Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1894-01-11
CEAPTER, Z.


TIERS ''BoNNET."
No sooner were our ancestors safely
deposited in their respective vaults than
nv father inclosed his burial lot with
fine iron fence and set up a num-
Der of huge stone vases to contain hang
inc vines. To these he from time to
time added such other ornaments and
improvements as were suggested by Rev.
Nantucket Sperm. Captain Shrimp and
others. These works occupied his days,
and his nights were given to the study
of the genealogy.
Rev. Walter Mowbray created so favor
able an impression that he Was invited to
become the pastor Of q church n the
neighbo-ing village Of WeeDipsit. As
he had now become reimb led with tho
spirit of the true and earnest Christian
soldier and teacher, lie felt it his duty to
make full and humble confession to the
bishop il authority and beg to be rein
stated. In this my father and lent
our assistance, and the story OF Jepson
was made known to only q few discreet
persons. In his preaching he is said to
be doing good work. The pictures he
draws in his warnings to young men are
so realistic that his hearers wonder how
the good old man is able to so faithfully
portray the many evils Of this wicked
world, of none OF which he can possibly
have had any personal experience.
My fathers example caused many iron
ratings and handsome monuments to be
erected by his neighbors, and the Pason-
agessit cemetery is not only the pride OF
the village, but also is the model for all
the neighboring villages, in nearly every
one of which the work OF improvement
is in progress. Rev. Nantucket Sperm
is always loud in his praise of my father
for his inauguration Of the good work
which is now being carried on with so
much pious enthusiasm.
But that which gave my father the
greatest pleasure was the following incl
dent. which he was never tired of relat-
ing: One day as he was coming in from
the cemetery he was stopped by wom-
an apparently about 90 years, of age,
who, cane in hand, stood before her cot
tage. ''1Tr. Johnson" said the venera-
BILE dame. 81 want few thank you. I've
been a-holdin back for years all Iknew
heow jist to keep from bein stuck deown
out there among the weeds and briers,
but now Tn willin tew so whenever the
Lord calls. The homes Of the dead Of
the village are meow as bright as the
homes of its living, and changin from
one to the other don't seem dreadful
like it used tew. I've always been tidy
in my home among the livin, and I'd
like to be tidy in my home among the
dead
1t is my fathers delight to accompany
my sisters when they go forth to strew
fresh flowers on the tombs OF our ances-
tors. On such occasions he favors them
with long extracts from the genealogy.
he never tires of discoursing Of the Ca
reer of the Johnsons of England, and III
speaking of the trials and tribulations of
Sir Archibald his face is at one moment
flushed with righteous wrath, and at the
next he becomes pathetic. and tears roll
down his cheeks. He has now not only
fully adopted our imported ancestors,
but has also so fondly studied their his
tory that he has come TO firmly believe
them of his own flesh and blood.
was made aware Of this the day after
our grand funeral ceremonies when I
said to my father, $50 ends the grim
NEST, most protracted and elaborate
practical joke ever perpetrated onthe
soil of New England"
'Joke, sirw sternly cried my father,
staring at me as though he thought me
losing my wits. "Do you call that which
has been wrought. by the hand of Provi-
dence joke? Let me never again hear
you speak in that light manner Of what
the Lord has brought about. am as
certain as that live that Sir Archibald
johnson was my great-grandfather. The
proofs are so many and so strong that |
cannot doubt them. Not q man in Amer
lea doubts them. My son, what has
been done may have been commenced in
o spirit less serious than was beftting a
work of such great gravity and impor-
tance, but all the time unknown to us
God was guiding us Alright. By his hand
you were led to the tombs Of our ances-
tors, and in all we have since done we
have had his aid. Thus has our work
been made to prosper and bring forth
good fruit.
"How you can doubt that those whose
remains we have so dutifully honored
are our ancestors cannot conceive, es-
pecially in the face of all the proofs you
have brought home from the mother
country. In the Bible we read that the
patriarchs of old experienced certain in
ternal physical connections termed
syearning of the bowels when brought
into the presence of those to whom they
were united by ties Of consanguinity
Formerly I could not understand the
pnenomenon, but now never approach
the tomb Of Sir Archibald that do not
experience similar internal sensations in
the region Of the diaphragm, which l &C,
cept as Il sign given me from one now in
the other world
My father, being thus curt and decided
with me, his own son and fellow con-
spirator. convinced me that had any
stranger dared to even so much as hint
a suspicion that our imported ancestors
were not all we claimed the old gentle
man would have belabored the doubter
with his cane.
AS had II desire to detract from the
family enjoyment, I ever thereafter kept
whatever light thoughts may have had
to myself. Indeed it was to me always
q great pleasure to observe my sister
Eleanor strewing fresh flowers with pi-
GUS care upon the tomb Of Lady Flea
nor, her great-great-grandmother
importation.
If there were any who were previous
" inclined to stand aloof from our fam
ily, the discourse of Rev. Walter Now.
bray brought them into the fold of oul
friends. Still old AmaGiah Bradford
was by no means disposed TO at once ad
,,,oe ,--c-tI,r- Tf ol.tC70cp maj.