The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1896-05-14
the PAST AND The PRESENT,
hILL, ApsP ON o4p tsAyABa rINtM

htLL AEP ON o4p k.ArABa TiNiM,
a AorriblltG Lopktp& Creature With
N0thiIp@ on But His Boncs--Au In-
vrai"n t0S Nj. F;puss 20 Come
south
Od Fatbcr Time is y horrible look.
lug creature With his seytho In his
hana apd nosblng on but his bones,
out he Is . good doctor. Long beforo
ne cuts GOWN no begios to soften and
SoVthe the passions aud aspcrlties OF
tte and to prepare our better nature
for the only solution Of life's problem,
hoh Is tove To God and to our fellow
mon, but very few old men carry Bit
torness 10 tho grave. Onc day [ OBJ
served un old man for whose talents
tho community had great respect
talking TO friend. His eyes flashed
and every linament Of his face betoken-
cd anger. AS he struck the end of his
cane to the pavement he said: "I
ought 70 have killed the sc0undrel."
Cautiously | approached and inquired
Had u difficulty with somebody, col
onel :" "Oh," said he, " was just
telling Brown abUu, q little affair tnat
happened about-let mo sce--yes, lust
forty.iive years ago" But even he
mcllowcd down 8, me years before he
died. Now, if we lived as long as No
al or Methusalem, or even as long as
Abraham, we might feed and cherish
bitterness for hundred years, but
three SCOro years and ten is too brief u
tmc to be wasted in passions.
Ihlrty-Onc years have passed since
the war, and | was ruminuting over
the difference between now and then.
We veterans remember when we we're
all accused Of treason and many Of our
leaders, had to flee the country for fear
OF arrest and trial and condemnation
and death. When to possess or exhi-
prlsonmcnt; when We had to defend
the lost cause or lament its failure in
whispers, and when every man who
! was worth $4,000 had his property
conliScated unless ho pctitioncd for
pardon and paid we'll for it. The
pardon brokers ut Washington made
millions cut OF our wealthy CITIZENS.
But Time has diiutcd tho bitterness
OF those who wore our most malignant
encmics. Reflection has tempered tho
prejudices Of our Northern brethren,
and now we SEQ Genera. Gordon and
General Lorestreet given glad ana
willing welcome as they discourse
| 'cmperatcly and truthfully Of the war,
i Is causes and its results. Nowhere
| - the rpct-ba2ger vino figured in
| reconstruction times more denounced
and deSpiScd than at tho North More
than all this, monument has been
| built on Northern ground in memory
II the Confederate dead. Brotherly
unions Of the blue and the gray have
hccn held at various times and places,
and thousands Of the grand army are
moving son.hward and fraternizing
"ith our people. There is only one
sore that does not hca., and that is
| the hard fact that while we pay our
own pensions we have to help
to pay theirs and got nothing back.
The estimate is that it takes half a
million annually for Georgia to pen
sion her Confederate widows and dis.
Gblcd soldiers, and ten times as much
to pay her part Of the Union PENSIONS
This five millions goes into their hop
per and we get no toll. But even this
will pass away. Old Father Time is
slow up there, but he is sure. Unpen-
stoned soldiers don't live as long as
those who feed on government pap,
and there are not near as many OF
them. We SEQ it stated that there are
| now less than one hundred Thousand
Confederate survivors. | told that to
a Federal general in Florida not long
| ago, and he ruminated over it some
time and said: You rebels fought
so hard and endured so much you
| broke down your constitutions. Stone
wall Jackson's fool cavalry, I know,
must have worn their legs of up to
| their knees, like Munchauscn's famous
hunting uOS.'
But after SO long time the hcroism
| OF the South IS looming up and the lost
cause shines before tho world in a
.,lrprpr and mara lpstrpns l;rbt NJ,
sane man speaks Of us as TRAITORS now.
and We are permitted with kindly
grace to honor our dead and build
monuments to our heroes. Patriotism
and courage are hOnored everywhere.
There are, OF course, Il few heartless
souls In every community who care
nothing for the sacred memories OF
the war. and with pious JUNCTION ex-
claim, "Oh, let the dead bury It's
dead. Look not back, but forward.
We have no time for sentiment" Such
men will never defend their country
nor help save State. A people with
heroes. Dr.. johnson, the greatest
philosopher that ever lived, said !:
Tina, man is little to be envied
whose patriotism would not gain force
u BON the plain Of Marathon. Even
religion. which is animated only by
faith and hope will glide by degrees
out o! the mind unless it be invigor.
ated by calls to worship and the salu-
tary influence of example" Never was
anything moro truthfully said. The
good citizen must keep his patriotism
alive by chcrishing the memories OF
the wars in which they or their fathers
were engaged. Over two Thousand
years have passed since tho Athonians
defeated the great army of Darius,
but Marathon ia still memorable in
song and story. 1t Is the watchword
of patriotism. n generation has passed
since the battle Of Gettysburg. but the
vnlor Of the American soldiers of both
armies, as displayed In that bloody
fight, will shine in history as long as
thore are people to write, or people to
read. We arc glad that Colonel Gar
nett has come South to work for the
memories of the lost cause, and to tell
us about Gettysburg. Did not our
hearts burn within us as he described
the thrilling scenes that absorbed his
vision and magnetized every fiber of
his being? Who can ever forget