Birmingham state herald., 1897-01-10
LAWRENCE HUGH MATHEWS
Journalist, Poet PhIIanthropist, and Noble
 & Man.


 + arfrom his native country, where the gay moments of childhood and the hap py hours of youth were spent, a tired old man closed his dim eyes and went
 to sleep. His tenement of clay mingles with thedust of America. while his spirit,
 no doabt, has renewed it's youth and now mingles with the blest.
 L. H. Matthews was a journalist of no mean ability, as was remarked by his confreres while he was living, and as is testiaed by, so many of them since his demises-zHls spending so many years in small towns is mo evidence that he lacked ability to make a. success off a cosmopolitanadaily but 1t is proof of his devotion to Blount county and Alabama. The readers of his paper have noticed that his editorials bore the mark of strong thought and individuality. His | utterances were widely copied. On afiy of the anniversaries his editorials, though
 brief, were to the point and from year to yearr-Yaried. They also showed unmis- takably that they came out of the ful- ness or aF C Christiap. heart and mind. Sew eral times have seen his sayings copied | in some of the Christian Advocates. In the realm of poesy he was no ma- chine. The files of the Blount County News-Dispateh- contain many sparkling gems which bubbled spontaneously from his honest soul and ready mind. Some times I would fancy it was Burns I was reading, or Tennyson or Longfellow. One day Ipointed-to 8 pretty little por- trait in verse, and asked him where he got 1t. ssHe laughad and replied: 70, just scratched it off for copy" It is to be hoped that his warm friend, CO., laboreN and successor, Editor J. H. Ketchum, will reproduce from time to time the poems referred to- so that many who neglected to preserve them may now do so.
 The dictionafre might object to my call ing this man phianthropist, but I use the term advisedly. Every man who runs weekly newspaper in a small town and for the-benefit ofsa county, which, In it's early history. develops none too rapidly may truly be called philantrhopist They do missionary work, many of them, of the gospel kind,
 Wkfle men of vast wealth, inherited or otherwise gotten more easily than by ed- iting a country newspaper, give to some worthy cause and never feel it, such men as L. H.. Mathews give blood and bone and sinew-even nfe-for the building up of institutions which will profit others more than themselves, and in doing that for which they may never get their due mete of praise.
 I know. of an editor in Guntersville. Ala, whois as much a philanthropist IS is Jno. D. Rockefeller. I might mention
 others, only Tuse for living example enc
 who. and whose work I know best. The man Mathews may have been an enigma to some, but to those who knew him best he was easily understood. We should not forget that he was reared where little Is In Keeping with the cus- toms of our country. That he made mis- takes none would deny. He was mortal. But 1t would. be mean and cowardly in friend or former foesto recount the weak nesses of a., mans nature after he has served us so bong and 90 we'll God can overlook the stumpfng of a mans toe if the trend of his life is right. A man of strong mind and marked in- 1 diyiduaHty will cat some time displease This little bunch of Shamrock is offered l in memory of him by one who never at l any time had a. hard thought concerning | the man, and who was never spoken to by him except in such words as make me revere his memory as something sacred. In time of war he fought for us, In time of peace he wrote for us, His warfare's OCT, his sword lain down, His pen is still. He wears a crown. w. F. MELTONh Nashville CTenn.) College for Young Ladies, January, 1S97 .,i