The Mockingbird's Ballad

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The General sat in the parlor of the Jones' plantation mansion. He was served scarce English tea in an elegant china cup. It was obvious that his host had connections with blockade runners on the coast, Charleston or Savannah. Mrs. Daniella Jones Sherrod sat in a richly upholstered chair to the right of her aristocratic father, Richard Jones.

"General, I've heard the most amazing story about you", Mrs. Sherrod said.

"Ma'am?" Joseph said. His cup was midway to his mouth. "And what could that be Mrs. Sherrod?"

"Well, it seems they say that when you were up in Shelbyville, back in October last year, you escaped a whole regiment of Yankee soldiers by jumping on horseback fifty feet into the Duck River. My goodness, Sir, that is quite a feat!"

"Mrs. Sherrod, I assure you it was not fifty feet, more like twenty and my horse did the real work," Joseph said with a straight face but a prankster's twinkle in his dark green-blue eyes.