The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-05-22
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
The Old People Are Lonely Now That
There Are no Children.
Atlanta Constitution.

Atlanta Constitution.
"The evils that men do lives after;
them: The good is oft inferred with
their bones"
Mark Anthony said that over the
dead body Of Caesar, but I do not
think he meant it. Perhaps it was
partly sarcasm, like the rest Of g.
speech. The good deeds Of good
outlive the bad deeds of bad MY
The poet Longfellow said it better and
more truthfully: 6
"Lives of great men all remind as
We caa make our lives sublime"
The evil that men do does not live
long after they are dead. The inau-
ences Of bad men stop with their.
breath. Who mourns; who attends
the funeral; who pronounces the eulo.i
gy? But mark the sweet breath Of.
grief when a good man or good wo-l
man dies. When a stone falls into
the bosom of q CLASSY lake it is said
that the shock is not confined to
little space around where it fell, but.
the circle widen and recede until they
reach the distant shore, and even the
earth has felt it. 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 go on down through the.
corridors of time, and like the flow Of
peaceful river they nour;sh as they
60. Good examples and good inau-
ences outlive bad ones.
I was Illuminating about this because
of the recent death Of two good people
whom loved and who were my per-
sonal friends. A man and a woman
Campbell Wallace, of Atlanta, and
Mother Sparks, of Rome. Their time
was out and it was a fitting thing for
them to go and nobody grieyes, except
in a sad, sweet way. In fact it was q
triumph for them to die-s, victory.
Major Wallace, in his ninetieth year,
had outlived all the companions of his
youth. He had seen many panics and
many perils; had lived in sunshine
and in storm; had spent his youth and
part of his manhood when there we're
no railroads, nor telegraphs, nor steam-
ships, nor cotton gins, but he marched
with the procession and WAS among
the first to build railroads and to oper-
ate them. In active, progressive, busy
life for more than GO 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. / have
a 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 a gray goose quill in
a round, strong hand and without blot
or blemish. l know that children
should not bank too much on q fathers
reputation, but still children, grand
children and great-grandchildren have
a right to be proud that Campbell
Wallace's blood flows in their veins.
And that good old mother in Israel,
Mrs. Ann Sparks. One Of the hero
ines We do not find in the books, but
a heroine all the same. How bravely
she went through the perils and trials
of 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; yhaea COM
fort she was to her church, and how
ardently she loved everything and
everybody whom God loved. I never
met her but what I felt better
for her presence, and now I <neyer
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. Sup
pose 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 woman when
they hear of another death among the
flock that grows smaller and smaller
as the years roll on. Another one
gone-and after while another: When
a 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: Zone shall be taken and
another left"
For more than two months my wife.
and L have been living aloneAall
alone in great big house with eight
rooms-not even a cat to meBnor
canary bird to sing. But 1Fe some
times borrow grandchild for day or
night and our kindred visit us quite
often. Nevertheless, the fact remains
that our children have all left US and
now sit at one side of little round
table and my wife at the other as I
ask blessing at our daily meals. Its
funny, isn't it? Forty years ago 1
bought an extension table, for the
children were coming along and every
three or four years a new leaf had to
be put in and by and by the table
grew long-very long there were.
FIVE children on each side. Soon
boy left us and then girl and leaf
was taken out Then two more boys
and another girl and another leaf was
put away in the closet-and so it has I
been going on and on until now all thes
leaves are gone and the table is round. |
But we will have two Of the girls back
from Florida soon and little grand
child and home will look bright again.
My wife keeps busy looking after her
flowers and making little mysterious
garments like she used to make "when
you and I were young, Maggie" and
I hoe the beans and potatoes and trans
plant the beets and pick the straw
berries and dig up the bluegrass turf
on the back lane and roll it up to the
front yard and bed it where she tells
me. The tuber roses are coming up,
and so is the gladiolus, sweet peas
and nasturtium are growing anace and