Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1890-07-24
Tillnan Mt Home.
CHARACTERISTICS or ZEN AND Ills
BROTHER AS GIVEN BY ONE WHO
HAS STUDIED THEM wEi.f.

The Tillman family of South
Carolina is sal geaaeris. There are
no other people like them in the
State.
All the Tillmans arc alike. Their
chief characteristic is independence.
They bow to the bchest of no man,
or set of mon under the sun; they
acknowledge no leader, and follow
none.
The writer of tho present article
feels that lie knows the 1'illmans
thoroughly, and proposes to give a
sketch of their distinguishing char
acteristics. That he is their friend
he will not disguise. The Tillmans
and the writer are ncighbors- their
families have been for a generation.
His knowledge of them is intimate,
and he has permission to make it
critical.
The Tillmans are students. They
take to books like d,sglS ossaawater.
The realm of books isSthellS lIdtlral
element. The CongrcssnsasI HAS onc
of the finest private country libraries
in the State. If the query were
made "Who are the half-dozcn best
read men in the entire country %
there is very little doubt but that
the Congressman from the second
South Carolina District would have
to be included among the number.
A man of beyond sixty years, pos
scssing memory that is marvelcd at
by those who know him intimately,
of voracious tendencies in reading,
from his earliest life books have been
his company. lie is philosopher,
which fact has long been known at
his home, and his associates in Con-
grcss familiarly call him SO.
The present aspirant for gubcrna-
torial honors, owing to an unfortu-
nate accident in his youth, as is we'll
known, lost his eye. This took
place at the age of seventeen, when
in the midst of his studies, and pre-
cludcd the idea of a course which he
had mapped out for himself in the
higher studies and in law.
The loss of his eye was caused
from too hard study in Greek, com
bincd with bath taken in a creek
at an un ;tunatc moment. Before
he could study again he was immcrs-
ed in the duties of q farm-the oc.
cupation of his fathers. But since
that time he has done n wonderful
amount of reading, as his public ut-
tcranccs attest. He has studied be-
sides the classics, farming, as few
other men have studied it.
One of the bold Tillmap tt@its is
that they steer wide of the social
tide, and ball room never holds
them if they can cvadc it. Their
excuse for this has always seemed to
be Gudging from their department
at such timcs) that there arc many
other things of more importance to
engage attention, and that they value
time. But they can be gay; no mon
more gay than either of them as
host with a crowd of young folks
around them.
They love the people. They feel
the weight of obligation to the pco-
pic pressing upon them, being OF
them, more heavily than is the case
with any other men I know. And
this is true with them out of politics
rs well as in. The sense of this re-
sponsibility in humanitarian spirit
is the deduction they get from all
study. In this connection | may
state what is generally supposed to
be the case, that the Tillmans arc
great lovers of sentiment Though
mistakenly, I believe, they have no
respect whatever for the fine arts.
| have heard one of the brothers
(thcre arc only two now--the Con
gresham, the elder, and the candi-
date for Governor; four or five others
were killed in the wary | have heard
one of them repeat over and over
again the magnificent poem Of Leigh
Hunt, "Abou Ben Adhcm" and
striding up and down .hc floor, tu-
multuops with feeling, declare it to
be the grandest poem Of all ian
guagcs. Abon said to the vision Of
the angel with the book of gold:
---" q pray .hco then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow men.'
"Tho angel wrote and vanished Tho
next night
1t camo again, with great awakening
light,