The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1867-05-30
Written for the Toledo Blads.l
NASBY.

The Decease Of Elder Gavitt---
Mr.. Nasby Announces the
Death of his Friend and
Mourns---A Touching Obitu-
ary.
PosT OFFIs, CoNFEDRIT x ROADS, !
(wich is 10 the Stait Of Ky. ) :
, May, 2, 1867.
A bite has fallen DER nv soul
My eyes, albeit unused TO the melt
in mood, they distilled notbin but
tears for twelve hours. A Pillar
hez fallen? In the meetin house
there is vacant pew, and chair
at Bascom's is without a setter
Last mite at precisely nine 2. NJ,
Elder Abimileck Gavitt departed
this life, aged SO years aud some odd
months.
Iweep ez l write. Tho Elder
wuz smut out jest ez the flowers Nv
spring wuz cumin Jest ez the
weather wuz gettin warm enough
to go barefooted-jest when it
wuznt nessary to bother about
gettin fire wood or be concerned
about feedin the stock-jest when
it begins to be comfortable settin
onto the grocery stoop-jest at the
threshold Nv six months enjoyment.
Why was he taken2 Exc ans,rs.
The ways Nv Providence is in.
skrootable
Elder Gavitt wuz native Nv
North Karliny, wich State he left
in the blush Nv early manhood, jist
after he wuz married Wat he left
North Karliny for, I never wuz
able to asserlane precisely, but |
hev understood it wuz suthin IN
connection with a smoke house and
the hams wich did hang therein.
He wuE in q Wing naberhood-his
naber, the proprietor of tho smoke.
house wuz Whig-ther wuz sum
hams mist--the rinds were found
in his posscssion-Whig intole.
rance and persekooshen. Upon
sich Slite evidence he wuz adjudged
guilty OF theft, and wuz ignomini
ously ordered to leave the country
in twenty-four hours, wich he did.
driftln nat'rally to kentucky.
Thank Heaven for sich outrages
But for sich, Kentucky wood hev
bin a Republican State, or wood
hev remained unsettled to this
day.
Elder Gavitt wuz alluz Demo.
crat NV the strictest sect. He vo-
ted for Jackson, and re- lerly for ev.
cry Dimocratic can didate sence.
He didn't read very much; indeed,
ef | remember right, be cooden' |
do it at all, and wus, cohsekently.
steadiast in tho faith. He wuzn't
shook about, and driven hitber and
yon by every wind, but remained
thro lifo fast in the groove into
wich he'd bin originally sot His
politikle creed wuz made up Nv
this one idee, to-wit: Hatrid Nv
Moo England, He hatid Moo Eng
land becoz Moo England hatid
whisky, wich he cooden't git along
without, aud slavery, Nv wich he
had a hundred niggers. He votid
agin Moo England all his life reg
lerly, and ez many times on each
eleckshen day ez he cood, without
risk.
My acquaintance with the de.
ceest commenst about three years
ago. 1t wuz at his house l stopt
on my advent into these parts
Their wuz no need Nv formal intro
duckshens-ther wuz already
bond atween US wich knit our
souls together. His eye, ez it lit
onto my nose, lighted up with
smile, and ez [ gazed on hizzen
felt that he wuz indeed a man and
a brother. He took me in-he
sheltered me--he gave me where
of to eat, and to drink and to make
merry, and with him l tarried till
l wuz reglorlY installed ez paster
Nv the Church, and thereby regler-
ly pervided for.
The cause NV the Elders death
wuz broken heart. He wuz
ardent Confedrit, and manfully
bore up under the reverses Nv the
war. His courage wuz unshaken
doorin the repeated successes Nv
the Federal armies, and even when
emancipation deprived him Nv his
slaves, he still he'd faith that, even
chooally, all wood be we'll. 1--WE
may be beoten now," wuz his con.
stant remark, "but the Northern
Dimocrisy are all right, and thro
them we'll yet conker |" Confdin !
in EN-, bleevin in EN-, he held out
Drave up 10 the passage Nv tue lie q
construckshen bill.
| then saw chahge steel insen, :
sibIy over my venerable friend. 9
His head bowed with supprest gtiet !,
his bosom throbbed with the 0.
moshen that wuz strugglin for ut. ,
trance. He wood come over to my ,
ottis five or six times a day, and
ask me to read him that passage NV +
the law given the niger the ballot, :
| wood do it, when, withouS sayin
a word, he wood reel off, with tears +,
flowin down his wasted cheeks, TO /;
Bascoms. Iwocd toller him to soc
that no harm came to him. The
old man wuz so broken that he'd
pay for his own hkker and mine
TOO, without noticin. Fearin to a. {
waknn unpleasant emoshens in his
mind, / never mensheni the latter