The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-05-12
THE PAST AND THE PRESENT.
BILL ARP ON OLD FATHER TIME.
"A Horrible Looking Creature With
Nothing OH But His Bones-An In
vitatiOn for Mr.. Rouss to Come
South.

|
Nothing OH But His Bones-An In
vitation for Mr.. Rouss to Com
South.
Old Father Time is a horrible look
ing creature with his scythe in hi
hand and nothing on but his bones
but he is good doctor. Long befor,
he cuts down he begins to soften ant
soothe the passions and asperities O
lie and to prepare our better natur,
for the only solution OF life's problem
which is love to God and to our fellow
men, but very few old men carry bit
terness to the grave. One day OBJ
served an old man TO" whose talent.
the community had great respec
talking to friend. His eyes flashed
and every linament of his face betoken
ed anger. AS he struck the end of his
cane to the pavement he said: "
ought to have killed the scoundrel'
Cautiously | approached and inquired
Had difficulty with somebody, col
onel ?" "Oh," said he, 81 was Just
telling Brown about little affair that
happened about-let me see-yes, just
| forty-five years ago" But even he
melfowed down SINE wears 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 a hundred years, but
three score years and ten is too brief q
time to be wasted in passions.
Thirty-one years have passed since
the war, and | was Illuminating 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-
bit a Confederate flag provoked i'm
prisonment; when we had to defend
the lost cause or lament it's failure in
whispers, and when every man who
was worth $4,000 had his property
confiscated unless he petitioned for
pardon brokers at Washington made
millions out of our wealthy citizens.
But Time has diluted the bitterness
of those who were our most malignant
enemies. Reflection has tempered the
prejudices of our Northern brethren,
and now we see General Gordon and
General Longstreet given glad ana
willing welcome as they discourse
temperately and truthfully of the war,
Its causes and it's results. Nowhere
is the carpet-bagger VINO figured in
reconstruction times more denounced
and despised than at the North. More
than all this, o monument has been
built on Northern ground in memory
OF the Confederate dead. Brotherly
unions of the blue and the gray have
been held at various times and places,
and thousands of the grand army are
moving southwark and fraternizing
with our people. There is only one
coz hnt al
the hard fact that while we pay our
to pay theirs and get nothing back.
The estimate is that it takes half a
million annually for Georgia to pen
sion her Confederate widows and dis
abled 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 or 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
O 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, | know,
must have worn their legs off up to
their knees, like MunchauSen's famous
hunting dog"
But after SO long time the heroism
OF the South is looming up and the lost
cause shines before the world in a
clearer and more lustrous light. No
sane man speaks of us as traitors now,
and we are permitted with q kindly
grace to honor our dead and build
monuments to our heroes. Patriotism
and courage are h0nored everywhere
There are, of course, a few heartless
souls In every community who care
nothing for the sacred memories of
the war, and with pious junction cx-
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
out sentiment will never have any
heroes. DR.. Johnson, the greatest
philosopher that ever lived, said :
That man is little to be cnvied
whose patriotism would not gain force
upon the plain of Marathon. Even
religion, which is animated only by
faith and hope will glide by degrees
out Of the mind unless 1T be invigcr-
ated by calls to worship and the salu-
tary influence of example" Never was
anything moro truthfully said. Tho
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 the Athenians
defeated the great army OF Darius,
but Marathon is still memorable in
song and story. IT. is the watchword
of patriotism. A generation has passed
since the battle of Gettysburg, but the
valor of the American soldiers of both
armies, as displayed in that bloody
fight, will shine in history as long as
there are people to write, or people to
read. We are glad that Colonel Car
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 magnetzed every fiber oI
his being? Who can ever forget
the exalted emotions that II great
battle inspires? Then, let every vet
eran go to hear this eloquent Virgin
ian and Tor time quiver with unsup
pressed emotions. Let every young
man, yes, cvory lad and lassie go t.
hear him and have their patriotism
quickened and made stronger. Henry
Grady won the applause of Now Eng
land and the mighty North when he
dared to say in his great speech, "Tht
South has nothing for which to apollo
gize. The late struggle between the