Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/803

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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fill merchant were in his case engrafted upon a character rooted deep in the integrity and justice which were his both by inheritance and breeding. His mother was one of that gentle-mannered type of women, tender and sympathetic, mdulgently yielding in non- essentials, but like adamant in matters of right and wrong. A really wonderful woman she was. sweet and brave and strong of sjiirit. Though physically frail, she met so well the heavy responsibilities thrust upon her by her husband's death that her influence over her seven fatherless boys held them to sober and upright lives, and her ex- ample was a force for good in a circle wide beyond her family. Her sons went from her armored in sound principles of justice and honor from which they never departed.

Mr. Jones spent six years with Air. Jor- dan in Luray, developing his business talents in an excellent school. The close confine- ment and irregular hours finally proved too much for a boy accustomed to the freedom and comforts of a well ordered home. At twenty-one he had hoped to take his patri- mony, which had been accumulating during his minority, and launch out into business for himself, but ill health changed all his plans and deferred his hopes. Life in the open was prescribed for him and. with his characteristic energy, he decided upon a leisurely horseback trip to Missouri. I'or six months or more he. with his brother Isaac as his companion, wandered through the then undeveloped Middle West, touch- ing here and there to greet old friends and kindred who had left Virginia to follow the western trail, and stopping at the various watering places in Virginia — loitering along as the spirit moved them. His description of the White Sulphur S])rings of 1845 offers striking contrast to its present-day luxuries. Though at that time a favorite resort of people of wealth and fashion, it made little provision for the passing traveler, who was forced to be content with crude lodgings, bad service and indifferent food. The peo- ple who gave charm to the place had their own cabins, brought their own horses and servants, and provided for their own com- fort.

The good results from this trip were not immediately apparent. He reached home too spent in strength to even dismount un- aided from his horse. Utterly discouraged, he gave himself over to the care of his dearly-

beloved mother and to the luxury of her ministrations. He was unfit for work of any sort, but his pent-up energies made idle- ness an agony. He grew so restless that in desperation his mother taught him to knit. Interest in overcoming the difficulties pre- sented by bungling fingers, refractory needles, tangled threads and dropped stitches, sooth- ed his jangling nerves and enabled him to rest quietly where he best loved to be — at his mother's side. Under her careful atten- tion to his food, rest and recreation, he soon began to grow stronger and continued stead- ily to improve until he recovered sufficiently to undertake business again. Those months of companionship with his mother, while he was convalescing in his childhood home, were among his happiest memories, out of which grew his conception of what a true home should mean to its family.

Not yet feeling very sure of his health, his first venture was confined to a country store at Peaksville, Bedford county, where there was no need of close confinement, and where a partner shared the responsibility. Upon the fuller restoration of his health, he established himself alone in the hardware business in Bedford City (then Liberty), a venture so successful from the start as to bring quick recognition of his ability as a merchant. In 1855, thinking he saw wider opportunities in Salisbury, North Carolina, he transferred his hardware interests there, and conducted a most successful business until the beginning of the civil war.

He was opposed to secession, and had no military ambitions, no love for the excite- ment of a soldier's life, but true to the tra- ditions of his people, he was ready to quietly do his part in the struggle, at whatever cost. He closed out his business in .'^alisbury and returned to Virginia to follow the fortunes of his native State. When \'irginia seceded, he enlisted as a private in the Second \'ir- ginia Cavalry and served in the commissary department through the four years to Appo- mattox with the same stern adherence to duty, as he saw it, however harsh, that always characterized him. For him there was no glamour or romance in war. no ajjpeal to ambition through military dis- tinction ; just plain hard duty demanded of his manhood, so faithfully performed that in spite of his modest place, it won from his commanding officers recognition of his ster- ling worth. General T. T. Munford writes