Got up this morning feeling pretty well and concluded to
leave to-morrow; went up town and mailed a letter to my wife; saw Dr. Johnson
and got a certificate from him accounting for my delay, and a mixture of chalk
and laudanum to take on the road; had a long talk with the doctor and Rev. Mr.
Wilson about the Downs and Sparks, citizens of Waco; the doctor refused to
charge me anything. I borrowed seventy-five dollars from Major Holman and gave
him my note. Have been reading Bulwer's “Strange
Story" a good deal to-day. Mrs. Weir came in this evening and talked
very kindly to me; wants me to stay longer, but I must go; every man ought to
go. Witnessed a cock fight in the streets a few minutes ago and rather enjoyed
it; wonder how my chickens come on at home, and what my dear wife and dear
little Stark and Mary are doing now. Mrs. Bacon has just brought me a
pocketbook, and she and Mrs. Brownnigg and Mrs. Weir have offered me money.
Miss Gregg has brought me a toddy and I must drink it. Oh! these women!
"The world was sad, the garden
was a wild,
And man, the hermit, sighed till woman smiled."
SOURCE: John Camden West, A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a Private Soldier in Hood’s Texas Brigade, p. 22-3
