The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-07-23

earth, or at least their ancestors must
have spent much".time out doors, and
thus tanned and Jroerned perhaps by
the suns rays, they won their laudable
titles. The Blacks were more tanned
and hence their name; but many Of the
descendants of the Browns and Blacks
would swap appellation with the
Whites, and I'cny of US would loose
our cognomen:c distinctions if another
naming day were to roll around.
So the Browns and Blacks belong
really to the genus Smiths, for they
were .Smiters too, though they smote
the earth "fore and aft," and were We
to institute comparison between them
we would follow the model of that dis
tinguished Smith, who taught more
children the principles of the English
language than any other man dead OF
alive, and who even rivalled Cupid
himself in teaching the youthful pupils
that they might, could, would, or
should love"-we would follow his
model and say-positire, Smith, COM
paratiue, Brown, superlatiue, Black.
But while the world owes debt of
gratitude to that enterprising Smith
who introduced the culture of rice into
South Carolina, it should never forget
another South Carolinian, Alexander
Black, who did more for the "old Pal
metto State" than any other man liv-
ing or dead. Our fathers had rather a
slow way of getting from place to place.
Judge O'Neall in his "Annals of New
berry," tells US that as late as 1913, the
Hon. Ker Boyce, then keeping store
in the little village Of Newberry IS. c.
"began to trade overland width Phila-
delphia. Cotton was hauled from New
berry to Philadelphia, and goods
brought back by wagons. He and
Thomas Pratt", a fellow townsman,
annually mounted their horses and
rode to Philadelphia, purchased their
goods, and thus lad the foundation of
their respective fortunes" Again,
there is a manuscript in the hand
writing of General Thomas P;i.ckney,
still extant, which tells US that son the
18th May, 1875" the General, with
two ladies of his family, set out from
their plantation on the Santee, in their
own carriage, and travelled to Boston.
They reached Philadelphia on the 18th
June, having travelled 692 miles iE 81
days, including stoppages, to that point.
The travelling expenses, including two
weeks stay in Philadelphia, amounted
to $40
Alexander Black to the rescue. In
1927 be secured a charter for the first
railroad ever built in America. Chiefly
through his instrumentality that
road was completed from Line street
near Charleston IS. Co. to Hamburg
IS. c. in October, 1888; and during
that month the crude little engine
prophetically named "Best
Friend, ,"-madei its first trip at that time
over the longest continuous line of rail
road in the world. The first United
States mail ever transported by steam
was hauled over part of that road in
February, 1892.
The road was built by driving piles
every six feet part, in parallel lines.
The heads of the piles were Left about
eighteen inches above the ground and
were; bound together by transverse
sleepers; hence the term crosstie, which
still adheres to the transverse piece Of
timber underlying the rails, though
the piles which they tied across are no
longer used.
Many English names have the suftix
er and ster, these are the respective
of masculine and feminine
nouns in the Saxon language. Thus
some Nimrod, who in medieval times
roamed over England's majestic forests
of oak, clad in his jacket of Lincoln
green, that he might the better conceal
himself alike from bis foes and the
game he sought, being in strictest har-
mony with the panoply of green about
him, with his quiver of steel-tipped
silver hunting horn, and we'll
bent bow of flexible Spanish yew, who
like Locksley of Ivanhoe fame, could
notch the shaft of a Hubert, or cleave
in twain the swaying willow rod, or
transfix the advance guard Of q flock
Of wild geese winging their way to the
solitary fens of Nolderness; such a.
woodsman worthy won the title of
Hunter.
The baker, more fortunate than Pha-
roah's, which probably lost his head on
account of bad cooking, one who ex-
celled in the culinary, at least to that
degree necessary to the establishment
of his profession, fixed that title as a
surname upon the long line Of his num-
erous progeny. Thus the world is in
debted for its Joiners, Carpenters,
Sawyers, Farmers and Saddlers.
The medieval barber was an impor-
tant adjunct to his community. He
not only did the hair dressing for the
people of his neighborhood, but also the
tooth-pulling and blood-letting, hence
their red and white striped sign posts.
They have lived to see their ancient
profession divided into three distinct
branches-tw0o Of them dentistry and
surgery-honorable, the other menial,
leaving to the descc ndants of the first
BARRIERS only the name.
While the porter made name for
his offspring either by guarding gates
or carrying burdens, the potter at his
wheel made name for his progeny by