The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1898-08-05
Whk t!1a Serald and Ielus'
NO TRACE WAS LEFT
ARP TELLS OF THE EDJsAPPOINTMEN ENT
sgEg,M OF \ VETERAN ....i N
Who Called to SEQ Him Old Man, Af-
ter Attending tho Reunion, Thought
lie Would Visit His Child
.. r s. hood Homo.

was gray and bent and tired. Ho
had boon to tho great reunion and
was OH his way back to mississippi.
81 stopped over Il day to 500 you,"
he said, "and 10 revisit tho place
where | was born, but l couldont
find it and am very tired, for / have
boon tramping over tho hills and
valleys above hero nearly nll day"
Tho old man famed himself with his
hat and looked sad and disappointed.
l learned from him that ho was born
somewhere betwoon hero and old
Cassvilo and his mother honrtlcd
somo of tho hands who woro ut work
building tho State railroad, and
thore was spring not far from
thor humble homo. Il thought"
said he, "that I could find tho spring
and tho branch aid tho walnut tree
and blackberry patch, but | walked
and walked and nothing looked
natural. Socmcd to mo that overy.
thing has changed and shrunk mp.
Tho hills hnvo washed down and tho
branches nearly driod up and nobody
ce!!a tel! mn "Hythimg You see,
wo loft hero away back in tho for
ties, whom | was II lad, and there is
new set Of people, but thought
would find somebody or something
that | remembered. Tho old man
looked away off and sighed. or
course, wo wcro sorry for him, and
triod to chocr him up. L asked him
about tho Hooprrs and Trips and
Akin and Underwood and I.atimcrs
and Arthur linirc, but ho didcnt re-
member them. Ito was Il poor boy
and mixed with poor boys, and thoy
had grown mp and gone West, too
How tho old people do yoarn for tho
friends and tho scenes of their
youth! Aftor fifty years. aisrnco
from his nativ" State, Judge War
nor, our honorcd chief Justice, had
this yenrning to como ovor him and
he, too, revisited his boyhood's homo
in Massachusetts lIo wont with
fond expectation and came back sad
and disappointed. "Nly relatives
%oro all dead or gono away" no
said. 81 found but ono man who
remembered mo, and he was blind
and in tho poorhousc. Tho hills
where ! nsod to pick blucbrrrics had
been cleared and wcro not so largo
or SO high. Tho lttlo branches
whoro lishcd for mlnnows had all
boon ditchod and wcro br,drcd
where they crossed tho highways.
Everything was strange and | took
no comfort and hnvo como back to
good old Georgia, my adopted moth
er, and her" will stay until i die,
and | wish to be buried in hcr friond
~ BOSOM"
lhfo seems to hc but circle, and
W" would all go back to tho starting
point if we coul,3. Tho startled
hare whom pursued by tho hounds
sponds strnight forward for time,
bnt after II milo or two begins to
bond its course, and keeps on curv.
ing until it. comes painting on tho
homo stretch to It's familiar nesting
place. And the pioneers tell us that
when a,huntor gots lost in tho forest
on cloudy day and tries to mako n
bee line for homo, ho makes Il curvo
nnconscionsly and gets back to his
starting point. Shakespeare says
that Old ago is but second childhood,
and so>the oldere#o grow the moro
affection we have for childron and
thor innocent sports, sqnd pleasures.
How fondly our minds and Nom )
rles live over again tho littlo plays of
blind MANS buff, milyhright, hide
and sock, trmble toe, club fist, hide
the switch, cranoy crow and many
others. How wa admire their han.
py laughs and glowing faces as we
draw noar to them now No wonder
that George Francis Train in his
gloomy moods wandered to tho park
and drew rs many children to him
rs no could and played with them on
tho lawn.
Bnt timo shrinks more than ma
ture. Tho world is not SO big nor
tho troes 40 high IA when wo were
children: bnt 81 vnor !, n,t L,lr no