The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1891-12-17
BILL ARP
Says Every man Owes Ills Ancestors
atlanta Constitution.

atlanta Constitution.
DR.. Jonson said To Boswell that every
man was in debt to bis ancestors. In
debt for science and art, discovery and
invention, for improved methods of ag-
riculture and better modes of living, tor
history and poetry and romances, and a
thousand things too tedious to mention.
And as We cannot pay the debt to those
who are gone before we should pay it to
those who are to come after, pay it to
posterity. Therefore" said he, 'every
man should do something for the comfort
Or the pleasure of those who survive him.
He should write book or preach a ser
mon, or plant tree, or vine, or leave
behind him good example," was ru-
minating about this when I saw the
bushels of apples that were gathered
from the trees I planted many years ago,
and that will continue to bear long after
am dead. So much for that. 1t is not
uncommon nor is it generally unselfsh.
For forty years I have been planting
trees and vines to please Mrs. Arp and
her posterity, and my debt on chat line is
| paid.
! And now have written book and the
Constitution Publishing Company has
placed it before the public for better or
for worse. Mrs. Arp told me long time
ago that some of my letters were better
and some worse, and 80 in making up
this book / invoked her better judgment,
and she says she tried TO winnow the
wheat from the chaf, but as there was
not quite enough wheat to make book,
some chaf will be found in the pages.
"However," said she, II think the beau
tiful cover will make up for that. It is
the binding that sells book nowadays.
It looks so pretty on the parlor table"
"Just so," said L. ~ have observed
that it is fine dressing that makes the
lady. It doesn't matter what her contents
are provided she is gilded and garuished
on the outside" Mrs. Arp looked at me
with one of her looks, and I continued
my broken remarks by saying II allude,
of course, to those fashionable society
ladies who are stuffed and padded at the
milliner's until you can't tell where cot
ton ends and flesh and blood begin"
"What business have you to know?"
said she.
"None-none at ALL" said 1. "It's all
hearsay, and it may be 8 mistake-a
slander. Women love ornament by ma
ture, and love to see them arrayed in
beautiful garments that come high and
hang low. If were rich you should
wear diamonds and pearls and dress in
silk velvet and Siberian furs, but I am
not rich. I don't like to see ladies dress
finer than you do, but still don't con-
slider it q sin for a woman to dress fine
and wear jewelry if she can afford it.
You remember that Isaac sent Rebecca
pair of earrings that weighed half
shekel each and cost about seyenty.fye
cents"
"Extravagant loverl' exclaimed Mrs.
Arp.
"And do you know" I continued,
"that the fields are dressed with flowers
and the heavens with stars and the birds
with plumage."
eyes," said she, ''the male birds are
very fne-the rooster and the peacock,
for instance. The hens have to 60 in
their every day clothes and do all the
work and scratch for the chicks, while the
males go strutting around in their fine
clothes and do nothing" This unex.
pected comparison upset me for mo-
ment-Mrs. Arp always upsets me in an
argument. But rallied to my position
and said: just SO, just SO; exactly, and
| it is because birds of the earth earthly,
and 30 is man, but woman WAS not
made out of dust; she didn't ev0lute
from the animal-Dame Nature finished
up with her and quit
"Her 'prenticed hand she tried on man,
And then she made the lasses, OH"
Mrs Arp smiled one of her smiles and
said: "That will do now. Burns wrote
beautiful poetry and loved all woman
kind. If he had been faithful to one it
would have been better for him and for
her. But what about your book? Do
you expect to make any money out of it,
or are you just publishing it for fame or
for fun ?"
"a little money" said I, "a little fame
and some fun. You know that the au-
thor of book don't get much money. I
hope to realize 25 cents copy, and to
cell enough to keep you in missionary
money. One copy week will do that,
won't it?'
She never said anything. She seemed
to be reading a paper-the missionary
paper. She must have read something
tender and pathetic, for suddenly she
looked at me and remarked: "Well, I
hope the book will sell and bring you
enough money to make you easy and
comfortable. If the people like your
letters should think they would like the
book, for your best ones are all in there,
and the illustrations help out the stories.
Uncle Tom Barker's Fight with the
Blacksmith is splendid story, and so is
the 'Sorrel Hair and the Chapter on
Music and the Savannah Cousin and
the Georgia Cracker and you driving
the carrylog. Any one of them is worth
the subscription price. [ have half o
mind to take an agency myself and sell
the book. 1t looks hard for the author to
get only 25 cents aud the agent who sells
the books get more, but I suppose that is
bup;pou, ~