The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-11-15
TIE HAMPTON LETTER.
WHAT THE GREENVlLLE NEWS HAS
TO SAY ABoUTIT.

There Is No Use and Great Danger in the
Movement-Ths White People OF the
State Cannot ford to Divide.
GREENvILLE, S. g., Nov. Sit Is
better to make open and full confes-
sion. A mans sins will find him out
and when he is caught he had best
own up. We find the Columbia Regis
| ter and the State from opposing stand
points calling on the Greenville News
to speak Out on the matter of the or
ganization of national Democratic
clubs in this State as suggested by
General Hampton in letter to the
State republished IN this newspaper
last week. Four Out of five important
Democratic daily newspapers of South
| Carolina have spoken in favor of the
| scheme and "where is the Greenville
| Newsi" says the State. "Why this
strange silence of the Greenville
| Newsp" demands the Register.
Well, the truth of it is the editor of
the Greenviile News ran away last
week. When his esteemed contempo-
raries were calling upon him for deliv-
erances regarding the organization OF
| national Democratic clubs he was sit
| ting on a log in the woods on the side
of mountain in Western North Caro-.
lima. 1t was glorious, too. A sky of
wonderfully deep blue 1ecked with
still strips of transparent white cloud;
the dreamy haze of the Indian Summer;
air so crisp, so deliciously and delicate.
| ly perfurmed with the aromatic sug.
gestions of pine trees and hickory
leaves that every breath of 1t was long
drawn luxury. There were few sounds
to disturb the silence. The stream
down in the darkened ravine babbled
and splashed idly and family and mo-
mentary glints Of the clear water flash
ed now and then as the thickly cluster
ed, deep green laurel swayed noiseless.
ly. The dry leaves rustled slowly as
they drifted down through the trees as
if lingering to say goodbye to the
companions that had swung and rus
tied with them while all of them were
green and beautiful through the sun
shine and breezes of the dead, bright
summer. Now and then the air was
filled with the distant drumming of a
pheasant or squirrel could be heard
scampering through the leaves. There
was a riot of color everywhere-crim-
sons, scarlets, browns, yelloWs, greens,
in bewilderjng, gorgeous varieties and
blendings.
With a dinner of mountain made
hominy and fried chicken, preceded
by a taste of something which had
never yielded any of It's sturdy strength
to the mercenary hands OF a dispensa.
ry agent, and succeed by tramp over
q ridge or two, and brlar wood pipe
filed with tobacco like flakes of gold,
the blue smoak Of which drifted and
curled slowly away to mingle with the
haze, a man could sit in place like
that and be profoundly. magni6cently
| Indifferent to politics, commerce and
finance and all cares and concerns
present and future, public and private,
content simply to be living and i'm.
pressed with the general sensation that
this is pretty fair kind of a world
after all. He could idle there with Idle.
ness made delicious by the fact that he
had been working from fourteen to
eighteen hours day without break
a number Of months, and allow a mind
which is usually struggling to consider
and remember large number of
things at once to be so magniicently
vacant as to decline to remember
whether the right or left hand barrel
was loaded with buckshot, and to ac-
cept with cheerful lack Of purpose the
possibility of blowing an unhappy
squirrel into rags or impotently pep.
pering the impervious feathers of
| turkey with No. 8. Add to all this the
delightful sense of wrongdoing, not 80
acute as to be uncomfortable, but just
strong enough to give zest to the occa.
sion-the splendid consciousness of
having run away without asking leave
or license of anybody, after writing ad-
| vance editorials to be cut off and dunn
ped into holes in the columns like
| packing and liable 20 be Inappropriate
| to events, and esteemed contempora'
ries can understand how much they
have to be envious of and how glad
the editor of the Greenville News is
that be ran away, even if he did return
| to find this newspaper being clamor-
ously called on for an opinion and un
der suspicion Of dodging. TwO or
three days of absolute serenity and in
difference and peace are worth. taking
some chances aud suffering some seri-
GUS per alties for.
This newspaper would do nearly any
thing for General Hampton and would
work its heart out to serve him be-
cause be Is well worthy of all the honor
and love this State can give him. It has
a very strong brotherly affection for its
contemporaries with whom it has
fought shoulder to shoulder in a weary
discouraging up hill fight for what it
and they telieve to be right. We be-
lieve the motives of General Hampton
| and orr contemporaries are righr, but
their Judgment in this matter In our
view altogether wrong. In the propo-
sition for the organization of a ina
tional Democratic" party in this State
| outside the present Democratic organ
izaiton we see much evil and no good.
1t means, 80 far as we can under
stand, split among the white people,
which is the calamity most of all ca
lamitias to be dreaded aud resisted.
Suppose $4,000 men should be organ
lied as national Democrats. There
would yet be majority of 10, 900 against
them. If a majority of the white peo-
pie Can be organized as national Dem
ocrats there is no need for the organi-
zation because they can win In the
| regular primaries. We can not make
a minority win without calling In the
help of the black vote. The Greenville
| News would rather have Tlllman Gov
ernor for ten or fifteen years Dy white
votes than to have a government COM.
posed entirely of men of its own selec.
tion chosen by the help of colored vot-