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Mama Bear, the mother of the twins Nancy Bird, and Aunt Mary stayed at home that Saturday. They liked town well enough but the day was cold and dreary. Mama Bear had said, "Too much work to go to town on a day like this. Nancy, Mary and I'll piddle around here. We'll find something to do. Supper is my pork loin, Mary's potatoes and greens, and Nancy's pecan pie. You all be back before milking to eat or I'll give it all to the pigs."
Saturday in rural Tennessee was a busy trade day in its 99 county seat towns. Weather didn't hamper that occasion. The country folk came to town to get needed supplies from groceries to clothing to farm items. Dellrose had most of what the farm needed but Fayetteville was the center of the county's life, transportation, politics and big social events such as; revivals, dances, electioneering, land sales, travel-through peddlers, even minstrel shows occasionally. The Chicatauga was a recent special event in late summer and fall and citizen's gatherings around the courthouse square just to visit and catch up with the family news and general gossip was an ongoing event.
Lou and Alex rode big, young red matched mules - "East" and "West". Uncle Joe T. drove the wagon team pulled by the big black mule team - "Jack" and "Bill" - brought out of the Sequatchies. Grand John L. sat regally in the big chair in the back of the farm wagon. He faced the rear. He told folks that he wanted to remember where he had been and make sure no villains were about to overtake them. In the winter he was always wrapped in a big, gray wool blanket that Alex had procured from the army. Mama Bear had put a patch over the hole with the bloodstains. He called it his "Chief's" blanket. He brought some herbs from Mama Bear. He would see Mr. Damron at Carter's Drug Store about them. The tall, quiet druggist was Mama Bear's biggest customer. Joe T. pulled the team in beside Davis' Hardware atop Jail House Hill on the west side of the square. Alex and Lou hitched their mounts in front of the store. The county judge, Leland Mansfield, greeted them as he strode towards the courthouse. His father-in-law, Claude Moore, was the new principal at Dellrose School.
Lou dismounted, being careful with her petticoats. She could or would not ride sidesaddle like some of the ladies from Mulberry Avenue but she did somewhat conform by wearing voluminous dresses of current women's fashion, albeit without a corset. She had two going-to-town, Sunday, outfits - one light brown with dark purple and yellow trim and a middle-toned gray one with scarlet and light blue trim. Her farm felt hat was hanging on the hat peg back in the kitchen at home. Today she had on a fashionable black bonnet with scarlet accents that complimented her gray/scarlet ensemble. (Kathleen at the millinery shop beside Sherrill - Stone's had told her it was being worn in New Orleans this season.) Her heavy shawl was black.