The Use and Need of the Life of Carrie A. Nation | Page 9

to the door,
gave them seats, then went in this milkhouse and brought out a jar of
buttermilk. I have heard it said that buttermilk is one of the greatest
treats to a soldier. He talked with these men as if they had been friends;
brought out fruit; loaded them with bread, butter and milk; and they left
without even taking a horse from us. I fully believe it was their
intention to do some harm, but by the tact of my father they were
disarmed. "A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir
up strife." He was a thorough business man, but his social qualities
exceeded all others. He often had to pay security debts, one for Mr.
Key, his brother-in-law, of five thousand dollars. Just before the
election of Lincoln, he took a large drove of mules to Natchez, Miss.,
twenty-two of these mules were of his own raising. While there Lincoln
was elected, which threw the south into war. He sold the mules on time
and never got a dollar for them. To the honor of my father be it said, he
gave up all his property to pay his debts, never withholding, where he
could have done so. A short while before he died there was one debt of
a few hundred dollars he could not pay. He wept and told me of this. A
year ago I settled up with Mr. Wills' heirs and paid this debt to his
children, who live near Peculiar in Cass county, Mo. It would be such d

joy to my father to know that I did this to save his honor. When I see
him, in our heavenly home, he will bless me for this. "Love knows no
sacrifice."
I can not call to mind when the thought of self, governed any of my
father's actions. It was his delight to provide for the comfort of others.
Devoted to his family and friends, and such a friend to the poor; I have
heard my mother say that he made every one rich who worked for him.
When I first remember him he was a "Trader" and left his farm to an
overseer. My father drove hogs to Cincinnati before there were any
railways. I was always at his heels, when I could be. He was standing
on the stile one day giving directions to have a drove of hogs meet him
at a certain place on Sunday. I said: "Pa, you will lose on those hogs.
You ought not to do that on Sunday." He gave me a quick, light,
playful slap, saying: "Stop that, every time you say that, I do lose."
I can see that a responsibility to God was the fundamental principle in
my father's life. After the negroes were freed, and we lived on the farm,
there was so much to do, especially for him, but there was always a
conveyance prepared to take his family to church and Sunday School--I
took the "New York Ledger. Mrs. Southworth wrote for it then.
'Capitola', The Wrecker's Son, with other thrilling stories, were so
fascinating to me--The paper came late Saturday and I would rather
read it Sunday morning than go anywhere. One morning I took my
paper and went to the back of the orchard, thinking to get out of the
sound of my father's voice when he would call me to get ready for
church. I could just hear him but did not move. After reading my paper,
I returned to the house, Pa was just coming back with the rest of the
family from church. He looked at me with grief and anger in his glance
and said, "Never mind, you ungrateful girl, you cannot say at the
judgment Day, that your father did not provide a way for you to go to
church." I never did this again and never was free from remorse for this
ingratitude. I know how Dr. Johnson felt when he was seen standing on
a corner of the street with the sun beaming down upon his bare head,
when asked why he did that he said, "My father had a book stand on
this corner, when I was a boy once he asked me to stand here in his
place as he was sick. I would not, now I would expiate that by
blistering my bare head in the sun if I could. To this day I weep to think
of grieving so noble a parent.

My mother was a very handsome woman. My father was what you
might call good looking. I was very anxious to look like him; used to
try to wear off my teeth on the right side, because his were worn off.
About two years before he died, he came to Texas to