THE VAGABOND ELEMENT 39 



death ; but recovered and lived to vex decent folk for long after- 

 wards. 



My grandfather's defence against the recurrent shame of 

 having Sutherland among his negroes was ingenious. Each time 

 he was found, after being cleaned up a bit he was put into a 

 wagon and hauled away for a day or two of driving, and then 

 left with a little money in his pocket. The creature would 

 slowly work his way back, to be found again hidden under 

 Bristoe's bed or in some near-by barn, where the old black 

 cared for him. At length, after a distant deportation, he did not 

 return, and no one knew whether he had died on his way back 

 or had gone to fresh woods and pastures new. 



The vagabond element in the life of the place was far more 

 important than in a town of modern days. The idiots and the 

 insane, as well as the ne'er-do-wells of all classes and both sexes, 

 played their part in the comedy of life. The open market-house 

 was the resort of all this loose life. There the houseless were wont 

 to sleep until disturbed by the holders of the stalls. As a boy I 

 liked to rummage among the lot with an inquiring interest in 

 the odds and ends of folk. I remember one morning cottoning 

 to an old man I had awakened, to get his story. It seemed that 

 he was a Revolutionary soldier who had been wounded in the 

 battle of Cowpens ("Cuppens" as he called it) ; he had come in 

 from the up-country to draw his pension and had spent it on a 

 spree. There was criticism when I brought the ancient home for 

 breakfast, but when he was cleaned up and verified he had a 

 welcome. 



Of all the folk who were about me the survivors of the Indian 

 wars were the most interesting. There were several of these old 

 clapper-clawed fellows still living, with their more or less apoc- 

 ryphal tales of adventures they had heard of or shared. There 

 was current a tradition I have seen it in print that there 

 had been a fight between the Indians and whites where the gov- 

 ernment barracks stood, and that the wounded whites had been 

 left upon the ground, where they were not found by the savages. 



