The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-02-21
SARGE PLUNKETT.
THE RAIN PATTERS UPON THE
HOUSE-TOP
And Brings Back Memories of Old, Old
Tip,es-We Have Enough Territory
Without Annexing with Hawaii.

Is the saying, and l guess 1t is the same
with nations.
1 got tired yesterday and just throwed
myself down on q pile of cotton seed
at the ginhouse and listen to the rain
patter. patter patter, on the old boards
of the roof 1t sounded just as it used
to. somehow; just as it did when, as a lit
tie boy, they tucked me away to sleep up
stairs at the Old home None but the old
er generation can know how sweet 1t
was to sleep UP stairs in the Old-lme
houses and have the rain all night to
patter, patter, patter on the boards It's
n memory-but old folks live in the past
Every age has its yigOr and strength Of
young manhood, but it just as surely has
its intirm step and bending age. Each
generation takes its turn-once young
then old 1t will come your time to be
old some day, you that live long enough,
and then you won't wonder at my cher
iShing these memories of the past-the
long ago past
Hawaii | studied as Gay there and
listened To the rain. Thinks |, that sounds
a long way OFF. 1t don't sound us near
as did the Cherokee country nor Texas
nor the territorieS-it'S got an OutlandiSh
Whang TO it, | thought But the young
genera ton is in for anneXing, | think,
and there is no use i'll saying Il thing
| watched some of the young generation
roll up IA big SNOWFALL the other day.
There was Il rivalry between two sets
as to which could make the largest ball.
One bail got immense as they kept rolling
it. 1t was So large after awhile that
they could no. handle it. They made
supreme effort and with their combined
strength and ingenuity succeeded i'll get
ting the great lGlli to the top of Il hill.
Now they had ii, was the thought they
could roll it now-and they did roll it
down. When it was started down 1t
was so heavy and ponderOuS they couldn't
stop it, and so it went, faster and faster,
ill at the bottom it flindered into mil
lions of fragments. You can make the
application here without my going to
work to tell you aGl about what my
thoughts were as | lay there on the cotton
seed and the rain battered, battered, pat
tered on the house top.
[ don't guess ii makes any difference,
but I'm opposed to any Hawaii anneXa-
ton. There are plenty of people living
who can remember what Il craze there
was to secure the Cherokee Indian coun-
try. The Chattahoochee river was then
the western boundary line between the
whites and red men, and folks thought
it the very thing to get the territory the
other side They thought we needed 1t
and they thought they would be SATISFIED
when they got it. 1t hadn't been very
long since the poor Indians had agreed
to this line and they thought that now
the whites would be satisfied, for they
said as they crossed over the river, AEt-
bama, Alabama, meaning, Here we
rest here we rest" SO the state took
Il,rt hnx no allowed 10
rest there The whites have been no
more satisfied than before, nor did the
great state of Texas satisfy them, nor all
that territory west of the Mississippi
YOU can't satisfy them, they want the
earth We don't need any more territory.
1t might seem clever in us to open our
door to Hawaii, being they are Knocking
and give them Il good government, out
charity should begin 1T home-gGod gov
ernment for what IS already here should
be the first consideration. There is lots
of wailing about hard times, lots OF men
ont of work and the women are having TO
pitch in and do the supporting act,
but if we annex Hawaii and let all OF
that p0nulaton of Chinese into citizenship
1t WON'T he two weeks till they'll think
themselves rs good as Il full4-hedGcd
Georgia cracker and take the washing
from the women besides. The Chinaiiian
must be kept down. They are all the fNkS
we can abuse now. 1t has got so we
can't cuss the yankees nor the negroes
I daresent spell it with two "gS' any
mole-and / don't see how we will be
able to cuss at all if the Chinaman gets
there" In this connection, and in Sc
robustness, VIII state that it is appalling
10 III old man like me to see how the
forni.rn element is outstripping the
"cracker." Foreigners are not to blame.
Tits natural for them To be clannSh and IL
is natural that they should 30 to work
and run this goyernmcnt-nationai, state
and muncipal-t0 suit themselves IL they
can. If they are not quite holding the
balance of mower they are making great
strides In that direction, and they have us
hacked so that it is only matter or
a short time till the Georgia cracker will
not be in it, if he don't wake up and as
Sert himself
AS the rain battered on [ found myself
taking up handfulS of the cotton SEED
and lctting them run out i'll Il stream AS
old as am | would like to get out in the
sand aud make frOghouseS and play
miller" and watch the sand pour as L
ulster, but it WouldCnt be now as 1T was
then: the little playmates would not be
there: many of them-the most OF them
have passed over the river and the ones
who stiA larry could not stoOp around
and pat the sand on their feet and lean
over the doodle houses" and glibly call
doodle, doodle, DOODLE" till the little
bug would come up and they had him III
the hollow of their hands. They are too
stiff in the joints for the
bending and stopping, and too
dim of sight TO see the little
bug. but we old folks live over again
these very days many times in our lives,
and oftenest when the weather is gloomy
and the rain patters, patters, patters on
the hOusetOp.
Just to think that as ] poured these
seed from my hand / must have my
thoughts disturbed by the fact that
they are worth thirty-twO cents per bush
el. That is what cotton seed sells for
noW-thirty-tWo cents. TREY We're worth
nothing when I was yOung-f0lks wouldn't
have picked Il million bushels up in the
read; they were dangerous then to hogs:
farmers hauled them into the marshes
In Out-of-way places To hide them. Now
they are good for everything and cotton
itself brings just as good prices, and
yeJ-but l don't want to say anything to