he  only 
meant  to  have  a  little  fun.  He  paid  the  man's  doctor  bill  and 
\^'aited  on  him;  treated  him  so  kindly  afterwards  that  he 
gained  his  good  will  and  friendship. 

On  another  occasion,  his  father,  who  was  a  good  old 
Methodist,  was  having  family  prayer  at  night ;  all  of  the  fam- 
ily were  down  on  their  knees  engaged  in  prayer;  but  Nat,  he 
couldn't  stand  to  worship  very  long  at  a  time.  The  fire  was 
burning  bright,  so  he  reached  over  and  stuck  the  poker  in  the 
fire  and  got  it  red-hot,  and  touched  up  one  of  the  boys  with  it 
who  was  bent  over  in  a  favorable  position.  When  the  boy 
began  to  cry  the  old  gentleman  mistook  his  suffering  for  re- 
ligious convictions,  but  when  he  finished  his  prayer,  looked 
around,  and  Nattie  was  gone,  he  knew  what  had  happened, 
but  Nattie  could  not  be  found  right  then. 

Once,  when  his  father  was  going  away  early  one  morning, 
he  put  his  razor,  shaving  mug,  etc.,  handy,  where  he  could  find 
them  the  next  morning  without  any  trouble,  but,  unfortunately. 


30  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

Nattie  slipped  out  the  cake  of  shaving-  soap  and  put  in  a  piece 
of  tallow.  The  old  man  failed  to  ever  get  his  soap  to  lather, 
but  he  said  that  if  he  knew  just  where  Nattie  was,  he  would 
make  hivi  lather. 

One  of  Nat's  friends  was  running  for  the  Legislature  once, 
but  was  a  very  poor  speaker.  Nat  asked  his  friend  to  let  him 
make  the  opening  speech  to  the  crowd  in  his  behalf.  Permis- 
sion was  granted,  of  course,  as  the  fellow  was  glad  to  have 
somebody  make  the  speech  for  him.  Nat  praised  his  friend 
to  the  highest  and  everything  was  going  along  all  right,  until 
he  extended  his  praise  a  little  too  far  and  declared  that  his 
friend,  Neel,  had  told  him  that,  if  elected,  he  would  cause  the 
Ohio  River  to  separate,  one-half  to  run  up  stream  and  the 
other  half  down  stream,  so  people  could  walk  across  dry-shod. 
But  when  he  said  that,  Neel  couldn't  stand  it  any  longer,  so 
he  raised  up  and  shook  his  fist  in  the  air  and  said :  "Nat,  you 
knoiv  tlvat's  a  lie!" 

Out  in  the  country,  farmers  all  mark  their  hogs  by  cutting 
a  little  piece  out  of  one  or  both  ears,  so  as  to  identify  them  if 
they  stray  off  or  get  stolen,  etc.  They  aim  to  have  their  mark 
a  little  different  to  their  neighbors. 

Nat  Figg  was  riding  along  one  day  and  saw  a  fellow  stand- 
ing by  the  side  of  the  road,  and  he  concluded  to  pretend  as  if 
he  had  lost  some  hogs.  He  stopped  and  said  to  the  man: 
"Mister,  have  you  seen  any  stray  hogs  around  here  "  Of 
course,  the  man  asked  him  what  was  his  mark.  Nat  told  him 
that  he  had  a  very  peculiar  mark  and  he  would  know  it  any- 
where he  would  see  it,  as  his  hogs  were  marked  with  an  under- 
bit  and  an  over-bit,  a  crop  and  a  slit,  and  their  tails  sawed  off 
with  a  basket-split.  The  fellow  looked  up  rather  foolish  and 
said :    "No,  Mister,  I  haven't  seen  anything  of  your  hogs." 

Once  Nat  was  passing  by  where  two  old  people  were  living. 
He  stopped  and  told  them  that  he  was  buying  all  kinds  of  fowl. 
He  offered  such  an  enormous  price  that  they  concluded  to  sell 
all  they  had — chickens,  ducks,  turkeys,  geese  and  all.  He  told 
them  to  have  the  fowl  ready,  that  his  wagons  were  coming  on 
and  would  take  them  all  and  pay  the  cash.    He  went  up  the 


SKETCHES  OP^  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  31 

road  a  little  ways  and  stopped ;  then  watched  them  catch  up  all 
their  fowl,  but  his  wagons  failed  to  come. 

Back  in  those  days  there  were  no  railroads  between  Shelby- 
ville  and  Louisville.  People  did  all  their  traveling  principally 
in  wagons.  Between  the  two  places  there  were  taverns  scat- 
tered along  for  people  to  stop  and  stay  all  night,  or  get  their 
meals. 

This  same  famous  Nat  Figg,  we  have  been  telling  about, 
stopped  to  stay  all  night  at  one  of  them.  During  the  night  he 
got  up  and  took  a  big  turkey  gobbler  off  the  roost  and  put  it 
in  his  wagon ;  also  he  took  one  of  the  blankets  off  the  bed  he 
slept  in  and  put  it  in  his  wagon.  The  next  morning,  before  he 
started,  he  told  the  landlady  that  he  had  a  very  fine  turkey 
gobbler  he  would  sell  cheap,  and  also  a  nice  big  bed  blanket  for 
half  price.  The  lady  looked  at  his  blanket  and  bought  it  at 
once,  as  she  told  him  that  she  had  one  exactly  like  it,  that  cost 
her  twice  as  much  as  he  asked  for  his;  also,  she  bought  the 
gobbler.  But  lo  and  behold !  When  she  found  she  had  bought 
her  own  turkey  and  blanket  she  was  exceedingly  angry;  but 
Nat  was  gone.  Nevertheless,  on  his  way  back  home  from 
Louisville,  he  stopped  and  gave  back  the  money  to  the  lady,  and 
they  both  enjoyed  the  joke.  Strange  to  say,  this  same  Nat 
Figg,  whom  one  would  think  never  had  a  thought  of  religion, 
became  very  religious  in  his  last  days,  and  continued  so. 


SECTION  2  IN  CHAPTER  4. 

Hamilton  and  Benoni  Figg  were  two  brothers,  sons 
of  Benjamon  Figg,  and  grandsons  of  the  original  William 
Figg,  who  came  over  to  Kentucky  from  Virginia  in  1800.  They 
were  powerful  men  in  strength.  They  came  to  Louisville  from 
Shelby  County,  Kentucky,  when  they  were  young  men,  and 
lived  to  be  very  old,  and  died  here.  Many  years  ago  a  fellow 
was  teaching  boxing  school  here  in  the  city.  Benoni  concluded 
he  would  take  a  few  lessons,  but  the  fellow  told  him  that  he 
couldn't  do  any  good  teaching  him  unless  he  would  quit  hitting 
so  hard.  Everv^  once  in  a  while  the  teacher  would  say,  "Lighter, 


32  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

Ben,  lighter."    But  Ben  told  him  that  he  was  ah'eady  hitting 
as  light  as  he  could  and  was  only  just  playing  with  him. 

One  a  prizefight  was  arranged  here  between  Benoni  and  a 
pugilist  from  Indiana,  but  when  they  prepared  themselves  for 
the  fight  and  were  on  the  stage,  Benoni  went  up  to  the  fellow, 
laughing,  and  the  gentleman  backed  out,  saying  he  wouldn't 
fight  a  man  that  was  laughing. 

An  old  man  told  me  once  that  he  went  to  school  with 
Benoni,  and  that  Ben  was  the  stoutest  boy  he  ever  saw,  and 
that  no  other  boy  at  school  could  do  anything  with  him  at  all. 
Benoni  was  a  peacable  man  and  always  kept  out  of  trouble,  if 
possible.    He  died  here  in  Louisville  in  1904. 

His  brother,  Hamilton  T.,  was  a  good-hearted  man  and 
always  gave  liberally  to  the  poor,  way  back  in  early  days  when 
he  had  plenty,  before  he  lost  what  he  had,  going  security  on 
other  men's  notes,  etc.  But  Hamilton  was  a  very  high-tem- 
pered man  and  wouldn't  take  an  insult  ofl?  of  anybody,  and 
seemed  to  take  delight  in  getting  hold  of  a  bully  who  was  try- 
ing to  show  off  what  he  could  do. 

Once,  at  a  big  gathering  here  in  the  citj'',  the  streets  were 
crowded  with  people,  all  pushing  through  and  wanting  to  see 
everything  at  the  same  time,  and  somebody  ran  against  a  big 
negro  in  the  jam.  The  negro  whirled  around  and  wanted  to 
know:  "Whose  zat  bumped  ginst  me?  Some  po'  white  trash, 
1  spose!" 

Hamilton  Figg  was  near  him  when  he  made  the  remark, 
but  knew  nothing  about  the  happening  at  all.  Nevertheless, 
when  the  negro  blowed  and  puffed  about  what  he  could  do  and 
that  somebody  better  make  "theyselves  skerce"  around  here, 
Hamilton  told  one  of  his  friends  that  was  with  him  that  he 
believed  he  would  let  the  nigger  try  "Old  Roan"  one  round 
(calling  himself  "Old  Roan").  So  he  stepped  up  to  where  the 
negro  was  standing,  looking  around,  to  see  who  had  offended 
his  dignity,  and  just  remarked  in  an  easy  tone,  "Why,  Sweet 
Jesus,  honey,  it  was  me  that  bumped  against  you."  At  that 
the  negi'o  made  at  him,  but  Hamilton  was  too  quick  for  him 
and  jumped  a  little  to  one  side  and  landed  one  on  the  negro's 


*- 

'-" 

■■  :-';<"! 

i^ 

■  -.-* 

'■-  i-^'J':.' 

'■-  .f>- 

1*. 

m,: 

HAMILTON  FIGG,  94  YEARS  OF  AGE 


TMS  Mt'fi  tOt« 

PUBLIC  UBRAKT 


R  


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  33 

jaw,  which  left  him  stretched  out  till  somebody  picked  him  up. 

I  was  working  with  an  old  German  once,  and  when  I  told 
him  my  name  he  said:  "Vy,  dot  vosh  a  fa-mil-yah  name  to 
me ;  I  youst  to  know  an  old  man,  his  name  vosh  Figg ;  he  vosh 
an  aw-ful  sti-oot  (stout)  man;  dey  called  him  'Old  Honey'." 
T  knew  who  he  meant  when  he  said  "Old  Honey,"  as  that  was 
a  nickname  that  Hamilton  often  went  by,  perhaps  on  account 
of  the  byword  he  often  used,  which  was :  "Sweet  Jesus, 
honey." 

He  was  passing  the  Gait  House  once,  riding  a  little  sorrel 
horse,  all  reared  back,  like  the  whole  United  States  belonged 
to  him,  and  there  were  four  smart-aleck  fellows  standing  in 
front.  One  of  them  hallooed  out:  "Hey,  there,  Mister,  pull 
them  strings  when  you  get  ready  to  stop !"  In  an  instant  he 
threw  his  bridle-reins  over  the  horse's  head  onto  the  ground, 
and  told  them  he  was  ready  right  now,  and  stepped  over  to 
vv^here  the  gentlemen  were  and  knocked  all  four  of  them  down 
so  quick  that  they  didn't  hardly  realize  what  had  happened, 
got  back  on  his  horse,  and  away  he  went  down  the  street, 
holding  to  his  "strings,"  as  the  fellows  called  them. 

He  liked  to  get  hold  of  a  big,  impudent  negro,  one  that 
other  men  were  afraid  to  tackle,  or  any  kind  of  a  bully;  it 
didn't  make  any  difference  to  him.  He  got  into  a  little  argu- 
ment with  one  of  that  kind  on  the  street  one  day,  and  the 
negro  told  him  that  if  he  had  the  right  of  a  white  man  he 
would  eat  him  up.  Hamilton  told  him  that  he  would  give  him 
all  the  rights  and  privileges  that  he  might  ask  for.  So  they 
v/ent  together,  but  the  skirmish  didn't  last  long,  as,  at  the  first 
pass  that  was  made,  the  negro's  heels  went  up  in  the  air  and 
he  halloed  out  at  once :  "Boss,  please  don't  hut  me ;  I's  done 
wid  it." 

Hamilton  Figg,  Warner  Figg,  Jr.,  and  Jim  Combs  went  to 
an  Irish  dance  once.  When  they  got  there  the  doors  were 
locked;  no  one  else  allowed  in.  When  they  knocked  on  the 
door,  the  ones  on  the  inside  told  them  to  "take  the  back  track, 
that  everything  there  was  Irish  and  the  Irish  were  all  there,  so 
move  on,  and  don't  be  long  about  it." 


24  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

Hamilton  told  the  boys  that  he  was  going-  in,  and  going  in 
right  noiv.  So  he  pushed  up  his  sleeves  and  made  a  spring  at 
the  door  and  bursted  it  wide  open.  Then  the  three  gentlemen 
.stepped  in  together  and  kept  their  backs  to  the  wall,  so  they 
couldn't  be  surrounded,  and  stood  side  by  side  and  knocked 
dovni  Irish  as  fast  as  they  came  to  them. 

Once  there  was  to  be  a  buffalo  fight  at  the  stock  yards,  and 
the  man  that  was  telling  me  about  it  said  he  saw  men  running 
and  climbing  up  on  the  fence  to  look  over.  So  he  ran,  too,  in 
order  to  see  the  buffalo  fight,  but  when  he  climbed  up  on  the 
fence  and  looked  over,  it  was  Hamilton  Figg  and  a  man  in 
there  fighting,  and  they  were  the  two  buftaloes. 

On  one  occasion  he  and  George  Figg,  a  brother  of  Warner 
T,  Figg,  Jr.,  etc.,  had  been  out  in  the  country,  near  Louisville, 
in  a  wagon,  and,  in  coming  back,  driving  doivn  hill,  their 
wagon  wheel  locked  into  a  wheel  of  a  wagon  that  a  negro  was 
driving,  going  up  the  hill.  George  Figg  was  doing  the  driving, 
and  when  he  hooked  into  the  negro's  wagon,  instead  of  stop- 
ping, he  drove  on  to  the  foot  of  the  hill,  the  same  as  if  he  never 
saw  the  negro.  When  they  reached  the  foot  of  the  hill  the 
negro  jumped  out,  and  George  got  off  of  his  wagon,  and  they 
started  meeting  one  another,  but  before  they  got  together 
Hamilton  ran  in  between  them  and  said  to  the  negro :  "Why, 
you  wouldn't  hit  a  white  man,  would  you?"  The  negro  let  him 
know  that  he  would  hit  a  white  man  as  quick  as  he  would  any- 
body else  and  that  if  he  didn't  get  out  of  the  way,  d — n  quick, 
he  would  show  him  better  than  he  could  tell  him.  That  was 
just  what  Hamilton  wanted  him  to  say,  so  he  would  have  an 
excuse  to  down  him.  The  first  lick  he  made  he  knocked  him 
unconscious ;  then  he  and  George  picked  him  up  and  put  him 
in  the  wagon  and  started  the  negro's  horses  on  home.  The 
horses  went  on  home,  all  right,  and  when  the  negro  told  his 
master  what  had  happened  and  who  had  done  it  (it  being  slave 
time  then),  his  owTier  jumped  on  a  horse  and  came  to  town, 
good  and  mad.  He  met  an  old  man  on  the  street,  and  asked 
him  could  he  tell  him  where  Hamilton  Figg  lived,  that  he 
wanted  to  see  him,  and  he  wanted  to  see  him  bad.    The  old 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  35 

man  said  to  him :  "You  seem  to  be  angry  about  something ; 
what's  the  trouble?"  Then  he  told  him  that  Hamilton  Figg 
liked  to  have  killed  one  of  his  niggers,  and  he  wanted  to  see 
Vdm  about  it.  "Well,"  the  old  man  said  to  him,  "Hamilton  Figg 
is  my  son,  and  I  can  show  him  to  you ;  that's  him  way  down 
the  street  yonder,  whipping  one  of  his  horses  that  has  balked. 
He  is  mad  now,  and  I  would  advise  you  to  go  on  back  home 
and  let  matters  remain  as  they  are,  for  if  you  go  down  there 
now,  while  he  is  mad,  and  say  anything  out  of  the  way  to  him, 
you  might  come  out  worse  than  the  negro."  The  fellow  hesi- 
tated a  few  minutes,  then  whirled  his  horse  around  and  con- 
cluded to  take  the  old  man's  advice. 

In  conversation  with  a  gentleman,  once,  who  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  Hamilton  Figg  in  his  best  days,  and  who  worked 
for  him  at  his  brickyard,  I  asked  him  if  he  ever  knew  of  him 
getting  whipped  in  a  fair  and  square  fight.  He  said  no,  he 
never  did,  but  the  nearest  he  ever  knew  of  him  getting  whipped 
was  in  a  fight  with  an  Irishman  at  the  brickyard.  They  fell 
out  about  something,  and  the  Irishman  was  as  game  as  he  was, 
so  they  went  together  and  fought  till  neither  of  them  could 
stand  alone ;  laid  on  the  ground  and  looked  at  one  another  (and 
cussed  a  little,  too,  I  expect).  Finally  Hamilton  got  rested 
enough  to  move  about  a  little,  and  the  Irishman  gave  up. 

While  Hamilton  Figg  was  most  too  high-tempered,  and 
gave  way  too  easily  to  anger,  he  had  many  good  traits.  For 
instance,  when  he  was  in  good  circumstances,  he  gave  away 
many  a  cartload  of  coal  to  poor  families  who  were  unable  to 
buy  it,  and  did  other  charitable  deeds. 


SECTION  3  IN  CHAPTER  4. 

Wright  Figg.  There  was  another  one  of  the  relatives  who 
v/as  an  uncommonly  stout  man.  It  was  Wright  Figg,  but  he 
was  a  very  peaceable  one,  and  a  good  old  religious  Methodist, 
who  abhorred  drunkenness  and  rowdiness  of  any  kind,  and  by 
all  means  never  to  settle  disputes  by  fighting;  let  that  be  the 
last  thing  to  do,  as  it  looked  beastly  and  ungentlemanly  to  him 


36  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

to  do  SO.  But  on  one  occasion  the  old  man  had  to  break  over 
the  line  a  little  in  that  direction,  although  very  much  against 
his  will. 

He  was  a  farmer  in  Shelby  County,  Kentucky,  at  the  time, 
but  afterwards  moved  to  this  city,  Louisville,  and  lived  the 
remainder  of  his  days.    He  died  of  typhoid  fever. 

One  day  he  was  out  on  his  farm,  chopping  wood  near  the 
road,  when  one  of  his  nearest  neighbors,  who  had  been  to  town 
( Shelby ville),  and  came  back  a  little  "tanked  up"  with  some- 
thing that  is  hard  to  buy  now,  came  riding  along,  and,  as  soon 
as  he  saw  Wright  Figg,  he  hitched  his  horse  to  the  fence  and 
rolled  up  his  sleeves  as  far  as  he  could  get  them,  and  came 
walking  up  to  where  Wright  was  working.  The  first  thing  he 
&aid  was,  "Wrightie,  I  have  come  to  whip  you.  I  have  whipped 
every  man  I  have  tackled  yet,  and  I  have  concluded  that  if  I 
can  whip  Wright  Figg,  I'll  be  champion  of  the  world,  so  get 
yourself  ready,  I'm  coming."  He  tried  to  persuade  the  neigh- 
bor to  go  away  and  let  him  alone;  that  it  looked  bad  to  see 
neighbors  quarreling  and  fighting.  So  he  said:  "Dickie,  go 
on  home  and  come  back  some  other  time."  But  Dickie  wouldn't 
go.  Instead  of  going,  he  made  a  pass  at  the  old  man,  who 
managed  to  guard  his  lick  off.  Then  he  grabbed  Dickie  by  the 
back  of  the  neck  and  seat  of  the  pants  and  carried  him  to  the 
road  and  pitched  him  over  a  high  rail  fence,  but  failed  to 
notice  there  was  a  stump  on  the  other  side  of  the  fence  where 
a  tree  had  blown  down  and  left  it  all  full  of  big,  sharp  splint- 
ers sticking  up.  Dickie  fell  right  in  the  middle  of  the  splinters 
and  couldn't  get  out,  so  Wright  had  to  climb  over  the  fence 
and  take  him  out  of  them,  then  carr>'  him  to  where  he  lived, 
which  was  close  by. 

After  Dickie  got  well,  and  able  to  walk,  he  went  over  to 
Wright  Figg's  house  to  apologize.  He  said  to  him :  "Wright, 
I  have  nothing  in  the  world  against  you.  I  only  wanted  to  see 
if  I  could  whip  you,  but  I  couldn't,  so  that's  all  there  is  to  it. 
Now,  let's  make  up  and  be  friends."  So  they  did,  and  re- 
mained friends  ever  afterwards. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  37 

SECTION  4  IN  CHAPTER  4. 

James  Madison  Figg-,  youngest  brother  of  my  grandfather, 
was  considered  the  most  handsome  one  of  the  relatives,  being 
tali  and  well  formed,  with  broad  shoulders,  and  carried  him- 
self erect,  and  his  complexion  was  as  fair  as  a  woman's,  but 
they  used  to  tell  a  little  joke  on  him,  about  when  he  went  up  to 
Cincinnati  once  on  a  boat. 

In  coming  back,  he  happened  to  take  on  a  little  of  the  ex- 
hilarating stimulus  that  makes  a  millionaire  out  of  a  fellow 
in  a  few  minutes;  so  he  thought  he  would  exhibit  his  wealth  to 
the  people  on  the  boat  and  show  them  that  money  was  no  ob- 
ject to  him.  He  had  two  ten-dollar  bills,  one  good  one,  and  one 
was  counterfeit,  or  something  of  the  kind ;  so  he  concluded  to 
light  his  cigar  with  the  counterfeit  bill,  but,  unfortunately,  he 
got  hold  of  the  wrong  bill  and  lighted  his  cigar  with  it. 

When  he  arrived  at  Louisville  he  didn't  have  a  cent,  only 
his  counterfeit  bill,  and  the  poor  fellow  had  to  walk  thirty 
miles  to  get  back  home,  which  was  in  Shelby  County,  not  feel- 
ing quite  so  wealthy,  perhaps,  on  reaching  home  as  he  did 
while  riding  on  the  boat. 


SECTION  5  IN  CHAPTER  4. 

Warner  T.  P'igg,  Sr.,  my  grandfather,  was  the  oldest  son 
of  his  father's  family.  He  was  a  hard-working  man  and  a 
successful  farmer,  honest,  sober  and  upright  in  every  way. 
He  raised  five  children  that  outlived  him,  two  boys  and  three 
girls.  Several  years  before  he  died  he  gave  each  one  of  them 
a  farm  apiece,  containing  over  a  hundred  acres  each. 

While  careful  in  his  dealings,  yet  sometimes  he  made  mis- 
takes and  lost  money ;  for  instance,  he  bought  a  jack  and  gave 
$700  for  it,  and  the  thing  died  within  a  year,  consequently  he 
lost  in  the  deal.  He  was  a  Democrat  politically,  and  a  Meth- 
odist religiously.  He  gave  an  acre  of  ground  on  which  to  build 
a  church.  They  named  the  church  Olive  Branch.  It  is  six  and 
a  half  miles  south  of  Shelbyville,  Ky.,  in  a  very  appropriate 


38  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

place  for  a  church.  He  also  donated  a  good  deal  towards 
building-  it.  He  had  three  nephews,  that  were  bricklayers  (and 
also  farmers),  who  were  employed  to  build  the  church.  They 
were  sons  of  his  sister,  Betsy,  who  married  Edward  Boswell. 
Their  names  were  James  W.,  Charles  and  Taylor  Boswell ;  the 
oldest  one  of  them  was  James  W.,  who  raised  two  boys,  Dewil- 
ton  and  Eugene,  who  are  farmers ;.  Taylor,  one  of  the  church 
builders,  raised  four  boys,  Clinton  E.,  Edward  S.,  Charles 
Everett  and  George,  who  were  farmers,  but  afterwards  quit 
farm  life  and  engaged  in  the  following  business :  Clinton  E. 
was  a  real  estate  man  in  Louis\dlle,  but  is  now  dead.  His 
business  is  still  continued  under  the  same  name,  Boswell  &  Co., 
and  is  conducted  by  his  two  sons. 

The  second  son  of  Taylor  Boswell  was  Edward  S.,  who  has 
charge  of  the  Methodist  Orphans'  Home  here  in  Louisville. 

The  third  son,  Charles  Everett,  was  a  IMethodist  minister 
till  he  died  several  years  ago.  George,  the  youngest  son,  is  a 
Methodist  minister. 

Charles  Boswell,  the  third  son  of  Betsy  Figg  Boswell,  and 
one  of  the  three  builders  of  the  church,  raised  one  son,  Thomas 
Edward,  who  was  a  professor  in  a  college  in  Nebraska,  and 
who  died  in  1920,  at  Shelby\ille,  Ky.,  while  here  on  a  visit. 


SECTION  6  IN  CHAPTER  4. 

James  W.  Figg,  my  father,  was  the  oldest  child  of  his 
father's  family.  He  never  accumulated  any  wealth ;  had  a 
great  deal  of  bad  luck  in  different  ways,  such  as  going  secur- 
ity on  other  men's  notes,  stock  dying,  etc.  He  had  over  a 
thousand  dollars'  worth  of  hogs  to  die  one  fall  of  cholera,  after 
they  were  already  fattened  and  ready  for  the  market.  He 
was  a  good  farmer  and  always  had  plenty  around  him.  He 
did  veterinaiy  work  of  a  certain  kind ;  made  it  a  specialty 
with  horses  and  mules.  He  also  ran  threshing  machines  most 
of  his  life,  that  is,  machines  to  thresh  out  wheat,  rye,  oats,  etc. 
He  owned  a  fine  stallion  once,  called  "Sportsman" ;  he  bought 
him  in  1867.    One  day  he  was  riding  him  to  water  and  a  pole- 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  39 

cat  came  walking  leisurely  along  and  crossed  the  road;  the 
horse  reared  and  lunged  furiously;  wanted  to  get  hold  of  it  so 
bad.  Finally  my  father  said :  "Old  fellow,  if  you  want  to  get 
hold  of  that  pole-cat  so  bad,  I'll  just  let  the  reins  loose  and  you 
ca,n  go  into  him."  The  horse  made  one  leap  and  grabbed  the 
thing  in  the  middle  of  the  back,  gave  it  a  shake  and  dropped  it 
about  as  quick  as  he  grabbed  it,  and  a  sicker  horse  never  was 
in  existence.  He  came  very  near  dying,  but  finally  got  over  it. 
He  never  grabbed  anything  else,  but  allowed  everything  that 
was  smaller  than  himself  to  pass  by  unmolested. 

My  father  was  a  Christian  man;  never  heard  him  swear 
an  oath  in  my  life ;  he  gave  liberally  to  his  church,  which  was 
the  Olive  Branch  Methodist  Church,  of  w^hich  we  have  already 
spoken ;  he  w^as  a  member  of  the  Little  Mount  Baptist  Church 
for  eight  years,  but  changed  his  mind  and  joined  the  Meth- 
odist. 

Our  lives  are  made  up  with  a  great  variety  of  incidents, 
trials,  tribulations  and  sorrows,  intermingled  with  pleasure 
and  many  amusing  things  as  w^e  travel  along. 

Once  my  father  was  in  conversation  with  one  of  his  neigh- 
bors about  something,  I  don't  remember  what,  and  it  seemed 
they  had  a  different  opinion  in  the  matter  on  some  points  of 
the  conversation,  when  one  of  his  friends,  who  was  standing 
by,  "butted  in"  and  disputed  the  neighbor's  word  in  favor  of 
my  father.  The  neighbor  immediately  turned  his  attention  to 
kwi  and  wanted  to  know  what  he  had  to  do  with  it.  They  ex- 
changed a  few  hot  words,  then  the  neighbor  went  after  him. 
But  fortunately  there  was  a  stump  near  by  that  the  "butting 
in"  friend  made  good  use  of,  and  got  behind  it,  so  the  fellow 
couldn't  get  him ;  then  round  and  round  the  stump  they  went, 
like  a  flying  dutcliman  in  the  air,  till  finally  Mr.  Neighbor  gave 
out  and  couldn't  run  any  longer;  just  stopped  and  looked 
across  the  stump,  gave  him  a  good  cussing  and  said  that  he 
ought  to  have  had  better  sense  in  the  first  place  than  to  try  to 
catch  a  greyhound. 

After  the  fellow  had  gone,  the  friend  came  up  to  my  father, 
the  sweat  running  down  his  neck,  and  panting  like  a  lizard. 


40  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

and  said:  "Jim,  would  you  ah  fo't  that  way  for  me?"  My 
father  laughed  and  said :  "No,  Sam,  I  don't  expect  I  would." 
Sam  seemed  to  think  that  by  doing  such  a  tall  piece  of 
running  to  keep  out  of  the  fellow's  way,  that  he  had  put  up  a 
powerful  fight. 

In  referring  back  to  happenings  of  the  past,  it  recalls  an- 
other little  amusing  incident.  One  April  the  first  (April  fools' 
day),  my  father  was  very  busy  trying  to  fool  somebody;  he 
came  in  that  morning,  awhile  before  dinner,  after  being  out 
on  the  farm  doing  something,  and  said  in  a  very  surprised 
manner:  "Did  you  all  know  that  Hue  Campbell  was  dead?" 
Of  course,  there  hadn't  anybody  heard  anything  about  it,  and 
didn't  seem  to  inquire,  so  he  went  on  out  at  something  else. 

After  he  had  gone  out,  my  mother  said  she  would  fix  him. 
He  always  preferred  a  plain  cake  of  cornbread  to  any  other 
kind.  So  that  furnished  her  with  an  opportunity  to  fool  him. 
She  made  him  his  kind  of  bread,  with  a  thin  crust  on  top  and 
bottom,  and  the  middle  all  full  of  cotton.  At  dinner,  when  he 
took  a  big  bite  of  his  choice  bread,  he  got  his  mouth  full  of 
cotton  and  all  in  between  his  teeth ;  then  he  knew  what  had 
happened. 

He  looked  up  rather  foolish  and  grinned,  and  then  said: 
"Why,  I  never  did  say  that  Hue  Campbell  was  dead;  I  only 
asked  you  if  you  knew  he  was  dead." 

He  had  an  old  horse  once  that  wasn't  worth  a  dollar,  that 
he  had  taken  in  on  a  small  debt ;  he  was  very  anxious  to  trade 
him  off,  but  he  would  not  misrepresent  a  thing  or  lie  in  a  horse 
trade  under  any  circumstances ;  he  would  tell  a  horse's  faults, 
instead  of  just  omitting  that;  so,  therefore,  he  didn't  have 
much  success  in  disposing  of  his  valuable  horse;  but  my 
youngest  brother  and  myself  concluded  ive  could  make  a  trade 
or  a  sale,  one  or  the  other,  as  we  were  not  quite  so  conscien- 
tious as  he  was,  and,  of  course,  a  boy  wants  to  be  a  trader  in 
order  to  look  as  much  like  a  man  as  possible. 

One  day  an  old  negi-o  came  along  and  said  that  he  heard 
we  had  a  horse  to  sell.  That  being  our  first  opportunity  to 
make  a  display  of  our  superior  ability  in  trading,  we  began  to 


ELLIS  LEE  FIGG 


THE  NEW  YORC      j 

PUBLIC  UBRART* 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  41 

point  out  the  excellent  features  of  the  horse  that  our  father 
had  given  us  permission  to  trade  or  sell.  We  showed  the  old 
negro  what  a  good  shoulder  and  neck  the  horse  had,  and  a  fine- 
looking  head,  too ;  and  his  eyes  both  clear  and  bright,  and,  in 
fact,  he  would  be  a  nice-looking  horse  if  he  had  a  little  flesh 
on  him ;  true  enough,  his  hip  was  a  little  knocked  down  and 
he  walked  a  little  sideways,  but  what's  that,  when  you  are 
getting  a  horse  worth  talking  about? 

The  old  negro  listened  contentedly  to  the  flattering  possi- 
bilities of  the  wonderful  horse,  but  he  wanted  to  see  him  "wid 
honness  on."  So  we  hitched  him  up  by  the  side  of  another 
horse  to  an  empty  slide,  which  is  a  thing  that  all  farmers  have 
to  haul  fodder,  etc.,  on,  and  we  started.  Mr.  Horse  did  fine 
as  long  as  he  was  going  down  hill,  but  as  soon  as  we  started 
up  grade,  and  hadn't  gone  over  five  feet,  he  reared  up  and 
fell  back  on  the  slide  and  closed  his  eyes,  as  if  dead,  and  began 
to  groan  like  he  was  in  great  agony.  The  old  negro  took  a 
look  at  the  valuable  animal,  then  shook  his  head  and  said  he 
didn't  believe  he  "zactly  lack  at  kind  of  a  hoss." 

Boys  all  imagine  that  they  could  do  wonderful  things  if 
their  parents  would  only  turn  them  loose  and  give  them  a 
chance,  a  country  boy  especially ;  he  imagines  that  he  will  be 
President  of  the  United  States  some  day,  and  maybe  some- 
thing a  little  higher  than  that.  Alexander  the  Great,  that 
lived  several  hundred  years  before  Christ,  used  to  weep  when 
he  was  a  boy,  because  he  thought  there  would  be  nothing  for 
him  to  do  when  he  got  to  be  a  man ;  thought  everything  great 
would  be  finished  before  then.  If  he  could  only  come  back 
today,  and  see  what  changes  there  have  been  since  he  was  a 
man,  he  would  weep  again,  on  account  of  what  a  fool  he  was. 


SECTION  7  IN  CHAPTER  4. 

Warner  T.  Figg,  Jr.,  first  cousin  of  my  father,  when  he 
was  a  boy,  used  to  hear  fellows  say  that  out  West  there  were 
trees  that  you  could  just  walk  up  to  and  catch  hold  of  a  limb 
and  give  it  a  shake  and  the  big  silver  dollars  would  come  rat- 


42  SKETCHES -OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

tling  off  and  cover  the  ground  like  apples  falling  off  the  trees. 
While  he  knew  that  couldn't  be  possible,  yet  he  imagined  there 
must  be  something  about  the  West  that  was  exceedingly  fasci- 
nating. At  any  rate,  he  made  up  his  mind  to  go  and  see.  So 
he  started,  walking.  Fifty  cents  constituted  the  total  amount 
of  capital  he  carried  with  him. 

One  day's  walking  West  did  him.  He  began  to  study  how 
he  could  get  back  home  and  what  he  could  tell  his  father,  so 
he  wouldn't  get  a  thrashing.  He  heard  of  a  fortune-teller  near 
by  that  could  tell  anything.  So  he  decided  that  would  be  his 
chance  to  find  out  all  about  it.  The  old  fortune-teller  took  his 
half-dollar  and  gave  him  the  information  desired.  Most  any- 
body could  have  looked  at  him  and  told  from  his  looks  that  he 
had  just  run  off  from  home  and  wanted  to  get  back.  So  she 
told  him  to  go  on  hom.e,  and  that  his  father  would  be  standing 
at  the  front  gate  looking  for  him  and  would  be  in  a  good  humor 
and  wouldn't  even  scold  him.  That  made  him  feel  good,  so  he 
started  for  home.  When  he  got  in  sight,  sure  enough,  his 
father  was  standing  at  the  gate,  with  one  foot  propped  up 
against  it,  just  as  the  fortune-teller  had  told  him.  As  he 
walked  up  his  father  said :  "Good  morning,  son,  where  have 
you  been?"  In  order  to  make  things  look  favorable,  he  told 
his  father  that  he  had  been  learning  the  carpenters'  trade. 
The  old  man  said :  "Why,  son,  that  is  the  very  thing ;  I  am 
exceedingly  glad  to  hear  it,  for  I  need  a  one-horse  hay  rake 
the  worst  kind,  and  I'll  get  you  to  make  me  one."  Warner  saw 
he  had  made  a  mistake  by  telling  he  was  a  carpenter.  But 
when  his  father  started  him  to  making  the  thing,  he  knew  he 
had  it  to  do,  so  he  went  at  it,  and  I  don't  suppose  there  was 
ever  just  another  such  a  thing  made,  from  his  description,  as 
he  didn't  know  much  more  about  making  a  one-horse  hay  rake 
than  he  would  about  reading  a  Chinese  Bible. 

After  he  finished  the  thing,  his  father  looked  at  it  and  told 
him  to  take  it  up  to  the  front  gate  on  the  road  and  put  up  a 
sign :     "Rake  Making  Done  Here." 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  43 

SECTION  8  IN"  CHAPTER  4. 

Edward  M.  Figg,  oldest  brother  of  my  grandfather,  had 
two  sons,  John  T.  and  WilKam  J.,  that  left  the  farm.  The 
elder  brother,  John  T.,  has  been  in  the  real  estate  business 
most  of  his  life  and  is,  at  the  present  writing.  May,  1921,  in 
the  business  at  Houston,  Texas,  He  is  79  years  old  and  is  a 
fine-looking  man,  being  tall,  and  weighs  over  200  pounds.  He 
has  one  son,  Howard,  who  was  a  physician,  but  gave  up  his 
practice  to  engage  in  the  real  estate  business  with  his  father. 
But  in  1920,  I  think  it  was,  he  was  appointed  by  Palmer  in 
Washington  City,  special  assistant  to  the  Attorney  General, 
in  the  enforcement  of  the  Lever  law  against  profiteering,  and 
was  in  charge  of  food  sales  distribution  during  the  war-time 
extortion  on  high  prices  of  things. 

Howard  Figg  tells  us  that  the  manufacturers  and  jobbers 
of  wearing  apparel  were  attempting  to  stampede  retailers  and^ 
the  public  into  a  renewed  fictitious  demand  for  clothing  and 
thereby  force  higher  prices.     He  had  charge  of  that  depart- 
ment that  investigates  things  of  that  kind. 

William  J.  Figg,  brother  of  John  T.,  and  son  of  Edward  M. 
Figg,  was  elected  Magistrate  in  Shelbyville,  Ky.,  in  1913.  He 
ran  on  the  Republican  ticket,  but  on  account  of  his  compe- 
tency and  good  citizenship,  was  elected  by  a  large  majority, 
otherwise  he  would  have  been  defeated,  Shlbyville  being 
strictly  a  Democratic  town,  or  v/as  at  that  time  at  any  rate. 
Most  of  the  Democrats  gave  him  their  votes. 

In  1916,  I  think  it  was,  he  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Stanley  (Democrat)  as  a  Republican  member  of  the  State 
Board  of  Control  for  Charitable  Institutions,  at  a  salary  of 
$2,500  per  year,  I  believe  it  was.  A  number  of  prominent  men 
were  applicants  for  the  place,  and  when  Governor  Stanley  an- 
nounced the  appointment  of  William  J.  Figg  it  was  very  much 
of  a  surprise  to  the  State,  as  his  name  was  never  mentioned  in 
that  connection. 

He  did  not  live  long  after  his  appointment,  as  he  had  kid- 
ney trouble  for  a  long  time.  He  only  lived  a  few  days  after 
he  returned  to  his  home  in  Shelbyville,  Ky.,  from  Frankfort. 


44  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

He  was  55  years  old,  leaving  a  wife,  who  was  Miss  Rosa  Tur- 
ner, and  a  daughter,  Miss  Ola  Logan  Figg,  a  gi'aduate  of  the 
University  of  Kentucky,  and  who  taught  school  in  Shelbyville, 
but  in  September,  1919,  began  teaching  at  Park  Cottage,  Kan. 
He  was  one  of  the  finest  bass  singers  I  ever  heard :  had  a  voice 
like  a  lion,  and  could  be  heard  in  any  size  audience  very  clearly 
above  all  other  voices. 

He  was  a  good,  religious  man  and  was  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church. 

SECTION  1  IN  CHAPTER  5. 

Thus  ends  a  very  good  sketch  of  the  original  three  full 
brothers,  James,  William  and  Seeli  Figg,  also  the  half  brother, 
John  Figg,  Jr.,  who  came  over  from  Virginia  and  settled  in 
Kentucky  in  1800,  with  a  colony  of  relatives,  all  of  whom 
settled  near  each  other  within  five  or  six  miles  of  Shelbyville, 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  county,  near  where  Olive  Branch 
Church  now  stands,  all  of  the  colony  except  John  Figg,  Jr., 
who  settled  over  in  Nelson  County. 

There  is  an  old  family  (Taylor)  burying  ground,  about  one 
and  a  half  miles  out  a  pike  road,  running  east  from  the  main 
Shelbyville  and  Taylorsville  turnpike;  said  pike  road  is  about 
five  and  a  half  miles  south  of  Shelbyville,  running  east,  a  little 
in  the  direction  of  Southville.  There  are  tombstones  that  mark 
the  graves  of  William  Taylor  and  his  wife,  Mary,  and  a  few 
others. 


SECTION  2  IN  CHAPTER  5. 

James  Figg,  the  pugilist.  The  Figgs  v/ere  originally  from 
England  and  Wales.  Many  of  their  descendants,  no  doubt,  are 
still  there,  who  never  came  over  to  this  country.  One  of  them, 
James  Figg,  was  very  prominent  in  sporting  circles,  being  the 
first  champion  prizefighter  of  England.  As  was  characteristic 
of  all  the  old-time  Figgs,  they  were  powerful  men  in  strength. 

While  England  has  taken  great  delight  in  the  pugilistic 
sport  for  two  or  three  hundred  years,  it  doesn't  seem  to  have 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  45 

originated  there,  as  the  best  information  I  have  is  that  it  was 
ftrst  practiced  in  Greece  and  Rome,  but  did  not  gain  much 
popularity  till  England  began  to  admire  the  sport,  and  in  1719 
James  Figg,  having  won  all  the  bare  fist  contests  he  engaged 
in,  declared  himself  champion  of  England. 

He  was  greatly  admired  by  the  young  English  noblemen, 
vrho  would  take  delight  in  raising  disturbances  and  then  have 
James  Figg  to  back  them  up  in  it  and  whip  the  fellow  they 
started  the  racket  with,  while  they  would  stand  back  and 
enjoy  it. 

The  King  kept  him  employed  as  an  entertainer  for  his  own 
amusement  and  satisfaction.  According  to  the  information  I 
have,  he  was  champion  from  1719  to  1730,  and  there  is  no 
record  of  his  ever  being  defeated,  and  held  the  title  till  he  died. 

While  I  do  not  remember  the  exact  rules  under  which 
James  Figg  fought  in  1719,  j'^et  he  was  the  originator  of  the 
mode  of  fighting  that  was  used  at  that  particular  time.  No 
doubt  they  were  more  similar  to  the  London  Prize  Ring  Rules 
that  were  used  when  John  L.  Sullivan  became  champion  in 
1882  than  they  were  to  the  Queensbury  rules;  but  all  rules 
have  been  changed  and  revised  considerably. 

There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to  who  wrote  the 
Queensbury  rules  in  their  revised  form.  The  Marquis  of 
Queensbury  (Marquis  means  a  nobleman  in  England,  next  in 
rank  to  a  Duke,  a  title  of  honor)  claims  to  have  had  something 
to  do  with  the  writing  of  the  rules,  and  others  claim  the  au- 
thorship.   Nevertheless,  here  is  about  the  substance  of  them : 

The  fighters  are  to  use  medium  size  new  boxing  gloves  of 
the  best  quality,  and,  should  one  burst  or  come  off,  it  is  to  be 
replaced,  and  they  are  to  fight  in  about  a  24-foot  ring  with 
ropes  around  it ;  and  no  one  is  allowed  in  the  ring  while  the 
contestants  are  in  action ;  and  neither  opponent  is  allowed  to 
strike  the  other  while  in  a  helpless  position,  such  as  lying  on 
the  ropes  or  on  his  knees;  should  he  do  so,  it  is  considered 
sufficient  grounds  for  the  striker  to  lose  the  stakes.  They  are 
not  allowed  to  wrestle,  but  are  required  to  stand  up  and  fight 
by  boxing. 


46  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

Each  round  consists  of  three  minutes,  and  about  a  minute 
between  the  rounds,  and  they  are  not  allowed  to  wear  springs 
on  their  shoes.  If  a  man  is  knocked  down,  he  must  be  up  and 
ready  to  fight  in  ten  seconds,  otherwise  he  loses  the  fight,  if 
the  referee  so  decides;  if  the  contest  is  stopped  by  some  inter- 
ference, and  not  allowed  to  be  finished,  the  referee  is  empow- 
ered with  the  right  to  appoint  another  time  and  place  to  finish 
the  fight,  unless  the  backers  mutually  agree  otherwise. 

There  is  a  difference  between  the  Queensbury  and  the  Lon- 
don prize  ring  rules,  as  the  London  rules  are  bare-knuckle 
fighting  and  are  in  a  smaller  ring  (about  a  16-foot  ring)  and 
are  of  a  different  style  of  fighting,  and  not  so  much  ring 
science,  more  of  the  brute  strength  and  "rough-and-tumble" 
fighting,  which  in  reality  shows  up  the  best  man,  instead  of 
showing  who  can  run  and  dart  around  the  fastest.  A  bumble- 
bee can  whip  an  elephant  by  flying  around  and  stinging  him 
once  in  a  while. 

A  London  prize  ring  round  continues  till  one  of  the  con- 
testants is  knocked  down.  A  smart  fellow,  when  he  is  about 
exhausted,  can  fall  on  puii^ose,  as  that  entitles  him  to  thirty 
seconds'  rest  before  the  next  round  begins.  Frequently  men 
were  whipped  by  the  London  prize  ring  mode  of  fighting  with- 
out ever  being  struck  at  all,  as  his  opponent  can  slam  him 
around  and  fall  on  him  with  his  knees,  or  any  other  way,  to 
win  the  fight. 

Pugilists  do  not  fight  with  bare  knuckles  any  more.  The 
last  fight  of  that  kind  was  when  John  L.  Sullivan  whipped 
Jake  Kilrain,  July  8,  1889,  at  Richburg  Mills,  Miss.  They 
fought  75  rounds. 

Sullivan  lost  his  title  of  championship  three  years  after 
that,  when  he  fought  James  J.  Corbett,  at  New  Orleans,  Sep- 
tember 7,  1892.  They  fought  21  rounds.  And,  strange  to  say, 
there  never  has  been  a  champion,  up  to  the  present  time,  that 
ever  came  to  the  front  again  after  being  once  defeated. 

Boxing  gloves  were  invented  about  1745  by  Jack  Brough- 
ton,  but  the  science  of  boxing  began  in  1719,  when  James  Figg 
became  champion  prizefighter  of  England.    He  opened  up  an 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  47 

academy  known  as  Figg's  Amphitheater,  in  Tottenham  Court 
Road,  which  was  the  first  boxing  school  opened  in  England. 
The  style  of  boxing  has  very  much  changed  since  then,  as  in 
those  days  it  was  the  best  man  physically  that  won,  while  now 
it  depends  principally  on  who  can  dodge  and  get  away  the 
quickest  that  stands  the  best  chance  to  win. 


SECTION  1  IN  CHAPTER  6. 

Consists  of  a  little  information  about  sales,  etc.,  that  might 
be  of  interest  to  some  one.  Before  the  Civil  War,  which  was 
begun  in  1861,  and  lasted  four  years,  and  was  ended  in  1865, 
Negroes  were  slaves  and  v/ere  bought  and  sold  the  same  as 
any  other  live  stock.  The  prices  varied.  The  market  on  them 
fluctuated  a  little  at  different  times,  something  similar  to  the 
market  on  horses,  hogs,  cattle,  sheep,  etc.  About  the  average 
for  the  first-class  ones  was  $1,500 ;  common  ones  not  so  much; 
the  average  price  for  first-class  women  was  $1,200,  and  com- 
mon ones  about  $950;  the  price  for  boys  was  from  $900  to 
$1,200,  and  girls  averaged  about  $800;  scrubs,  not  so  much. 

My  father  owned  a  good  many  slaves,  but  was  kind  to 
them,  as  was  evidenced  from  the  fact  that  they  remained  with 
him  for  three  years  after  they  were  free,  and  were  reluctant 
about  leaving  even  then. 

The  young  generation  of  the  present  day  think  it  strange 
that  human  beings  were  slaves ;  but  there  is  nothing  strange 
about  it,  as  it  was  a  custom  in  those  days.  There  never  would 
have  been  any  trouble,  or  objections  to  the  Negro  being  freed, 
if  the  Government  had  paid  the  people  for  their  property, 
which  belonged  to  them,  the  same  as  any  other  personal  prop- 
erty. If  you  come  up  to  a  man  and  tell  him  that  you  are  going 
to  take  away  all  he's  got,  and  will  not  pay  him  anything  for  it, 
don't  you  think  he  would  have  some  slight  objections?  But  if 
you  tell  him  you  want  to  buy  his  property,  that  he  has  bought 
and  paid  for  himself,  that  is  a  very  different  proposition,  so 
that  was  the  position  the  Southern  man  was  in,  when  he  didn't 
want  to  give  his  slaves  up ;  true  enough,  they  should  have  been 


48  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

freed  long  before  they  were,  but  the  owners  should  have  been 
paid  for  them,  on  the  installment  plan,  if  there  was  not  enough 
money  to  pay  it  all  at  once,  as  the  war  cost  more  than  the  buy- 
ing of  the  slaves  would  have  cost. 

Perhaps  in  the  distant  future  folks  will  forget  and  wonder 
how  land  and  stock  were  selling  at  the  present  time.  Below  I 
will  give  you  a  little  idea  of  how  they  sold  at  a  Shelby  County 
sale  in  January,  1920 : 

The  Burnett  and  Figg  Brothers  farm  of  343  acres  was  sold 
yesterday.  Tract  No.  1,  227  acres,  at  $145.25  per  acre;  tract 
No.  2,  116  acres,  at  $123  per  acre;  the  average  price  per  acre 
was  $137.73.  Mules  sold  for  from  $240  to  $310  each.  Corn, 
$11.10  per  barrel.    Fodder  53  cents  a  shock  in  the  field. 

Here  is  a  duplicate  of  a  country  sale  bill  that  might  in- 
terest some  one : 

PUBLIC  SALE  OF  FARM,  STOCK  AND  IMPLEMENTS. 

ALSO  HOUSEHOLD. 

On  Tuesday,  October  20,  1903,  at  10  o'clock  A.  M.,  as  ad- 
ministratrix of  the  late  James  W.  Figg,  I  will  sell  at  public 
auction,  at  his  late  residence,  at  Figg,  Ky.,  the  following : 

The  farm  of  said  decedent,  containing  100  acres  of  land,  in 
a  good  state  of  cultivation.  Twenty-five  acres  will  be  sowed  in 
wheat  before  the  sale;  25  acres  for  corn,  and  the  balance  in 
grass,  and  is  well  watered.  Improvements  consist  of  a  frame 
dwelling  of  8  rooms,  barn  and  all  necessarj^  outbuildings,  all 
in  good  repair. 

Two  good  horses,  both  suitable  for  a  lady  to  drive.  Two 
good  Shorthorn  cows.  Buggy  and  harness.  Farm  wagon  and 
gear.  Farming  implements  consist  of  plows,  cultivator,  har- 
row, sled  and  numerous  other  things.  All  the  household  and 
kitchen  furniture  will  be  sold. 

TERMS:  On  real  estate,  one-third  cash;  balance  in  one 
and  two  years,  to  suit  purchaser. 

TERMS :     On  personalty,  made  known  day  of  sale. 

Parties  desiring  further  information  about  the  farm  can 
call  on  Mrs.  Margaret  E.  Figg,  or  E.  L.  Figg,  on  the  place. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  49 

MRS.  MARGARET  E.  FIGG, 
Administratrix  of  J.  W.  Figg,  deceased, 

R.  F.  D.  No.  5,  Shelbyville,  Ky. 
C.  G.  Freeman,  Auctioneer. 

Also,  here  s  a  duplicate  of  my  SALE  BILL  when  I  sold  out 
and  left  Shelby  County,  to  move  to  this  city,  Louisville. 

PUBLIC  SALE 

HOUSEHOLD  AND  KITCHEN  FURNITURE, 

FARM  IMPLEMENTS,  Etc. 

Having  sold  my  property,  I  will  sell  to  the  highest  bidder 

(nothing  reserved)  the  following  personalty,  on 

WEDNESDAY,  JANUARY  13,  1915, 
BEGINNING  AT  EXACTLY  12 :30  P.  M. 

1  Studebaker  wagon,  used  but  very  little.  1  low-wheel 
wagon,  3  buggies,  slide,  wheelbarrow,  good  Deering  mowing 
machine,  1  good  hay  rake,  pitchforks,  hoes,  shovels,  spades, 
scoop,  1  set  of  wagon  harness,  used  only  a  few  times;  plow 
gear,  buggy  harness,  check  lines,  side  saddle,  man's  saddle,  1 
large  "A"  harrow,  1  horse  harrow,  plows,  ladders,  scythes, 
saws,  axes,  grindstone,  grub  hoes,  pick,  drill,  crowbar,  sledges^ 
post-hole  diggers,  2  log  chains,  Elwood  wire  stretchers,  1  one- 
man  wire  stretcher,  double-trees,  single-trees,  several  hundred 
12-foot  fence  rails,  stove  wood  already  sawed  in  blocks,  corn, 
hay,  sorghum,  Irish  potatoes,  2  milch  cows  fat  enough  for 
beef,  1  Jersey  heifer  calf  a  month  old,  1  farm  mare  in  foal,  no 
better  mare  in  the  world ;  1  yearling  Percheron  stud  colt,  broke 
to  work,  can't  be  beat ;  1  four-year-old  stallion,  Montezuma,  if 
not  sold  privately. 

Evenings  are  short.    Sale  begins  exactly  at  12 :30. 

TERMS :     Ten  months,  without  interest. 

E.  C.  FIGG. 
R.  F.  Do.  No.  5,  Shelbyville,  Ky. 
South  of  Olive  Branch  Church. 

It  is  right  interesting  to  attend  public  sales  in  the  country, 
as  one  sees  and  hears  a  great  many  things  that  are  amusing. 
I  remeber  being  at  my  grandfather's  sale,  after  he  died,  and 


50  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

when  they  put  the  horses  up  to  sell,  the  auctioneer  told  the 
Negro  who  was  attending  to  them  to  go  ahead  and  tell  the 
people  how  old  a  black  mare  was  that  was  being  offered  for 
sale.  The  amusing  part  of  it  was  the  Negro  had  taken  a  few 
drinks  before  he  began  showing  the  stock,  and,  as  a  conse- 
quence, got  some  things  considerably  mixed.  For  instance: 
The  auctioneer  said,  "Now,  Lewis,  go  ahead  and  tell  the  people 
the  age  of  that  black  mare."  Lewis  answered  immediately 
that  she  was  just  six  years  old  exactly.  Then  said  the  auc- 
tioneer :  "Lev/is,  tell  the  people  whether  she  will  work  or  not, 
and  is  she  a  good  plow  mare?"  Lewis  quickly  answered: 
"Yes,  she  will  work;  shore  she  will  work;  I's  been  plowing 
that  mare  for  the  last  twenty  years." 


SECTION  2  IN  CHAPTER  6. 

Just  for  the  benefit  of  the  children,  as  grown  people  al- 
ready know  this,  I  will  add  a  numeration  which  may  be  of 
interest  to  some  and  to  others  it  will  not.  Nevertheless,  when 
your  teacher  at  school  asks  if  any  of  you  little  Figgs  can 
numerate  up  to  as  high  as  a  million,  you  can  tell  her  that  you 
believe  you  can.    It  goes  something  like  this : 

Units,  tens,  hundreds,  thousands,  tens  of  thousands,  hun- 
dreds of  thousands,  millions,  tens  of  millions,  hundreds  of 
millions,  billions,  tens  of  billions,  hundreds  of  billions,  trillions, 
tens  of  trillions,  hundreds  of  trillions,  quadrillions,  tens  of 
quadrillions,  hundreds  of  quadrillions,  quintillions,  tens  of 
quintillions,  hundreds  of  quintillions,  sextillions,  tens  of  sex- 
tillions,  hundreds  of  sextillions,  septillions,  tens  of  septillions, 
hundreds  of  septillions,  octillions,  tens  of  octillions,  hundreds 
of  octillions,  nonnillions,  tens  of  nonnillions,  hundreds  of  non- 
nillions,  decillions,  tens  of  decillions,  hundreds  of  decillions, 
iindecillio7is,  tens  of  undecillions,  hundreds  of  undecillions, 
duo-decillioiis,  tens  of  duo-decillions,  hundreds  of  duo-decill- 
ions,  tree-decillions,  tens  of  tree-decillions,  hundreds  of  tree- 
decillions,  quarto-decillions,  tens  of  quarto-decillions,  hundreds 
of  quarto-decillions,   quin-decillions,  tens   of  quin-decillions, 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  51 

hundreds  of  quin-decillions,  sex-decillions,  tens  of  sex-decillions, 
hundreds  of  sex-decilHons,  septem-decillio'ns,  tens  of  septem- 
decilKons,  hundreds  of  septem-decilhons,  octo-decillioTis,  tens 
of  octo-decilHons,  hundreds  of  octo-decillions,  novem-decillions, 
tens  of  novem-decillions,  hundreds  of  novem-decillions,  decem- 
decillions,  tens  of  decem-decillions,  hundreds  of  decem-decill- 
ions,  undecem-decillions ,  tens  of  undecem-decillions,  hundreds 
of  undecem-decillions,  duo-decem-decillions,  tens  of  duo-decem- 
decillions,  hundreds  of  duo-decem-decillions,  and  so  on,  as 
there  is  no  end  to  it.  But  if  you  ever  have  dollars  enough  to 
run  up  to  hundreds  of  duo-decem-decillions,  why  that  will  be 
sufficient  to  keep  you  awhile,  and  maybe  by  then  you  will  draw 
a  pension. 

Also,  here  is  a  little  counting  in  different  languages  that 
might  interest  some  of  the  boys  or  girls.  True  enough,  I  can- 
not spell  the  numbers  in  English  exactly  like  the  foreigner 
speaks  them  in  his  language,  but  I  can  come  close  enough  to 
it  so  you  can  count  to  a  hundred  almost  right. 

For  instance,  in  the  German  numbers,  "2"  and  "3,"  if 
anybody  can  spell  "two"  the  way  the  German  speaks  it,  he  can 
beat  me;  also  the  number  "three."  There  is  no  way  to  spell 
it  the  way  he  speaks  it,  as  he  has  a  kind  of  warble  or  rattle 
on  his  tongue  when  he  says  "three."  Nevertheless,  here  goes 
the  German  up  to  a  hundred : 

Ine,  cwy,  thry,  feear,  fimph,  sex,  sivon,  octh,  noin,  chin, 
illive,  twilive,  thrychin,  feearchin,  fimphchin,  sexchin,  sivon- 
chin,  octhchin,  noinchin,  sivansick  (which  is  20)  ;  then  21  is 
ineswansick,  22  cwyswansick,  23  thryswansick,  24  is  feear- 
swansick,  25  fimphswansik,  26  is  sexswansick,  27  sivonswan- 
sick,  28  is  octhswansik,  29  is  noinswansick,  30  is  thrysick,  ine- 
thrysick,  cwythrysick,  feearthrysick,  fimphthrysick,  sexthry- 
sick,  sivonthrysick,  ocththrysick,  nointhrysick  is  39,  and  40  is 
feearsick,  50  in  fimphsick,  60  in  sexsick,  70  is  sivasick,  80  is 
octhsick,  90  noinsick,  and  100  is  hoonded;  1,000  is  towsen,  and 
million  is  miWyon;  the  accent  is  on  the  last  syllable,  "yon," 
while  we  accent  the  first  syllable,  which  is  "mill." 


52  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

Here  is  the  Spanish  way  of  counting.  I  have  made  accent 
marks  over  the  letter  accented,  the  way  the  Spanish  pronounce 
figures : 

Ouna,  1;  does,  2;  thras,  3;  quah  thro,  4   (let  the  tongue 
v.'arble  at  the  last  syllable ;  cinco,  5 ;  sa  es,  6 ;  se  etthe,  7 ;  o'cho, 
8;  noo  evy,  9;  de  es,  10;  uncie,  11 ;  doesie,  12;  thrasie,  13;  cat 
torsie,  14 ;  kenesie,  15 ;  de  s  e  saes,  16 ;  de  se  etthe,  17 ;  de  se 
echo,  18 ;  de  se  noo  evy,  19 ;  vane  ta,  20 ;  vane  ta  ouna,  21 
vane  ta  does,  22 ;  vane  ta  thras,  23 ;  vane  ta  quahthro,  24 
vane  ta  cinco,  25;  vane  ta  sa  es,  26;  vane  ta  sa  etthe,  27 
vane  ta  ocho,  28;  vane  ta  noo  evy,  29,  and  thra  enta  is  30 
thra  enta  ouna,  31;  thra  enta  does,  32;  thra  enta  thras,  33 
thra  enta  quahthro,  34 ;  thra  enta  cinco,  35 ;  thra  enta  saes, 
36 ;  thra  enta  se  etthe,  37 ;  thra  enta  ocho,  38 ;  thra  enta 
nooevy,  39 ;  quad  enta,  40 ;  quad  enta  ouna,  41 ;  quad  enta  does, 
42;  quad  enta  thras,  43-;  quad  enta  quad  thro,  44;  quad  enta 
cinco,  45 ;  quad  enta  sa  es,  46 ;  quad  enta  se  etthe,  47 ;  quad 
enta  ocho,  48 ;  quad  enta  nooevy,  49 ;  cinco  enta  is  50,  sa  centa 
is  60,  sa  tenta  70,  ochinta  80,  no  venta  90,  se  en  is  100,  and 
mil,  pronounced  like  "mill,"  is  1,000;  does  mil,  2,000;  thras 
mil,  3,000;  quah  thro  mil,  4,000;  cinco  mil,  5,000;  sa  es  mil, 
6,000 ;  se  etthe  mil,  7,000 ;  ocho  mil,  8,000,  and  so  on  the  same 
as  before.     You  can  refer  back  and  see  what  the  figures  are 
all  called.    Million  is  pronounced  "millyon;"  the  accent  is  on 
the  last  syllable,  which  is  "yon,"  but  we  accent  the  first,  which 
is  "mill." 

Also  here  is  the  Spanish  alphabet  the  way  they  pronounce 
their  letters.  I  have  accent  marks  over  the  letter  accented. 
There  are  27  letters  in  their  alphabet,  while  ours  have  26. 

Their  "L"  is  called  "aley;"  then  it  is  followed  by  "LL," 
which  is  called  "ayea,"  and  that  makes  the  extra  letter. 

I  took  my  pronunciation  of  the  alphabet  from  a  Spaniard 
I  used  to  work  with.  Whereas  the  Spanish  book  spells  it  a 
little  different,  in  spelling  some  of  the  letters,  to  the  way  I  do, 
nevertheless,  I  give  them  to  you  as  near  as  I  can ;  the  way  the 
Spaniard  speaks  them  from  his  tongue. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  & 

Ah  is  a,  and  bay  is  b,  and  say  is  c ;  day — d ;  a — e ;  eff ay — ^f 
hay — g ;  atchie — h ;  ee — i ;  hauta — j ;  kahyah — k ;  aley — 1 
ayea — 11;  emmay — m;  ennay — n;  auh — o;  pay — p;  coo — q 
ettery — r;  essay — s;  tay — t;  oo — u  (like  the  word  coo) 
vay — ^v ;  double  ou — w ;  eck  ee  se  is  x ;  egre  a  ger — y ;  setta — z. 

The  book  spells  the  letter  "z"  thai-dah,  but  the  Spaniard 
that  I  got  my  information  from  spelled  it  "setta"  and  pro- 
nounced it  "setta."  Also  in  the  letter  "y"  the  Spaniard  pro- 
nounces it  "e  gre  a  ger,"  but  I  noticed  in  the  book  that  the 
letter  "y"  is  called  "ee,"  like  in  the  word  "me."  Also  in  the 
letter  "x"  the  Spaniard  pronounces  it  "eck  ee  se,"  whereas  the 
book  has  it  "eeks"  for  "x." 

The  little  information  just  given  is  not  intended  to  make  a 
Spanish  scholar  out  of  you,  but  is  merely  intended  to  amuse 
the  children  and  give  them  some  idea,  as  to  how  the  different 
languages  go. 

Here  is  the  French  alphabet,  which  contains  25  letters. 
There  is  no  "w"  in  their  alphabet.  Also  I  could  give  you  the 
numbers  as  to  how  to  count  in  French,  but  I  could  not  spell 
them  so  you  could  understand  them,  consequently  will  leave 
them  off: 

Ah  is  a,  and  bay  is  b;  say — c;  day — d;  air — e;  eff — f 
jay — g;  ash — h;  the  "i"  is  pronounced  "e;"  jee  is  "j ;"  kah — k 
ell — 1;  m — m;  n  is  n,  and  o  is  o;   pay — p;   ku — q;   heir — r 
ez — s ;  tay — t ;  eeyu — u,  but  I  can't  spell  it  like  the  Frenchman 
speaks  it;  vay — v;  ecks — x;  egrec — y;  zed — z. 

Here  is  about  the  way  the  Latin  numbers  run  up  to  a  hun- 
dred: Unus,  duo,  trees,  quarto,  quinque,  sex,  septem,  octo, 
novem,  decern,  undecem,  duo  decem,  tree  decem,  quarto  decem, 
quin  decem,  sex  decem,  septem  decem,  octo  decem,  novem 
decem;  viginta,  which  is  20;  viginta  unus,  21 ;  viginta  duo,  22; 
viginta  trees,  23;  viginta  quarto,  24;  viginta  quinque,  25; 
viginta  sex,  26  viginta  septem,  27;  viginta  octo,  28;  viginta 
novem,  29;  triginta  is  30;  quadroginto,  40;  quinqueginta,  50; 
sexiginta,  60;  septuaginta,  70;  octoginta,  80;  nonoginta,  90; 
centem,  100. 


54  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

SECTION  1,  CHAPTER  7. 

My  life  and  occupations  have  been  various.  I  have  been  in 
many  different  places  and  followed  numerous  occupations. 

In  May,  1883,  at  the  age  of  20,  went  to  Girard,  Kansas; 
worked  in  a  brickyard  till  fall,  then  engaged  in  coal  mining 
for  the  winter,  at  Pittsburg,  Kan.,  which  was  twelve  miles 
from  Girard;  after  which  I  came  back  in  this  direction,  to 
Pierce  City,  Mo.,  to  visit  the  lead  mines;  then  went  to  Van- 
buren,  Ark.,  through  the  Ozark  Mountains,  which  is  a  very 
interesting  scenery,  being  rugged  and  steep.  Vanburen  is 
just  across  the  Arkansas  River  from  Fort  Smith,  but  is  not  as 
thriving  a  town.  Fort  Smith  is  on  the  line  between  Arkansas 
and  what  used  to  be  the  Indian  Territoiy,  but  is  Oklahoma 
now.  Fort  Smith  is  next  to  the  largest  city  in  the  State,  Little 
Rock,  the  capital,  being  the  largest. 

I  used  to  see  Indian  squaws  carrying  their  babies,  tied  to  a 
plank,  and  swung  across  their  shoulders,  and  when  they  would 
stop  at  a  depot,  or  anywhere  else,  they  would  set  the  plank  up 
against  the  wall,  and  the  baby  would  never  whimper.  Just 
imagine  one  of  our  women  setting  their  babies  up  against  the 
wall,  tied  to  a  plank!  What  would  be  the  consequences?  Why 
you  could  hear  the  thing  squall  for  a  mile,  and  it  would  take 
her  three  days  to  pacify  it. 

After  working  in  the  country  awhile,  near  Vanburen,  I 
decided  to  go  to  Dallas  County,  Texas;  worked  awhile  in  a 
daily,  then  concluded  to  raise  a  crop  of  cotton  on  the  halves 
for  a  farmer  in  Dallas  County ;  raised  the  cotton  all  right,  and 
twelve  acres  of  corn ;  raised  fifteen  bales  of  cotton  (500  pounds 
constitutes  a  bale)  and  got  $45  a  bale,  but  that  was  an  un- 
fortunate year,  for  when  it  began  to  rain  it  seemed  it  would 
never  cease,  and  when  it  did  finally  quit,  it  seemed  that  it  had 
quit  forever. 

One  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  black,  waxy  soil  in  Texas  is 
when  it  is  muddy  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  walk  in  it.  The 
mud  sticks  together  like  tar  and  gets  so  heavy  that  you  cannot 
raise  your  feet.  The  people  have  to  carry  a  little  paddle  in 
their  pockets  to  clean  the  mud  off  their  feet.     Chickens  will 


THE  AUTHOR  AT  20  YEARS  OF  AGE,  WHEN  A  COAL  MINER 


i       VHS  'AVK  rvi;:iC 

PUBLi:  IJBHARY 


R  1- 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  55 

get  into  the  mud  sometimes,  and  can't  get  out  till  somebody 
takes  them  out.  I  have  seen  empty  wagons  on  the  side  of  the 
road,  where  the  driver  unhitched  his  horses  and  left  the  wagon 
till  the  mud  got  in  better  condition  so  they  could  proceed.  The 
mud  on  the  front  wheels  and  hind  wheels  would  sometimes 
meet,  and  the  horses  couldn't  pull  the  empty  wagon.  Another 
peculiarity  about  the  black,  waxy  soil  in  Texas  is,  the  roads  in 
extremely  dry  seasons,  where  it  doesn't  rain  for  months,  will 
become  hard  and  slick,  but  there  is  never  a  speck  of  dust. 

Out  in  the  pastures,  during  very  dry  seasons,  which  occur 
most  every  year,  the  ground  will  crack  open  so  that  it  is  dan- 
gerous for  stock  to  run,  lest  they  step  in  the  large  holes  and 
break  their  legs.  Sometimes  holes  will  crack  open  large  enough 
to  put  an  eight-foot  rail  down  in  them.  But,  after  all,  the  soil 
is  very  fertile.  Some  of  that  black,  waxy  land  is  ten  feet  deep 
and  is  as  black  and  rich  at  the  bottom  as  it  is  at  the  top. 

After  leaving  Dallas  County,  about  the  1st  of  December, 
1884,  went  to  Fort  Worth,  which  was  then  a  very  small  town, 
although  it  was  the  county  seat  of  Tyrant  County.  There  was 
not  a  street  car  track  in  town.  A  company,  however,  was  just 
preparing  to  start  a  car  line.  I  put  in  my  application  to  drive 
a  car,  before  they  laid  the  track,  which  would  have  been  oper- 
ated by  mule  power,  as  that  was  before  electric  cars  were  ever 
thought  of.  They  told  me  that  there  were  fifty  applicants 
ahead  of  me,  but  to  come  around  when  they  got  the  track  laid, 
and  if  none  of  the  other  fellows  "showed  up"  they  would  give 
me  the  job.  I  never  went  back  to  see  about  it,  so  they  may 
still  be  holding  the  job  for  me. 

Strange  to  say,  when  I  was  in  Foi*t  Worth  the  first  time, 
men  were  out  on  a  strike  at  the  depot  and  other  places  of  labor. 
In  twenty  years  after  that,  I  was  in  Fort  Worth  again,  and 
there  was  another  big  strike  in  full  blast,  but  this  time  it  was 
Armour  &  Co.'s  stock  yards,  which  was  not  there  twenty  years 
before,  and  my!  what  a  change  there  was  in  the  place  in 
twenty  years'  time — from  a  little  one-horse  town  to  a  big, 
noisy  city.  I  couldn't  see  anything  that  I  recognized.  It 
seemed  that  everything  had  made  a  complete  change.    There 


56  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

used  to  be  a  saloon  there  called  the  "Cowboy"  saloon,  and  it 
was  true  to  its  name.  The  cowboys  would  ride  into  the  saloon 
on  their  horses  up  to  the  bar  and  call  for  whisky,  and  when 
they  would  get  ready  to  go  they  would  frequently  shoot  all  the 
lights  out  before  they  left. 

When  I  left  Forth  Worth  I  went  out  a  little  farther  West 
and  farmed  one  year  with  an  Irishman,  who  had  a  good  deal 
of  land.  I'll  never  forget  the  first  meal  I  ate  with  them.  They 
had  fried  chicken  for  dinner,  and  when  we  sat  down  to  the 
table  I  noticed  the  old  man's  wife  laid  a  stick  of  stove  wood  on 
the  floor  by  her  side ;  but  I  didn't  think  much  about  it ;  thought 
perhaps  she  just  had  it  to  scare  the  dogs  and  cats  out  that 
might  come  in  while  we  were  eating.  I  noticed,  too,  a  tall, 
slim-legged,  freckled-faced,  red-headed  boy,  with  hair  about 
six  or  eight  inches  long,  hanging  around,  not  a  great  ways  off 
from  the  table.  Every  once  in  a  while  the  old  lady  would  say, 
rather  commandingly,  "Johnnie,  get  away  from  this  table." 
But  Johnnie  didn't  mind  well.  He  would  start  to  go,  but  didn't 
go.  All  at  once,  like  an  eagle  darting  down  after  its  prey,  he 
made  one  leap  and  grabbed  down  in  the  middle  of  the  chicken 
dish,  and  went  out  at  the  door  with  his  hands  full. 

He  looked  back  as  he  made  his  final  exit  and  exclaimed : 
"By  Dod,  I'm  goin'  to  have  one  piece!"  I  understood  then  all 
about  what  the  stick  of  wood  was  for,  as  the  old  lady  sent  it 
with  vengeance  through  the  air,  but  missed  her  mark  far  and 
wide.  The  last  I  saw  of  Johnnie,  he  was  going  over  the  stile 
blocks  at  the  yard  fence,  cutting  down  on  his  chicken.  The 
old  lady  waved  her  hand  at  him  in  considerable  anger  and 
called  him  a  dirty-looking  thing,  but,  nevertheless,  the  chicken 
was  gone  and  so  was  Johnnie. 

I  stayed  with  them  all  that  year,  and  when  Christmas  came 
they  had  a  regular  Irish  jubilee — the  whole  "shooting  match" 
got  drunk.  A  two-gallon  kettle  sat  on  the  kitchen  table,  full 
of  egg-nog,  highly  flavored  with  something  that  is  hard  to  buy 
now.  The  directions  for  taking  it  was:  One  glassful  every 
few  minutes,  or  oftener,  if  necessary.  I  took  one  glassful,  but 
didn't  consider  it  necessary  to  take  any  more  for  some  time. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  57 

The  old  man  had  two  of  his  boys  out  on  the  floor,  with  rags 
tied  over  their  hands  for  boxing  gloves.  He  called  one  of  them 
Paddy  Ryan  and  the  other  one  John  L.  Sullivan,  and  when 
John  L.  Sullivan  would  get  Paddy  Ryan  down  the  old  man 
would  pull  him  off  till  Paddy  could  get  up  again. 

On  Sunday,  during  the  Christmas,  the  old  folks  went  visit- 
ing and  left  their  boys  all  at  home.  There  was  a  little  sugar 
left  over  from  the  jubilee,  in  a  paper  sack  laid  way  back  some- 
where, and  one  of  the  boys  proposed  to  eat  it,  but  I  objected, 
saying  that  his  mother  would  be  very  angry  at  us  for  eating 
her  sugar,  as  she  might  need  it  for  something,  but  he  overruled 
my  objections  in  a  very  few  words,  as  his  reply  was,  "Oh, 
h — 11,  she'll  never  miss  it  till  next  Christmas.  We  don't  have 
sugar  but  once  a  year." 

In  Texas  there  used  to  be  a  great  many  race  horses  (what 
they  called  race  horses)  among  many  of  the  farmers.  The 
man  I  was  with  was  a  race  horse  man,  and  he,  knowing  that  I 
was  from  Kentucky,  insisted  on  me  riding  his  horse  in  one  of 
his  races.  I  declined  to  accept  his  compliments  by  saying  that 
I  never  saw  a  race  horse,  much  less  ride  one,  but  the  more  I 
refused  the  more  he  insisted,  as  he  seemed  to  think  that  every- 
body from  Kentucky  was  a  natural-born  race  rider.  Finally  I 
told  him  that  if  nothing  else  would  do  him,  I  would  ride  his 
horse,  which  I  did.  The  horse  made  one  leap  when  he  started, 
and  made  it  so  suddenly  and  unexpected  to  me,  that  I  tumbled 
off  as  soon  as  he  started,  but  the  horse  went  on  without  a  rider 
and  won  the  race. 

While  in  Texas  I  came  across  a  grindstone  quarry,  where 
i  could  see  the  rocks  sticking  out  just  above  the  surface,  enough 
to  see  what  they  were.  I  immediately  thought  I  had  found  a 
fortune,  and  maybe  no  one  else  around  there  knew  anything 
about  grindstone  rock;  kept  it  to  myself  a  few  days  before 
mentioning  it  to  anyone,  but  one  day  I  asked  a  fellow  whether 
he  ever  saw  any  grindstone  rock  growing  in  the  ground.  He 
said,  "Why,  that's  nothing;  all  the  ground  around  here  is  full 
of  grindstone  rock."    Then  my  air  castles  that  I  had  built  as 


58  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

to  how  I  was  going  to  make  a  fortune  out  of  those  rocks  all  fell 
to  pieces. 

In  Brownsville,  Texas,  at  that  day  and  time,  it  looked  to  me 
that  every  business  house  there  of  any  size  was  built  out  of 
grindstone  rock.  You  could  just  walk  up  by  the  side  of  a 
house  anywhere  and  sharpen  your  knife.  Also,  there  was  an- 
other interesting  thing  in  that  section  of  the  country;  there 
Vv'as  so  much  petrified  wood  in  certain  portions  of  the  State. 

Whenever  wood  petrifies  under  the  ground  it  will  take  its 
color  from  the  soil  in  which  it  petrifies ;  if  the  soil  is  red,  the 
stone  will  be  of  a  reddish  color;  if  its  gray,  the  stone  will  be 
gray,  and  so  on. 

Once,  when  in  Shreveport,  La.,  several  years  ago,  I  was  in 
an  old  cemetery;  a  portion  of  it,  from  some  cause,  evidently 
had  been  neglected  for  many  years;  in  that  part  of  it  was  a 
good  deal  of  petrified  wood  from  trees  that  had  blown  dovvTi, 
or  been  chopped  down,  and  left  lying  on  the  ground,  and  a 
portion  of  them  petrified ;  on  one  of  them  it  could  be  seen 
where  some  one  had  chopped  into  it  with  an  axe  before  it 
petrified. 

1  noticed  a  very  familiar  name  on  a  monument  in  the  nice 
part  of  the  cemetery,  with  the  inscription,  "Joseph  B.  Smith, 
born  in  Shelby  County,  Kentucky."  When  I  returned  to  Ken- 
tucky, some  time  after  that,  I  asked  an  old  gentleman  whose 
surname  was  the  same,  whether  he  ever  heard  of  Joseph  B. 
Smith,  of  Shreveport,  La.,  he  said,  "Why,  that's  my  oldest 
brother."  I  gave  him  a  piece  of  petrified  stone  that  I  had' 
gotten  in  the  cemetery,  in  which  his  brother  was  buried,  and 
he  seemed  to  appreciate  it  very  much. 

I  remember  once,  when  in  the  northern  part  of  Texas,  I 
concluded  it  would  be  a  nice  trip  to  ride  down  through  the 
State  on  horseback  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico ;  bought  a  good  saddle 
horse  and  started,  but  the  distance  was  too  far,  and  I  soon  got 
tired  of  the  trip ;  went  as  far  down  as  Austin,  the  capital,  then 
took  a  bee  line  westward;  finally  got  out  so  far  west  that  it 
began  to  look  very  much  like  there  wasn't  anybody  else  there 
but  me.     That  was  in  1885,  when  Western  Texas  was  very 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  59 

thinly  populated.  I  rode  a  half  a  day  without  ever  seeing  a 
human  being,  house  or  anything  else,  except  a  deer  once  in 
nwhile,  and  hear  the  wolves  howling  over  the  hills,  like  a 
lonesome  dog,  and  a  mule-eared  rabbit  run  across  the  road 
occasionally.  And  whenever  I  couldn't  find  any  place  to  stay 
at  night,  I  woud  lie  down  on  the  ground  and  tie  my  horse  to 
me  with  a  long  rope  (such  as  all  Texas  fellows  used  to  carry 
with  them,  tied  on  their  saddle),  so  the  horse  could  graze 
around,  and  build  a  little  fire  by  me  to  keep  the  wolves  from 
eating  me,  as  a  wolf  will  not  come  up  to  a  fire,  no  matter  how 
small ;  just  so  he  can  see  a  speck  of  it,  that's  enough  for  him. 

On  one  occasion,  after  I  had  been  riding  over  half  a  day 
without  seeing  anyone,  I  met  a  fellow  just  after  it  had  begun 
to  get  a  little  dark,  going  in  the  same  direction  from  which  I 
had  just  come.  I  asked  him  how  far  it  was  to  the  next  house. 
He  said  it  was  just  fifteen  miles  on  farther  before  I  would 
come  to  a  house.  It  was  then  getting  dark,  and  there  had 
come  up  what  they  call  out  there  "a  norther,"  which  is  a  cold 
blizzard.  The  wind  had  begun  to  blow  hard  and  snow  was 
falling,  but  he  told  me  that  there  was  a  sheep-herder's  camp 
about  a  mile  and  a  half  on  farther,  at  which  I  could  stay,  if  I 
could  find  it,  as  it  was  a  little  off  the  road.  I  started  on  at  a 
pretty  lively  gait,  when  all  at  once  I  saw  a  lantern  flash  out 
for  a  second  or  two.  I  made  right  for  that  direction,  but  I 
suppose  my  horse  would  have  gone  up  to  the  camp  anyhow,  if 
I  would  have  let  the  reins  loose.  They  treated  me  very  kindly, 
which  is  characteristic  with  most  of  the  Westerners. 

I  stayed  a  week  with  the  Montgomery  brothers,  who  at  that 
day  and  time,  which  was  in  1885,  had  one  pasture  for  their 
cattle  that  was  sixty  miles  around  it ;  a  square  pasture  fifteen 
miles  each  way,  enclosed  in  a  barbed  wire  fence,  three  wires 
high,  I  think  it  was,  and  it  was  the  duty  of  someone,  once 
every  day,  to  ride  around  the  pasture  to  see  if  any  of  the 
wires  had  been  cut,  which  sometimes  would  happen,  by  ene- 
mies or  somebdy  just  for  pure  devilment.  In  riding  around 
on  the  inside  of  the  pasture  they  would  just  keep  in  sight  of 
the  fence,  in  order  to  make  the  distance  around  shorter.    After 


60  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

I  stayed  a  week  with  them,  and  they  also  kept  my  horse,  too, 
and  fed  him  all  he  could  eat,  I  asked  what  my  bill  was;  but 
they  wouldn't  have  a  cent  for  it ;  all  they  asked  was,  they  said, 
that  if  I  ever  had  an  opportunity,  for  me  to  treat  them  with 
the  same  courtesy  that  I  had  received. 

Pastures  in  those  days  in  Western  Texas  consisted  alto- 
gether of  prairie  grass;  no  other  grass  will  thrive  in  Texas 
that  I  know  of,  except  prairie  grass,  Johnson  grass  and  Ber- 
muda grass ;  it  is  almost  impossible  to  get  rid  of  the  last  two 
mentioned ;  but  prairie  grass,  when  once  broken  up  and  turned 
over,  will  never  come  again.  It  has  no  seed,  and  if  one  furrow 
is  run  around  a  field  with  a  plow,  that  broken  space  will  never 
sod  itself  over  again  with  prairie  grass,  as  when  once  broken 
it  is  killed  forever ;  but  here  in  Kentucky,  if  a  piece  of  ground 
is  let  alone  for  a  few  years  and  stock  allowed  to  run  on  it,  the 
blue  grass  will  sod  it  over  without  ever  sowing  any  seed. 

I  never  saw  but  one  patch  of  clover  in  Texas,  and  that  was 
in  a  four-acre  bottom  field  where  the  soil  kept  sufficiently 
moist  for  it  to  grow,  Texas  is  too  dry  for  clover ;  it  cannot 
stand  long  drouths.  Peaches  do  well  in  Texas,  but  no  apples ; 
never  saw  an  apple  tree  in  Texas;  although  there  are  a  few 
in  the  State,  but  very  few.  There  is  something  in  the  soil  that 
kills  apple  trees ;  I  don't  know  what  it  is ;  some  say  that  there 
is  too  much  alkali  in  the  soil. 

There  are  many  different  kinds  of  soil  in  Texas,  which 
consists  of  black  waxy,  black  sandy,  gray  sandy,  Brazos  River 
loam  and  several  other  kinds. 

In  January,  1886,  I  returned  to  Kentucky,  stopping  to  see 
the  Hot  Springs,  in  Arkansas,  and  the  Mammoth  Cave,  in 
Kentucky,  two  very  noted  places.  The  town  of  Hot  Springs  is 
a  long  strip  of  a  town  between  two  mountains.  The  water  of 
the  Hot  Springs  tastes  something  like  tea,  and  it  is  very  hot, 
caused,  of  course,  by  water  in  the  earth  passing  through  certain 
mineral,  which,  when  they  come  in  contact,  becomes  boiling 
hot,  like  when  water  is  poured  on  unslaked  lime,  it  immedi- 
ately begins  to  boil  and  would  cook  an  egg  while  the  lime  is 
slaking. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  61 

I  heard  of  two  fellows  that  were  traveling  through  that 
country,  years  before  it  was  settled,  and  they  stopped  to  get 
a  drink  at  the  spring.  When  it  burnt  one  fellow's  mouth,  he 
told  the  other  to  drive  on,  as  they  were  only  half  a  mile  from 
h— 11. 

There  are  other  mineral  springs  in  that  neighborhood  be- 
sides the  Hot  Springs.  There  are  the  Happy  Hollow  Springs 
and  the  Potash  Sulphur  Springs,  two  popular  places  to  go  and 
spend  your  surplus  money,  as  that  is  what  they  all  are  looking 
for — the  dollar  that  you  have. 

The  Mammoth  Cave  is  right  interesting  to  one  who  has 
never  seen  anything  of  the  kind,  but  not  so  much  so,  perhaps, 
as  you  would  expect  to  see,  from  the  fact  that  in  reading  about 
a  thing  it  can  be  pictured  very  deceivingly  to  the  mind.  There 
isn't  hardly  anything  as  wonderful  after  we  see  it  as  we  im- 
agined it  was.  The  scenery  in  the  Mammoth  Cave  reminds 
one  of  being  in  coal  mines,  different,  of  course,  yet  there  is 
some  similarity. 

After  returning  to  Kentucky,  in  1886,  I  taught  school  one 
session,  farmed  one  year,  and  then  went  to  Indiana  and  helped 
a  man  put  in  fifteen  acres  of  watermelons  on  the  Six-mile 
Island,  above  Louisville.  He  was  a  very  peculiar  man  and  ex- 
tremely hard  to  get  along  with.  One  day  he  started  me  to 
raking  up  cornstalks  that  had  been  cut  down ;  raking  with  an 
old  one-horse  rake.  When  he  started  me  to  the  field  he  said, 
in  a  very  rough  manner :  "Figg,  a  hired  hand  hasn't  got  any 
more  sense  than  a  mule,  and  is  not  supposed  to  have  any  sense ; 
you  take  that  mule  and  go  out  yonder  and  rake  them  stalks 
up."  I  didn't  dispute  with  him  regarding  the  necessity  of 
using  judgment  in  the  way  of  work,  but  went  on,  "me  and  the 
mule."  Nevertheless,  I  thought  to  myself:  Old  man,  you'll 
find  out  different  from  that  when  you  come  home  from  town 
and  see  what  "me  and  the  mule"  have  done..  I  was  young  and 
foolish  then  and  didn't  like  my  job  anyway,  and  felt  just  a 
little  offended  at  the  idea  of  not  having  any  more  sense  than  a 
mule,  esiDecially  the  one  he  gave  me  to  work.  When  I  got  the 
darn  mule  started,  I  couldn't  get  it  stopped ;  and  when  I  got  it 
stopped,  I  coudn't  get  it  started.    Nevertheless,  I  raked  over 


62  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

the  stalks  without  ever  dumping-  the  rake;  just  dragged  them 
along.  When  he  got  back  from  town  he  came  out  to  see  how 
"me  and  the  mule"  were  getting  along.  He  stood  and  looked 
I'or  some  time  before  he  said  anything,  but  after  awhile  he 
said:  "Well,  Figg,  what  did  you  do  me  that  way  for?"  Then 
I  reminded  him  of  what  he  said  when  he  started  me  to  work — 
that  a  hired  hand  didn't  have  any  more  sense  than  a  mule  and 
wasn't  supposed  to  have  any  sense.  So  I  told  him  that  the 
mule  didn't  have  sense  enough  to  dump  the  rake,  and  neither 
did  I.  I  thought  he  would  discharge  me,  but  he  didn't.  He 
just  turned  around,  walked  off  and  said :  "Well,  Figg,  I  didn't 
think  you  would  do  me  that  way." 

On  November  1,  1888,  I  began  with  the  Louisville  City 
Railway  Company.  Electric  cars  were  not  thought  of  then; 
they  used  mule  cars.  But  the  next  year,  1889,  or  1890,  I  have 
forgotten  which,  the  first  electric  line  was  started  on  Green 
street,  and  went  out  as  far  as  Twenty-eighth  street,  the  best 
I  remember. 

It  was  March  27,  1890,  while  I  was  with  the  Railway  Com- 
pany, that  the  most  destructive  cyclone  that  was  ever  known 
in  the  State  passed  through  Louisville.  I  will  give  you  a  little 
poem  that  some  one  wrote  about  it,  on  another  page  in  this 
book. 


SECTION  2,  CHAPTER  7. 

After  being  with  the  Railway  Company  for  two  years  I 
went  to  Shelby  County,  eight  miles  south  of  Shelbyville,  and 
bought  a  country  store  from  P.  W.  Torr.  My  father  owned 
half  interest  in  the  goods.  Began  merchandising  November  1, 
1890,  and  on  July  1,  1891,  established  a  post-office  there  and 
named  it  Figg,  and  was  the  neighborhood  postmaster  for 
eleven  years.  Then  the  post-office  was  discontinued,  as  the 
rural  free  delivery  system  superseded  most  all  country  post- 
offices.  The  office  did  not  pay  very  much,  but  it  brought  cus- 
tomers to  the  store  that  in  many  cases  would  perhaps  never 
have  come. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  63 

At  that  time  all  the  turnpikes  in  the  State  were  owned  by 
individuals  in  each  county,  and  they  had  tollgates  about  a  mile 
and  a  half  out  each  road  from  the  county  seat  town,  which 
was  a  long  pole  that  reached  across  the  pike,  and  was  kept 
down,  only  when  the  gatekeeper  would  raise  it  to  let  people 
through,  after  they  paid  him  the  toll,  and  that  made  trade  in 
the  country  stores  a  little  better,  as  some  people  would  rather 
trade  at  home  then  than  to  go  to  town  and  have  to  pay  toll  to 
get  there.  All  the  turnpikes  in  the  State  have  been  sold  to  the 
counties  in  which  they  were  in.  They  have  been  sold  several 
years  now.  It  was  perhaps  1896,  the  best  I  remember,  when 
they  began  selling  the  pikes  and  removing  the  tollgates,  so  the 
people  can  go  through  free,  and  the  expenses  of  the  pikes  are 
kept  up  now  by  taxation,  instead  of  individual  collections. 

My  grandfather,  Warner  T.  Fi gg,  Sr.,  was  one  of  the  orig- 
inal stockholders  of  the  Zaring  Mill  turnpike,  south  of  Shelby- 
ville.  Before  he  died  he  gave  his  turnpike  stock  to  his  son, 
Bushrod,  who  kept  it  till  the  pikes  were  sold  to  the  county. 

I  remember  once  going  through  a  tollgate,  north  of  town, 
one  Sunday  evening,  and  there  was  an  old  Irish  woman  keep- 
ing it.  I  asked  her  if  she  knew  whether  one  of  the  neighbor 
men  was  at  home  or  not  and  that  I  was  going  out  there  and 
wanted  to  see  him.  She  told  me  she  guessed  he  was,  as  he 
hadn't  passed  through  the  tollgate  that  day.  Then  I  asked  if 
Mary  had  passed  through.  The  old  lady  "kinder"  squinted 
one  eye  up  and  said :  "Ah,  me  boy,  and  it  was  the  gairl  you 
wanted  to  see!"    And  sure  enough,  it  was. 

I  owned  the  country  store  for  twenty-five  years,  but  during 
the  time  rented  it  out  and  went  to  Fort  Smith,  Arkansas.  I 
was  married  then  and  had  two  small  children,  one  of  them  a 
baby.  Bought  half  interest  in  a  saloon,  rooming  house  and 
restaurant,  all  combined  as  one  business.  We  took  in  over 
$1,000  a  month  during  the  year.  The  register  showed  over 
$12,000  cash  taken  in,  but  the  business  was  not  a  success,  as 
the  partner  was  a  lady's  man,  a  drunkard  and  a  gambler,  and 
was  dishonest ;  so  that  kind  of  a  combination  was  detrimental 
to  success.  I  felt  just  a  little  out  of  place  all  the  time,  not  hav- 
ing been  accustomed  to  associations  of  that  kind.    Neverthe- 


64  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

less,  I  learned  a  great  deal  about  the  other  side  of  things  that 
perhaps  otherwise  I  would  never  have  known,  and  perhaps 
would  have  been  just  as  well  off  without  ever  knowing  them. 

Many  amusing  incidents  happened  during  the  year,  watch- 
ing the  drunkard's  antic  movements  and  listening  to  his  idiotic 
songs,  some  of  which  were  very  amusing,  while  others  were 
disgusting.  We  had  a  restaurant  in  the  rear  of  the  saloon, 
also  a  dining-room  upstairs,  where  we  delivered  meals  and 
drinks  to  the  "ladies,"  and  still  another  on  the  first  floor,  to 
itself,  for  the  colored  population,  making  three  eating  depart- 
ments. 

One  day  a  crowd  of  Irish  came  into  the  saloon,  and  one  of 
them  left  $60  with  us  to  keep  for  him,  till  their  crowd  drank  it 
up.  In  two  weeks  his  $60  were  gone.  Not  one  of  them  would 
take  a  drink  till  they  looked  around  to  see  if  all  their  number 
were  lined  up  and  ready. 

One  day  Tommie  Simmons  was  missing,  and  when  their 
leader  looked  around  and  saw  that  Tommie  was  gone  he  gave 
the  command  for  "not  a  mon  to  take  a  dthrink  till  Tommie  is 
with  us."  Paddy  O'Simerty  went  back  into  the  restaurant 
and  found  Tommie  reared  back  in  a  chair,  sound  asleep.  He 
gave  him  a  few  familiar  shakes  and  said :  "And  Tommie,  and 
are  you  going  to  schlape  your  howl  loife  away?  Wake  oope 
and  take  a  dthrink,  and  be  keerful,  Tommie,  gist  how  yer 
walk,  as  the  mon's  house  may  fall  down  with  yer." 

Tommie  was  very  much  surprised  when  awakened,  and 
wanted  to  know  if  it  was  daytoim  yit. 

We  had  an  old  German  customer  that  I  never  saw  sober. 
He  slept  in  a  coalshed  one  night  when  he  was  drunk  and  rolled 
around  over  the  coal,  and  the  next  morning  he  was  a  beautiful 
looking  sight  to  see.  The  police  took  charge  of  him,  and,  when 
he  was  brought  out  for  trial,  Judge  Fraer,  who  was  a  nice 
man,  if  you  talked  to  him  right,  asked  him  what  on  earth  was 
the  matter  with  his  face.  The  old  Dutchman  said  to  him: 
"Vy,  dot  ish  mine  face,  and  dot  ish  mine  business."  "Well," 
said  Fraer,  "I'll  just  fine  you  $15  for  having  such  a  face." 

One  day  the  old  Dutchman  was  in  the  saloon,  and  after 
taking  a  few  swallows  of  the  "overjoy,"  started  back  to  the 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  65 

restaurant,  but  every  time  he  would  start  to  walk  he  would  go 
sideways  and  hit  the  wall.  Then  he  would  start  again  and 
run  sideways  and  land  right  back  to  where  he  started.  Finally 
he  looked  up  to  me  and  said:  "Mishther,  your  housh  is  too 
schmall."  Once  in  a  while  he  would  sing*  his  favorite  song, 
which  ran  something  like  this:  "Mine  mutter  she  sade,  dar 
vosh  someting  wrong  mit  mine  prain."  It  was  a  very  beauti- 
ful song,  but  he  evidently  had  left  his  tune  back  in  Germany, 
as  he  didn't  have  it  with  him  here. 

We  had  a  good  many  Indian  customers  from  the  Indian 
Territory,  which  is  the  State  of  Oklahoma  now,  Fort  Smith 
being  on  the  line  between  the  two  States. 

An  Indian  asked  me  once  if  I  could  find  him  a  white  wife. 
I  told  him  that  I  thought  I  could  and  for  him  to  be  seated  in 
the  reception  room  and  I  would  go  and  see.  I  went  to  see  a 
young  lady,  a  grass  widow,  whose  mother  was  also  a  widow; 
she  was  not  at  home  when  I  got  there,  but  the  mother  said  the 
girl  had  gone  uptown  to  see  about  getting  a  divorce.  I  ex- 
plained my  business  to  the  mother,  who  was  very  anxious  for 
the  match.  She  told  me  where  the  girl  was,  and  if  her  daugh- 
ter would  not  marry  the  Indian,  for  me  to  come  back  and  let 
her  know,  and  that  she  would  take  him. 

I  saw  the  young  lady  and  told  her  what  I  wanted.  She  was 
H'illing  to  marry  the  Indian  and  told  me  to  go  back  and  have 
him  wait  for  her,  as  she  had  to  go  home  and  primp  up  a  little. 
The  Indian  waited  till  the  girl  came,  and  an  introduction  was 
made  between  them.  Everything  was  going  along  all  right. 
Arrangements  were  being  made  for  the  marriage,  and  the 
Indian  said  he  would  pay  for  her  divorce  and  they  would  get 
married  right  away.  But  unfortunately,  right  in  the  midst  of 
their  two  hearts  being  made  as  one,  a  fellow  came  in  that  she 
hadn't  seen  for  some  time,  and  the  temptation  was  too  great 
for  her,  so  she  turned  around  to  offer  him  a  few  kind  words 
of  welcome.  Then  Mr.  Indian  quietly  arose  and  said  he  would 
be  back  in  a  few  minutes,  but  he  never  came  back. 

After  being  in  Fort  Smith,  Ark.,  one  year,  I  went  to 
Shreveport,  La.,  in  February,  1904,  through  Indian  Territory, 


6G  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

now  Oklahoma,  where  I  attended  a  business  college  a  few 
months,  preparatory  to  taking  up  the  study  of  law.  After  fin- 
ishing the  business  course  in  Shrevei^ort  I  conducted  a  grocery 
awhile  before  leaving;  then  went  to  Dallas,  Texas,  and  took 
up  the  study  of  law,  but  got  tired  of  it  and  quit;  concluded  it 
was  foolishness  for  a  man  with  a  wife  and  two  children  to 
begin  a  thing  of  that  kind,  when  he  already  had  a  farm  and  a 
store,  back  in  Kentuck}^  rented  out. 

The  northern  part  of  Louisiana  is  a  great  place  to  raise 
watermelons.  We  passed  through  a  patch,  just  over  the  line 
in  Louisiana  from  Texas,  that  contained  600  acres.  It  was 
shipping  time  when  we  passed  through  on  the  train,  and  just 
as  far  as  we  could  see  were  watermelons  piled  up  ready  to  be 
shipped.  They  were  striped  melons,  of  the  rattlesnake  variety. 
The  same  ground  was  set  out  in  peach  trees,  and  the  melons 
were  raised  between  the  trees  while  they  were  small.  It  was 
also  beneficial  to  the  trees  to  cultivate  the  ground.  We  had 
an  opportunity  to  buy  one  of  the  melons  at  the  hotel  where  we 
stopped;  had  picking  choice  of  any  melon  we  wished  for  five 
cents.  I  picked  out  the  biggest  one  in  sight  and  planked  down 
the  cash  for  it,  which  was  a  nickel. 

While  reading  law  in  Dallas  I  had  a  little  business  that 
brought  in  about  enough  change  to  make  expenses. 

After  leaving  Dallas  I  returned  home,  to  Shelby  County, 
Kentucky,  to  the  store  that  had  been  rented  out,  and  began 
merchandising  again.  It  is  only  in  the  rarest  of  cases  where 
it  is  best  to  make  many  changes  in  business  of  any  kind. 

Specialization  is  advisable.  Pick  out  some  kind  of  work 
or  business  and  stick  to  it.  There  are  advantages  and  disad- 
vantages in  every  place  in  the  world.  It  figures  out  about  the 
same,  so  make  a  selection  of  what  you  want  to  do  and  stay 
with  it  till  the  "last  rooster  crows"  and  you'll  be  better  off  in 
the  end. 

The  old  adage,  that  "a  rolling  stone  gathers  no  moss,"  is 
a  very  true  one.  It  doesn't  mean  to  sit  down  and  wait  till  it 
rains  prosperity;  keep  hustling,  but  stay  in  one  place,  unless 
you  can  foresee  the  future  of  your  new  venture  clearly.  When 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  67 

James  J.  Corbett  began  his  pu^listic  career  his  father,  who 
was  an  Irishman,  quoted  the  "rolling  stone"  theory  to  him. 
But  after  he  whipped  John  L.  Sullivan  the  old  man  changed 
his  mind  a  little  and  said :  "Ah,  and  Jimmie,  it  is  the  hustling 
bee  that  gathers  in  the  honey." 

In  connection  with  the  country  store  in  Shelby  County,  I 
had  a  blacksmith  shop  and  75  acres  of  ground,  which  made  a 
very  nice  little  farm ;  also  had  a  fine  orchard. 

Farming  in  connection  with  the  store  was  very  profitable, 
raising  stock,  etc.  I  owned  three  stallions  at  different  times. 
Their  names  were  Sweet  Peas,  Mignonette  and  Montezuma. 
Bought  Sweet  Peas  when  a  weanling  colt  in  the  fall  of  1896, 
and  sold  him  for  $400  in  1902,  when  he  was  six  years  old,  at 
a  time  when  the  price  of  horses  was  very  low.  The  purchaser 
took  him  to  Illinois,  kept  him  one  year,  then  traded  him  for  a 
farm,  and  afterwards  sold  the  farm  for  $5,000,  so  I  heard. 
Evidently  I  didn't  know  the  value  of  the  horse,  or  the  other 
simpleton  didn't  know  the  value  of  his  farm,  one  or  the  other. 

I  bought  Mignonette  when  three  years  old  for  $250,  kept 
him  two  years  and  sold  him.  I  raised  Montezuma,  and  sold 
him  when  four  years  old  at  public  auction,  January  13,  1915. 

I  sold  all  my  property  in  January,  1915,  came  to  Louisville 
and  took  a  course  at  a  barber  college,  and  started  one  of  my 
own,  about  March,  1915,  on  Market  street,  near  Floyd;  kept 
it  one  year,  then  sold  it  to  the  Tri-City  Barber  College.  They 
made  a  proposition  for  each  one  to  set  a  price  on  his  business 
and  one  to  buy  the  other  out,  as  in  their  judgment  Louisville 
was  not  big  enough  for  two  colleges. 

All  barber  colleges  were  losing  money  at  that  particular 
time,  on  account  of  the  increase  in  wages,  and  young  men  were 
joining  the  army  and  very  few  wanted  to  learn  the  barber 
trade.  Each  set  a  price.  He  accepted  mine  and  bought  me 
out,  with  the  understanding  that  I  would  not  start  another 
college  in  Louisville. 

Then  I  bought  a  grocery  at  Sixth  and  Broadway,  this  city ; 
kept  it  one  year  and  sold  it;  started  another  one  up  on  East 
Market  and  sold  it,  then  worked  in  a  jewelry  store  awhile  on 


68  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

the  corner  of  Fourth  and  Market,  where  Hauger  now  has  a 
clothing  store.  When  the  jewehy  firm  discontinued  business 
here  and  went  to  Chicago,  I  concluded  to  do  painting  work; 
followed  that  till  the  Government  started  building  Camp  Tay- 
lor, Prices  for  carpenters  were  attractive,  $5.50  for  the  first 
five  days  of  the  week  and  $7.50  for  Saturdays  and  $10  on 
Sunday.  I  immediately  became  a  carpenter.  There  was  such 
a  demand  for  mechanics  that  they  didn't  question  a  man's 
ability  and  his  knowledge  of  scientific  carpenter  work.  All 
that  was  necessary  was  to  look  ivise  and  have  a  few  carpenter 
tools. 

After  Camp  Taylor  was  finished  I  went  to  Newport  News, 
Va.,  with  a  carpenter  foreman,  who  was  getting  up  a  crew 
of  men  and  needed  another  man  to  finish  out  his  number. 
There  were  two  big  camps  to  be  built  in  Newport  News.  We 
left  Louisville  September  13,  1917,  on  Thursday  evening,  at  6 
o'clock,  and  arrived  there  on  Saturday  night,  but  our  foreman 
didn't  go  out  to  the  camp  till  Monday  morning,  so  there  was 
Sunday  we  were  to  be  idle. 

In  our  crowd  was  a  young  fellow,  a  Presbyterian  preach- 
er's son,  a  Mr.  McQueene.  He  and  I  concluded  we  would  go 
out  to  the  camp  ourselves  and  work  that  Sunday,  as  it  meant 
$10  apiece  for  us;  we  couldn't  resist  the  temptation,  so  we 
went  out,  walked  up  to  the  employment  office,  where  there  was 
a  considerable  line  of  men  all  applying  for  work.  We  heard 
him  ask  each  man  in  front  of  us  if  he  was  a  first-class  carpen- 
ter, if  not,  he  would  be  discharged  as  soon  as  found  out.  That 
was  bad  news  for  us,  so  we  stepped  out  of  the  line  to  hold  a 
little  consultation  between  ourselves.  I  didn't  see  how  we 
could  go  up  against  that  first-class  carpenter  business,  as  that 
word  didn't  strike  us  very  favorably.  But  that  $10  apiece  we 
couldn't  stand  to  miss,  so  we  braced  up  courage  and  concluded 
to  try  it  a  rap,  as  they  couldn't  do  any  more  than  turn  us  off, 
and,  besides,  we  would  have  a  little  money  coming  to  us  any- 
how. We  were  only  going  to  work  that  day,  to  get  the  $10 ; 
then  Monday  morning  we  would  go  with  our  regular  foreman 
that  we  went  with  from  here. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  69 

I  told  the  young  fellow  that  was  with  me  that  he  could  lie 
a  little  better  than  I  could  and  for  him  to  take  the  lead.  So 
we  walked  up  to  the  window,  and  when  the  question  was  asked 
as  to  whether  we  were  first-class  carpenters,  my  young  friend 
straightened  himself  up  and  told  the  employer  that  he  never 
did  anything  in  his  life  but  fine  finishing  work,  and  if  he 
couldn't  do  anything  that  was  to  be  done  out  there,  or  anywhere 
else,  he  would  eat  the  job.  Tlien  he  turned  around  toward  me 
and  said  to  the  employer :  "Here  is  my  partner;  he's  just  like 
me."  So  we  got  the  job,  and  also  the  $10.  Then  we  laughed 
at  the  rest  of  our  crowd  the  next  morning  as  to  how  we  got 
ahead  of  them,  but  I  couldn't  help  thinking  about  my  friend, 
the  preacher's  son.  Every  once  in  awhile  I  would  think  to 
myself:  Heavens  of  earth,  what  a  lie!  We  roomed  and 
boarded  at  the  camps  where  we  worked.  Met  a  good  many 
different  kinds  of  people.  Some  would  have  prayer  every  night 
before  retiring,  while  others  would  shoot  craps,  play  cards 
and  swear.  We  slept  on  cots.  I  always  arranged  to  have  my 
cot  next  to  the  fellow  that  said  his  prayers,  if  it  was  conveni- 
ent, as  I  thought  maybe  some  of  the  other  fellows  might  steal 
the  buttons  off  my  shirt  after  I  got  to  sleep. 

They  had  water  carriers  to  bring  us  water  while  we  were 
at  work.  One  of  the  carriers  was  a  red-headed,  freckled-faced 
boy,  quiet  and  pleasant  in  his  manners,  and  didn't  have  much 
to  say.  One  evening,  after  the  work  for  the  day  was  done,  a 
great  many  who  boarded  in  town  were  crowding  on  the  trucks 
to  ride.  In  the  crowd  was  the  little  red-headed  water  carrier. 
Somehow  his  foot  slipped  when  trying  to  get  on  after  the 
truck  had  begun  to  move,  and  he  fell  under  a  wheel.  It  passed 
over  his  body,  all  that  big  load  of  men  in  the  heavy  truck.  He 
didn't  die  till  the  next  day.  When  they  started  to  the  hospital 
with  him  he  said :  "Don't  take  me  to  the  men's  hospital;  I'm 
a  girl." 

In  working  at  various  kinds  of  work,  in  different  parts  of 
the  country,  one  comes  in  contact  with  many  different  hap- 
penings. Some  are  sad,  some  are  amusing,  and  some  things 
appeal  to  our  anger.    So  that's  the  way  it  goes. 


70  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

I  had  occasion  one  day  to  go  back  behind  some  boxes, 
where  I  was  working,  to  see  about  something,  and  way  back, 
where  he  couldn't  be  seen,  sat  a  colored  gentleman,  taking  a 
rest.  I  said  to  him:  "You  have  a  pretty  good  job,  haven't 
you?"  He  "kinder"  grinned  and  said:  "Oh,  well,  yes;  I 
should  say  I  is ;  I  don't  has  to  wuck  hod  like  you  white  folks." 
Then  I  said  to  him :  "Jim,  suppose  some  of  them  big  fellows 
were  to  happen  around  while  you  are  'setten'  there  taking  it 
easy,  what  would  you  do?"  "Well,"  was  his  reply,  "if  dey 
don't  lacks  my  way  ob  transacken  business,  dey  can  hab  de 
job."    And  perhaps  they  would. 

After  both  camps  at  Newport  News  were  about  finished 
they  discharged  several  hundred  men  one  morning,  and  I  was 
one  of  the  number,  but  before  leaving  I  went  all  around  the 
surrounding  country  merely  to  see  how  it  looked,  etc.  One 
Sunday  I  walked  over  to.  Hampton,  Va.,  which  was  twelve 
miles,  I  think,  from  Newport  News,  just  to  see  the  sights; 
preferred  walking  to  riding.  But  in  coming  back  I  very  much 
preferred  riding  to  walking.  In  going  over  I  saw  country 
roads  that  were  made  of  oyster  shells,  and  some  of  the  roads 
were  ten  or  fifteen  miles  in  length.  Saw  oyster  shells  at  a  big 
oyster  house  in  Hampton  that  were  piled  up  as  high  as  a 
three-story  building.  It  was  done  by  machinery,  of  course. 
The  oysters  had  been  taken  out  and  the  shells  piled  up,  ready 
to  be  sold  to  the  county  and  the  farmers  to  put  on  the  country 
roads,  and  also  for  making  lime,  fertilizer,  etc. 

It  is  right  interesting  to  visit  Ocean  View,  a  pleasure  re- 
sort on  the  ocean,  not  far  from  Norfolk,  Va.,  and  watch  the 
ocean  waves  dashing  up  against  the  shores,  backward  and 
forward,  like  they  were  mad  about  something. 

The  ocean  is  never  still ;  the  waves  are  always  dashing  and 
splashing  up  against  the  shore  for  several  feet. 

All  the  Atlantic  Coast  States,  from  Maine  to  Florida,  are 
pine  timbered  country,  but  the  government  destroyed  thou- 
sands of  acres  of  pine  timber  to  do  their  construction  work, 
etc.,  that  was  necessary  during  the  World  War,  which  was 
begun  in  Europe  in  1914  between  Austria-Hungary  and  Serbia, 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  71 

over  little  or  nothing,  something  about  killing  a  Prince;  but 
this  country  didn't  declare  war  till  April  6,  1917,  and  the  first 
division  of  our  soldiers  went  over  June  14,  1917.  The  armis- 
tice, however,  was  signed  November  11,  1918,  at  11  o'clock 
a.  m.  Armistice  merely  means  a  temporary  suspension  of  hos- 
tilities by  agreement  of  the  parties. 

After  the  two  camps  at  Newport  News,  Va.,  were  finished 
I  went  to  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  where  there  was  a  camp  being 
built;  arrived  there  Thanksgiving  Day,  1917;  had  Thanks- 
giving turkey  for  dinner.  Jacksonville  is  overrated ;  it  was  a 
shabby  looking  place  to  me ;  looked  as  if  every  dwelling  house 
in  town  needed  painting. 

As  the  camp  there  didn't  need  any  more  help  right  at  that 
particular  time,  I  went  on  to  Miami,  Fla.,  which  is  way  down 
on  Biscayne  Bay  (Atlantic  Ocean)  and  helped  build  their 
camp.  Started  to  work  at  Miami  about  November  31,  1917. 
While  down  there  around  on  the  ocean  I  asked  a  fellow  if  there 
was  any  danger  in  alligators,  and  he  said :  "Why,  no ;  not  a 
bit  in  the  world,  unless  they  happen  to  be  hungry."  As  I  did 
not  know  just  exactly  when  Mr.  Alligator  might  be  a  little 
hungry,  I  hadn't  any  desire  to  associate  with  him. 

One  day  while  walking  down  the  street,  in  front  of  a  book 
store,  they  had  a  small  open  tank  of  water,  and  it  looked  as  if 
there  were  a  thousand  little  alligators,  just  a  few  inches  long, 
swimming  around  in  it.  There  was  a  sign  on  the  tank  which 
read :  "Please  do  not  handle."  I  told  the  lady  clerk,  who  was 
standing  in  front,  that  if  she  put  that  sign  up  for  me,  she 
might  as  well  take  it  down,  as  she  need  never  be  uneasy  about 
me  touching  one  of  the  things. 

Some  of  the  ground  on  which  the  camp  at  Miami  was  being 
built  was  very  low,  and  they  had  to  pump  sand  from  the  bay 
to  make  it  higher.  I  was  sitting  down  one  day  at  noon  by  a 
drain,  bathing  my  feet  in  the  water  from  the  bay,  which  felt 
nice  and  cool,  when  a  gentleman  passed  by  and  said  to  me: 
"My  friend,  don't  keep  your  feet  in  that  water  too  long." 
Thinking  maybe  it  might  be  unhealthy  or  something,  I  asked 
him  the  reason  why,  and  he  informed  me  that  the  drains  wei^ 


72  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

lined  with  moccasin  snakes,  and  when  one  bites  you,  you  just 
live  six  hours.  I  wasn't  long  getting  my  feet  out,  and  my  feet- 
bathing  pastime  was  brought  suddenly  to  a  close. 

I  used  to  sit  under  a  cocoanut  tree  and  eat  my  dinner  when 
working  at  the  camp.  It  was  a  curiosity  to  see  the  cocoanuts, 
which  would  grow  in  clusters  of  about  ten  or  fifteen  on  a  little 
limb  not  bigger  than  my  wrist. 

Before  the  work  at  Miami  was  finished  there  was  a  very 
attractive  price  ofl'ered  for  help  at  Key  West,  which  belongs 
to  Florida,  but  is  107  miles  out  in  the  ocean  south  of  the  main 
land,  and  is  just  90  miles  from  Cuba.  The  price  they  were 
paying  there  was  $6  per  day  through  the  week  and  $10  on 
Sunday.  Therefore  I  took  the  train  for  Key  West,  Tuesday 
evening,  December  18,  1917,  and  arrived  there  from  Miami 
that  night. 

I  spent  my  first  Christmas  in  Key  West,  in  1917,  and  it  was 
very  warm.  Electric  fans  were  going  in  the  restaurants,  etc., 
doors  wide  open,  and  at  that  time  here  in  Louisville  the  snow 
was  seven  feet  deep,  so  the  folks  here  said,  and  cold  as  bliz- 
zards.   It  was  that  cold  winter  here,  you  remember. 

In  going  from  Miami  to  Key  West  the  train  ran  along  the 
edge  of  the  Everglades,  the  most  noted  swamps  in  the  United 
States,  which  may  be  drained  some  day,  but  are  worthless  now. 
The  ground  is  so  low  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  can  ever  be 
successfully  drained,  but  should  it  be  done,  then  the  worthless 
sv/amps  would  be  valuable,  as  that  muck  land,  as  it  is  called, 
is  very  rich,  being  decomposed  vegetation  which  has  been 
growing  up,  falling  down  and  rotting  for  thousands  of  years. 
To  prove  that  the  muck  land  is  decayed  vegetation,  if  dried  it 
will  burn  like  fuel.  Sometimes  in  extreme  dry  weather,  if  the 
muck  land  happens  to  get  on  fire,  it  will  burn  all  the  way  down 
as  deep  as  it  goes,  if  it  is  ten  feet.  Louisiana  has  a  good  deal 
of  the  muck  land,  too,  that  is  the  same  way.  That  kind  of  soil 
is  the  finest  truck  farming  land  in  the  world,  but  is  not  so 
suitable  for  citrus  fruits,  such  as  oranges,  lemons,  etc.,  as  the 
dry  sandy  soil  is  better  for  them. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  73 

Most  of  the  eastern  portion  of  Florida  is  rocky,  along  near 
the  coast,  but  it  is  soft  rock,  and  a  pine  tree  will  grow  down 
through  it  the  same  as  if  there  was  no  rock  there. 

After  leaving  Florida  City,  going  south,  the  rest  of  the 
land  is  not  worth  two  cents  an  acre,  at  least  that  is  my  judg- 
ment of  it,  as  it  just  runs  out  to  nothing — water,  swamp 
bushes  and  once  in  awhile  a  little  ground,  for  the  bullfrogs  to 
hop  up  on. 

The  longest  bridge  I  ever  crossed  was  after  leaving  the 
main  land  of  Florida.  It  extended  over  to  some  small  islands, 
which  are  called  keys.  The  Spanish  word  for  them  is  cayo, 
meaning  an  islet  in  the  sea.  The  bridge  is  seven  miles  long. 
The  man  that  built  the  railroad  over  to  Key  West,  which  is 
107  miles  out  in  the  ocean,  across  from  one  little  island  to 
another,  and  which  was  thought  to  be  impossible,  only  lived 
long  enough  to  ride  over  his  road  once  after  it  was  finished; 
then  he  died,  and  his  widow  got  it  all.  She  married  some 
fellow,  then  she  died,  and  I  suppose  he  got  it  all,  so  that's  the 
way  the  world  goes. 

I  took  a  forty-mile  trip  once  with  some  other  workmen  in 
an  automobile  truck,  from  Cocoanut  Grove  to  a  little  town 
south  of  there  called  Homestead;  went  out  to  see  about  some 
lumber  for  the  Government  camp  at  Miami.  Some  of  the  boys 
that  I  had  been  working  with  begrudged  my  trip  a  little,  as 
they  would  liked  to  have  gone  themselves,  but  I  happened  to 
be  the  lucky  one  that  day.  As  I  passed  in  the  machine,  by  the 
boys,  I  looked  back  and  said  to  them :  "Boys,  I'd  hate  to  be  a 
poor  man  and  have  to  work  like  you  fellows!" 

On  the  forty-mile  trip,  just  referred  to,  we  passed  by  a 
tomato  patch  of  700  acres,  which  was  a  pretty  good-sized  gar- 
den. Also,  we  passed  several  orchards,  and  my!  how  pretty 
the  orange  trees  looked,  covered  over  solid  with  great  big  yel- 
low oranges,  and  so  are  the  grape  fruit  trees  pretty  things  to 
look  at  when  full  of  big,  round  fruit.  Little  grape  fruit  trees, 
not  larger  than  a  man's  thumb,  will  begin  to  bear  and  be  full 
of  fruit.  Don't  see  how  the  little  limbs  can  hold  up  the  big 
things,  but  they  do.    A  grape  fruit  tree  will  begin  to  bear  in 


74  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

a  year  or  two  after  it  is  set  out,  if  the  ground  is  sufficiently 
fertilized,  and  that  is  one  thing  that  is  absolutely  necessary, 
as  the  orchard  that  is  not  fertilized  every  year  is  a  failure. 

The  main  business  part  of  the  town  of  Miami  is  just  ordi- 
nar\%  all  low  buildings,  nothing  over  three  stories,  and  most  of 
them  two.  But  the  suburban  portion  of  the  town  is  very  at- 
tractive. Nature  has  blessed  the  locality  with  climate,  soil, 
etc.,  sufficiently  for  the  people  to  beautify  their  homes  most 
any  way  they  may  desire.  The  Royal  Palm  trees  are  as  pretty 
as  trees  get  to  be.  The  body  of  the  Royal  Palm  looks  as  though 
it  had  been  artificially  painted,  but  7iature  did  the  painting. 

A  good  many  millionaires  from  the  North  have  winter 
homes  in  ]\Iiami  out  in  the  suburbs.  They  have  landscape 
specialists  from  New  York  and  other  places  to  beautify  their 
yards,  any  way  to  make  them  pretty,  regardless  of  cost. 

William  Jennings  Bryan  has  a  fine  home  there ;  also  Deer- 
ing,  the  millionaire  harvester  man,  and  his  brother,  have 
liomes  there,  each  trjing  to  excel  the  other  in  tastefully  ar- 
ranging things.  Deering  has  spent  several  million  dollars  on 
his  property  in  giving  it  a  pleasing  appearance,  and  he  cer- 
tainly has  accomplished  his  purpose.  For  a  mile  or  more 
along  the  road  he  has  a  wreath  of  ever-blooming  flowers  of 
different  colors  hanging  along  on  wires,  growing  like  grape- 
vines, and  his  fence  along  the  road  is  a  solid,  smooth,  concrete, 
pink-colored  fence  about  five  feet  high. 

The  prettiest  sunrise  I  ever  saw  is  beyond  Deering's  home, 
where  the  Government  camp  is  built.  It  is  beautiful  to  behold 
coming  up  over  Bisca3Tie  Bay. 

The  workmen  used  to  ride  out  on  trucks  in  the  morning 
from  Miami,  where  a  great  many  of  them  boarded.  The  trucks 
were  always  crowded  with  men,  blacks  and  whites,  all  jammed 
together.  One  morning  I  was  listening  to  a  conversation  be- 
tween two  negroes.  One  of  them  was  verj^  much  worked  up 
over  his  dog  being  killed.  He  said  to  the  other  one :  "I  had  a 
dog,  and  he  was  a  fine  dog,  too,  I'm  here  to  tell  you ;  I  could 
git  a  hundud  dollars  for  'at  dog  any  day,  and  a  niggah  come 
along  one  night,  one  of  these  kind  ah  niggahs  what  hangs 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  75 

around  people's  houses ;  de  dog  bahked,  and  de  niggah  hit  him 
wid  a  rock  and  killed  my  dog;  dog  was  wuf  hundud  dollars; 
niggah  wasn't  wuf  ten  cents." 

After  leaving  Miami  I  went  to  Key  West,  which  is  on  an 
island  way  out  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Key  West  claims  22,000 
population;  Miami  claims  21,000;  St.  Augustine,  the  oldest 
city  in  the  United  States,  7,800;  Tampa,  60,500;  Ft.  Myers, 
3,000 ;  Palm  Beach,  the  great  bathing  place,  4,000 ;  Lakeland, 
8,500,  and  Jacksonville,  100,000.  I  have  been  to  all  these 
places  mentioned,  and  don't  see  how  they  can  get  the  figures 
so  high ;  they  must  have  counted  the  same  fellow  over  two  or 
three  times. 

The  island  of  Key  West  is  about  seven  miles  long,  and  it 
varies  in  width  from  about  three  miles  on  the  south  side  and 
tapers  to  a  point  on  the  north;  and,  with  the  exception  of 
where  the  town  is  built,  you  can  hold  all  the  real  dirt  that  is 
on  the  island  in  your  hat.  It  is  a  solid  rock  from  the  edge  of 
the  town,  the  whole  distance  to  the  extreme  north  end.  There 
is  not  as  much  as  an  inch  of  dirt  anywhere  on  the  island,  and 
the  most  remarkable  part  of  it  is,  there  is  a  wilderness  of 
bushes,  from  ten  to  fifteen  feet  high,  growing  all  over  the 
island,  right  on  top  of  the  solid  rock.  How  their  roots  make 
their  way  down  through  is  a  mystery,  but  they  break  their 
way  through  somehow.  The  rock  is  not  hard  like  our  Ken- 
tucky rock ;  if  it  was,  Mr.  Bushes  would  have  a  sweet  old  time 
getting  through  some  of  them. 

The  yards  in  the  town  are  pretty  and  have  plenty  of  dirt 
in  them.  Also  the  cemetery  is  right  pretty  and  has  plenty  of 
dirt  in  it.  I  have  seen  as  many  as  35  cocoanuts  growing  in  a 
bunch  on  trees  in  Key  West.  Also,  figs  and  dates  grow  there, 
that  is,  ivhere  the  town  is  built.  Nothing  outside  but  bushes, 
not  even  a  garden ;  not  a  seed  of  any  kind  is  sown.  All  vege- 
tables have  to  be  shipped  there,  as  nothing  is  raised  on  Key 
West  island. 

It  used  to  be  interesting  to  watch  a  certain  banana  stalk 
that  I  passed  every  morning  on  my  way  to  work;  that  is, 
watch  its  bloom ;  every  morning  a  new  bloom  would  open,  and 


76  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

in  the  place  of  the  bloom  of  the  day  before  a  little  banana 
would  appear.  A  banana  stalk  only  produces  one  bunch  of 
bananas,  which  comes  right  in  the  top  of  the  stalk.  Each  year 
they  cut  the  stalk  down,  and  another  will  come  up  from  the 
roots.  Some  banana  stalks  look  to  be  ten  or  fifteen  feet  high 
and  about  eight  or  ten  inches  in  diameter  near  the  ground. 

A  man  asked  me  once  if  I  ever  saw  a  cotton  tree.  I  told 
him  no,  and  that  I  didn't  know  there  was  such  a  thing.  Then 
he  showed  me  a  tree  that  was  as  large  as  our  apple  trees  here, 
full  of  bolls  of  cotton,  similar  to  the  bolls  of  cotton  that  grow 
on  the  ordinary  cotton  plant  of  three  or  four  feet  high.  The 
cotton  tree  is  ivood,  same  as  any  other  tree,  and  is  not  a  plant. 

There  are  rubber  trees  in  Key  West  that  are  a  curiosity. 
In  addition  to  its  roots  in  the  ground,  it  has  roots  that  grow 
out  on  its  limbs  all  over  the  tree,  which  makes  it  look  as  if  it 
didn't  know  which  end  was  up,  top  or  bottom;  also  there  are 
a  few  banyan  trees  in  Key  West,  which  are  an  object  of  curi- 
osity, if  allowed  its  own  way,  would  cover  several  acres,  as  its 
lower  limbs  grow  out  a  certain  length ;  they  will  start  a  limb, 
or  a  root,  whatever  it  might  be  called,  straight  down  to  the 
ground,  and  when  it  reaches  the  ground  will  then  take  root, 
and  so  the  limbs  will  continue  to  extend  out  and  grow  and 
continue  to  put  out  the  same  kind  of  a  root  or  limb  downward 
to  the  ground  which  supports  the  limb,  and  it  continues  to 
grow  outward,  consequently  the  root  limbs  have  to  be  kept 
cut  off  to  prevent  its  spreading. 

The  banyan  tree  is  a  native  of  India,  but  will  grow  in  warm 
climates  here.  Another  remarkable  thing  about  Key  West  is, 
all  the  water  that  is  used  for  drinking  purposes,  etc.,  is  rain 
water,  as  there  are  no  wells  or  springs  there.  If  they  dig  a 
well,  the  water  is  so  salty  from  the  ocean  that  they  cannot 
use  it,  although  there  are  one  or  two  wells  in  town  from  which 
the  water  can  be  used.  The  people  catch  rain  water  from  the 
roofs  of  houses  and  run  it  into  their  cisterns,  etc.  There  are 
no  factories  in  Key  West,  only  cigar  factories  and  a  box  fac- 
tory that  makes  cigar  boxes.  There  is  a  sponge  house  that 
buys  sponges  that  are  found  on  the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  grow- 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  77 

ing  on  rocks,  and  on  the  sand,  out  where  the  water  is  not  so 
very  deep,  near  the  shores.  Sponges  are  formed  by  little  ani- 
mals in  the  water,  and  they  have  to  be  cleaned  before  placed 
on  the  market. 

Some  people  make  their  living  by  fishing,  as  there  are 
plenty  of  fish  in  the  ocean  and  bays,  which  are  principally 
mackerel  and  king  fish;  that  is,  they  are  the  most  abundant 
in  that  locality.  About  every  residence  in  town  is  a  rooming 
house  or  a  boarding-house,  so  if  you  have  the  money  you  can 
find  a  place  to  stay. 

When  I  left  Key  West,  9 :30  p.  m.,  Saturday  night,  January 
5,  1917,  arrived  at  Tampa,  which  is  way  up  north  of  there,  the 
next  day  (Sunday)  about  1  o'clock  p.  m. ;  went  on  a  ship  up 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  but  the  ships  and  boats  do  not  land  at 
Tampa ;  had  to  go  over  to  Tampa  on  a  train. 

In  crossing  the  gulf,  we  were  out  of  sight  of  the  land  for 
some  time ;  couldn't  see  anything  but  water,  water,  water,  and 
the  big  waves  dashing  up  high  on  the  ship,  as  there  was  a 
storm  on  the  gulf.  But  we  made  it  safe  and  all  right,  although 
on  the  way  back  to  Cuba  the  same  ship  was  wrecked  in  a 
storm.  We  were  on  dry  land  by  then,  and  the  wreck  didn't 
reach  us  only  as  we  read  it  in  the  newspaper.  It  was  raining 
so  hard  in  Tampa  that  I  didn't  stay  very  long.  It  was  no  sat- 
isfaction to  be  there ;  could  not  go  around  to  see  anything ;  so 
that  evening,  at  4  o'clock,  January  6,  1917,  boarded  the  train 
for  Arcadia,  Fla.,  where  there  were  two  Government  camps 
to  be  built;  arrived  at  Arcadia  a  little  late  that  same  night, 
and  the  hotel  at  which  I  stopped  was  closed,  which  was  the 
Southern  Hotel,  but  there  being  some  very  comfortable  looking 
rocking  chairs  on  the  front  porch,  I  concluded  to  occupy  one. 
The  next  morning  I  walked  in  to  breakfast,  and  by  economiz- 
ing in  the  chair  the  night  before,  had  money  to  pay  for  it 
and  some  left  besides,  as  the  night's  lodging  alone  would  have 
been  a  dollar.  True  enough,  I  was  much  obliged  to  the  hotel 
man  for  his  chair,  but  I  forgot  to  thank  him  for  it. 

Before  starting  out  to  the  camps  to  work  I  went  out  in  the 
country  and  picked  oranges  awhile.    It  was  very  amusing  at 


78  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

first  to  stick  my  head  up  through  a  big  bunch  of  oranges  and 
having  them  hanging  all  over  my  face ;  but  soon  got  tired  of  it 
after  the  novelty  of  picking  wore  off.  Then  I  went  out  to  the 
camps  to  do  carpenter  work,  and  saw  more  rattlesnakes  the 
short  time  I  was  out  there  than  in  all  the  rest  of  my  life  put 
together.  Every  Sunday  the  negroes  would  go  rattlesnake 
hunting  and  come  dragging  the  nasty-looking  things  in.  Rattle- 
snake hides  are  used  to  make  belts,  and  a  good,  big  hide  will 
bring  $3,  so  they  said.  Sometimes  a  negro  would  catch  one 
and  bring  it  in  alive,  and  have  it  around  his  neck,  holding  it 
with  each  hand,  but  some  of  the  negroes  were  afraid  of  them 
as  they  would  be  of  a  wildcat,  while  others  were  not. 

One  day  I  was  listening  to  a  fellow  telling  a  negro  how  to 
catch  a  live  rattlesnake.  The  negro  had  never  seen  many 
rattlesnakes,  and  didn't  seem  to  want  to  see  very  many.  After 
the  fellow  finished  explaining  how  it  was  done  the  old  negro 
twisted  his  head  to  one  side,  with  the  remark :  "Yes,  boss,  I 
understands  zackly  how  to  ketch  zat  snake,  but  hows  I  gwine 
turn  him  loose?" 

There  were  about  a  hundred  Cubans  working  at  the  camps, 
digging  up  palmetto  plants,  with  which  the  ground  was  all 
covered,  and  which  furnished  a  fine  place  for  the  snakes  to  lie 
under  out  of  the  hot  sun.  One  day  one  of  the  Cubans  thought 
he  could  catch  a  snake  alive,  as  he  had  heard  so  much  about 
other  fellows  doing  it.  Consequently  he  tried  the  project.  The 
snake  bit  him ;  they  rushed  him  to  the  hospital.  The  next  day 
].  asked  one  of  the  Cubans  how  his  friend  was  getting  along, 
and  he  said:  "Well,  de  last  time  I  hear  f'om  him,  he  died." 
1  never  inquired  any  more,  as  I  thought  that  was  about  the 
last  news  he  would  get. 

The  bosses  at  the  Arcadia  camp  used  to  have  entertain- 
ments once  a  week  for  their  own  amusement  and  amusement 
of  others,  too.  They  had  a  platform  built  for  boxing  matches, 
and  would  give  the  winner  sometimes  $10  and  sometimes  $5. 
Once  in  awhile  they  would  put  a  bunch  of  negroes  of  eight  or 
ten,  all  on  the  platform  together,  which  had  a  rope  stretched 
around  it,  and  whoever  stayed  on  the  platform  the  longest  got 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  79 

the  $10,  and  such  a  mess  you  never  saw.  It  looked  too  brutal 
for  me;  negroes  knocking  one  another  down  like  killing  a 
bunch  of  rats  or  something.  When  one  was  knocked  off  the 
platform  he  wasn't  allowed  to  come  back.  One  negro  broke 
another's  arm  while  boxing. 

A  big  Irishman,  who  weighed  about  225  or  230  pounds, 
just  to  raise  a  laugh,  jumped  up  on  the  platform,  after  one 
fight  was  over,  and  said  he  would  challenge  any  mon  in  the 
world  who  was  under  nine  years  of  age  or  over  ninety. 

I  was  working  with  an  Irishman  at  that  same  camp,  and 
neither  of  us  knew  much  more  about  carpentering  than  a  hog 
does  about  holiday;  but  I  was  a  little  farther  advanced  than 
Pat  was.  One  day  we  got  separated  at  our  work,  and  the  fore- 
man put  Pat  off  a  little  ways  by  himself,  doing  some  work. 
Once  in  awhile  I  would  look  across  the  way,  over  to  where  my 
friend  was  working,  and  he  seemed  to  be  in  trouble  about 
something,  but  I  didn't  know  what  it  was,  of  course,  and,  by 
the  way,  I  was  having  a  little  trouble  myself,  and  it  seemed 
that  none  of  us  expert  carpenters  understood  very  much  about 
our  business,  which  was  putting  together  concrete  forms  that 
had  been  used  before ;  it  was  very  much  to  me  like  trying  to 
put  a  clock  together  that  had  been  taken  apart.  I  asked  a  big, 
tall  fellow,  who  was  passing  by,  how  to  fix  something,  but  he 
shook  his  head  and  went  on,  remarking  as  he  went :  "You  can 
search  me." 

Then  I  saw  another  gentleman  coming  in  my  direction, 
walking  very  rapidly.  I  thought  at  once,  now  is  my  chance, 
as  he  looks  like  a  man  that  knows  something.  I  asked  him 
what  about  it.  He  took  a  look  just  about  like  the  other  fellow 
and  shook  his  head,  and  all  the  information  I  got  out  of  him 
was :  "I  be  dam  'f  I  know."  Finally  the  foreman  came  around, 
and  I  ventured  to  tell  him  my  troubles.  I  said  to  him :  "Mr. 
Foreman,  I  don't  know  whether  you  know  it  or  not,  but  you 
haven't  got  a  man  working  for  you  that's  got  any  sense  at  all." 
He  laughed  and  "kinder"  scratched  his  head  and  said :  "Well, 
my  friend,  I  already  know  it." 


80  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

Sometime  that  evening  I  happened  to  pass  by  where  my 
friend,  Pat,  was  working.  I  stopped  a  few  minutes  to  see  how 
he  was  getting  along,  so  I  said  to  him :  "Well,  Pat,  how  have 
you  been  getting  along  today  without  me?"  He  shook  his 
head  a  little,  too,  and  replied :  "Ah,  and  I  had  one  h — 11  of  a 
toim;  I  thried  for  two  hours  to  fix  a  pace  of  plank  and  it  was 
five  inches  too  laung  and  I  couldn't  git  the  dom  thing  to  fit." 
Somebody  came  along  and  said,  "Pat,  if  it  is  five  inches  too 
long,  just  saw  it  off."    Then  Pat  fixed  it  without  any  trouble. 

After  both  camps  were  finished  at  Arcadia,  Fla,,  I  returned 
to  Louisville,  March  18,  1918,  and  quit  the  camp  building; 
then  went  over  to  Jeffersonville,  Ind.,  and  worked  at  the  Gov- 
ernment Depot  till  November  20,  1918,  and  this  was  what 
Captain  Pedersen,  of  the  Quartermaster  Corps,  Salvage  Di- 
vision, handed  me  when  I  resigned: 

Jeffersonville,  Ind.,  November  20, 1918. 
To  Whom  It  May  Concern : 

This  is  to  certify  that  Edward  C.  Figg  has  been  employed 
under  my  direction  from  March  the  20th,  1918,  to  November 
the  18th,  1918. 

Mr.  Figg  has  shown  himself  to  be  industrious  and  careful 
in  his  work,  and  his  record  in  general,  so  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  observe,  has  been  excellent. 

A.  G.  PEDERSEN, 
AGP/ME  Captain,  Q.  M.  Corps,  Salvage  Division. 

After  resigning  from  the  work  at  Jeffersonville  I  concluded 
to  go  to  New  Orleans  and  stay  till  spring,  where  the  winters 
are  milder  than  they  are  here.  On  arriving  there  my  decision 
was  to  take  the  first  job  that  presented  itself.  It  so  happened 
that  a  bartender  was  needed  at  a  certain  saloon.  I  got  the  job 
November  25,  1918.  Everything  went  along  very  well,  till  one 
day  he  wanted  me  to  sell  claret  wine  that  he  had  put  water  in 
for  the  best  port  wine,  and  also  to  recommend  his  whisky  to 
be  absolutely  pure  and  the  best  that  was  made,  when  I  had 
seen  him  adding  water  to  it;  also,  he  wanted  me  to  accept 
every  treat  I  could  get  and  to  always  take  whisky,  but  instead 
of  drinking  it,  just  to  put  the  glass  to  my  lips  quickly  and  pre- 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  81 

tend  to  swallow  it  at  one  gulp,  then  set  the  glass  under  the  bar, 
and  when  the  customers  were  all  out  to  pour  the  whisky  back 
into  the  bottle  and  resell  it  again.  I  have  counted  as  high  as 
eight  glasses  of  whisky  setting  under  the  bar  that  he  had  taken 
pay  for  as  treats  and  was  going  to  pour  it  back  into  the  bottle 
and  sell  it  over  again.  I  told  him  that  I  would  have  to  draw 
the  line,  as  I  couldn't  do  that,  so  he  said  I  didn't  suit  him  for 
a  bartender  and  he  would  have  to  give  me  a  job  in  the  res- 
taurant. Then  he  got  another  man  who  could  change  tvater 
into  wine,  etc. 

I  stayed  with  him  a  month,  then  secured  a  position  with 
H.  Weil  Baking  Company,  4906-4918  Prytania  street,  and  this 
was  what  the  manager  handed  me  when  I  bade  him  good-bye 
March  13,  1919. 

H.  WEIL  BAKING  COMPANY 
4906-4918  Prytania  Street 

New  Orleans,  March  13,  1919. 
To  Whom  It  May  Concern : 

Mr.  E.  C.  Figg  has  been  in  our  employ  for  the  past  few 
months,  and  we  have  found  him  to  be  honest  and  industrious. 
He  is  leaving  of  his  own  accord,  to  go  to  his  home  in  Kentucky. 
Respectfully, 

H.  WEIL  BAKING  COMPANY. 

Per  Salmon. 

SECTION  3,  CHAPTER  7. 

New  Orleans  has  many  attractive  features.  The  streets, 
where  an  effort  has  been  made  to  beautify  them,  are  very 
pretty  indeed,  while  the  cross  streets  and  many  others  are  bad, 
and  some  are  very  filthy.  The  prettiest  street  in  New  Orleans 
is  St.  Charles  avenue.  It  has  beautiful  palm  trees  and  shrub- 
bery of  different  kinds  (but  not  blooming  flowers)  along  the 
street,  and  everything  arranged  so  tastefully  that  it  resembles 
a  beautiful  long  park  more  than  it  does  a  street. 

They  have  a  grass  in  their  yards,  that  is,  the  wealthy  class 
of  people,  that  is  a  prettier  green  than  our  Kentucky  blue 
grass,  but  it  only  grows  during  the  winter  months  and  lasts 


82  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

till  the  hot  weather  begins ;  then  it  dies,  and  the  seed  has  to  be 
resown  the  next  fall. 

The  second  prettiest  street  is  Napoleon  avenue,  which  is 
wide  and  attractive,  something  similar  to  St.  Charles. 

Canal  street,  in  New  Orleans,  is  what  Fourth  street  is  to 
Louisville,  the  main  business  center.  The  10-cent  stores  are 
the  same  as  they  are  here,  likewise  the  theaters  and  picture 
shows.  In  every  large  city  in  the  United  States,  unless  it  is 
across  the  Rocky  Mountains,  where  I've  never  been,  the  10- 
cent  store  companies  have  their  business  houses.  It  makes  a 
fellow  feel  at  home,  when  he  is  a  thousand  miles  or  more  away, 
to  look  up  in  front  of  a  store  and  see  "F.  W.  Woolworth,"  10- 
cent  store,  and  all  the  others  along  close  together. 

There  are  more  statues  of  Confederates  in  New  Orleans 
than  any  other  city.  Some  of  them  are  as  follows :  Jefferson 
Davis'  monument,  on  Canal  street ;  Colonel  Richard  M.  John- 
ston, in  the  prettiest  cemetery  in  the  city,  just  inside  from  the 
entrance,  and  Beaureguard's  monument,  at  the  entrance  of 
City  Park ;  Robert  E.  Lee's  is  the  tallest  and  finest  of  them  all 
and  is  in  the  central  part  of  the  city;  also,  there  is  a  large 
monument  in  front  of  the  post-office,  in  Lafayette  Square, 
erected  in  honor  of  Henry  Clay,  our  Kentucky  statesman. 
There  is  a  statue  of  Andrew  Jackson  on  horseback  in  Jackson 
Square,  on  Decatur  street;  also,  there  is  a  very  large  monu- 
ment erected  on  the  spot  where  he  had  his  headquarters,  in 
an  old  dwelling  house,  during  the  war  of  1812.  My  great 
grandfather,  James  Figg,  was  with  Andrew  Jackson  in  that 
battle,  which  was  the  Battle  of  New  Orleans. 

It  must  have  been  very  disagreeable  fighting  in  those  days 
at  that  battle,  as  the  whole  country  around  New  Orleans  was 
nothing  but  swamps,  and  even  to  this  day,  with  all  the  modem 
drainage  system,  it  is  still  considerably  swampy.  There  are  a 
great  many  canals  in  and  around  the  city  for  draining  the  wet 
surface.  Some  of  the  streets  were  once  canals,  but  have  been 
filled'  up  and  streets  made  over  them.  Every  Sunday  I  would 
take  a  stroll,  or  a  street  car  ride,  to  see  the  city,  its  parks,  etc. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  83 

There  was  once  a  mint  at  New  Orleans,  on  Decatur  street, 
but  has  been  discontinued  a  good  many  years,  and  the  ma- 
chineiy,  etc.,  sold  for  old  junk.  The  building  is  still  there; 
the  Red  Cross  uses  part  of  it  for  their  business. 

There  is  one  place  on  Canal  street,  where  Camp  and  Maga- 
zine intersect  it,  that  you  can  get  on  a  street  car  and  go  to  any 
part  of  the  city  you  may  wish  for  just  one  fare,  and  can  take 
a  twelve-mile  ride  without  transferring. 

A  great  many  of  the  streets  bear  the  same  names  as  here 
in  Louisville,  such  as  Main,  Market,  Jefferson,  Walnut,  Madi- 
son, Broadway,  Magazine,  and  a  number  of  others  are  the 
same. 

New  Orleans  is  strictly  a  Democratic  city  from  its  appear- 
ance in  the  way  of  Confederate  monuments,  etc.  Not  a  Union 
monument  can  be  seen,  although  just  after  the  Civil  War, 
which  was  from  1861  to  1865,  New  Orleans  was  in  the  hands 
of  negroes,  from  the  fact  that  the  Confederates  were  defeated 
and  disfranchised  by  the  Government  and  not  allowed  to  vote ; 
so  the  Republicans,  in  order  to  spite  the  Democrats,  elected 
negroes  for  their  officeholders  in  the  city,  but  that  state  of  af- 
fairs did  not  last  long.  One  term  of  negro  domination  did 
them,  so  they  were  disgusted  with  their  own  actions.  There- 
fore New  Orleans  has  been  "lily  white"  ever  since  in  that 
respect. 

There  is  one  thing  that  is  a  little  remarkable,  and  that  is 
the  Mississippi  River  is  narrower  at  New  Orleans  than  any- 
where else  between  there  and  Memphis,  Tenn.,  although  it  is 
only  ninety  miles  from  its  mouth,  where  it  empties  into  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  river  is  very  crooked  at  New  Orleans. 
It  is  kept  within  its  banks  by  a  levee  on  each  side  of  the  river 
as  far  up  as  Memphis,  which  prevents  it  from  spreading  over 
the  country  during  high  water  times. 

There  are  trees  in  some  of  the  parks  in  New  Orleans  that 
are  a  thousand  years  old.  That  statement  may  seem  a  little 
strange  to  some  who  do  not  understand  how  to  tell  a  tree's  age, 
but  it  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  tell  the  age,  simply  by  counting 
the  rings  around  the  top  of  the  stump.    Some  of  the  trees  just 


84  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

referred  to  were  cut  down,  and  that  is  how  they  know  their 
ages.  The  trees  are  not  so  large  around  as  one  might  suppose, 
as  a  tree  grows  very  slowly  after  it  gets  a  certain  age;  the 
limbs,  however,  extend  out  a  good  ways.  The  best  I  remem- 
ber, the  trees  just  referred  to  are  a  species  of  live  oak.  I  have 
tested  the  method  of  ascertaining  a  tree's  age  by  its  rings  on 
the  stump  and  found  it  to  be  correct. 

New  Orleans  has  a  good  many  fine  buildings  and  some  tall 
ones,  too,  for  a  Southern  city,  for,  as  a  rule,  Southern  cities 
do  not  have  very  tall  buildings.  The  St.  Charles  Hotel  is  a 
fine  building,  and  so  is  the  Hotel  DeSoto,  which  covers  a  whole 
block  in  front  and  is  nine  stories  high ;  the  Hibernia  bank  is 
eleven  stories,  and  another  building  twelve;  then  there  is  the 
Grunewald  Hotel,  which  is  the  tallest  building  in  the  city;  it  is 
thirteen  stories. 

Denominationally,  New  Orleans  is  very  much  Catholic,  as 
its  population  is  largely  of  French  and  Spanish  descent;  and 
the  Italian  population  is  large,  too,  all  of  which  are  Catholic. 

It  is  right  hard  sometimes  to  tell  what  street  you  are  on 
when  in  New  Orleans,  as  the  names  are  not  up  on  the  corners 
as  here  in  this  city.  The  names  of  the  streets  are  usually  on 
the  sidewalks,  and  in  some  cases  no  names  can  be  seen  at  all 
for  several  squares,  and  many  of  them  are  very  hard  to  pro- 
nounce, being  pronounced  entirely  different  from  the  way  they 
are  spelled.  On  one  occasion  a  policeman  came  across  a  dog 
that  had  been  run  over  and  killed  on  Tchoupitoulas  street.  In 
making  out  his  report  of  the  accident  he  couldn't  spell  Tchoup- 
itoulas to  save  his  life,  so  he  gave  a  boy  a  nickel  to  drag  the  dog 
over  to  the  next  street,  which  was  named  Common  street.  He 
could  spell  Common  all  right,  but  couldn't  handle  Tchoupitou- 
las, which  is  pronounced  T-shop-i-tew-las. 

It  seldom  ever  snows  in  New  Orleans,  only  about  once  in 
twenty  years,  so  I  have  been  told  by  its  inhabitants,  although 
it  has  cold,  rainy  days,  and  sometimes  a  little  ice.  One  morn- 
ing a  fellow  came  into  a  restaurant  where  I  was  eating  and 
startled  the  crowd  by  announcing  that  there  was  a  big  snow 
in  town  last  night.    We  asked  him  what  part  of  the  city  it  was 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  85 

in,  as  we  wanted  to  see  it.  Then  he  told  us  that  every  car 
down  at  the  depot  that  came  in  from  the  North  had  snow  on 
top  of  them,  so  that  was  the  big  snow  he  had  reference  to. 

Louisiana  is  a  very  poor  grass  State.  There  is  some  Ber- 
muda grass  in  and  around  New  Orleans,  also  some  white 
clover,  which  is  about  the  only  grass  of  any  consequence  for 
stock  to  eat.  All  the  Southern  stock  are  generally  poor  and 
scrubby  looking  and  mostly  dark-colored  cattle,  not  fat  like 
the  Northern  stock.  There  is  very  little  grass  in  any  of  the 
extreme  Southern  States,  which  includes  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi, 
Louisiana  and  Texas,  although  Texas  has  a  good  deal  of  prairie 
grass,  some  Johnson  and  Bermuda  grass.  The  last  two  men- 
tioned are  not  very  desirable,  as  when  once  set  cannot  be  very 
easily  gotten  rid  of,  should  the  owner  ever  wish  to  cultivate 
his  soil. 

Around  New  Orleans  the  ground  is  a  level  rich  muck  land, 
swamp  land,  and  where  properly  drained  is  very  rich  and  ex- 
ceedingly suitable  for  truck  farming,  that  is,  gardening.  Some 
people  build  their  houses  in  that  section  of  the  country  about 
four  feet  off  the  ground  on  top  of  posts,  to  keep  out  of  the 
water.  Palmetto  plants,  a  worthless  weed  species,  grow  wild 
in  Southern  Louisiana  and  up  as  far  north  as  some  distance 
above  Jackson,  Miss.,  which  is  about  the  central  part  of  the 
State,  in  wet  places,  but  not  so  abundant  as  in  Florida,  from 
the  fact  that  most  of  Florida  is  covered  with  them.  There  are 
some  fruit  trees  in  Louisiana,  but  not  many.  They  consist 
principally  of  peaches,  pears  and  cherries,  also  a  fig  tree 
orchard  occasionally. 

There  is  a  peculiar  moss  that  grows  on  the  trees  in  swampy 
places  in  the  Gulf  States,  and  it  hangs  down  five  or  six  feet. 
It  would  continue  to  grow  and  perhaps  extend  all  the  way  to 
the  ground,  but  the  wind  blows  it  around  and  breaks  it  off. 
It  is  very  interesting  to  see,  and  it  makes  the  tree  look  as  if  it 
is  in  deep  mourning.  That  peculiar  moss  can  be  seen  on  trees 
in  wet  places  as  far  north  as  Jackson,  Miss. 


86  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

*  The  principal  trees  that  grow  wild  in  the  South,  in  wet 
places,  are  the  cypress  and  willow. 

Lake  Ponchartrain  is  a  large  body  of  water  in  Southern 
Louisiana.  It  is  about  100  miles  long,  but  not  so  wide,  and 
for  about  fifty  miles  north  of  there  the  country  is  a  wilderness, 
principally  of  cypress  trees,  and  the  water  stands  over  the 
ground,  most  of  the  time,  several  feet  deep,  but  occasionally 
there  are  a  few  dry  places  scattered  along. 

A  great  many  people  down  in  that  country  still  work  oxen 
to  their  wagons.  Sometimes  as  many  as  six  oxen  can  be  seen 
hitched  to  one  wagon. 

The  laborers  in  that  locality,  from  observation,  consist  of 
Negoes,  Negroes  and  Negroes.  Around  Jackson,  Miss.,  there  are 
a  few  dairies  of  Jersey  cows,  and  occasionally  a  herd  of  Guern- 
sey cows  can  be  seen,  which  resemble  the  Jersey,  only  the 
Guernsey  cattle  have  a  white  stripe  around  their  body, 

There  are  no  swamps  around  Jackson,  the  capital  of  Mis- 
sissippi. The  country  around  there  is  higher  ground  and  a 
little  hilly;  some  of  the  soil  is  gray  and  some  of  a  reddish 
color;  pine  and  oak  trees  predominate,  instead  of  cypress. 
Why  it  is  I  do  not  know,  but  in  every  State  in  the  Union, 
wherever  pine  and  oak  trees  grow  spontaneously,  the  soil  is 
invariably  of  the  grayish  variety,  whereas  the  cedar  volun- 
tarily takes  the  reddish  colored  soil.  Wherever  heech  trees 
grow  spontaneously  it  is  an  indication  of  good  land,  but  cedar, 
pine  and  oak  indicate  thin  soil,  and  is  never  deep  and  rich,  al- 
though it  may  be  very  fertile  for  an  inch  or  two  on  top  of  the 
surface. 

The  upland  in  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
Florida  and  Mississippi  is  poor,  compared  with  our  soil  in  this 
State,  or  any  of  the  Northern  or  Western  States.  Most  all  of 
the  States  west  of  the  Mississippi  River  are  good,  but  Arkan- 
sas is  not  much,  although  the  river  bottoms  are  very  pro- 
ductive, and  also  some  portions  of  the  State  seem  to  be  par- 
ticularly adapted  to  apple  raising.  Some  very  fine  apples  are 
produced  in  Arkansas.    Northern  Mississippi  is  fairly  good. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  87 

from  the  central  part  of  the  State  on  up ;  cattle  and  horses  look 
better  and  homes  are  more  attractive. 

There  is  not  a  com  or  flour  mill  in  Florida,  and  not  one  in 
Louisiana,  that  I  have  any  knowledge  of.  Attention  is  more 
given  to  cotton  raising  in  the  Southern  States  than  to  raising 
wheat,  although  Texas  is  a  wheat-growing  State,  and  plenty 
of  com,  too,  but  none  of  the  Gulf  States  are  suitable  for  apple 
trees,  and  very  few  grape  vines.  Houses  are  principally  cot- 
tages, and  no  big  bams. 

In  specifying  Kentucky  as  the  Bluegrass  State,  doesn't 
mean  that  bluegrass  only  grows  in  Kentucky,  for  it  will  grow 
and  do  well  in  any  limestone  soil  that  is  moist  enough  to  keep 
it  alive.  Indiana  has  bluegrass,  so  have  Missouri,  Virginia  and 
Tennessee.  True  enough,  it  originated  in  Kentucky,  and,  nat- 
urally, of  course,  is  a  little  partial  to  it.  The  seed  was  first 
taken  to  Missouri  by  a  Kentuckian  and  sown.  He  emigrated 
there  from  this  State  many  years  ago,  but  hasn't  been  dead  a 
great  while,  just  a  few  years. 

On  returning  to  this  city  from  the  South,  March  15,  1919, 
I  engaged  in  house  painting  for  awhile ;  did  very  well  as  long 
as  we  were  painting  cottages,  but  one  day  we  had  one  of  the 
skyscrapers  here  in  town  to  paint.  I  took  a  look  at  one  fel- 
low that  was  already  painting  way  up  at  the  top,  and  he  looked 
something  like  an  English  sparrow  sticking  on  the  wall.  There- 
fore I  discontinued  my  painting  career  immediately  and  en- 
gaged in  work  with  the  Standard  Sanitary  Manufacturing 
Company,  May  20,  1919,  and  am  at  present  still  with  them. 

Traveling  around  is  not  all  pleasure  by  any  means.  It  is 
very  tiresome  and  expensive,  and  we  imagine  we  are  going  to 
see  something  over  yonder  that  is  worth  looking  at.  But  after 
we  see  it,  there  was  nothing  so  wonderful  to  see  after  all,  and 
the  wonderful  things  are  still  just  over  yonder.  Consequently, 
ii  we  would  buy  a  nickel's  worth  of  picture  cards  to  look  at, 
they  would  do  just  about  as  well  as  a  hundred-dollar  trip  some- 
where. 

Nevertheless,  we  sometimes  see  many  different  faces  and 
see  people  running  to  catch  the  train  an  hour  before  it  is  due 


88  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

that  amuses  us,  and  occasionally  some  old  rube  from  "way 
back"  may  ask  you  if  you  know  Jim  Smith  in  St.  Louis,  or 
some  other  city,  when  there  are  a  thousand  Jim  Smiths  in 
eveiy  town  in  the  United  States,  and  so  forth. 

One  one  occasion  I  was  crossing  a  river  on  a  boat.  There 
were  two  colored  gentlemen  passengers,  arguing  as  to  who 
had  the  most  to  eat  and  who  got  by  on  the  least  money.  One  of 
them  said  to  the  other :  "Yes,  I  gits  by  on  heap  less'n  you,  for 
my  sister  runs  a  restaurant;  my  eatens  don't  cost  me  nuf-en." 
But  the  other  one  fixed  him  in  the  argument  when  he  said : 
"Yes,  no  wonder  yo  eatens  don't  cost  you  nuf-en;  you  eats 
outen  the  gahbage  can." 

In  all  my  rounds  I  never  gambled  or  dissipated  in  any  way, 
but  I  suppose  it  is  all  right  for  those  that  believe  that  way,  but 
I  just  happen  not  to  believe  that  way.  Drunkenness  and 
carousing  around  at  night  may  be  all  right,  too,  but  I  just 
happen  not  to  believe  that  way. 

I  believe  when  night  comes  that  every  man  who  has  a 
family  should  be  at  home  with  them,  if  it  is  so  that  he  can  be ; 
or  the  family  should  know  just  where  their  father  is,  or  the 
husband,  as  the  case  may  be.  Likewise,  the  mother,  by  all 
means,  should  let  it  be  knov.^n  just  where  she  goes  at  night, 
especially  the  husband  is  entitled  to  know  those  things  without 
ever  having  to  ask  the  question,  if  peace  and  harmony  are  re- 
garded as  an  essential  factor  in  home  affairs. 


SECTION  4,  CHAPTER  7. 

A  young  man  once  asked  me  how  1  came  to  be  a  Methodist. 
He  said  that  he  was  not  a  member  of  any  church,  but  would 
like  to  join  one  if  he  knew  which  one  to  believe  in;  also,  he 
asked  me  if  I  ever  saw  in  the  Bible  where  anyone  was  ever 
baptized  only  by  immersion,  that  is,  putting  them  under  the 
water.  Here  is  what  I  said  to  him,  and  he  afterwards  joined : 
"Well,  Lee,  I  don't  know  but  very  little  about  the  Bible,  and 
am  not  very  competent  to  give  advice  to  others,  as,  in  my  judg- 
ment, one  Protestant  church  is  just  as  good  as  another;  they 
are  all  exactly  the  same,  and  all  conscientious  members  are 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  89 

headed  for  the  same  place;  therefore,  the  Httle  church  differ- 
ences are  only  a  matter  of  choice.  Nevertheless,  I  will  give  it 
to  you  as  I  see  it." 

If  you  will  read  the  16th  verse  in  the  3rd  chapter  of  St. 
Luke  you  will  find  where  it  says  that  John  answered,  saying- 
unto  them  all:  "I  indeed  baptize  you  ivith  water;  but  one 
mightier  than  I  cometh,  the  latchet  of  whose  shoes  I  am  not 
worthy  to  unloose;  He  shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  with  fire." 

The  word  ivith  explains  very  clearly  that  the  water  was 
used  by  the  hands  in  putting  it  on  their  heads  by  sprinkling 
or  pouring.  As  for  example,  if  you  say  you  hit  a  man  on  the 
head  with  an  axe,  you  mean  that  you  used  the  axe  in  your 
hands  to  hit  him  with ;  you  don't  take  the  man  in  your  hands 
to  hit  the  axe.  Neither  did  John  take  the  man  in  his  hands  to 
immerse  him  on  that  particular  occasion;  he  took  the  water 

in  his  hands  and  did  the  baptizing. 

The  Methodists  do  not  object  to  immersion  at  all;  they 
believe  in  it,  as  well  as  by  sprinkling  or  otherwise,  for  the 
Bible  plainly  speaks  of  both  forms  being  used. 

Here  is  the  synopsis  of  METHODISM  the  way  /  see  it: 

First — When  anyone  asks  for  membership  in  our  church, 
that  is,  wants  to  join  it,  our  preacher  does  not  ask  the  old 
members  what  they  are  going  to  do  about  it,  and  whether  they 
are  going  to  receive  them  or  not,  for  the  Bible  tells  us  to  judge 
not,  lest  we  be  judged,  and  we  have  no  right  to  refuse  to  take 
anyone  into  membership  if  he  wants  to  join,  for  no  one  knows 
that  man's  heart  but  himself  and  God. 

Second — BAPTISM.  We  believe  in  baptism  by  sprinkling 
immersion,  or  any  other  way  that  is  followed  by  any  other  re- 
ligious denomination,  for  the  use  of  water,  in  any  mode  of 
baptism,  is  nothing,  only  a  representation  of  cleanliness  and  a 
religious  form  that  has  been  practiced  ever  since  the  begin- 
ning of  Chrstianity ;  so  it  doesn't  make  any  difference  towards 
saving  you  as  to  how  it  is  administered. 

Third — COMMUNION.  We  believe  in  open  communion, 
and  we  do  not  believe  in  close  communion,  for  taking  com- 
munion represents  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  it  is  hardly  rea- 


90  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

sonable  to  suppose  that  the  Lord  would  make  a  discrimination 
in  his  invitation  to  supper  and  reject  any  rehgious  person  or 
persons  because  they  belong  to  different  denominations. 

Fourth— INFANT  BAPTISM.  If  a  mother  wishes  her 
babe  to  be  baptized  while  it  is  an  infant,  it  is  permissible  to  do 
so,  and,  in  my  judgment,  is  really  beneficial  to  the  child,  from 
the  fact  that  as  it  becomes  a  little  older,  even  before  it  joins 
the  church,  when  it  finds  out  that  it  has  been  baptized  it  im- 
mediately feels  some  restriction  in  the  way  of  evil  doings,  and, 
in  conformity  to  the  natural  tendency  of  the  mind,  it  feels  that 
it  belongs  to  the  religioKs  class.  However,  the  Methodists  do 
not  require  infant  baptism  at  all;  it  is  only  granted  through 
courtesy  to  those  who  wish  it  done. 

Fifth— FALLING  FROM  GRACE.  We  believe  it  is  pos- 
sible for  a  man  to  fall  from  grace,  even  though  he  may  have 
been  once  religious ;  that  is,  he  can  gradually  wander  away  and 
grow  careless  until,  after  a  while,  he  may  be  as  much  of  a 
sinner  as  he  ever  was  before  he  was  converted. 

Sixth — Make  no  debt  that  you  don't  expect  to  pay. 

Seventh — The  Methodist  discipline  forbids  its  members 
from  using  many  words  in  buying  or  selling,  for  where  there 
are  too  many  words  used  somebody  might  lie. 

Eighth— SANTIFICATION.  A  sanctified  man  is  one  who 
feels  and  believes,  in  his  own  heart,  beyond  a  doubt,  that  his 
sins  have  been  forgiven;  but  yet,  after  all,  when  your  sins  have 
all  been  forgiven,  and  you  are  as  happy  as  a  babe,  you  will 
still  have  to  be  on  your  guard,  for  the  evil  spirit  is  constantly 
at  work,  trying  to  destroy  God's  works,  and  so,  after  all,  you 
may  fall  by  the  wayside  in  the  end  and  be  lost. 

Ninth— CHURCH  LETTER.  Should  a  member  wish  to 
discontinue  his  relationship  with  the  Methodist,  and  desire  to 
place  his  or  her  membership  with  some  other  church,  the  pas- 
tor will  freely  give  them  a  letter  of  recommendation,  or  intro- 
duction, that  they  may  place  it  with  any  church  of  their  choice, 
whereas  some  churches  will  not  do  that.  I  have  in  mind  a 
member  of  a  certain  church  who  wanted  to  change  his  mem- 
bership to  the  Methodist.    He  asked  his  pastor  for  a  church 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  9^1 

letter,  but  he  flatly  refused  and  said :  "Oh,  no,  he  couldn't  do 
that,  unless  the  member  would  take  the  letter  to  the  same  de- 
nomination as  his."  Nevertheless,  the  situation  was  explained 
to  the  Methodist  pastor  and  he  received  him  into  membership. 


SECTION  1,  CHAPTER  8. 

I  used  to  belong  to  a  literary  club  that  met  at  different 
neighbors'  houses  during  the  winter  months  when  I  lived 
in  the  country.  The  young  folks,  knowing  that  I  wrote  little 
verses  sometimes  that  would  rhyme,  asked  me  to  contribute 
to  their  literary  paper  each  week  something  of  the  kind,  to  be 
read  at  the  club  on  their  meeting  nights. 

I  have  about  forgotten  all  the  pieces  I  wrote,  but  here  are 
two  which  are  about  the  substance  of  them,  one  on  James 
McAlister  and  the  other  on  Tom  Thurman,  neither  of  which 
is  true.    Just  wrote  them  for  fun,  to  have  a  laugh  on  the  boys : 

JAMES  McALISTER  AND  LENA  ANDERSON. 

They  sat  in  the  sun  together. 

Till  the  day  was  almost  done. 
And  then,  at  the  close  of  evening, 

Jim  used  his  gifted  tongue. 

He  folded  their  hands  together. 

With  eyelids  drooping  down. 
And  said,  "My  Lena,  darling, 

An  angel,  I  have  found." 

"And  Jimmie,"  said  his  Lena, 

"You'r  cruel,  so  to  speak; 
Why  don't  you  come  out  boldly. 

You  seem  so  awfully  weak." 

"Well,  Lena,  should  I  ask  you, 
Would  you  tell  me  'y^s'  or  'no?' 

Be  quick,  or  all  is  over ; 
My  voice  is  getting  low." 


92  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

"Why,  Mr.  Jim  McAlister! 

You're  joking,  aren't  you,  Jim? 
Why,  mamma  'n  papa's  listning; 

Your  eyesight  must  be  dim." 

"Lordy,  mercy,  Lena! 

Good-by,  little  pet, 
I'll  be  back  soon  or  later." 

But  I  "hain't"  been  back  there  yet. 


TOM  THURMAN  AND  HELEN  OCHS'  COURTSHIP 

REVEALED. 

Yes,  I  love  you  truly,  fondly, 

Since  in  years  gone  by  we  met, 
And  although  you  have  forgotten 

All  j^our  vows,  I  love  you  yet. 

Quit  your  laughing  and  your  sniggering, 

Helen,  can't  you  look  up  sad? 
Ida  Carlin  says  she's  jealous, 

But,  of  course,  not  raving  mad. 

Loving  Helen,  don't  forget  me, 

Look  up  cheerful  with  a  smile. 
And  the  girl  I  loved  last  summer — 

She  will  have  to  wait  awhile. 

One  more  week  and  all  is  over, 
One  more  week  and  we'll  be  wed; 

Won't  you  tell  me  that  you  love  me  ? 
Helen !    What  was  that  you  said  ? 

Oh,  the  ties  have  all  been  broken, 

Helen ;  give  me  back  the  ring. 
And  I'll  take  my  Ida  Carlin 

By  her  lovely  little  wing. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  93 

Then  the  preacher'll  say  some  wordies, 

And  Miss  Ida  'n  me'll  be  wed — 
You  can  come  to  Ida's  wedding, 

But  don't  tell  her  what  you  said. 

A  gentleman  of  clearly  visible  rusticity  was  telling  me 
once  that  he  worked  at  a  place  in  the  country  where  they  had 
cold  supper  every  night  and  he  didn't  like  it — he  wanted  hot 
supper.  So  he  asked  me  to  write  him  a  little  piece  of  poetry, 
as  he  wanted  to  put  it  in  her  book  she  was  reading  every  time 
he  came  in  from  work.  I  said  to  him :  "Well,  if  it  is  just  two 
or  three  rhymes  you  want,  here  they  are,"  And  I  sat  down 
and  wrote  him  the  following  foolishness,  but  he  said  that  was 
just  what  he  tvanted.  So  he  took  his  little  paper  along  and 
put  it  in  her  book.    It  ran  something  like  this : 

COLD  SUPPER. 

You  come  in  late  at  night, 

Find  "icebergs"  on  the  table ; 
It's  'nough  to  make  Cain  scratch  his  head 

And  kill  his  brother  Abel, 

No  wonder  men  are  growing  old. 

Who  ate  the  mouldy  bread, 
And  this  is  what  I  have  been  told, 

'Twas  worse  than  horses  dead. 

Oh,  when  ye  have  been  hard  work, 

Go  in  at  supper-time. 
Find  all  the  women  on  the  lurk. 

Is  worse  than  any  crime. 

Yes,  I  will  tell  you  what  I  like, 

For  comfort  and  for  supper; 
Hot  biscuits,  milk  and  honey,  Ike, 

Oh,  Lordy !  and  some  butter. 


94  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

Old  Brig-ham  Young  had  twenty  wives, 
And  sometimes  he  would  mutter, 

Because  the  rotten  things  alive 
Would  never  cook  him  supper. 

A  drummer  once  asked  me  to  write  him  a  little  poem.  He 
said  he  had  been  away  from  home  for  some  time  and  was 
going  back  in  about  a  week,  and  wanted  to  make  a  guess,  and 
for  me  to  put  it  into  rhyme.  His  wife  didn't  seem  to  have  the 
least  care  for  home  affairs,  but  seemed  to  have  a  mania  for 
being  out  on  the  streets,  parks,  etc.,  and  that  he  could  only 
stay  at  home  a  week  or  two  at  a  time  on  account  of  it,  as  his 
disposition  to  kill  her  would  come  into  his  mind,  but  when  he 
was  away  the  feeling  would  leave  him  to  a  certain  extent. 
After  he  explained  the  situation  I  told  him  to  wait  a  minute, 
so  I  sat  down  and  wrote  the  following  lines : 

MEDITATION. 

One  more  week  and  I  will  leave  you, 
One  more  week  and  I'll  be  gone ; 

What  will  be  the  consequences 
On  arrival  at  my  home? 

My  three  boys  will  be  there  sleeping. 

Snugly  in  their  proper  bed. 
And  my  daughter,  only  daughter. 

Waiting  at  the  stairway  head. 

For  the  mother,  she  is  coming, 

From  somewhere,  none  of  us  knows, 

Brealdng  all  the  marriage  contracts, 
Out  at  places  where  men  goes. 

Moving  pictures  are  all  over, 

And  she's  never  got  in  yet, 
But  I  hear  her  footsteps  coming, 

With  a  "friend"  she  has  just  met. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  95 

Oh,  she  says  he  is  so  funny, 

And  so  cute  and  awfully  nice, 
And  she  says  she's  only  met  him, 

Only  met  him  once  or  twice. 

If  'twas  in  a  chile  parlor, 

Feasting  full  up  to  the  brim! 
She  is  married  to  another. 

And  the  man  she's  with  's  not  him. 

What  can  women  see  in  "take-ups" 

Like  the  one  referred  to  now? 
She  can  never  run  the  secret ; 

It  leaks  out,  leaks  out,  somehow. 

For  it  never  was  intended 

For  the  wife  to  stroll  the  street 

While  the  rest  of  all  the  family 
Are  at  home  in  bed  asleep. 

She'll  be  crossways  on  arrival. 

She'll  be  crossways  when  I'm  home, 

And  upset  all  family  pastime, 
Thusly  causing-  me  to  roam. 

A  friend  of  mine  some  years  ago  quarreled  with  his  best 
girl.  Each  was  too  stubborn  to  apologize.  Finally  she  mar- 
ried. He  asked  me  to  write  him  a  poem  about  it,  and  this  was 
what  I  said : 

LITTLE  DARLING,  DID  YOU  LEAVE  ME? 

Little  darling,  did  you  leave  me? 

Why  so  cruel  should'st  thou  be? 
Why  did'st  fate  ordain  such  sorrow? 

Sorrow  till  eternity. 

If  we'd  known  the  future  coming, 
If  we'd  known  the  past  that's  gone, 

If  we'd  known  each  other  better, 
Long,  ah,  long  before  the  dawn. 


96  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

What  could  make  the  heart  grow  lighter? 

What  could  make  the  soul  feel  glad 
When  our  darling — only  darling — 

Chose  another?    Ah,  'tis  sad. 

Maybe,  when  some  day  in  heaven. 

We  may  chance  to  meet  again, 
Shall  we  give  the  hand  in  friendship? 

Shall  we  take  away  the  pain  ? 

Forgiving  now,  each  other  plainly, 
Forgiving  now,  the  past  that's  gone, 

Recollecting  all  is  over 
Till  the  resurrection  morn. 

If  one  sympathetic  tear  should  trinkle 
Down  the  sweetest  cheek  on  earth. 

Let  it  stay  as  where  it  ran,  dear ; 
Do  not  wipe  away  its  worth. 

If  I  knew  that  such  would  be,  dear, 

And  your  heart  was  ever  true. 
Life  would  cancel  all  its  sorrows; 

I'd  be  happy  then  with  you. 

This  little  poem  was  taken  from  real  life.  Two  young  gen- 
tlemen in  the  country  one  Sunday  evening  were  planning  to 
call  on  a  young  lady  not  far  away,  a  Miss  Jennie  Perry.  They 
were  rather  modestly  inclined,  nevertheless  braced  up  courage 
enough  to  make  a  start.  The  two  gentlemen  in  question  were 
James  S.  Neel  and  myself,  and  these  were  the  idle  thoughts 
that  afterwards  presented  themselves : 

JIM  AND  ME. 

We  sat  by  the  barnyard  gate, 

Jim  and  me. 
Two  young  fellows  without  a  mate, 

So  you  see. 
We  were  planning  what  the  future  'd  be, 

Jim  and  me. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  97 

As  the  birds  sang  sweetly, 

We  realized  completely, 

That  a  girl  in  the  neighborhood  should  be 

Interwoven  with  pleasure; 

And  the  two  men  of  leisure 
Went  calling  that  even',  don't  you  see? 

Yes,  Jim  and  me. 

Then  the  daisies  grew  on  the  hillside,  wild, 
And  the  rocks  abundantly  free, 
And  happy  the  hearts  of  the  two  brave  larks, 
That  were  planning  what  the  future  'd  be. 
Yes,  Jim  and  me. 

Then  the  sunbeams  sank  in  the  far-off  West, 
And  the  flowers,  they  fade,  so  to  be. 
And  the  girl,  that  gathered  the  bouquet — at  last — 
The  girl,  oh,  where  is  she? 
And  Jim  and  me? 

TO  THE  COUNTRY-TOWN  BOY. 

Better  you  had  stayed  in  the  country. 

Where  fashions  are  not  quite  so  fast,  ! 

And  built  up  your  wealth  more  steady. 

With  a  foundation  more  liable  to  last. 

In  cities,  'tis  true,  things  are  lively. 

And  pleasures  on  most  every  side; 
Then  once  in  awhile  a  street  car 

Will  pass  for  you  to  ride. 

But  somehow,  young  men  are  tempted. 

With  evil,  I  suppose  is  the  name ; 
Saloons  and  night  revels  together 

Turn  pleasures  sometimes  into  shame. 

Boys  who  have  minds  too  tender, 
Though  would  rather  do  right  than  wrong, 
Are  decoyed  by  most  of  their  comrades 
To  come,  and  all  go  along. 


98  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

Yes,  everything's  so  convenient, 

Together  with  the  shade  of  the  night, 

And  so  many  minds  intermingled, 
And  most  of  them  not  for  the  right. 

But  never  be  too  hard  on  the  city, 

For  there's  culture,  refinement  and  grace, 

There's  churches  and  religion  existing, 
Existing  in  most  every  place. 

THE  BEAUTIFUL  SNOW. 

The  beautiful  snow,  so  pure,  so  fair. 
Covering  our  footpaths,  and  filling  the  air. 
Lies  gentle  and  cheerful,  at  the  break  of  mom. 
When  the  farmer  'wakes  and  goes  to  the  barn ; 
Ah,  though  'tis  beautiful,  and  a  welcome  boon, 
Yet  it  happens  to  come  one  day  too  soon. 
(For  he  hasn't  any  boots  to  put  on.) 

Feeding  and  milking  is  sweetest,  you  know, 
Mingling  and  mixing  with  the  beautiful  snovr. 
(If  you  haven't  any  gloves  to  put  on.) 

Hauling  the  fodder  and  breaking  the  ice. 
Shivering  and  shaking,  is  awfully  nice. 
(But  I  never  was  a  lover  of  pastime.) 

Climbing  the  hills  and  crossing  the  brooks. 
The  levelest  places,  according  to  looks. 
(Is  sure  to  be  over  your  boot  tops.) 

REFLECTION. 

Little  tiny  infant,  so  pure,  so  fair. 

Entering  our  holdhold,  our  blessings  to  share. 

At  Thirteen. 

Milking  and  churning  and  doing  the  chores, 
Rocking  the  cradle  and  running  outdoors. 
(And  I  wonder  how  long  it  will  last.) 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  99 

His  Thoughts  at  Twenty  About  His  Girl. 

Little  precious  loved  one,  tender  and  sweet, 
Making  things  lively  whene'er  we  meet, 
Troubles  and  tribulations  and  trials  can't  last ; 
No,  no,  no  never ;  they  are  a  thing  of  the  past. 

He's  Been  Married  One  Year. 

Little  devilish  young  one,  crying  all  night, 
Yes,  kicking  and  scratching,  with  all  its  might. 
(And  I  haven't  slept  a  wink  for  two  weeks.) 

Children  All  Married  and  Gone. 

Come,  dearest  loved  one,  we've  lived  long  and  true, 
Let's  banish  our  troubles  and  pleasures  renew; 
Many  trials,  many  tribulations,  many  joys  and  woe. 
Intermingled  our  pathway,  since  long  years  ago ; 
Lay  me  away  gently ;  'tis  sad,  but  it's  true ; 
Sing  a  sweet  anthem,  our  Master's  in  view. 

The  following  piece  is  an  acrostic.  Read  the  letters  down 
on  the  left-hand  side,  from  top  to  bottom ;  then  read  the  bottom 
line  and  see  what  it  says.  It  was  dedicated  to  Miss  Belle 
Hartford,  July  26, 1893: 

AN  ACROSTIC. 

Mighty  hot,  these  long,  long  days,  love, 
In  the  quiet  we  assume. 
Shady  places,  same  as  ever, 
Sunday  evenings,  after  noon. 

Bid  the  summer  sweetest  welcome, 
Envy  not  her  cheerful  clime, 
Let  us  come  to  some  conclusion. 
Long  before  the  winter  time. 
Ever  careful  we  should  be,  love. 


100  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

How  we  move  each  day  by  day, 

And  be  thankful  to  our  Master, 

Rightful  dealings  every  way. 

Tell  me,  when  the  leaves  have  withered, 

For  the  summer  then  is  fled, 

Or  the  flowers  are  all  dead. 

Round  the  florals  they  are  shed, 

Do  not  hesitate  I  said, 

It  is  time  for  us  to  wed. 

Shelby  County,  Kentucky,  Sunday  morning,  May  20,  1894. 
Ground  white  with  snow  and  still  snowing. 

NATURE  HAS  CHANGED. 

Roses  and  honeysuckles  all  in  bloom, 
Wishing  they  hadn't  have  come  out  so  soon ; 
Grasses  and  wheat  fields,  a  delicate  green, 
Covered  with  snow,  such  as  we  never  have  seen. 

Ice  cream  (or  snow  cream)  and  vegetable  combine, 

Making  a  novel  dish,  suiting  the  time. 

All  things  lovely  and  nothing  amiss. 

When  cold,  bleak  winter  the  summer  did  kiss. 

Then  summer,  all  bowing  its  head  in  shame. 
Kissing  the  lips  of  its  wintiy  dame; 
Tho'  soon  'twas  passed  and  gone  away 
From  o'er  the  blooms  that  were  so  gay. 

DEATH  WITHOUT  TEARS. 

If  we  saw  one,  true  and  faithful. 

Lying  cold  upon  the  ground, 
Could  we  keep  the  tear  from  falling 

When  we  saw  that  we  had  found 
A  dead  cut-worm? 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  101 

If  we  saw  the  death-gate  open, 

And  the  hundreds  tumbling  in, 
Would  we  say:  Come  back  next  April, 

And  be  welcome,  like  you've  been, 
Dearest  cut- worm? 

Ah,  the  cruel  hearts  within  us, 

Why  not  bless  and  then  repent? 
We  have  eaten  fruit  forbidden, 

And  the  Master,  He  has  sent 
The  dear  little  cut-worm. 

Just  be  patient  till  next  winter, 

I'll  assure  you  com  and  bread ; 
Then  the  tempest  will  be  over, 

And  the  wormies  they'll  be  dead. 
Cute  little  cut-worms. 


FILLING  A  TOOTH. 

Oh,  the  tiny  little  augur, 

With  its  whirl-iu-quiv-i-quivirum ; 

Then  the  spade,  pick  and  shovel  and  the  drill, 

Lying  loosely  on  the  table. 

Close  beside  the  man  that's  able 

To  take  you  up  and  grind  you  in  his  mill. 

Then  the  horrid,  punching  chisel. 

With  its  razzle,  dazzle,  dizzle, 

Dancing  Yankee  Doodle  Dandy  on  the  wing, 

Slipping,  sliding. 

Nerve-colliding — 

Do  you  feel  as  if  you'd  like  to  try  to  sing? 

When  you  pay  the  money  over, 

"Kinder"  semi,  not  so  willing, 

Don't  you  think  you'll  quit  the  business, 


102  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

For  awhile, 

And  the  dentist's  shop  forever? 

Though  the  man  he  was  so  clever, 

Yet  you  was  a  little  skittish  of  his  style 

And  his  file. 

This  little  poem  was  written  for  my  daughter  when  she 
was  going  to  school.  She  used  it  as  a  speech.  I  borrowed  a 
few  lines  in  the  first  two  stanzas,  then  added  the  rest  myself : 

LIVING  FLOWERS  ARE  THE  BEST. 

In  our  garden  are  many  roses, 
Some  are  white  and  some  are  red ; 

Really,  I  am  fond  of  roses, 

But  want  them  now,  not  when  I'm  dead. 

Do  not  wait  to  show  me  kindness, 

Till  the  earth  is  o'er  my  head ; 
In  your  garden  are  many  roses, 

Strew  them  now,  not  when  I'm  dead. 

Show  your  friendship  to  your  playmates ; 

Always  speak  the  kindest  word ; 
They'll  remember  what  you  told  them. 

They'll  remember  what  they  heard. 

After  while,  when  you  grow  older. 

And  your  hair  is  silvery  white, 
It  will  be  a  pleasing  pastime, 

It  will  be  your  heart's  delight 
Then  to  meet  that  same  old  schoolmate 

When  life's  tottering  into  night. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  108 

EVENING. 

When  the  lonely  sftadows  gather, 

And  the  birdies  go  to  rest; 
When  the  blossoms  and  the  roses 

All  cease  to  do  their  best; 
When  the  plow-boy  and  his  horses, 

When  the  cows  and  little  calves. 
Are  all  coming  down  the  by-ways, 

And  filling  up  the  paths, 

Then  the  evening,  it  has  come. 

When  the  falling  leaves  they  gather, 

'Neath  the  bushes  and  the  fence. 
Telling  tales  of  joy  and  sadness. 

Contemplating  their  defense ; 
When  the  wintry  snows  are  falling, 
And  the  chilling  winds  and  rain 
Tell  us  go  and  feed  the  cattle — 

How  we  wish  we  could  remain — 
Then  the  evening,  it  has  come. 

When  the  dearest  of  our  loved  ones, 

Tender,  fond  and  always  true. 
Cross  the  river,  over  yonder-, 

Bidding  us  a  last  adieu. 

Then  the  evening,  it  has  come. 

CONTEMPLATION. 

Long  years  have  passed  and  yet  we  stand 

On  the  brink  of  a  lonely  shore ; 
Friends  and  mates  with  whom  we  played 

Are  gone  forever  more. 

Our  babes  that  once  we  loved  so  w^ell, 

And  love  as  truly  still. 
Have  families  of  their  own.    Ah,  yes, 

Just  over  yonder  hill. 


104  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

The  roads  are  rougher  than  they  were, 

The  hills  so  steep  and  high; 
The  distance  seems  so  far  away 

That  once  it  was  so  nigh. 

The  fences,  they  are  made  of  wire, 

The  roads  are  made  of  stone. 
The  taxes  and  the  politics 

Have  taken  what's  our  own. 

The  folks,  they  are  not  all  the  same; 

And  clothing,  not  of  jeans; 
Oh,  may  we  reach  that  Holy  Place 

Where  fashions  do  not  change. 

But  maybe  we'll  be  glad  to  get 

Back  in  the  same  old  range, 
Should  we  reach  that  Lower  Place, 

Where  fashions  do  not  change. 

Dedicated  to  a  lady  friend,  Miss  Billie  Pearl  Thompson,  of 
Mead  County,  Kentucky. 

IMAGINATION. 

Well,  Miss  Billie,  friend  and  dear, 

Once  in  awhile  my  heart  feels  queer. 

When  I  think  about  my  little  baby  girl ; 

Although  she  lives  in  ISIead, 

I  would  have  to  get  up  speed. 

As  the  train,  it  goes  by  in  a  whirl.  , 

In  the  morn,  when  I  awake, 

Just  for  her  sweet  little  sake, 

I  will  think  about  her. 

Once  or  twice  a  day ; 

I  know  it  is  silly. 

But  I  like  my  little  Billie, 

And  I  care  not 

What  the  people  all  may  say. 


I 


i 


i^lW^^W^ 


■^ 


ELIZABETH   iFIGG)  RILEY 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  105 

Then  at  noon,  when  dinner  time, 
Thoughts  return  back  into  line, 
Although  they  may  have 
Wandered  far  and  wide; 
I  will  keep  on  thinking  yet 
About  my  darling  little  pet. 
Till  the  dewdrops  fall 
At  even'  tide. 

Then  at  night,  when  all  is  still, 
Idle  thoughts  they  come  at  will. 
And  we  cannot  keep  them 
Back,  you  know; 
Should  we  ever  wish  to  wed. 
Though  she  hasn't  fully  said, 
That  the  answer  would  be 
Even  "y€s"  or  "no. 


>» 


But,  of  course,  I'll  make  a  guess, 
That  it  never  would  be  "yes," 
As  she  has  so  many  fellows 
With  the  dough. 


SECTION  2,  CHAPTER  8. 

Having  given  you  a  few  rhymes  of  my  own  composition, 
I  will  now  favor  you  with  some  selections  from  others.  The 
first  one  was  written  by  my  youngest  sister,  who  is  now  dead, 
and  who  married  Gabriel  Riley,  of  Pittsburg,  Kansas. 

WE  WILL  MEET  AT  THE  PEARLY  GATES. 

While  sitting  today  all  alone  in  my  room, 
Watching  the  raindrops  fall. 
In  thought  I  live  my  life  over  again. 
And  all  of  the  years  I  recall. 

How  foolish  I've  been  in  my  life  of  the  past, 

Why  sorrows,  I  knew  not  a  one, 

I  should  have  been  happy  from  sun  till  sun. 


106  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

For  actual  sorrow  and  grief  came  at  last. 
I  now  call  to  mind,  a  few  years  of  the  past, 
A  message  there  came  so  sudden,  so  fast, 
A  message  from  mother,  it  read  this  way : 
Your  father  is  worse,  grows  worse  each  day. 

I  started  to  him  that  very  night. 

For  I  knew  he  was  calling  for  me ; 

I  thought  I  could  hear  him  say,  many  a  time, 

I  wonder  if  "Babe"  is  coming  to  me. 

God  saw  fit  to  take  from  us 
Our  father,  we  loved  and  caressed. 
To  a  home  above  prepared  on  high, 
With  the  angels  of  love  ever  blessed. 

At  the  end  of  life's  span. 

When  God  calls  to  their  fates 

Our  loved  ones  to  a  home  on  high. 

The  first  to  meet  us  at  the  "Pearly  Gates" 

Will  be  the  father  we  bid  good-by. 

He  will  plant  on  our  brow  of  sorrow  and  care 
A  kiss  of  affection  and  peace, 
And  we  will  be  happy  and  bright  and  fair, 
Our  sorrows  and  troubles  will  cease. 

—Mrs.  Elizabeth  (Figg)  Riley. 

HIS  SIXTH  BIRTHDAY. 
(By  Georgina  E.  Billings) 

He  has  given  up  his  cradle  and  his  little  worsted  ball. 
He  has  hidden  all  his  dolls  behind  the  door ; 
He  must  have  a  rocking-horse 
And  a  hardwood  top,  of  course, 
For  he  isn't  mamma's  baby  any  more. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  107 

He  has  cut  off  all  his  curls,  they  are  only  fit  for  ^rls, 
And  has  left  them  in  a  heap  upon  the  floor ; 

For  he's  six  years  old  today, 

And  he's  glad  to  hear  them  say 
That  he  isn't  mamma's  baby  any  more. 

He  has  pockets  in  his  trousers,  like  his  older  brother,  Jim, 
Though  he  thinks  he  should  have  had  them  long  before ; 

Has  new  shoes  laced  to  the  top, 

'Tis  a  puzzle  where  they  stop ; 
And  he  isn't  mamma's  baby  any  more. 

He  has  heard  his  parents  sigh,  and  has  greatly  wondered  why 
They  are  sorry,  when  he  has  such  bliss  in  store ; 

For  he's  now  their  darling  boy. 

And  will  be  their  pride  and  joy, 
Though  he  cannot  be  their  baby  any  more. 


I'LL  BE  ALL  SMILES  TONIGHT. 
(Author  Unknown) 

I'll  deck  my  brows  with  roses. 

The  loved  one  may  be  there. 
And  the  gems  that  others  gave  me 

Will  shine  within  my  hair. 
And  even  them  that  know  me 

Will  think  my  heart  is  light. 
Though  my  heart  may  break  tomorrow, 

I'll  be  all  smiles  tonight. 

CHORUS. 

I'll  be  all  smiles  tonight,  love ; 

I'll  be  all  smiles  tonight; 
Though  my  heart  may  break  tomorrow, 

I'll  be  all  smiles  tonight. 


108  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

And  in  the  room  he  entered, 

The  bride  upon  his  arm; 
I  stood  and  gazed  upon  him 

As  if  he  were  a  chann; 
I  saw  him  smile  upon  her, 

So  once  he  smiled  on  me; 
He  knows  not  what  I've  suffered; 

He  found  no  change  in  me. 

CHORUS. 

And  when  the  dance  commences. 

Oh,  how  I  will  rejoice; 
I'll  sing  the  songs  he  taught  me 

Without  a  faltering  voice. 
When  flatterers  come  around  me 

They  will  think  my  heart  is  light; 
Though  my  heart  may  break  tomorrow, 

I'll  be  all  smiles  tonight. 

CHORUS. 

And  when  the  dance  is  over. 

And  all  have  gone  to  rest, 
I'll  think  of  him,  dear  mother, 

The  one  whom  I  love  best; 
He  once  did  love,  believe  me. 

But  now  grown  cold  and  strange; 
He  sought  not  to  deceive  me : 

False  friends  have  wrought  this  change. 

MOLLIE,  DARLING. 
(By  Will  S.  Hays) 

Won't  you  tell  me,  Mollie,  darling, 
That  you  love  none  else  but  me. 

For  I  love  you,  Mollie,  darling; 
You  are  all  the  world  to  me. 

Oh,  tell  me,  darling,  that  you  love  me ; 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  109 


Put  your  little  hand  in  mine ; 
Take  my  heart,  sweet  Mollie,  darling, 
Say  that  you  will  give  me  thine. 


CHORUS. 

Mollie,  fairest,  sweetest,  dearest. 

Look  up,  darling,  tell  me  this : 
Do  you  love  me,  Mollie,  darling? 

Let  your  answer  be  a  kiss. 

Stars  are  shining,  Mollie,  darling. 

Through  the  mystic  veil  of  night ; 
They  seem  laughing,  Mollie,  darling, 

While  fair  Luna  hides  her  light. 
Oh,  no  one  listens  but  the  flowers, 

While  they  hide  their  heads  in  shame ; 
They  seem  modest,  Mollie,  darling, 

When  they  hear  me  call  your  name. 

CHORUS. 

I  must  leave  you,  Mollie,  darling, 

Tho'  the  parting  gives  me  pain ; 
When  the  stars  shine,  Mollie,  darling, 

I  will  meet  you  here  again. 
Oh,  good-night,  Mollie!  Good-by,  loved  one! 

Happy  may  you  ever  be ; 
When  you're  dreaming,  Mollie,  darling, 

Don't  forget  to  dream  of  me. 

The  following  is  an  old  song  that  was  very  popular  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  ago.    The  words  are  right  good  and  true. 

AFTER  THE  BALL. 

(Selected)  : 

A  little  maiden  climbed  an  old  man's  knee. 
Begged  for  a  story,  do,  uncle,  please; 
Why  are  you  single,  why  live  alone? 
Have  you  no  babies,  have  you  no  home? 


110  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

I  had  a  sweetheaii:,  years,  years  ago, 
Where  she  is  now,  pet,  you  will  soon  know ; 
List  to  my  story,  I'll  tell  it  all, 
I  believed  her  faithless,  after  the  ball. 

CHORUS. 

After  the  ball  is  over,  after  the  break  of  mom, 
After  the  dancers  leaving,  after  the  stars  are  gone, 
Many  a  heart  is  aching,  if  you  could  read  them  all, 
Many  the  hopes  that  have  vanished,  after  the  ball. 

Bright  lights  were  flashing  in  the  grand  ball-room. 
Softly  the  music,  playing  sweet  tunes ; 
There  came  my  sweetheart,  my  love,  my  own — 
I  wish  some  water ;  leave  me  alone ; 
When  I  returned,  dear,  there  stood  a  man. 
Kissing  my  sweetheart,  as  lovers  can ; 
Down  fell  the  glass,  pet ;  broken,  that's  all, 
Just  like  my  heart  was,  after  the  ball. 

CHORUS. 

Long  years  have  passed,  child ;  I've  never  wed, 

True  to  my  lost  love,  though  she  is  dead ; 

She  tried  to  tell  me,  tried  to  explain ; 

I  would  not  listen,  pleadings  were  in  vain. 

One  day  a  letter  came,  from  that  man ; 

He  was  her  brother,  the  letter  ran ; 

That's  why  I'm  lonely — no  home  at  all ; 

I  broke  her  heart,  pet,  after  the  ball. 

The  words  in  the  following  old  song  are  right  good,  espe- 
cially the  last  two  stanzas.  The  author  of  the  song  is  unknown 
to  me. 

MARY  AND  JOHN. 

Mary  and  John,  down  in  the  distant  old  village. 

Fell  deeply  in  love  and  were  engaged  to  be  wed ; 
But  one  day,  up  went  the  nose  of  sweet  Mary, 


i 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  111 

At  what  her  John,  or  some  girl,  had  said ; 
John  simply  smiled ;  he  was  much  given  to  teasing, 

And  some  old  song  softly  he  started  to  sing. 
Mary  with  rage  every  moment  grew  warmer, 

And  at  his  feet  threw  their  engagement  ring. 

CHORUS. 

I  won't  be  your  wife,  said  Mary ; 

Thank  goodness  for  that,  said  John ; 
I  hate  such  a  brute,  said  Mary ; 

But  other  girls  don't  said  John ; 
I'm  going  back  to  the  dairy ; 

Well,  that's  just  as  well,  said  he, 
I  hope  you'll  be  at  the  wedding 

Of  Mollie  Malone  and  me. 

Mary  turned  'round,  just  went  a  step  or  two  from  him, 

Then  at  her  John  one  farewell  sly-glance  she  threw, 
Thinking  perhaps  he  was  already  repenting. 

But  all  he  said  was,  I  don't  care  what  you  do. 
Out  came  his  pipe,  soon  clouds  of  smoke  he  was  puffing 

Into  the  air,  stretched  out  full  length  on  the  green. 
Mary  stood  by ;  somehow  her  heart  was  breaking ; 

Had  John  become  tired  of  his  village  queen? 

CHORUS. 

Well,  am  I  to  go,  said  Mary ; 

I  don't  care  a  rap,  said  John ; 
To  spite  you  I  won't,  said  Mary ; 

Well,  maybe  you  won't,  said  John ; 
Oh,  why  are  you  so  contrary? 

I'll  drown  myself,  sir,  said  she ; 
Said  John,  on  your  way,  dear  Mary, 

Send  Mollie  Malone  to  me. 

Tears  filled  her  eyes,  as  with  her  apron  she  covered 

Her  pretty  face,  heaving  a  heartrending  sigh ; 
All  seemed  over,  what  was  the  use  of  her  staying? 


112  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

Turning  to  John,  she  then  gently  said  good-by. 
Up  like  a  shot  jumped  the  young  fellow,  all  smiling, 

Touched  to  the  heart  by  such  a  tender  farewell ; 
Kissed  all  the  tears  from  the  sweet  face  of  his  Mary, 

Told  her  the  tales  fond  lovers  always  tell. 

CHORUS. 

Then  John,  he  hugged  his  Mary, 
And  Mary  she  hugged  her  John ; 

He  vowed  that  a  fairer  fairy  he  never  had  gazed  upon ; 
And  while  little  Mary  was  laughing,  her  head  resting  on  his 

breast, 
With  that  I'll  conclude  my  story ;  no  doubt  you  can  guess  the 
rest. 

PUT  MY  LITTLE  SHOES  AWAY. 
(Selected) 

Mother,  dear,  come  bathe  my  forehead, 

For  I'm  growing  very  weak ; 
Mother,  let  one  drop  of  water 

Fall  upon  my  burning  cheek ; 
Tell  my  loving  little  schoolmates 

That  I  never  more  will  play ; 
Give  them  all  my  toys ;  but,  mother. 

Put  my  little  shoes  away. 

CHORUS. 

I  am  going  to  leave  you,  mother. 

So  remember  what  I  say; 
Oh,  do  it,  won't  you,  please,  dear  mother? 

Put  my  little  shoes  away. 

Santa  Claus,  he  gave  them  to  me 

With  a  lot  of  other  things. 
And  I  think  he  brought  an  angel 

With  a  pair  of  golden  wings.  | 


I 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  113 

Mother,  I  will  be  an  angel 

By,  perhaps,  another  day, 
So  you  will  then,  dearest  mother, 

Put  my  little  shoes  away. 

CHORUS. 

Soon  the  baby  will  be  larger, 

Then  they'll  fit  his  little  feet  ; 
Oh,  he'll  look  so  nice  and  cunning 

When  he  walks  along  the  street ; 
Now  I'm  getting  tired,  mother. 

Soon  I'll  bid  you  all  good-day. 
Please  remember  what  I  tell  you, 

Put  my  little  shoes  away. 

GRANDMOTHER'S  GONE. 

Loosened  the  silver  cord,  ended  life's  tome. 
At  last  she  has  entered  her  beautiful  home ; 
Grandmother's  gone. 

The  chamber  is  darkened,  and  silent,  and  chill, 
The  chair  in  the  comer  she'll  never  more  fill ; 
Grandmother's  gone. 

From  weariness,  suffering,  sighing  and  tears, 
Dropping  the  chrysalis  burden  of  years. 
Grandmother's  gone. 

No  longing  for  morning,  no  dreams  to  affright. 
Where  they  need  not  the  sun,  the  lamb  is  the  light. 
Grandmother's  gone. 

Oh,  joy  she  has  tasted  no  tongue  hath  e'er  told! 
The  dear  ones  who  left  long  ago,  will  behold. 
Grandmother's  gone. 

Then  weep  not,  then  grieve  not,  but  jubilant  say, 
She  has  passed  the  Dark  Valley,  and  happy  today. 
Grandmother's  gone. 


114  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

On  March  27,  1890,  between  8  and  9  o'clock  at  night,  the 
most  terrific  cyclone  that  ever  was  known  in  the  State,  passed 
through  this  city,  Louisville.  It  was  a  horrible  sight  to  see.  It 
entered  the  city  at  Parkland,  tearing  away  houses  as  if  they 
were  toys;  thence  passed  through  to  the  Seventh  Street 
Depot,  blowing  it  into  the  river,  and  thence  took  its  course  up 
the  river,  striking  a  part  of  Jeffersonville. 


THE  CYCLONE. 

(Author  Unknown) 

I've  a  sorrowful  tale  to  tell. 

Of  the  cyclone  of  Louisville, 

It  was  March  the  27th,  after  day; 

Oh,  it  was  at  the  hour  of  eight 

When  death  opened  up  its  gate ; 

It  claimed  its  own  and  quickly  passed  away ; 

Many  hearts  were  light  and  gay, 

And  were  happy  all  that  day. 

Never  dreaming  of  sorrow  nor  of  pain; 

But  the  great  tornado  came 

And  stretched  out  its  powerful  arm; 

It  killed  our  friends  and  tore  away  their  homes. 

Five  poor  laundry  girls  were  killed 

While  preparing  to  retire  for  the  night ; 

At  the  Louisville  Hotel, 

But  the  cyclone  struck  the  house, 

And  they  were  crushed  beneath  the  ruins, 

And  one  young  man  escaped,  named  Virgil  Wright. 

But  when  death  on  those  did  call 

Who  had  gathered  at  Falls  City  Hall, 

They  never  thought  that  danger  was  so  near; 

But  the  building  it  fell  down, 

Burying  all  beneath  the  ruins. 

And  the  sad  news  was  soon  spread  o'er  the  town. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  115 

So,  kind  friends,  it  may  be  so, 

That  there's  some  one  here  tonight 

Who  lost  a  father,  mother  or  some  friend ; 

So,  remember  what  I  say. 

That  there'll  be  a  coming  day 

That  each  life  tonight  must  have  an  end ; 

So,  kind  friends,  I  must  away. 

For  I  can  no  longer  stay, 

And  may  God  pity  those  who  met  their  deaths, 

For  you  know  we  cannot  say 

The  minute  nor  the  day 

That  we  may  be  united  with  the  rest. 

NO  TELEPHONE  IN  HEAVEN. 

(Selected) 

"Now  I  can  wait  on  baby," 

The  smiling  merchant  said. 
As  he  stooped  and  softly  toyed 

With  the  golden,  curly  head. 
"I  want  oo  to  tall  up  mamma," 

Came  the  answer  full  and  free, 
"Wif  yo'  telephone  an'  ast  her 

When  she's  tumming  back  to  me. 

"Tell  her  I's  so  lonesome 

'At  I  don't  know  what  to  do ; 
An'  papa  cries  so  much,  I  dess 

He  must  be  lonesome,  too ; 
Tell  her  to  tum  to  baby, 

'Tause  at  night  I  dit  so  'fraid, 
Wif  nobody  dere  to  tiss  me 

When  the  light  bedins  to  fade. 

^*A1I  fru  de  day  I  wants  her, 

For  my  dolly's  dot  so  tored 
Fum  de  awful  punchin'  Buddy  daved  it, 

Wif  his  little  sword ; 


116  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

An'  ain't  nobody  to  fix  it 

Since  mamma  went  away, 
An'  poor  'ittle  lonesome  dolly's  ditt'n 

Thinner  every  day."  , 

"My  child,"  the  merchant  murmured, 

As  he  stroked  the  anxious  brow, 
"There's  no  telephone  connection 

Where  your  mother  lives  at  now." 
"Ain't  no  telephone  in  heaven?" 

And  tears  sprang  to  her  eyes ; 
"I  frought  dat  God  had  ever'fing 

Wif  him  up  in  the  skies." 

TIRED. 

Lay  down  my  head,  dear,  it's  no  use  to  cry; 

My  trouble  is  past ;  I  am  going  to  die ; 

The  hillpath  is  over,  I'm  beat  in  the  race, 

For  the  wind  of  the  world  always  blew  in  my  face. 

It'll  daunt  me  no  more,  but  I  mind  how  it  blew, 
I  slipped  and  I  fell,  and  I  tried  it  anew ; 
But,  fight  you  or  flee,  it's  a  desperate  case 
To  clamber  up  hill  with  the  wind  in  your  face. 

Sweet,  sweet  are  the  meadows  by  river  or  rill, 
Where  the  turf  is  all  green  and  the  weather  is  still ; 
But  people  can't  all  have  the  easiest  place — 
The  wind  must  be  blowing  in  somebody's  face. 

I'm  tired  of  it,  Mary,  I'm  glad  to  be  gone ; 
You're  better  off  without  me,  you  won't  be  alone ; 
You  have  borne  with  my  sorrows  a  wearisome  space, 
And  the  wind  that  dismayed  me  has  blown  in  your  face. 

Good-by,  little  maidie,  I  never  shall  stand 
In  your  sunshine,  my  darling,  my  rose  of  the  land ! 
My  trouble  your  bright  head  shall  never  abase — 
The  wind  of  the  world  never'll  blow  in  your  face. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY  117 

Good-by,  dears,  good-by !  I  won't  kiss  you  again, 
I'm  far  out  too  weary  to  lengthen  my  pain ; 
Just  cover  me  over,  I'll  lie  in  my  place 
Till  the  wind  is  all  quiet  that  blew  in  my  face. 

The  heavenly  sunshine  will  warm  me  up  there ; 
No  wild  wind  or  tempest  shall  vex  the  soft  air ; 
When  the  last  sob  is  uttered,  God  grant  me  His  grace 
To  rest  where  the  wind  cannot  blow  in  my  face. 


THE  DYING  GIRL'S  MESSAGE. 

Raise  the  window  higher,  mother,  air  can  never  harm  me  now ; 
I^t  the  breeze  blow  in  upon  me,  it  will  cool  my  fevered  brow ; 
Soon  death's  struggle  will  be  over,  soon  be  still  this  aching 

heart. 
But  there  is  a  dying  message  I  would  give  before  we  part ; 
Lay  my  head  upon  your  bosom,  fold  me  closer,  mother,  dear. 
While  I  breathe  a  name  long  silent  in  your  fond  and  loving  ear. 

Mother,  there  is  one;  you  know  him;  oh,  I  cannot  speak  his 

name; 
You  remember  how  he  sought  me,  how  with  loving  words  he 

came; 
How  he  gained  my  young  affections,  vowing  in  most  tender 

tone. 
That  he  would  forever  guard  me,  were  my  heart  but  his  alone ; 
You  remember  how  I  trusted,  how  my  thoughts  were  all  of 

him; 
Draw  the  curtain  higher,  mother,  for  the  light  is  growing  dim. 

Need  I  tell  you  how  he  left  me,  coldly  putting  me  aside? 
How  he  wooed  and  won  another,  and  now  claims  her  as  his 

bride? 
Life  has  always  been  a  burden  since  those  hours  of  deepest 

woe; 


118  SKETCHES  OF  THE  FIGG  FAMILY 

Wipe  those  cold  drops  from  my  forehead,  they  are  deAtii 

marks,  well  I  know; 
Gladly  I  obey  the  summons  to  a  bright  and  better  land, 
Where  no  hearts  are  won  or  broken,  but  all  forms  one  happy- 
band. 

Do  not  chide  him,  mother,  darling,  though  my  form  you  see 

no  more; 
Grieve  not ;  think  me  only  waiting  for  you  on  the  other  shore ; 
Do  not  chide  him,  mother,  darling,  though  you  miss  me  from 

your  side; 
I  forgive  him,  and  I  wish  him  joy  with  her  so  soon  his  bride; 
Take  this  ring  from  off  my  finger,  where  he  placed  it  long  ago ; 
Give  it  to  him  with  a  blessing,  that  in  dying  I  bestow. 

Tell  him  that  it  is  a  token  of  forgiveness  and  of  peace ; 

Hark !  I  hear  his  voice ;  it  passeth ;  will  those  watchings  never 

cease? 
Hark!   I  hear  his  footsteps  coming;  no,  'tis  but  the  rustling 

trees ; 
Strange,  how  my  distorted  fancy  caught  his  footsteps  on  the 

breeze. 
I  am  cold  now ;  close  the  window,  fold  me  closer,  kiss  me,  too ; 
Joy !  what  means  that  burst  of  music  ?    'Tis  the  Savior's  voice, 

I  knew; 
See  Him  waiting  to  receive  me!  Oh,  how  great  a  bliss  to  die; 
Mother,  meet  your  child  in  heaven;  one  more  kiss  and  them 

good-by. 


I-92t~ 


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