The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-11-03

y
the man of God appeared, Of whatever de-
nomination, he was welcomed, and the fami-
ly and house servants were usually called to
PRAYER In deed it seemed as if neighbort
and brethren generally, on the way to Wood
Vile from the surrounding country, often
calculated upon spending night at Bowling
Green and always found a welcome It's
ruins were never disturbed by its owner
though he built a second house just by its
four walls and pillars. They stood as a mon
ument of the great personal indisnlly sui
fered by him at the time Of its destruction
In his business habits he was systematic
prompt and orderly. His judgment was re-
markably clear and sound in financial mat
tiers to the very last, and his credit uudis-
turbed for more than seventy years Ofan ac-
tive business life. He had unusual powers of
application and memory and of taking up
the thread OF an investigation where il had
been lett off weeks before. lie wg> very er-
terprising and capable of managing great
deal of work successfully. He carried ON
six or seven large plantations at one time
and owned considerably over thousand ser.
wants. To him Mississippi is indebted for
its first railroad and its first cotton factory
As planter his thrift was indicated in that
he always had corn to sell, though in times
of much scarcity he sold only to the poor.
and at low rates.
As master he was after the apostolic
ideal. Just, generous, thoughtful gentle
ALWAYS equal ia manner, he was regarded by
his servants with more than flial reverence.
The Providence which placed them under
his care was to him a problem of constant
and momentOus interest. He at one time
thought seriously of going himself to Africa
that he might there superinJend a colony Of
his own servants planted by himself Ii was
this personal relation to the slave that made
him so early and strong a supporter of the
colonization scheme His servants were at
fOrded every opportunity which the laws of
the State permitted for their religious and So
cial improvement; and at the breaking out
of the war were all of them at the highest
point of civilization and of intellectual and
spiritual enlightenment ever known To them
or their ancestry during the past two hun
dred years. The events of the war brought
to him, as well as TO the whole planting in
terests of the South the social and industrial
relief which had long been wished for, but
which could not possibly have been foreseen
as directly at hand specially as a result
upon the sheer force of war and its violent
disregard of all rights, civil social and NOR
al. At its close four million of slaves be-
came freedmen but there lay on the battle
field one million of white men, men Of the
South and of the North, slain by each other,
thousands of whom were among the noblest
of our race, as the terrible price of this fierce
and Wanted philanthrophy.
Judge McGehee's own family was "A large
one. He had been married three times, and
was himself the last survivor of thirteen
children. His brothers Abner, Abram, John
and William were all of them successful
planters in Mississippi and Alabama. He at
first settled on Thompson's Greek, Miss. and
from there removed to the neighborhood of
Wo2dville. Seven of his children and many
ofhis grandchildren still survive him.
H. II 1. l.
maintained with scrupuous regularity; one
or two of his most honored servants were
sometimes called upon by him after the less
son to offer the prayer
lie was profoundly spiritual, man Of
much devotion and private meditation
Often he could have been seen at eventide
walking alone and communing with God in
the grand forest of oaks and birches which
constituted the most attractive feature of
Bowling Green. He was fond of singing
and punctual in his attendance upon all the
means of grace public and social, until his
growing intirmities confined him to the
house.
On the 18th of August he took his bed and
gradually one tie after another was loo~ened
until he quietly breathed his last-a pains
less death.
$50 fades a summer cloud away;
so sinks the gale when storms are DER
So dies n wave along the shore
Believing in his Saviour he 'snever saw
death" His son, Micajah, was nursing him
in his last illness, when he was suddenly
seized with cOngestive chill and died.
When the Judge inquired after his beloved
son, it was told him that "Micaiah would
never suffer any more" cob" exclaimed
he, "then my heart is broken, let me co.
He longed to be at rest. ~ am weary and
struggling" said he; 81 am called, I am
called and must 60" The battle with him
was over and he greatly desired to see that
Redeemer in whose fellowship he had so
long delighted
g A mighty Prince in Israel has fulen
noble Chieftain has him gathered to his
people"
81 heard a voice from heaven crying unto
me write:
Blessed are the dead that die heneeforth
yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest
from their labors and their works do follow
them"
All of them honor him and reverence the
memory OF his lofty virtues. "Hs children
they arise up and call him blessed"
From the contagious nature of example,
whether for good or evil there is scarcely a
limit to the influence of such life upon the
State where he lived, upon his country, his
household his children, his acquaintance
as some balmy, beautiful flower, growing
high up on the mountain sides, natures,
and the winds Of heaven wait its seed down
the sleeps, until it spreads over all the plain
so is 1T with a good life i'm exalted posi-
ton. The unsulied ray Of pure Christian
life shining all around upon every person
during long period Of active intercourse
with men, which would accent nothing
from executive gift, and sought nothing
from popular favor; which handled money
with out loving it, and rose to wealth with
- II.
between the poor and the rich, the high
and the low, but only between the good and
the evil, was only less than the visit Of an
angel OF God. 1t drew to itself many noble
spirits, and such men as DR.. Winans. Benz.
Drake, John Lane and Thomas Clinton.
shared his counsel aud had equal access to
his house and his heart. II was indeed "a n
blessing from the Lord to have been his
bosom friend, as a heavenly benefaction. to
have rested with him for a night, and To-
have merely carried a note and delivered H.
and caught the impression Of such a pres
ence, was to the young scarcely less than
benediction.
l count it one of the mercies Of heaven Ii
nave seen Bunting and Newton, Of England.
and DIN, and Fisk, and Hedding. and
ooule, and Wlnan, and Drake, but also TO
have known Ed. McGehee, of Wilkinson
county, Miss.
That such life does not go out, bat sim
ply passes out of sight and re-appears in the
presence of angels, among the
spirits OF the just, and before the Saviour
himself, Is the assuring doctrine of the
Scriptures. We number him among the
holy dead; angels and his Lord welcome
him to the holy city, the new Jerusalem. to
90 out no more forever. Will he be as fore
most there as here Will his person re-
celye the stamp of the quality Of his career
10 10 this world Surely, if any, he will saw TO
Ihe King, Lord, when were you hungry
and when we're you fed by me ?" And to
him will the King say, 'Inasmueb "a We aid
y 70 the least of these, We have done it unto
me. Enter thou into the Joy Of thy Lord