The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-10-10

boys celebrated the election of Governor
Crawford and we democrats stole your
cannon the night before and hid it i'll a
swamp and you never got to ire 1t nary
time! Good gracious how mad you all got
and we boys had to sing low and keep
dark, and how when Polk was elected presl-
dent we democrats had Il blow out and
marched all round town that night with
torches and horns and kettle drums, ana
1T made you wings so mad that you got be-
hlnd trees and fence corners and threw
old eggs and other offensive missiles at us
and there had liked to have been Il general
hight Well it was awful to lose such II
grand man as Henry Clay and
l don't blame you for being desperate.
wish now that he had been elected. 1t
takes old Father Time to doctor up al these
things and enable US to conquer our preJu-
dlceS. But we were never at outs long,
Jim, you and L and Tom, and one day when
Il boy who was bigger than me struck me
unawarcs and we hitched and got down
and | was the bottom dog, you stood over
IFS and said, Hands off boys-et 'em fight
let 'em fight. Eli bet on Bill if he is on
the bottom; go it my William" and this
inspired me and | turned him and mauled
HIM in good fashion till he hollered. When
| let him up you patted me on the back
and about then l cried little for it was
Il business | wasn't use to and | couldn'b
suppress my feelings. L never had but
four fights in my life, and | am q sorter
whip. | wouldn't have whipped that one
| am telling about, if you hadn't bet on
me- and | did want somebody to part us
mighty bad for awhile but they wouldn't.
And how sweet and sad 1t is to recall
the memories that cluster around the old
Fairv1ew church where your folks and our
folks used to go to meeting III the OLD
family carriages and carry cold dinners to
eat between the morning and evening ser,
mons What a feast We're those dinners!
Il. - HON
stuffed sausage in linked sweetness long
drawn out" and the boiled eggs for the
BOYS and the turnover pies and cookies TOT
a finish. How good and solemn were oid
Dr. Wilson and DIR. Patterson whose
name was Jim. and how soothing were
their sermons when they discoursed Of JUST
fication and sanctifcation and predeStl1a'
ton and free will and original SIN. Nlth
what sanction from on high old Father
Noel and Father Liddell and Father Mills
used to raise the tune to 'Comei' IiuiloIe
Sinner, in Whose Breast" and all the con
gregation joined in and fairly made the oid
church tremble That rood Old hymn Is
not in our hymn books now and all WRo
sang it in the old church are dead, nearly
ALL but you and me and Tom. / fenehl,
Der where our good mothers sat-yours and
mine and how our good fathers used to
pass the bread and the wine on cOmmun"
ion days and we boys looked on Ill feYer,
entail silence. Those dear old fathers ana
mothers are waiting lof us, Jun Ndl'iH9
for YOU and me and Tom That was a
good spring down by the poplar tree at the
foot of the hill where we learned ponteness
and handed water to the pretty giflS AT
recess and that old graveyard is still there
where the rude foretathers If the hanlet
sleep
But everything has shrank UP, Jim the
old church seems not half so large nor the
road to it half so long as when we We're
boys. Our washhoe in the Ala!tbie branch
used to seem immense and it was like
swimming the Hellespont for us small boys
to cross it. but now it is nothing and the
Maltbie Hill is not half so long or steep.
The chestnut trees around the old school
house have all died or shortened down.
al used to think their highest tops
Were close against the sky
But now tits little joy
To know I'm further off from heaven
Than when ] was boy
How much of history is unWritten, Jlm
and what a world of talk we could have,
You and | and Tom. The friend who wrote
You up did it well and kindly. but it was
only yorr mature life, your contact With
hard world and your successes. The
dearest syyenteet hottest mart he left I'M