The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-05-06
AMONG GOOD PEOPLE
Who Till the Soil and Reap
the Grain.
BILL ARP GOES AMONG THEM
And Talks of Good Old Times When
Hill and Stephens Were IN
Their Prime.

L DdNo DG6u braV6lluS OV6rlanQ-Vls1C'
lug the unpretending towns that are of
the great highways. 1 wish that every
body could do it so as to restore the
equilibrium. A man can read the grea,
daily newspapers until he becomes 9
cynic, skeptic and believer in tetal
depravity and falling from grace. BY
the time he gets through the murders
and robberIes and defalcations and ar
sons and suicides and hangings and
strikes and anarchy and all the horrible
things that are happening every day he
is almost ready to surrender and give
up all hopes of humanity. 1t MAKES
him gloomy and respondent. But let
him skip over these things for a few
days and get out into the country
where the good old fashioned people
abound and he will feel better.
| tell you the woods are full of them.
am more and more convinced that the
country is the place to find virtue aud
peace and simple habits and limited de-
sires. The fashion and follies and gen.
eral devilment of the gay and giddy
world do not reach these people. But
they read and think anu work, and
withal are cheerful 1 have found a.
region out here in West Tennessee
where the country people are no
moving to town-where they are farm
ing diligently and raising stock, whsrs
every mill or 30 you will pass q CON-
Portable home with evergreens and
flowers in the front yard. The most of
them are in easy reach OF railroad,
and every few miles there is little vii
lage, with two or three stores and as
many churches and an academy, and
to this hamlet the neighboring people
gather. a1d here their children 90 to
school, and hare they attend church on
the Sabbath. In these prosperous
neighborhoods | could have found a
warm welcome in a hundred homes.
At one place 1 found the young
to act Tom SAWYER
as oramatized. At another, they
had o debating society, just such as we
used to have In nv boyhood. Their
last question was, Which has done the
most good in the world-the printing
press or steam?" and one of the BOYS
himself in his first effort
by saying: Mr.. President, forty and
six years ago this country was a howl
ing wilderne g forty and six years ago
this country was bowling wilderness
forty and six years ago this country
was a bowling Wilderness" Not rs-
membering any more of his speech he
remarked as he sat down, And | wish
it was now" l found many an old
Georgian out here and whenever l met
them we had love feast. How dear to
US all is the home of our childhood.
How tenderly do these people talk of
the good old State they left in the long
ago when they were young and the far
west was their hope, their desire, their
l was discoursing with an old
Georgian to-day, a schoolmate
whom 1 had not seen for forty
years, and [ let him do most
all the talking and could read his
emotions as he spoke of his old home
and of Ben Hill and the Ferrells, and
Judge Bull, and Bingham, and Bacon
and Ridley. He said he was in the
at Lagrange, and Ben Hill
was sitting near him, when Thomas W.
came in and handed Mr.. Hill
letter. That letter contained q chal-
enge from Alex. Stephens to fight
duel. Mr.. Hill read it, but did not
exhibit the slightest embarrassment or
excitement. He was engag in the
case at ba~, and putting the letter in
his pocket, attended to the case and
made an admirable argument and
gained the case. Then he took my
friend by the arm and asked him to 20
with him to his Office. There ne
showed him the challenge and re-
"Of course 1 will not-I
cannot fight Mr.. Stephens. Ny whole
nature is shocked at it. tits horrible
barharitY and proves nothing. 1 will
decline and publish my reasons" The
next morning he showed his reply to
my friend. 1t was copied and ap-
proved by him and some other
personal friends. both Wings
and Demo Gratis endorsed it hearth
". That whitening reply -
that unswerable rebuke is
still fresh in the memories of Georgians,
and did more to abolish the code of
honor than had been done in half a
century. Mr.. Stephens published Mr..
Hill as a coward, but it amounted to
nothing. Mr.. Hill continued TO ad-
vance in popularity and lost nothing in
friends or renoWn. Mr.. Stephens had
n public speech, spoken of the know
nothing party leaders as traitors to
heir country. and Mr.. Hill replied by
saying that the parallel was on the
other side; that the whig party had for
many years showered its honors and its
avors upon Mr.. Stephens, end now he
lad turned from it and BETRAYED it
ike Judas Iscariot did his Lord and
Master, and the only difference was
hat Judas repented and hanged him
elf; but he was sorry to say that Mr..
Stephens was still unrepentant and un.
ranged. For this language Mr..
stephens challenged him, And there
we're giants in those days. We dis
,ussed many notable men and some
low got onto the preachers, and he
old me about his father having
lerad DR.. Capers, or Bishop
Gamers, as he was afterwards.
II d as he preached those Won
1erful sermons, strong men were struck
Town like they had been shocked by
'hunderbolt. He said there was never
before nor since any pulpit eloquence
ike that OF DR.. Capers and many such
great intellectual scoffers and skeptics