Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1892-01-14

TINS original sum WI. w lliaius ha's1
set his own services for twenty years
as manager, treating Mr.. Hand
throughout as though he were an
active partner. Profits, interest and
losses had been computed carefully,
and figured up year after year to a
cent; and the set Of accounts at the
time of presentation was absolutely
complete, and was accepted by Mr..
Hand without question. 1t showed
that Mr.. Williams owed his actually
retired but quasi active partner $685.
900, for which the former. gave
six notes for $4,000 each and one
for $751; s,oOO-one note being payable
each year until 1888. These were
accepted by Mr.. Hand without
security. With interest added to
them, as well as with the annual
interest on the whole remaining debt
at 5 per cent, they were paid by Mr..
Williams, usually before maturity,
and the last note for $4,000 was met
one year in advance. The sturdy
integrity of the Southern creditor
may be better appreciated from the
fact that by law only small frac-
ton, at most, of tie whole amount
could have been recovered; /; and the
magnitude of the sum (s64S,o0o)
finally paid up was equally a sur
prise to Mr.. Hand and his lawyer.
1t is significant, too, thai throughout
the transaction Sir. Williams added
gratitude to his princely payments,
ever referring to Mr.. Hand as his
benefactor and the originator Of his
fortune.
The after history VI that great
fund derived from Southern honesty
has already been told. How, in
October, 1888, after it had grown, by
iudicious investments, to more than
81 600 900 81 10000. it was given
by Mr. Hand to the American Mis-
sionary Association to be fund for
educating the Southern negroes. To
this great sum, the largest up to
that time ever given to benevolence
by living American, is now added
by Mr.. Hands dc..th some 100000
Immediately, and 100000 in rever-
sion after the death of family lega-
tees. Out of the whole property Of
l(r. Hand, estimated at s1,66,'e0O
more than seven-eighths have mus
far gone for the noble purpose of
educating the Southern freedmen.
But even more impressive, in these
days of fiscal distrust, tl.an the mag
nitude of the gift is the story that
goes with it: The anti-slayery mer-
chant returning to the South the
fortune made in the slave States;
that fortune preserved and increased
by the ex-Confederate partner; and
both Northman and the Southron,
the Yankee Puritan and the ardent
Secessionist, cherishing sacredly
through diverse political creeds and
the widest mutations of affairs, their
common affection and their bedrock
nonesties. Here, surely, is true
tale from real life more picturesque
and stimulating than the fancies of
idealized romance.
A few words remain for the
two actors in t. story. One, now
living, is a prosperous banker at
Charleston, active in good works, a
fervent Methodist. The other, just
gone to his reward at the age Of 80
wears, was tall and erect in stature,
sinewy in frame, intellectual in cast
of face, dressing elegantly and more
like statesman or preacher for
whom he was often mistaken) than
the typical Yankee bred on the farm
He was a plain, even abstemlnous,
liver, never spending more than his
few thousands a year. Mentally and
in temper he was of the most positive
type, relying implicitly on his own
judgment, rarely seeking advice and
often resenting it. He joined the
Presbyterian church at the age OF
%, and throughout his busy life was
a most devout follower of that creed,
constantly infusing his strong faith
into life and conduct, and not seldom
styling himself 'strustee for Prcvi-
dence" over his own property.
Altogether, he was one of those
deeply individualized forms Of old
school men whom we rarely meet
nowadays outside of books, and
never save in. their old age. Taking
the two partners together, very strik-
ingly do they suggest the Quaker
poets lines:
All hearts confess the saints elect
Who, twain in faith, in love agree,
And melt not in an acid sect
The Christian heart of charity.
Only with : the last word must
ahonesty" be bracketed in the verse
to get the full measure and rhythm
of the two lives.
ThewiH of Mr.. Hand is one Of