The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1885-09-16
Up to Snuff

| Up 10 SQuu.
Quoth the Mems antl Courier:
"ln South Carolina there is, we be-
lieve, too much regard for name and
birth. 1t is an old joke that when Mr..
Calhoun opened his snuff box the whole
State sneezed, There is no one man in
South Carolina who can produce this
effect on the olfactory nerves Of the pco-
pie Of to-day. But there nre n grea.
many persons who expect the people to
sneeze whenever they open their snuff
boxes. Especially is the sneeze looked
for Ms matter of right when snuff
box is raped upon which belonged to a
grandfather and grcat-grandfather."
This is what hurts, is it? 1t is plain
to see that it is not so much the snuH
nor the boa containing 1t that is the
subject of compliant as it is the grand ia
theirs tho and grcat-grandfathers that are
at fault. Now will the News and Cou-
'fer point out among the prominent
officials to-day the men who had grand
fathers or greut-grandfathcr of distinc-
tioh to whom they in any wise owed
their promotion
To begin with, take our bench of
Judges, always esteemed in South Car
olina as occupying the first station in
the commonwealth. Who were Chief
Justice Simpsons grandfn,hcrs or great
grandfathers If we know anything
aboutit, they were plain, respectable
members of society, some of whom
were recognized as pillars in the house
hold Of faith to which thoy belonged,
but otherwise Of little or no public sig
nificancc.
Does anbody in the State know who
were Justice McGowan's grandfathers
and great-grandfathers This noble
citizen and Carolinian, like most of
Cardinals great men, is tho builder Of
his own name and station.
Who were Justice McIver's ances.
tors Plain, hard-headcd, reputable
Scotch people, who had as much to do
with Justice McIver's advancement as
the man in the moon.
Now we come to the Circuit Judges.
Who were Judge Aldrich's grandfathcrs
and grcat.graud athers? Who were Judce q
Pressley's grand and great grand-sires ?
He bears the christian -namc of Benia-
min Chaplin, one of his ancestors. This
is the name Of one Of the Oldest families
in the State, but o plain, honest one, and
one of the least pretentious in the State.
II any one Of then has every sat in the
Legislature even, We have never heard
Of it, though they were people OF
solid means and had been so for genera.
tions.
Who were Judge Hudson's, Judge
Cothran's, Judge Fraser's, Judge Wal
lace's, grandsires and great-grandsires
We might, add the whole list. Doubt
les the ancestors of the citizens were
men of plain, good repute; but. where
is the eclat, tho golden SNIFF bores,
/ "hSu tuSiE auScSSOTS leII tuaC car.
ried . single man of them into his
seat
Now let us take up the prominent
State officials. Take our Governor,
Hugh Thompson. He had distin-
guished ancestry it is true. but what did
1t do for him ? If there was any reck-
oning Of itleft, it was right across the
path Of Carolina's political sentiments
II ia antagonized Calhoun and his poll
tical standards squarely. The truth is,
the s:schoolmaster Governor made his
own;rcpation before the people as com.
pletsly asif, he had no family reckon.
|ings whatever. He Was taken up at !
venture A. sthe popular diligent and
sucesssfnl Superintendent Of Education,
i y may be said, then, with perfect truth
THAT Hugh Thompson represents to-day