I hope you will want to hear from a little over-flowed girl. I will
try to tell you some of the trouble we have been in. The water came
over our yard on the 15th of March. In a few days we had to move
out of our kitchen and lower floor, and go upstairs. The next week
there were three families who had to move out of their houses and
come here. My aunty's house was seven feet from the ground, and she
had to come here.
They had to make platforms on their galleries and put cows on them,
and their stable started to float off. They had to bring their
horses into the dining-room. The gin was full of colored people,
and the barn full of mules. I can't tell you how much we have lost.
All our hogs were drowned; we lost many chickens; the fences and
bridges are all gone.
This house is like a bee-hive. There are twenty-three people in it.
We had to put cloth around one end of the gallery for some colored
people to live in, as our gin and barn were full.
There has been much suffering among the old colored folks. They had
to leave their comfortable homes, and go to the gins, without
fires. My old black mammy came into the house with us.
I have a fine dog named Roswell. He stands on the steps, and
catches all the minnows that go by. I have also one of the smartest
black-and-tans I ever saw. His name is Rover. I have a nice little
boat that belongs to me alone, and I am learning to row. I would
like to tell you how much my little cousins and I like this dear
paper. How happy we are when Saturday comes--for that is the day we
receive it--and that night mamma reads to us. But I must say
good-by. I forgot to say how deep the water was here in our yard.
It was six feet deep in our front yard, and eight in the back yard.