Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1895-05-28
ARP AND HIS WIFE.
Tho Old People Are Lonely Now
That There Are Ne Children
With Their Musical Voices Resembling
Through the Old Honie-Ths Chtts
dteh Married a1d tsone-Biii ind
Mrs. Arp by Themseives.

them. The good is oft inferred with
their bones"
Mark Anthony said that over the dead
body OF Caesar, but do not think he
ui~atit it. Perhaps IL was PARTLY sar-
casrD; like the rest Of his speech. The
good deeds of good men outlive the bad
deeds of bad men. The poet Longfellow
said it better and more truthfully:
Lives Of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime
The evil that men do does not live
leng after they are dead. The infiu es
Of bad men stop with their breath. Who
tnourns; who attends the funeral, who
pronounces the eulogy? But mark the
sweet breath and grief when good man
or good woman dies. When stone falls
into the bosom Of a CLASSY lake it is said
that the shock is not confined to little
space around where it fell, but the cir
tles widen and recede until they reach
the distant shore, and even the earth
has felt 1t. just so the lives of good
people are all the time giving out
wavelets that never stop. They reach
from man to man, from father to son,
and 60 on down through the corridors
Of time, and like the flow of peaceful
river they nourish as they go. Good
examples and good influences outlive
bad ones.
was Illuminating about this because
OF the recent death OF two good people
whom loved and who were my pre-
sohal friends A man and a woman
Campbell Wallace, of Atlanta, and
Mother Sparks, of Rome. Their time
was out and it was fitting thing fol
them to go and nobody grieves, except
In sad, sweet way. In fact it was a
triumph for them to die--a victory.
Major Wallace, in his ninetieth year
had outlived all the companions of bis
youth. He had seen many panics and
many perils; had lived in sunshine and
in storm; had spent his youth and par
of his manhood when there was nc
railroads, nor telegraph, nor steamships
nor cotton gins, but he marched with
the procession and was among the frs
to build railroads and to operate them
In active, progressive. busy life for more
than sixty years, he never wavered from
the path of duty and justice, but his
whole .life was adorned by good will
and good temper. What a cheerful old
age he carried. I-have letter before
me now that he wrote me on his
eightieth birthday. A kind, cheerful
hopeful letter, full of love to God and
love TO man, and it was written with 8
gray goose quill in round, strong hand
and without blot or blemish. l know
that children should not bank too much
On fathers reputation, but still chill
dren, grandchildren and great-grand
children have a right to be proud tha
Campbell Wallace's blood flows in theil
veins.
And that good old mother in Israel
Mrs. Ann Sparks. One of the heroine.
we do not find in the books, but &
heroine all the same. How bravely she
went through the perils and trials o.
the war; how nobly did she take the
place of husband and father; how
lovingly and tenderly did she rear the
children left in her charge; how serenely
she trusted in the God of the widow and
the fatherless; what comfort she wa:
to her Church, and how ardently she
loved everything and everybody whom
God loved. never met her but what
felt better for her presence, and now
never think of her without realizing the
sweet incense that emanates from the
memory of the loved and blessed dead
No. The good is not inferred with
their bones. 1t will continue to live
and bless generations to come. Suppose
every person should live and die like
these two-well, that would be the
dawn of the millennium.
Old people are getting scarce and
lonely. None but the aged know any
thing of that peculiar feeling that comes
over a man or women when they heal
OF another death among the flock thai
grows smaller and smaller as the years
roll on. Another one gone-and after
while another. When q man nears his
three-score years and ten he is almost
afraid to count up the number who are
left. 1t makes him feel lonesome and
unconsciously he whispers: ''One shall
be taken and another left"
For more than two months my wife
and have been living alone-all alone
in q great big house with eight rooms
not even a cat to NEW nor a canary bird
to sing. But we sometimes borrow q
grandchild for day or night and oul
kindred visit us quite often. Never
theless. the fact remains that our chill
dren have all left US, and now l sit al
one side of little round table and my
wife at the other as ask blessing 81
our daily meals. It's funny. isn't iti
Forty years ago bought an extension
table, for the children were coming
along and every three or four years I
new leaf had to be put in and by and
by the table grew long-very long
and there were Ave children on eacf
side. Soon boy left us and then I
girl and leaf was taken out Their
two more boys and another girl and
another leaf was put away In the closet
and so it has been going ON and on until
now all the leaves are gone and tn,
table is round. But we will have tw,
of tho girls back from Florida soon ant
. little grandchild and home will lool
bright again. Ny wife keeps bus,
looking after her flowers and making
little mysterious garments like sh'
used to mako sswhen you and I wert