The Opelousas courier., 1893-03-04
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
lie Looks Ont Upon the Charming Land
scape Of Beautiful Snow,
While Watching the Youngsters al Play
He is Reminded of Bygone Days.

It strains an old man to see much fun in the
beautiful snow. He can't play in it, nor side
nor walk about with any security; but he knows
that he can't help himself, and so must try 10
be happy because the children are. Nhat q
glorious thing it is to be oblivlous to trouble
and apprehension-what reckless Joy these chill
dren feel while rolicking in this miracle OF heaV"
enlg beauty, while l am here thinking about the
coal and wood that is nearly gone and there Is
no more in town, AMI how the cook says she
"reckon she have to quit for she can't hafdly
get up de hill any more" arl Q l nad &c
shovel a path to the coalhouse and the coWiot
to dig up some lightwood and couldent ma ths
Ak for a long time, for the hired boy dident
come and he never. has any particular place for
anything, and the young folks tramp snow all
over the hall and the carpet and get their shoes
and stockings wringlng wet, ana Mrs. ARP
declares that every one of them will be sick.
But it is beautiful-that is q fact-whea the
morning sun dispersed the lingering clouds ana
sent his genial rays all over the fields and lawns
and housetops, I thought it was the most charm
ing landscape I had ever seen. How quickly
can dame nature change our feelings from
gloom and apprehension to JOY and gladness.
The peafoWls have come down from their roosts
in the treetops for the first time IN forty-eighs
hours and the pigeons are clrcl1ng around ana
the little birds have come from their hldlng
places. The sleigh bells are jingling and the
boys are coasting down the steep hills, ano
everything seems happy again.
reckon now the winter is broken, and IN q
few weeks the spring flowers and the peach
trees will be in bloom. This Is the hrst real
pleasant, sunshiny day since the day AFTER
Christmas. It has ben a hard, long, Wlntfy
spell, and poor folks have suffered, and so have
the laboring men who follow the rail and have
to take their places by day and by night. )
never bear the whistle blow, nor feel the rum,
bling shock of the loaded trains as in the dead
of night they move to and fro past my house
but what I think of the engineers and the nre-
men and the brakemen. Maybe, when the
'sgates are aiar,' they will run trains in heaven
where they will never be too cold or too hot and
no COWS on the track and everybody have o
free pass over the line.
It Is curious how old folks love to read AM
ponder the memories of the past. l wrote q
letter about Andrew Jackson, and had many
letters responsive to the s~ubject-most OF them
were from old men who still love to dream over
the recollections of their youth. i had one
from a veteran in Atlanta, who was born In
1911. and is still hale and hearty and attends
| regularly to his merchandise. When he was a
youth the halo of Jackson's victory was still
| radiant. He tells how q famous comedian
| named Barnes sang a song in the theater In ga
| vannah near seventy years ago. 1t was called
1.-THE Hunters Of Kentucky" and Barnes wore
q coon.skin vest and cap and had an old-tlnne
rife and powder horn, and one verse OF his
song was:
Old Packenham had made his brags
That he was brave and lucky
He'd have our girls and cotton bags
In spite of old Kentucky. I
A~letter from a friend, who is proud of being
q tar-heel, says that General Jackson was born
in North Carolina, just over the line IN the
| Waxhaw settlement, but that his mother, Whe
was then q widow, was over there on q visit
| Her home was only 6 few miles away, and was
in South Carolina-and so both States claim
| him He narrates some unwritteh history OF
the family, and says that General Jackson's
father died q few weeks before Andrew was
born. and one cold day when the funeral had TO
come of the Waxhaw settlers started with the
corpse to the graveyard that was two or three
miles away. The road was very rough, the day
was cold. the wagon shackly and ssgrog" was
plenty. and when they arrived ct the graveyard
and went to the wagon for the corpse, it was
not in there. It had spilled out on the way, and
they had TO go back after it. The writer says
'these are facts that have long been verified IN
the Waxhaw settlement"
You can't tell q mans age exactly by his
Chistian name but in q great many cases-yes,
thousands of then1-you can tell the period
the decade in which he was born. From lsls
10 1925 there were more southern boys named
for Andrew jackson than for any other man
Nv father was a merchant for forty years, ano
the A. j Is were numerous upon ms oooAs, aug
there was no great disparity IN the ages O
those who bore them. For q period OF thirs!
years before this, g. WIS and I. Us and j
ms were the popular initials. Bnt the charm
the halo, Of thes names has passed away, ans
now you will find in the families OF the vet
Grams many a youth under twenty-five wn
feels honored with the name OF Bob Lee or 30
Johnston or John Gordon, or some fayorite OF
Ger under whom the father served. This is
good way to perpetuate noble deeds and daring
and costs less than monuments. The devot1o
OF the old soldiers to such leaders Is yef
beautiful. and reminds me of a veteran ] me
in Texas who, d1spairing of any boy happenin
in the family where FIVE girls had come alon
in q straight, named the little girl bah
ssstonewall jackson asa rabbits foot, he SAID
and, sure enough the next child was q boy, an
he had to name. him Bob Lee, who was hi
second choice II never eeed old Bob" b
said, 'sbut / foxtrotted after old StoneWall ur
til be died, and / loved him a leetel the best.