OCR Text |
Show BUILT OX A LEVEE. Tltv: MOST UNIQUE TOWS IS THE MIMISSIIT1 VAIXKV. "My wife, sah, objects to my playing pokah. I defer to her wishes wish-es on certain occanous.- Howevab, on the night the levee broke I was sitting in a game at the store with some of tlie leys, when t heard the noise of wattab, and I knew that the levee had gone. We liastcn-ed liastcn-ed out and gaie the alawm, and as a result, not a life was lost. Of co'se the jackpot weutatouce, but iflthad not beeu for that game of pokah that night this whole town would have been swept out of existence, sah." This, according to the narrative of Judge Hoot, a resident of the place was the manner In which tlie town of Skipwith was saved. Thejudgc Is a levee inspcetor. He is a rosy-cheeked, rosy-cheeked, gray-haired gentleman, who weighs about 300 pounds, and Is a gnat talker. As for the Skipwith of today, imagine im-agine a village 14 feet wide and IU00 feet long, a town of one street five feet in width, bordered on one side by a river eight miles w idc, and on the other by a row of frame shanties of the rudest possible construction; con-struction; a street thronged w llh bu -era aud sellers, with gayly dressed people free from care, aud shabby and forlorn creatures with nothing left to them but the clothes on their backs, a mouthful of food and a trifle tri-fle cf furniture. This is tlie town of Skipwith on top of the levee temporarily. tem-porarily. It la by all odds the most uniqqe place In the whole Mbebalp-pl Mbebalp-pl valley. In its cvery-day appearance it Is a pre tty little town, with tw enty-D ve houses, one church, one saloon, ono awcinbly hall and three stores. It has, all told, 12.) Inhabitants o no-half no-half of whom are white folk. When the break occurred, between 0 and 10 o'clock at night, it took the people peo-ple by surprise, and they hurried to the levee with great liasteand little ceremony. No lives n ere lost and only a half-dozen cabins n ere washed wash-ed away. The white people, with the exception of about a dozen of the men. lia ve goue lo Vicksburgor Greenville. The top of the levee was the only dry .'lot, aud so the colored people with theirstock have camped outouiL They have built rude huts aud ruder liens. They opened stores and rigged up a slaughter house, and in a general way prepared to await the sulisidence of tlie Hood with tlie greatest possible good humor. Ex. |