Barboursville

During the Civil War our people were grievously divided, and brother 

fought against brother, father against son. As was so splendidly the case 

through this section, every man had the courage of his convictions, and 

fought with courage for the principles which he thought were right. Many 

of our boys fill unknown graves. I seem to hear the shriek of the mothers 

ringing down through the years, when they received the terse words: 

"Killed in battle". 

When peace was finally declared, our boys returned to a devastated 

country - no crops, no stock, no money. The pay of the Union soldier was 

so small he had no chance to save any. The Confederate soldier had better 

pay, but the more money he had, the poorer he found fimself, inasmuch as 

Confederate money was worthless. Under the generous terms of General 

Grant's decision, they were given some horses, and with a few condemned 

war-broken horses they went to work. The fertile soil soon gave forth 

crops of golden grain, the hum of the threshing machine was once more 

heard on the farms. As soon as their farms were re-established they went 

in for live-stock-horses, mules, sheep, cattle, and hogs. There were 

always ready buyers. Horses and mules were shipped to Richmond and North 

carolina, stock cattle to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, northwestern 

Virginia, and central Ohio, fat cattle to Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and 

Cincinnati. We did not need to depend on Swift and Armour for our meats, 

as we had two good butchers here. Our county at that time was one of the 

best agricultural areas in the state. Everybody worked but father - he 

made all the others work for him, and he was the wise head of the family, 

as he ought to be, and was intended to be. In these latter days he seems 

to be the only one working, and wondering how he can make the others work. 

The cultivation of soil is the first and most important feature of any 

thriving land since civilization began and ought to continue to be. No 

doubt it will always be. Herodotus, the father of history, tells us the 

story of the valley of the Euphrates; he brings out the fact that with 

poor cultivation the yield was fifty fold, with fair cultivation an 

hundred fold, and with good cultivation two hundred fold. That seems to 

have been the garden of the world during his days. Its great cities, 

Babylon and Ninevah are only marked by great heaps of sand today; instead 

of the millions of peoples who roamed in and out of the sand, it is now a 

barren desert, peopled only by a few wandering tribes of Arabs, grazing 

half starved sheep and goats. 

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