war, none were more genial or more popular than Little
Compton. He was popular with all classes, with old and with young, with
whites and with blacks. He was sober, discreet, sympathetic, and
generous. He was neither handsome nor magnetic. He was awkward and
somewhat bashful, but his manners and his conversation had the rare
merit of spontaneity. His sallow face was unrelieved by either mustache
or whiskers, and his eyes were black and very small, but they glistened
with good-humor and sociability. He was somewhat small in stature, and
for that reason the young men about Hillsborough had given him the name
of Little Compton.

Little Compton's introduction to Hillsborough was not wholly without
suggestive incidents. He made his appearance there in 1850, and opened a
small grocery store. Thereupon the young men of the town, with nothing
better to do than to seek such amusement as they could find in so small
a community, promptly proceeded to make him the victim of their pranks
and practical jokes. Little Compton's forbearance was wonderful. He
laughed heartily when he found his modest signboard hanging over an
adjacent barroom, and smiled good-humoredly when he found the sidewalk
in front of his door barricaded with barrels and dry-goods boxes. An
impatient man would have looked on these things as in the nature of
indignities, but Little Compton was not an impatient man.

This went on at odd intervals, until at last the fun-loving young men
began to appreciate Little Compton's admirable temper; and then for a
season they played their jokes on other citizens, leaving Little Compton
entirely unmolested. These young men were boisterous, but good-natured,
and they had their own ideas of what constituted fair play. They were
ready to fight or to have fun, but in neither case would they willingly
take what they considered a mean advantage of a man.

By degrees they warmed to Little Compton. His gentleness won upon them;
his patient good-humor attracted them. Without taking account of the
matter, the most of them became his friends. This was demonstrated one
day when one of the Pulliam boys from Jasper County made some slurring
remark about "the little Yankee." As Pulliam was somewhat in his cups,
no attention was paid to his remark; whereupon he followed it up with
others of a more seriously abusive character. Little Compton was waiting
on a customer; but Pulliam was standing in front of his door, and he
could not fail to he