The Junior Historian, Volume 3, Number 3, December 1942 Page: 2
12 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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THE JUNIOR HISTORIAN
the trail-looking over my shoulder fair-
ly careful-like so that the snake wouldn't
get too close to me and went on down to-
the spring and set down. The big old
diamond-back came along out in front
of me and sort of coiled up in..a little
sunny streak just a lookin' right straight
at. me.. Well, I sorta.began talking to
him, telling my troubles to him and it
sure did look like he understood. Occa-
sionally he would-nod his head around:
It just looked like he would've talked
if he could.
"When I left to go back to the cabin,
he followed along I guess about half
way to the house and then dropped off
somewhere.
"Next day when I went down to the
spring, I noticed him drop in in back of
me again. Somehow, I wasn't much
scared that day, not half as much as I
had been the day before. He followed
on down to the spring like he had the
'day before and I talked to him some
more and again it shore would seem like
he understood. Just looked like he'd
a talked too, if he could have. That day
I said, 'Well, old fellow, I think I'll
call you Bill.' Bill was the name of my
best hunting dog that had died about
a month before. He nodded and just
seemed like he understood.
"Well, as time wore on, Bill and me
got to be pretty chummy. I used to
want somebody to talk to pretty regular
then, and there still warn't any neigh-
"bors so awful close out our way.
"Then I got to telling Bill about the
Abolitionists and the Black Republicans
and the Yankees that wanted to come
down and take all the niggers away
from the Southern folks and set them
free and make them equal to the white
folks and I'd tell Bill that things was]
looking pretty bad. Old Bill would al-
ways look like he understood. I'd tell
him about the Abolitionists and he'd
get all coiled up and look like he was
just ready to bite them, And finally,;
the war did come. I went down to the
spring to have my last talk .with OldBill, to tell him that I' was going to
fight the Yankees. Didn't know just
;when. I'd get back.- Well, Old Bill he
sure looked like he, would've talked.if
he could but I sure did know he was
understanding. I told Bill to sort of
look after things around the spring as
.best he could -and that I hoped I'd be
back soinetime arid .he...vduld still be
around.
'"Well,. I went back up to the. house.
to tell the wife goodbye, got on my
horse,-and rode off, going to camp and
just as I rode in under the big elm tree,
I felt something drop around niy shoul-
deis and lo and behold, it was Bill. He
,had his head over my right shoulder
and was lookin' on up ahead the trail
toward camp. So I said, 'So you want
to go to war too, Bill?' and I know he
was noddin' his head. I said, 'Well,
all right, but I don't know how the fel-
lows in camp will take you.. Now I'll
have to tell you a whole lot of things.
These fellows in camp will all be Texans.
And they will be a little skittish of you
because you are a diamond-back rattler.
But they are all fighting for the South
and don't you give them no trouble and
I'll tell them not to give you no trouble.'
Well, when I got to camp, a lot of-the
fellows did holler about my bringing
in a rattlesnake and for a long time
there wouldn't nobody stay in the tent
with- me but I'd take Bill out with me
and show 'em he was just as gentle as
a puppy dog and by and by the fellows
got enough reconciled that they wouldn't
give Bill- no trouble anyhow.
"Well, we practiced a lot of march-
ing and drilling and we had an awful
good band in our camp. First, Old Bill
w~iould watch us on the drill field and
you could tell he sure did like drilling.
He would watch us and you could look
at him and you'd just know he would've
talked if he could have. And when we'd.
have a parade, Old Bill would getplumb
excited. Pretty soon, he learnt all the
drills and he'd get out on the drill field
ahead of us. He could squads right,
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Texas State Historical Association. The Junior Historian, Volume 3, Number 3, December 1942, periodical, December 1942; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth391292/m1/4/: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.