The Little Immigrant | Page 8

set in.

In 1870 the town of Jefferson was thrown into a panic by the murder
one night of a "carpet-bagger." Carpet-bagger was a name given to

those men who came into Southern towns after the war to stir up the
people, and particularly the darkies, against the authorities. It was
necessary for Washington to send troops to Jefferson to restore order.
A stockade was built up on the hill near the new home of Jaffray, for he
had found his first little house too small for his growing family, and
into this stockade some of Jefferson's prominent citizens were thrown
and kept until they could prove their innocence of the charges brought
against them, namely, that they had knowledge of the murder of the
carpet-bagger. Those were trying days. Jaffray had returned from
Mexico in impaired health, which had been caused by the impure
drinking water in the country and also the intense heat there. The
doctors told him he had to take a long rest.
Things were going badly in the town, military law was established and
all men found implicated in the disturbance were drastically punished.
The war bad reduced the prosperous store holder to penury, there was
little money left to circulate among the people and Jefferson was
demoralized in its business, civic and social life.
General Buell, commanding the military occupation, asked as a favor to
be put up at Jaffray's house, as it was one of the largest in the town and
near the camp. Jaffray consented. So General Buell and his wife came
to live with Renestine and Jaffray, and afterwards one or two other
officers and their wives joined General Buell. This was a courageous
thing for Jaffray to have done, for, with the spirit existing in the town at
that critical time, not many residents would harbor the Yankees. It was
so dangerous that one night, when the General wished to retire to his
rooms across the broad hall, he turned to Jaffray and said:
"Jaffray, put out the lamps before I cross over."
Kerosene lamps were in use and Jaffray put out the light before the
officer walked from the sitting room across to his own rooms. In
politics Jaffray was a Republican and he had the courage to live up to
his convictions in a community that was enraged against Lincoln and
his party. But the Republicans stood for free men, whatever color or
creed, and Jaffray championed their doctrines. For him humanity,

justice and liberty was the breath of his nostrils. This passion for men's
rights he had inherited from a long line of ancestors reaching back into
the mists of "In the beginning." He was an Israelite.
Renestine was glad to accept this change in their lives, as she realized
that Jaffray's affairs were not prosperous and with the assistance of her
servants she could help him very well, particularly as he was not in
robust health. Whatever situation faced her she met it with high
courage and a spirit to do. Their devotion was deep and with their little
family they were happy and contented. Sorrow had not spared them,
however, for their baby daughter bad contracted whooping cough and
died a few months before. Jaffray grieved deeply for the little child and
Renestine was almost overcome. But she straightened up herb beautiful
head, like a flower after the storm has passed, and comforted her
husband.
CHAPTER VI
JAFFRAY was now Postmaster of Jefferson. he city had resumed its
normal life and gained in population and wealth. The streets were filled
with wagons loaded with bales of cotton brought from as far away as
250 miles by ox teams, which took three weeks.
Jefferson was at the head of navigation on an arm of the Red River.
Steamboats came up once or twice a week and the cotton was shipped
to New Orleans and from that city to the mills in the East. When the
boats arrived the scene on the levee was a very animated one. Negroes
would fix large bill hooks into the bagging around the cotton bales and
load them into drays. Some of them worked singing, as sailors do when
they haul and pull.
Sometimes the captains of the larger steamboats would issue invitations
to the families for a soiree, when the excitement would fill society for
days. The ladies would dress in their silks and laces and the men spruce
up in their frock coats and flowered waistcoats and cross the gang
plank into the kerosene-lighted steamboats and dance until morning.
Those were red letter days for Jefferson. As a matter of etiquette, when

the steamboat was loaded and about to start back, everybody would be
at the levee to wave good-bye. The side paddle would turn and the
hospitable captain would be