The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-06-02
Walter A. Goodman

The dim and dizzy mist of sleep
About their thoughts begin to creep,
Their drowsy eyes are cloging.
Walter A. Goodman.
The near approach of the time when
the surviving soldiers will, with appro-
pirate ceremonies, stTew flowers upon
the honored graves of their dead CON-
rades, brings TO my mind Walter A.
Goodman, who was ever among the
most Jealous in doing all that tended to
do honor to the Confederate soldiers, of
whom he was a noble specimen.
Circumstances ~hich / could not con-
troll prevented me from doing him pub
lie iustic at the time of his death, but it
is never too good to do what we should
do As a boy he was pure in heart,
/ thought, sentiment and action, and con
tinued such to his end. As student
| he was diligent, and while at college
became famous among his fellow stu
dents as a brilliant and effective writer.
| As a soldier he was model; wherever /
duty called him he was always present /
and did the right thing at the right |
time As a man and citizen. he was |
true to every trust As a firm and un
hinching friend he had few If any, |
equals. Neither the shafts of ridicule, |
the stings of malice nor the howlings of |
the multitude could shake his faith or
drive him from the open support OF a |
friend he loved and trusted. Always |
modest and unassuming he was possessed |
of fund of quiet humor which made |
him a most delightful companion.
And while l think of him this bright |
spring morning my mind goes back to
scenes that occurred in the spring of
1850, just thirty-six years ago, when he
and | were college mates at Columbia,
S.C.
The junior class, of which we were
members, had difficulty with the pro
fessor of chemistry as to whether we
would attend extra recitations to make
up the loss of months time which had
been lost by the absence of the professor
from college. The trouble grew until it
ended in open rebellion, and the class
resolved that they would not attend the
recitations, and that they would public
ly burn their text books on chemistry
as an act of defiance. Glass meetings
were held and the differents parts to be
performed on the occasion of burning
the books were assigned to different
members Of the class. One was to make
an opening address, one to preach
funeral sermon and one to prepare
doxology to be sung. Walter Goodman,
on account of superior powers of writ
ing, was unanimously selected to preach
the funeral sermon. When the appointed
night came the class assembled on the
college campus in front of the house of
the professor of chemistry, and all their
| Aro 81, of.,fr la1
a table, saturated with coal oil and fired.
By the blazing FIRE Of the burning books
the ceremonies were all performed, and
Walter Goodman preached the funeral
sermon of the cremated books on this
text: "The wages of sin is DEATH" The
whole of the college .boys (and some
even of the professors on the sly) were
present, and shout after shout, and peal
after peal of joyous laughter went up as
the young speaker delivered his sermon,
which in wit, point and elegance would
have done credit to Dean Swift. The
whole class was suspended for six weeks
and ordered to go home and face their
papas. But it was a tedious and expen-
r sive journey to Mississippi, and three
! boys who lived in Southwestern States
were relieved from the expense of going
home upon condition that they would
{ not go near the college during their sus
!, pension. They rented rooms some dis
taDce from the college in an upper story
of an old school building which stood
in large square, one side of which was
the luna3ic asylum, another Hampton's
famous residence and garden, the other
T two sides of the square being filled with
4 residences.
a 1t was one of the most beautiful of
t those spring seasons for which Columbia,
d 5. c., was famous. The water oaks
), which stood in three rows in the streets,
d one row on either side and one row in
It the middle, were full of green leaves,
making delightful cool walks and drives,
y and the air was literally laden with the
It perfume OF the tube rose and other fra
% grant plants and flowers. The DAYS were
n warm but the nights were delicious.
=, The moon shone as gioriously as in an
y Italian sky, and made night so much
3 like day that the peafowls in the Hamp
10 ton yard would cry as if it we're day
$, and the lunatics, who are said to be
lr affected By the moon, would make con
l. slant noises and utter hideous laughs
5. on these moonlight nights. These thing:
and the frequent ringing of the door
bells of the adjoining residences attracted
notice, and are eommemorated in tht
lines herewith enclosed. The three sus
g pended boys had a Jolly time, and were
r frequently visited by their friends from
q, college and elsewhere. They called theil
r retreat Monks Hall, and themselves tht
d, Abbot, the Sacristar and the Jolly Friar
at Walter Goodman, the most sedate in ap
a. pearance, was called ''the Abbot" WheI
IN they we're about to separate each wroti
er something in the album of the other
le and these lines were written in the album
u of Walter Goodman, the two first line
er being from song then popular, anC
ke which "the Monks" were in the habit o
ne singing:
If Life is but a strife, tits a bubble, It's
n dream,
40 And man is but a little boat that paddle
e down the stream;
= The three Monks are aboard of her, thre
merry men and true,
~ ''The Abbott, sThe Sacristann and 9Th
ne Jolly Friarn too.
er They made old Monks Hall ring in thei
is suspended days
dy With their laughing and their singing an
er. in many other ways.
Id But the time to part is coming, that tweut,
NO first Of June
At Oh, would it were year to come, and sti
al 'twould come too soon.
re- The moon will shine as brightly when the
III are far away;
Tas The crazy howl as loudly in their vii
er- maniac play;
The peacock's cry will echo still upon II
of midnight air;
en- The little bells still jingle, but ''ihe Monks
nd viii not be there
- Long hence when each is seated By his ow
= Ereside.
rs rs They'll think of Monks Hall revelri,
- whatever fate betide;
a q They'll think of worthy Joseph, too, the
10 faithinl Afric slave,
IN And shed tears OF bitter sorrow o'er Il
aln first ones new-made grave
'Ou
ra- Walter A. Goodman was the first
der the three to die; be fills the first graF
Of and bitter was the heartfelt sorrow
i've him who Eow writes these lines to
Of dropped as tear over It.
are ONE OF TIE THREE.
nc
IRA
ial- The city editor Of the Harrisburg Pa
mt. Telegraph claims that be is personal
ari- acquainted with every man. womai
ken and child within q radius Of ten mil
his Of the city; and made It good BY val
q Z ing on wager along Third street, fro