THRIFT GIFTS

Being bombarded daily with advertisements urging us to buy expensive holiday gifts again reminds us of the Bullis family's emphasis on frugality.  One example of this trait is Nettie Bullis's evening meals that consisted of a bologna sandwich and a pint of milk, even though she could have afforded to eat gourmet meals; Charlie Bullis's used-book purchases at area garage and barn sales is another.

It has been said that Charlie Bullis could often be seen at these sales, carting off bags or even boxes of books that were someone else's castoffs. The phrase "one person's trash, another person's treasure" certainly describes a number of rare books that ended up in the Bullis Collection as a result of Mr. Bullis's love of books and his equal love of frugality.

The family's thrift resulted in an estate that Nettie Bullis left to benefit her home town and county. And Charlie Bullis's focus on acquiring used books resulted in a more interesting collection.  We thank both of them for these gifts of thrift.

WRITING HOME TO MOM

Digging through and organizing folders this week, we came across a document titled "JOHN LAPHAM BULLIS, Letters to his Mother, Mrs. Dr. A. H. Bullis"  followed by a list of dates and synopses of some of Bullis's correspondence with his mother between November 1863 and February, 1867.

We had looked over this document a year or so ago, and this morning, we reread the entry titled "3 Dec 1865."  At that time John Lapham Bullis was in the 118th Infantry, which was located in "Brownsville, opposite Matamoros." The entry reads:

"Near mouth of Rio Grande. Across the river, Maximilianists still determined to hold out against Liberalists. Fearful they will be successful, as L's badly equipped. But L's captured a vessel and turned it over to Americans. French Commodore demanded it be delivered to Imperialists. (Not done) at Bagdad and also captors of it but Weitzel would not and secret orders to guard same. Health good. Johnnie."

We are puzzled by this entry and would appreciate any information and insight that would help explain exactly what happening on the Texas-Mexico border, 149 years ago today--both from the standpoint of our nation's history as well as John Lapham Bullis's personal and professional life.