The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1896-10-16
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
AN,OLD FRIEND IN ROME MAKES
& HIM RETRospECTIvE.
He Writes Interestingly of Aaron
Burr. Hamilton's Slayer. %

nochan, of Rome, has recently cele-
brated his eighty sixth birthday. He
is still hale and hearty and loves to
talk to his friends about the good old
times. He is q harness maker by
trade, and perches on his stool and
talks while he works and feels the feel
Apprenticed to the trade when he was
fourteen years old, he has continuous.
ly pursued his calling for seventy
years, and in all that time 1 do not
suppose that he ever defrsuded any
man. have never heard him COM
plain of his lot or of hard times. I
never heard him abuse anybody more
than to say, HE should not have done
chat. 1t is wrong. What a pity;
what pity" And yet he is man of
opinions and convictions and does not
hesitate to express them.
How came old Father Carnochan to
be SO industrious and work so hard
and live 80 long and ehioy life and
have good health? He says he reckons
it just happened so, but my opinion
is that his early habits had much to do
with 1t. For seven years he was
"bound OUT" as we used to call it.
Bound to q seddler and harness maker
in New York city to learn the trade.
That used to be common ut the north,
and I have known some cases of the
south in the long ago, but not many.
My father had an orphan boy bound to
him for seven years, and the covenant
was board and clothing and two
months schooling every year and 5000
sv, H..
was smart, handsome and willing, and
made good merchant and married
| we'll.
Mr.. Carnochan says he had to work
diligently, and by the time his term
was out, the habit of work was fixed
upon him and kept him out of mis-.
chief. There is the secret. But few
Of our boys have formed habit of
work. II they do any at all, they look
upon it as o hardship.
The old man says that Aaron Burr
traded at their shop, and he remembers
him we'll. handsome, courtly old gen.
tleman dressed in tip.top fashion and
with manners like Lord Chesterfield.
Years before he had been forced to
leave the country and lived in exile,
but he came back when the storm blew
over and he was such o groat lawyer
that he soon got lots Of practice and
made lots Of money. He drove fine
horses and WAS high-born aristocrst
and never lost . minutes sleep about
killing Hamilton.
l WAS ruminating about that, for
hSsfis ~ stQEy lis, kk,It il beobisA adsSe
to read it. His fathers name was
Aaron Burr, and he was q very learned
and pious preacher and teacher. He
was founder and first president of
Princeton college, and is buried there,
and six other presidents are buried
near him. He married Esther, the
y only daughter of Jonathan Edwards.
the great preacher aud profound
thinker. A man whose sermons made
the people tremble and cry out and
beg for mercy. The young Aaron had
, q sister named Esther, and these two
: were left orphans ut On early age.
They had good estate and the best
guardians, and received good edu.
a cation. Aaron was sent to Prince
ton, where he graduated with dis
flnction. 1t was expected that he,
too, would be preacher, but he sud.
henly astounded his friends by de-
= bouncing Christianity as humbng,
ID and declared his admiration for Lord
rs Chesterfield, whom, he said, was the
rshnest gentleman in the world. Then
The studied law and soon became the
n Bop of the profession. When the rev.
E!"lutionary war was impending he was
'siven high position and became m
e Intimate OF General WASHINGTON
family; but he did not like Washing
toms steady habits and religious prin-
ciples and left hun. At the close Of
the war ho married wealthy widow
a Mrs Provost, aH accomplished and
.pious Cnristinn w, man. She became
fthe mother If Theodosin, celebrated
Yin her day for her beauty and her
Igrnc. Of mind and heart, and univers-
daily lamenIci for her sad and mysteri-
I dus fate. Her only child, q son, died
when he was thirteen years old, and
] she herself was lost ut sea but few
1 weeks after, and no one ever heard OF
i the vessel after it sailed from Charles
ton. There are many stories about it
lit having been seized by pirates snd
iThcodosia, with other passengers, be-
ing made to walk the fatal plank that
dropped them into tho sen.
J Not long before this sad event Burr
had forced Hamilton to fight o duel
with him, and killed him, not only
/ without regret, but with unfeigned
satisfaction. This put him under the
ban, and he had to fly to avoid arrest.
lie fled TO Car olina, where his daughter
lived. She had married Joseph Ais
ttop, one Of South Cardinals best citi-
I Zeus, and who afterwards became gov
iernor of the state.