220 THE TIM BUNKER PAPERS. 



war has made money awful plenty, such as it is, among a 

 certain class of people. It has got into new hands, and 

 they are itching to let the world know that they have 

 got it. I know of some fellows that have gone to the 

 war that are earning more money for their families than 

 they ever did before. There are Tucker s two boys that 

 never did anything but hunt, fish, and loaf, but they are 

 now earning their rations and thirteen dollars extra, a 

 thing they never did before, without the extra. There 

 are hosts of contractors for steamboats, for iron-clads, for 

 army clothing, for horses, for mules, for forage, for flour, 

 for rations of all kinds, that are getting a big slice, and 

 piling up money by the hat full. This money is distribut 

 ed all through the country, and farmers come in for their 

 share. Well, now, it is mighty natural for folks that 

 have been stinted for a good while, when they get hold 

 of the cash, to make it fly. So it goes for jewelry, for 

 bonnets, and silver trumpets, and all sorts of jimcracks 

 that tickle the women and children, and don t do any 

 body much good. 



You see, George Washington Tucker, jr., that enlisted 

 in the beginning of the war, sent home fifty dollars to his 

 intended, Miss Almeda Georgiana Bottom, and told her she 

 might swell for once, as she had never had a fair chance 

 in life. The next Sunday I rather guess there was a sen 

 sation in the Hookertown Meeting-house that kept sleepy 

 folks awake, if the sermon didn t. She had on a pair of 

 ear-rings, a big, gold-washed watch-chain, and bracelets 

 like Col. Smith s daughter, a monstrous swell of hoop 

 skiits, one of those two story bonnets with pink flowers in 

 the second story and a top knot of feathers, and to top 

 all, or rather to bottom all, a pair of new calf-skin shoes 

 that squeaked like a cider mill. She came sailing into 

 meeting just after the first hymn, when Mr. Spooner was 

 reading scripture where it says &quot; Behold the lilies of the 

 field,&quot; etc. The shoes made such a squeaking that lie had 



