The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1897-04-02
BILL ARP'S WEEKLY LETTER.
FIFTY YEARS AGO WILLIAM MADE
A PROPHETIC SPEECH.
TALKS OF HIS OLD SCaOOLNATES.
Major wnrrou's Trip Co Florida Was q
Moral MISTAKE According 90 the
Philosopher standpoint.

I.fa curly Foo tHa century aud have lived fo
close a. Au such period of progress Inns
/ trlnsUIr.i since fHn world WI mHNu prae-
| RES. BOO ara aHa science. tHH d.fu .un ui
knowledge and las spread of lur.stHHiEi
progress Ia Invention and continuance for
better living and iHH comforts and pleasures
| VT l..r; progress Iu mental uud moral intrl-
lissucp. There Be- uu equal comparison hD-
| tween Che last sixty year. aud amy That pre-
/ cndDi them. Progress has made % great
| lEup forward and seems 90 have come Co
/ halt Mocuunot imagine that the world
/ needs anything more in tho way Of iuycn-
/ ton, but &c viii iH q few years and then it
/ viii come. A kind Providence never fails
| us. One by one the doors are unlocked
/ the mysteries OF nature are revealed.
just nifty years ago / was chosen o junior
| orator from the Phi Kappa Society In Frank
| I'm college. IL was esteemed a great honor
/ then 20 Doe one of the four. and am proud
| oven now 90 tell my children and grandchil-
| dren about It,. There were forty-iour Of AS
| In my class and ! was one of the four. The
i honor was not for my orutory, but more for
! my scholarship aud popularity among my
! society members. ] did not expect it, i did
i not deserve IL, and was greyed that some
! OF my loW-country classmates whom ] loved
/ were left out and / was chosen. I'm that day
/ the Savannah boys were not popular I'm coll
! lege They were looked upon as sWels and
! aristocrats, and from then until now nOth-
! ing In the way of hOuors or offices has been
/ given 10 Savannah. / have lumented this
| for allthese years. There are no nohler pe0-
| pie Ia all the state than Savannah people. L
| admire them and respect them and whenever
| one OF them offers for office / am for him on
| general principles. The good principles. the
| integrity of the old Hugucuots and Caro-
| linians who settle I'm that region has descend
| cd 90 their pOsterty and they are stiu the
10 .|#4 HH a.
| of liberty was there, and If ever we have 10
| fall back on men 10 pcrpctuate our reyolu-
| tlonary principles, had rather depend up-
| on the old-time people of savannah than any
| others ] was Ina college with John Screyen
| and Charley Hardee and Henry Law and
| Monroe Aclyer and many from Savannah,
and they were the best boys we had
But l started to tell that the subject OF my
junior orators speech was "a Hundred
| Years Hence II was o prophetic speech,
and, of course, / got my father TO help me
write IL. All the boys do that IL was good
speech and made an impression, but have
often thought how little we then knew of
what was to happen in the next fifty years.
| No telegraph, no telephOne'or monographs
no air-brakes on railroads, no antiseptic
| remedies in surgery, no Y rays, no electric
| lights, no oil stoves, no refrigerator cars, no
fruit or vegetables from Florida or Califor-
mia, no ice factories, no elevators no bicycles,
no manufactured fertilizers. My prophetic
| speech was not prophetic, though II did tell
that less than fifty years the people would
travel in the air on flying machines. Just
fifty years ago l travelled to college at Athens
on a mule train from Union Point and
thought l was doing pretty well for we were
| perched on the top Of a caboose and had
ample time to peruse the country on both
sides as we logged along. II was only forty
miles, but took all day to make it. remem-
Der that had on homemade boots
and l wore straps to keep my pants down.
That was the fashion then-leather straps
that were buttoned ont the inside OF the pants.
They kept the legs of the pants down so
straight that the kneepan made a depression
and looked like goose had laid an egg in
them. What amOmentous event it, was for a boy
to enter college. At that time it took three
years to 60 around the world, but this was a
bigger thing than the world-bigger to me
bigger to my dear mother who had long
cherished the idea that l was to either be q
preacher or president. But now / am al
most alone and have been neither Almost ev.
erybody then knew is dead. Briscoe and
Cody and Terrell and Thornton and Mont.
: | gOmery and Henry Law and Grant and the
King boys, and not long ago WilIoughby
Lumpkin died-the boy whom | especially
loved, for he was always lovable and true
Chess Howard and jim Warren are still in
, the land Of the living where peace may bt
| sought and pardon found. Chess is AWAY.
genial and kind and l had hopes of jim
Warren for he is as solid as rock and ha!
been a governors secretary fOrabout twenty
years. With pride / have pointed to him q!
one among the few who have prOspered anC
maintained their integrity But Of late
change seems to have como over him. II
has been to Florida on vacation and ha!
| fallen from grace. But few men can go Il
| 10 md foil tbo Frfrf Ia Oft, I -,,
by the papers that Jinl-the steady, unexcit
able Jim--has gone of after Florida god
and writes back that no caught string o
sheepshead and a cOnger eel in fOg--ius
threw out a line in Il Tampa bay mist anC
caught whole string, thinking that he wa
fishing in the water, but found out when tn
mist lifted that he was half mile from the
inlet and had been fishing in the fog i
Z beats Bud KernOdle, who swOre that the fsl
: were so eager that he had to get behind
\ tree to bait his hook. / expected the like o
: that from Kernodle, but from Jim Warren
never. J. have been referring my grandsonl
to him rs an example of truth and integrity
jim and l are about the same age, and
wanted US to 60 along down together anC
t have the same cpitaph, but there is no rcli
anco on a man who goes fishing in Florida
4 The devil who is the father Of liars, mus
= live there or thereabouts
/ Speaking of tho old times. I was ruminat
ing about the advantages that we veterans
have over the present rising generation, whc
= never knew the want Of modern inventions
These young people who were born in n
age Of electricity and newspapers and book
| without number and store clothes and hey
e Giles. Contrast sweetens everything. A MAJ
a who was reared poor can all the better enjO,
riches. prisoner appreciates liberty.
sick man enjoys good health when it come
: to him. We read Of a man who after year
e Of confinement in u gloomy dungeon was s.
9 overioyed at being suddenly released that h
devoted all his earnings to buying the bird
: in every cage that he saw and giving ther
r their liberty.
u was a prisoner myself, he said, can
know how it feels"
l But hah;ts are like chains, and we old me
1 still stick to the ways o. our fathers. Yestet
, day l bought homemade basket from a
old darby and l had respect for him jus
p because he continues TO make baskets. II
z said that nary one of his children or grand
4 a.. ~ 1t -