Amos J. Stephenson is engaged in the undertaking business, a business which, like the doctor's, requires the undertaker to move when ordered, rain or shine, by day or by night. It is a good business, but a hard and irregular one. I have tried it. I am not fond of the business. My olfactory organs are too sensitive to allow the work to be pleasant. Then, it is natural for a man to wish to do a rushing business; especially is this the case in a hustling city. An undertaker cannot do any business unless some of his neighbors furnish the corpse. The consequence is, he is always wishing for some one to die. A wag, passing my window one day, seeing me idle, said: "How much will you give me for killing somebody?"
The Stephensons and their relatives are scattered from North Alabama to Western Texas. I have been much among them, and am of the opinion that I can ride horseback from North Alabama 900 miles to Western Texas, and not be at any time more than thirty miles from the home of a kinsman. But, strange to say, I was never at Des Arc, and am a stranger to my Cousin Amos. But from the moral and religious training that I know his father had, and believing in the literal fulfillment of the Scriptures, I am persuaded to believe that he is training up his four sons in the way they should go.
Robert H., son of H. S. Stephenson, and his wife, Anna, was wounded in the battle of Shiloh, and died of his wounds. George W. died in 1884. Charles C. Stephenson is the youngest son of Hugh S. and his wife, Anna Stephenson.
Hugh S. Stephenson was a man of fine mind and splendid moral character; his life suitably demonstrated the moral training his parents gave him. He was
