The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-05-26
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
Philosopher Attends an Eight. Year-Old
Birthday Party.
atlanta Constitution.

Another birthday in the family
There are ten children and nineteen
grandchildren and somehow every
one of them has a birthday about once
a year.
My wife remembers them all just
Ike she knows. her alphabet, but the
alphabet keeps lengthening out as the
years roll on and she says her memory
is weakening.
There is but one orphan in all the
lot-a little black-eyed girl who lives
with us, and so it was agreed that she
should have a birthday party, for she
was just eight years old to-day. II
was a mighty big thing for a little
girl and will last her as long as she
lives, I reckon, and she will never
have a happier one. She goes tc
school and all her little friends had tc
be invited. Forty little notes had to
be written and forty little envelopes
had to be backed and put in the post
office, and this afternoon at 4 o'clock
forty little boys and girls came up the
winding way through the grove and in
course of time were playing on the
lawn as happy and as noisy as a flock
of black birds. They played every.
thing except baseball and football and
other college c%urriculums and wound
up with "many, many stars are in the
sky" I broke into the ring myself
in that game and kissed a pretty little
girl and got kissed by another. Age
has its privileges and these are Of
them. By and by the piano a%nnounc-
ed that the party was prepared, the
feast was ready and so all these little
folks were soon circled around the
long table and the side tables, where
the ice cream and the Strawberries
and the cake and the flowers were
nestled in luxuriant abundance.
Eight little red wax candles were
burning in the center and eight vases
filled with flowers significant Of hope
that the little girl might have a light
to her path and her way be strewn
with roses.
My observation was that all these
children behaved we'll and have good
training at home. Of course the
boys are always hungrier than the
girls, and it takes more to do them.
It is said that one time the queen Of
Sheba had forty boys and girls all
dressed alike and brought in before
King Solomon to see if his great wis
dom could pick out the boys from the
girls. And SO the king called for
bowls of water and towels and had
them passed around for each one to
wash their hands in. The girls care
fully turned up their cuffs, but the
boys just sloshed their hands in the
water regardless of scattering their
sleeves. But 1 would have sent ice
cream around in saucers, for [ know
that the girls would be satisfied with
two, while the boys, as a general rule,
could be persuaded to take n more.
I don't blame them. Good strawberry
ice cream surely is a good thing and
harmless, and ,hree moderate saucers
have never hurt me yet. My wife
will have another birthday in two
weeks and I shall insist on more ice
cream.
Well, we have had an evolution at
our house that has astonished the
natives. We have five acres of grove
in front of our house, and it has long
been inclosed with 700 feet of fence
along the two streets that bound two
sides of our domicile. That fence
was getting old, and had been often
repaired, but recently the city fathers
passed the COW ordinance for good,
and forthwith in a day I had removed
every vestige of that fence. 1t looks
very odd in fact, it looks like South
Carolina. My wife does not know
whether she likes it or not says the
place looks undressed, and she feels
like taking cold, but it will save me
about $50, and that is a big thing
with us, now. So let the evolution
60 on. It is a sign of progress. Since
we have lived here, hogs have been
abolished next the saloons, and last,
the COWS have been ruled off the
streets, and the boys, after 9 o'clock
at night. We are going to have a
clean, nice, orderly town. If [ was
rich I would have a fountain down in
the. grove and a dipper chained to it
and some iron seats in the shade not
far away, where the thirsty and the
weary might have rest. These little
attentions don't cost much, and make
both place and people attractive. The
little things make up the sum Of our
life's happiness. The grand pageant
that celebrated the dedication of Gen
eral Grant new tomb was over in a
day, but his generosity to Lee at Ap-
pomattox, and his kindness to the
South after the war, eclipsed all his
victories. Grant had sense enough to
know that his triumph was nothing to
boast Of, considering that he had
three soldiers to our one, and lost
near a million men, and now has an
other million on the pension rolls.
Why not even old Jack Falstaff would
have Dragged wei such a victory.
But I liked General Grant. He was
a Southern man, and his wife a South
ern woman. He owned slaves up to
the very day of freedom, and lived off
tt IF hire, says his biographer, Gen
eral James Grant Wilson, and Mrs.
Grant said in St. Augustine a few
years ago that her %sympathies had to
be smotherod ell through the war for
her husbands sake. | have said it
before, and I say it again, that most
all professional soldiers will offer
their swords to the highest bidder.
They have a preference, Of course,
but patriotism is not as big a thing as
personal success. If a man could see
behind the scenes he would find many
notable instances of this. Then,
what a lie is history what a hypo-
critic is fame. DR.. johnson said that
"patriotism is the last refuge of a
~scoundrel." He meant pretended
patriotism, of course. Milton cx-
pressed it better when he said that
''brave men and worthy patriots arc
dear to God and famous to ali ages
But a soldier of fortune can fight any
where for a cause that is respectable.
General Loring told me that he could
have fought against the khedive just
s, e., b;r, e tbo noc;t;op