I am nearly home.  I stopped yesterday in the 
little town of Moscow, Texas, just a day's ride 
from Lufkin.  I wouldn't have stayed, but I 
asked a man to water my horse and drink from 
his well.  Turns out he had been wounded and 
discharged too.  Even more coincidentally, he 
was a Brother Freemason. Turns out they have 
had a Lodge in Moscow since 1858, and they were 
meeting tonight.  He invited me to come, and I 
did.  They have a nice lodgeroom on the second 
floor of a free public school. Brother Thompson 
told me that the Moscow Male and Female Academy 
is the first free public school established in 
Texas.  It was founded by the Royal Arc Masonry 
Chapter that shares the facilities and the cost 
with the blue Lodge here.  Of course, things are 
kind of rough right now.  So many of the men are 
fighting or have died in the service of the 
Confederacy, that there's not a lot of members 
left around here to help run things.  Hardly 
anyone has any real money, however, and they are 
making out.  

I spent the night with Brother Thompson and his
family.  I had one of the best meals I've had in 
years.  Brother Thompson killed a couple of 
chickens, and I helped hip pluck them.  His wife 
made a fine pot of chicken stew with potatoes and 
onions they had grown themselves. She said she 
would have made dumplings instead, but flour was 
hard to come by sometimes.  I'd like to add that 
she also makes some of the best cornbread I ever 
ate.  After living off of army rations and what 
I could kill and cook, this is one of the best 
meals I've had in years.  She sent me on my way 
with some fried cornbread, onions, potatoes, and 
left-over fried chicken.  Nothing would do but 
I'd take a jar of her may-haw jelly along too!  
I know how hard it is to get any kind of jar now 
days, but she insisted.  Brother Thompson wanted 
me to stay a couple of days to rest and fatten 
up.  He said my horse looked as if he could use 
the resttoo, but I'm too close to home to stop 
now.  Another week or so of hard travel, and I'll 
be home.

It's a mite easier now that I'm back in Texas.  
I don't have to worry about Yankees showing up.  
I still have been challenged by home guards and 
lawmen. They are on the lookout for men who have 
run from the army.  Dessertion is a hanging 
offense.  I still have my discharge papers.  If 
they aren'tconvinced, I just go somewhere private 
and show them my scars.  That does it.  I could 
get home a little faster if I wanted to ride a 
train.  There are a few trains still running here, 
although the rolling stock is looking pretty worn 
out, and derailments are pretty regular.  I 
figure I'll need the horse to help with the farm, 
so I'll just keep on going.