The Storm

"Ruby was named after the loving wife of a beloved Confederate officer that settled here with his family to escape the devastation of the war, and planted broom corn, cotton, and hay. There were no cattle, 'cause the war took the livestock to feed the army, but they left a few plow horses and mules." "That Confederate Officer was my great granddaddy. Broom corn is what you used to make those old straw brooms you used to see in stores everywhere. He made the handles from cyprus tree limbs, turnin' 'em down on an ole', make-shift, wood lathe, and wirin' the whole thing together with balin' wire. He then cut the ends straight with a scythe-blade cuttin' machine. Parts of it are still in the shed out back. He, along with my grandpa, Ruben, who was born just after the war ended, did a pretty good job with harvestin' broom corn, cotton, and hay. Eventually, there was a ferry that came upriver, and my great grandpa would load the finished brooms, cotton, and hay on the ferry for shippin' south to Baton Rouge for the hardware and mercantile stores and feed lots. The docks were right here, close to this same house. The building out back is what’s left of the operation." "Great granddaddy did pretty well here, despite the problem of havin' only one good arm. He was wounded at Shiloh and had lost it when the arm was broken as a musket ball nearly took it off below the elbow. The docs couldn’t save it. That’s what I heard, anyway. His kindness to newcomers got to be pretty well-known and attracted the disenfranchised, Southern folk that had taken to wanderin' to find greener pastures. And findin' my great granddaddy hospitable and willin' to help, they homesteaded here in Ruby. He'd help out the new families as they arrived by foot, wagon, horseback, or

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