The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1873-12-10
WORTHYOF CONSIDERATIONS.
n SUGGESTION FROM HAWKINS COUN-
TY AND OUR RESPONSE.
To the Editor Of the Morristown Gazette.

a SUGGESTION FROM HAWKINS COUN-
TY AND OUR RESPONSE.
To the Editor Of the Morristown Gazette.
It is sad TO contemplate decay.
To sec material objects, the nonu-
ments Of mans genius and taste
Wondering away beneath the touch
of time, fill5us with melancholy. But
to witness the decay Of those elc-
ments which constitute the charms
of social life. aud mark the growth
of progressive civilization, should
stir the deepest sensibilitics of our
natures.
One of the distinguishing charac-
teristics of oUr current civilization is
the multiplication of newspapers
those great educators Of the popular
mind and taste. They have become
a necessity, and that community
which has not sufficient public spirit
TO sustain local newspaper, lacks
one of the elements Of u progressive
people. Deterioration will inevita-
bly, Overtake them.
Hawkins county, once the banner
county of East Tennessee, in every
generous enterprise, is to-day lag
gard in the grand struggle for ma
terial aud intellectual supremacy,
which is stirring the energies Of so
many portions of our beautiful and
heaven favored section. Within her
borders and in her shire town was
published the first newspaper issued
in Tennessee. George Roulstone,
the pioneer printer, issued in Rogers
vile, the first number of the ''KROG-
ellie Gazette,' and from that point
continued to send forth successive
numbers of his paper, until its trans
fer to the infant city of Knoxville.
Numerous successors continued TO
follow him, ut varying intervals, but
to-day ROgersville is without q news-
paper. and the good people Of law
kins without a home organ.
In 1882, an association of gentle.
men, of ROgcrsyillc and vicinity,
profoundly impressed with the great
advantages to accrue to their county
and to all East Tennessee, by the
construction of railroad from tide
water in Virginia to connect with the
waters of the Mississippi. establish
ed, in Rogersville, the "RdilrOud ID
VOcdte,'' the GirSt newspaper erclnsjye-
Iy devoted to internal Improvement,
that was published in the United
States. The columns Of this journal.
an entire volume of which | have
had the pleasure of examining, bear
testimony to the enlarged public
spirit and far reaching views of its
founders and conductors. They were
far in advance of their day but their
neighbors and successors failed to
catch the zeal and inspiration which
fired their energies; and to-day no
railroad spans the limits Of this mag
nificent old county-only a short
branch road penetratcs her borders.
AS far back as 1927, religious
periodical, the "CdlUiniStic lIaqa-
Sine," edited by three of the most
gifted and eloquent divincs that
have ever adorned the pulpit Of our
State, Revds. David Nelson, James
Gallaher, and +. A. Ross, was issued
from the press ut Rogersville. For
Eve years these learned gentlemen
gave to East Tennessee, and the
Presbyterian Church at Large, one of
the ablest religious theological peri
odlcals, that has adorned the litera-
ture Of that denomination in this
country, laying deep the foundations
OF their peculiar theological views
and communicating to Presbyterian
ism the strength it attained through
aut East Tennessee.
To-day the pulpits of both the
Presbyterian Churches, in this very
center of Presbyterian influence, are
silent. No longer the walls of their
sanctuaries echo to the eloquent
messages of the heralds of the Cross.
No Pastors lead their floclxs.
The stately and extensive build
ings on tho border of the town. and
the charming grounds surrounding
them, where once 1ourished the most