The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-09-18
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
The Cherokee Philosopher Dis
CuSSeS PeStilenCeS.
War, Pestilence and Famine-The Florida
Refugees Touch Tender Cord in
Bill Apps Heart,

War, pestilence and famine-the three great
scourges of mankind. We don't know much
about the last, but we do know something of
war and pestience, and in some respects they
are very much alike-alike in their horrible
results, for it is death in its most unfeeling,
pitiless form. The great difference is that war
is the work of man, intentional and provoked,
instigated by bad passions that come straight
from the devil, while pestilence is simply an
inheritance of the curse, one of the great af-
nlctlons that is forman to conquer and subdue,
an affection like thorns, and weeds, and poison
oak, and snakes, and mad dogs, and devouring
worms. and measles and toothache, and pain
OF all kinds, and cold, and heat, and fire, and
flood. All OF these have their remedies Most
OF them have been overcome by mans inge-
nuity, and all will be. The power
of pestilence has already been broken
by preventives, just as the power of
pain has been broken by chloroform and other
anesthetics. Our generation has suffered more
than Its share-more from toothache and ear
ache and collie ache and bee stings and stone
bruises and stumped toes and all sorts of ntsr-
! nal trouble. If man had to have an arm or
q leg amputated or a dislocated joint reset or a
wen cut off of the back of his neck he wasn't
| put to sleep like he is now, but had to be held
| like he was in vice and take the excruciation
| just rs it come. Ii he went blind there was
no surgeon to remove the cataract If he had
| the fever not drop of water was given him to
| cool his parched tongue for that was against the
| law in my young days. / have not yet for
gotten the time when was burning, up and
! while my parents were for little while out of
| the room L begged my good-hearted colored
nurse for q sip of water and she gave it to me
| in pitcher and drank and drank and drank,
and was then willing to die, but 1
believe it cured me, for l got better
| right away, and soon recovered.
helped to hold poor fellow once as he lay
| stretched upon o long table. l held his foot
! hard and strong while the surgeon was cutting
| off his leg just below the knee, and when he
| had sawed through the bone the severed leg
! and came down together, for it made me
! sick before knew it. He stood it better than
did. The flow of human blood always makes
| me sick, and never got hardened to 1t during
| the war. AT the battle of Malvern hill saw
more of the horrors of war than ever before or
| after. Most of the deaths were from shell
| from the gunboats, and the dead were awfully
| torn and mangled. l recall soldier who sat
upon the ground with his back erect against
tree, his rifle grasped with rigid hands and the
muZzle resting on tho ground. He was sitting
| just where he fell, but his head was gone,
| entirely gone, and the blood still oozing from
his neck. l have seen tho army wagons
| crossing the shallow trenches where the
dead OF the battle Of Seven Pines had been
| buried few days BEFORE and as the wheels
crashed down into the soft wet clay, an arm
| or leg would be forced up and fall again, and
| SOlLOtlHltS " SIldbtlJ, SNOllGu ldCb WOulu SHOW
itself as the heavy wheels pressed upon the
shallow covered breast. "Drive on there, and
| get out of this" shouted the teamster, as he
| popped his whip and urged his team ahead.
1--WE oughtent to have come across this grave
yard"
But all this is nothing compared with the
| silent, helpless, lingering grief that comes to
a household when the awful pestilence is there.
First one loved ono is stricken down and then
another, and another. Despair treads close
upon the heels of hope. The family circle is
soon broken and happy home made desolate.
| The house seems doomed. No cheerful voices,
no happy songs. Music and smiles have gone,
| and sad whisperiDgs and sadder tears have
taken their places. These scenes are
! heartrending, and no One wishes to
| give them thought, but we all ought to,
| for these sufferers are our fellow creatures and
| but for sympathy their condition would be still
more pitiless. That man who gave Mayor
| Hewitt twelve thousand dollars in gold for
| the jacksonville sufferers and would not give
| his name did not turn away from the gloomy
| picture. He thought of it by-day and by night,
and it followed him about like pleading spec
! tire and his great big heart surrendered and
! opened wide to the call of mercy. wish l
had that mans picture to put in my parlor
| upon the mantle
How helpless these refugees from the awful
| pestilence must have felt when they realized
| the full force of the quarantine that was
against them. scourge behind them as re-
| lentless as death, and when they fled to find
closed. This is right of course in
| some measure, but it is awful. I saw
| it once in rs when hundreds of
the poor and friendless we're hurried out of
| Memphis in three long trains OF cars freighted
| with women and children and limited amount
of fumigated baggage. / was at Grand juno
ton when they came and took passage with
them for Chattanooga. All night long sat
upon the platform and Rugged an iron post
and nodded fitful sleep and when sunrise
found Us few miles from our destination we
met the quarantine and could go no further.
There was no food and but little water.
Mothers were worn out with anxiety and tho
children in pitiless condition for they had
slept upon the floor and the foul atmosphere
was fearful. After long parley the humane
| doctors said that these refugees might go
| through the city and on to the mountains of
East Tennessee. Where and when they
stopped I never learned but heard that
they were scattered and dropped along
| the line and that kind people gave
| them welcome. What fearful lessons
have to be given us to make us prudent and
| careful OF our health. Memphis had to be
| purged of her filth, and she was purged, and
| now is probably one Of the healthiest cities OF
the south. Many years ago Savannah was
| purged, and so was Charleston, and these cities
seem now TO be proof against the birth Of
! pestilence. Two centuries ago London had be-
come stagnant with her own corruption, and
suddenly the great plague came like simeon,
and in six weeks twenty-three thousand of her
| people persisted. That there is q remedy for
| such visitations. the experience Of modern
| civilization and modern science has demon
| strated, and jacksonville will yet rise above
the pestilence and defy it. Blackstone says
that there is no wrong without remedy, and
| 80 the doctors say that there is no disease with
| out an antidote / believe this on general
| principles. believe in the providences Of
| God, and as he gave King Solomon
| knowledge of all herbs that were good
for man as medicine; SO lie has hidden in His
great store house remedies for plague and
the pestilence that waketh at MONDAY, and
| the men OF science must find them.
My wife, Mrs. Arp, reads the papers every
J day, and she signs and sympathizes with these
| poor refugees and says it all reminds her Of
| war and the time when she and half dozen
| little children were running to and fro TO
! dodge the yankees, and never got fairly set
| tied down at one place before she had to get
| mp and hunt another. Some people gave her
| glad welcome and some didn't, for provisions
| were scarce and the children were always
| hungry, and confederate money was unpopu-
/ lar, and most everybody was in. condition 70
| welcome the coming and speed the
parting guest--and sometimes the speed
| was more impressive than the welcome.
| The children wore ont their clothes before and