The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1897-06-29

remember how crushed and helpless
l leit when got my family back home
ana round nothing but a shelter-not q
oeu 10 sleep on-not u COW in the coun-
ny. no hour, no sugar nor coifee-not q
chicken nor an egg, and no money TO
BUY with, II there had been ANYTHING
10 ouy-no wood to burn, no fence
around the house, and so we had to
purn the stable that the yankees built
on our lot for their horses. 1t was des-
olatlon, and with me almost despair,
put my wife never surrendered, and she
hasn't yet. She wants as many good
thlngs and nice things as anybody, but
when trouble she can suffer and
be strong.
1t Is a good time about now for a man
OF my years to look back and take a
Hind OF inventory of what | have done
all this time-what has been accom-
pllShed Tor the worlds good or any
body's good, not for my own good. for
that don't count up yonder. Before I
go into the receivers hands it Is well
Tor me to make up an invoice. When
a schooiboy we used to debate whether
or not there was such q thing as disin-
terested ~benevolence. thought then
that there was, but it seems to me now
That almost every good thing [ ever did
was yer much mixed up with selfish
ness and all that will excuse me will be
on the line OF tho poet who says,
They who JOY would win,
Must share i~t-happiness was born in
twin"
There is some comfort in that. for I
oelleVe l have taken pleasure in diyid-
ing with others the blessings that God
has given me. The retrospect is, how
ever, not free from clouds and blurs,
and ! would that | could live those
parts OF my life over again, and liye
them better. DR.. johnson said to Bos.
well that Il man who lived for himself
lived In vain, and hat it was every
mans duty TO do something for his .fel.
lowmen and also for those who we're to
come alter him. Our fathers and
torefathers," said he. wrote books and
Invented useful contrivances and plant
ed trees and vines for us, and so, as we
cannot pay them for it, we should do
something for posterity." am about
even on that line, for | have planted
trees both for shade and fruit wherever
have lived, and my wife still keeps
me planting vines. | have written
many sketches and a book or two, with
malice atorethought, and can say
with Byron:
What is wit e wit,
would 1T were wOrthicr."
On the whole | am grateful that NV
lie has been allotted to the last three
quarters of this century-seyen decades
that have witnessed more progress in
science, art, invention and Christian
civilization than any previous thousand
years In the worlds history. A great
leap lorward has been made since |
was a boy, FOR | remember when there
were put few books and fewer newspa-
pers in the United Statss-when there
was but two or three little short rail.
roads, and not Il telegraph or a tcic.
phone-when there was no light but
candle light, and not a friction match
In the world o "a steel pen. But pro-
greess always brings a train of evil
things along with it. Every light has
its shadow. The devil is a lively cuss,
and keeps up with the procession.
Man never builds a house of PRAYER
But what the devil has q pulpit there
Ana his pulpit, though invisible, is
al the other end where the sinners love
TO c~ongregate. | remember when there
were no hip pockets nor pistols to put
In them. remember when there was
no whiskey in this country, and the
only spirits drank we're win peach
brandy, c0gnac brandy, that was made
from grapes, and New England rum
that the yankees made from molasses.
They made the rum to buy niggcrs
with in Africa, but some of it got dow
South. Whiskey came later, and was
originally uskey baugh, a gastric WORD
that, strange to say, means water
Of life. The last syllable was happily
dropped in the course of time, for /,
means life-and uskey was pronounced
weesky.
But it would take a book to tell all
the changes that have marked the las,
sixty years-the good Of it and the bad
OF it. | would blot some things out if |
could, and set the clock back, but God
knoweth. Especially would | blot out
every bad thought and every bad deed
OF my own-every act that gave pain
or anxiety to those who loved me. The
worst word in the language is remorse.
am free from that, | know, but not
from regret. | wish that all the Young
people would stop and think-some.
times stop and think and resolve to dc
nothing that will follow them like Ban.
quo's ghost when they get old.
BILL ARP.