The prairie news. [volume] (Okolona, Miss.) 1851-1875, 1858-07-15
From the Petrel
A History Of Chickasaw County
NrMRER /.

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NUMBER /.
Editor 9fMe Petrel. In fullflment o
the promise given sometime ago, We as
sumo the task of giving, to the good Citi
zens of Chickasaw County, brief bistO
ry of the County, from the time of its or
ganizatjon up to the period which may
be reached at the time when, having
completed the task proposed, we shall
lay aside the pen, and cease the search
of the official records of the County
The task will be one of melancholy pleas.
ure: Melancholy, in the fact that, neces-
sarily, we will have to exhume the Off.
cial acts of those who, sleeping in the
undisturbed rest and quiet of the graves
dreamless slumber, will not, and may not
be disturbed by the thoughts or reflections
of those who, inheriting the benefits Of
their patriotic labors, may be disposed to
sit in judgement on their actions; pleas
ing indeed will be the task of holding
communion with those who, by their ac-
tion, have prepared for us the fair heritage
of the present hour; pleasing too to min
gle in their counsel, to mark the undevia-
ting patriotism of their plans for the pres
ent as also to mark the ripening wisdom
of the development Of those plans, which
looking beyond the good and the enjoy
ments of the present hour, grasped as it
were in the spirit of patriotic prescience
the lessons to be taught the future, and
spread upon the Records that course of
prudent action which, if propely needed,
will be the conservator of the present good
and the security for turture benefits
Men they were-those pioneer fathers of
the County-whether living or dead, who
were fully prepared and fitted to meet the
necessities of the times when they acted.
We feel that we should be doing violence
to the feelings which move our own hearts
and prompt the feelings of the great body
of our, county men, were we to pass by
the acts or refuse to pay just, because
heartfelt tribute of respect and admira-
tion to those CoNsCRIPT FATHERS" of
our county who first, by their wise coun-
sells and patriotic conduct contributed to
its development We do not propose, in
these numbers, to deal in fancy sketches,
nor do we propose to let the imagination
have wings and float off on the aerial
tide of thought into the regions of the
ideal. We propose, on the contrary, to
deal in the stern facts of real life in its
every day transactions and in the virtu-
GUS discharge of everyday duties. The
good man lives in the memory of his ac-
tions and the veneration for his virtues,
while the bad and the base man perishes
from thought and recollection by the
execration of his vices and contempt for
his conduct as such. We live in a prac-
tical and an utilitarian age, when, to a
great extent, the estimate of character is
weighed by the success of the man in the
affairs and concerns of life. Humble
virtue clothed in rags, or conscientious
integrity in the humble walks and call
ings of life, frequently pass unheeded by
the throng in the busy struggle of the
great battle which is constantly being
fought, it may be, unconsciously, between
poverty and wealth, and also between
virtue and vice. Man must and will
work out the thread of his destiny. His
acts, whether poor or rich, great or igno-
Bile, virtuous or vicious, will tell out upon
the history of the future. The God of
his creation has given noble, elevated and
virtuous aspirations, which elevates him
above the sphere of cold unfeeling
selfshness and causes him to act for the
present benefit and future good as well
of those with whom he is associated as of
those who are to follow him on the stage
of life's eventful drama. In the practi-
cal illustration and development of those
qualities are brought out those. finer and
gentler principles in the. practice Of
which all the enjoyments of social life
depend; or again those attributes Of
manhood standing by the sacred altar Of
country and of love of that country,
evolve all the latest patriotism, which
teaches the man to foget himself and his
family and to regard his county's good as
the paramount and overshadowing bless
ings, and for that good he pours out the
tide Of life's cherished current at the
shrine Of the public veal and on the altar
of Patriotism. 81
These are some of the noble and more
exalted attributes of our nature which
are evolved by the fires of that patriotic
ardor which in days past in the Republic s
history glowed in the hearts Of those
worthless who have, by their actions
wrought the scheme Of political and NOR
al renovation which, operating on the
human mind and commencing itself to
the noblest and most exalted feeling of
the human heart, will and must, cause the
oppressed sons of earth to rend with giant
strength. the chains that bind them to the
traditions Of the past, and trample in the
dust those arrogant and despotic claims
of thrones and dynasties which grind them
in mind and body, in mental and physical