The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-07-22
GASLIGHT AND WAITER.

Bill Arp DiscOurses on the DisadYan
tagc of Poor Lights on the Streets
and tho Blessing of Good Water.
wonder If thcro is u town or city in
the world whose gaslight and water-
works satisfy the people. | know that
1t Is chronic to complain of corpora
lions, but am obliged to consider my
self an injured person. Almost every
night have to go down town to help
nurse and comfort little sick child
who Is very dear to me, and although
| thesstrcct has Il gaslight, collide with
something or somebody or fall into q
ditch cvery dark night | travel. | ran
| against u big fat negro woman the
other night, and she uscd disrcspcctful
language at me. Last night had iu'my
hand IL bucket OF black berries that my
daughter gave me, and ! fell over IL
stepping stone and split them all and
skinned my aged shins and dropped
my cane, and it took mo some timo to
find it. I've good notion to bring suit
Tor damages and have u receiver aD-
pointed That so-callcd gaslight docs
not throw its Ctrulgent rays hundred
feet, and is not lighted more than half
the time, and now that lightning bugs
have come again, think the company
ought TO catch some and put them in u
bottle and do away with tho gas. But
| don't sec any sense in having gas with
tho lamp posts quarter Of Il mile apart.
We don't want to carry lanterns and
pay for gas, too. That's all I've got to
say about this gas business, and my
folks have limited that the fault is moro
in my eyes and my legs than in the
dim, religious light, but know better.
am not on the supcrannuatcl list by
good deal. | work every day in my
garden and get all in Il sweat Of pcrspi-
ration, and then clean up and feel good
and honest. The long drought hurt
me pretty bad, bat the garden surviv-
cd it, and now We have vegetables album
iant. The watcrworks man never
caught me stealing more than my share
OF water but once, and he didn't make
much fuss about it. He is a very con-
Sidcratc man. Up north the companies
put meters at every consumers resi-
drrce, and he pays for what he uses,
hut we have got more water here than
the town can use, and don't have to be
stingy. What q blessed thing it is
Water, plenty OF water. Water in tn.
Kitchen and at the back door and in the
front yard and the garden, beside &
oathtuh upstairs and downstairs. Pure
| water, fresh from Il big spring thai
= HS'iSS YIN lhS hlllStuS. NO IlNcI mo-
pond nor reservoir nor tiltering ma
chimes nor microbes nor bacilli. NJ
| we'll rope to break nor windlaSS to &c
| loose and knock one Of the children il
the head. No cleaning out and iindin.
| dead chickens that we had been drink
ing on. The fact is, | never knew tn,
comfort OF water, abundant water, uu
til We planted our waterworks in Car
tersville. Strange to say, they neve
came until we abolished whiskey ey-tha
IS, the saloons. \ great English poe
and jurist says: Its cool refres hmen
drained by fevcred lips gives pleasur
more exquisite than ncctarean Juice,
and Colcridge's sum Of human agon
was to have
water, water everywhere,
| But no, a drop to drink.
During the late long heated term i
June 1T was alarming to read from tn
weather bureau that the world wa
slow y but surely drying up, and tn
rainfall was decreasing every yea,
What an awful calamity is to come
somebody some time. God grant tina
it may not come in our day, nor ou
chiidrcn's nor children : children Go
grant that it may not come at all Blu
the Scriptures do say that this wOrl
shall be burned up, and | heard Pro
lessor Proctor, the great astronomer
deliver a lecture on the Birth
Growth, Maturity, Decay and Dcstruc
tiOn OF WOrlu' that made the hal
almost stand on end, for he proved tina
the world had passed its meridian an
was now on rapid down grade Of d,
cay. "Rapid, rapid, did say? Ic,
rapid for a planet, but it may be mil
lion years Distant That let us dow
easy, and that night the young peopl
danced and the sports played poker q
usual. Just postpone the judgment ou
Of sight, and human nature will tax
the chances.
But the blessed seals that hold tn
rain in the heavens have at last bee
opened, and once moro man and bcas
and nature rejoice in Il temperate a
I mospherc and u mOistencd earth.
. was distressing to read Of the SUI
4 strokes and the suffering in the gret
c cities, and to think Of the little inn,
+ cent children and the invalids in tn
t garrcts and crowded rooms OF the ten,
G mcnt houses. Oh, when will tee GOO
things Of this world be equally appo
: toned? Many Of us have far more tha
: our share, but we are still ungra tc fl
, and long for more. My opinion is tha
r independent Of all revelation, there
5 obliged to be another life in anotl {
world just to cqualiZe things. "Sor
, remember that thou in thy lfctim
l rcccivedst good things and LaZaru
, evil things, but now Lazarus is con
fortcd and thou art tormcntcd." This
is a good text for us all to ruminat
about once or twice or thrice in a Will,
| toll you, my friends, 1T is a fcarfl
/ thing to be rich and selfish, I'm afrai
, to risk it. But sometimes | do cate
myself wishing that | had rich oil
bachelor to die and leave me Il pile {
: money to frolic with in my old age. O
that Mrs. Arp would realize her pal
Of that Holt estate in England. Goo
. gracious she should have a carriag
/ and apair Of kentucky bays before ncX
, Sunday TO ride to church. But 1t is q
, old provcrb that If wishes were horse
we would all take ride. And there
> an old Persian fable that tells how q
old man was always wishing for some
, thing and one night as he and his oil
: wife were brooding over their povert