Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1898-01-01
"reminiscences.

20 my old range about X. Prairie recent
~, and at the home of my old friend Of
Z long ago, Rev. w, c. Ross, where
spent the night, | found a copy of the
e old Beacon and read its neatly prin .
ted columns with avidity, as | did over
forty years ago. when you and | first be
I came acquaint.' You were then a
6 rudy faced boy, fresh from school and
! did not offer a single promise of ever at
tanning the ponderons proportions of
frontal development that you now carry
around with you. The Beacon was then
edited by your revered father, whose
memory is still green in the hearts of all
the old timers of Noxubee who knew
him in the palmy days of the early fiji.
ties and the succeeding ante bellum
lays. How wildly does memory recall
those good old times when wealth, lux.
ury and independence reigned in almost
every home in all of that favored and
best OF all countries, the prairie region
Of Mississippi. Why Phil, old fellow,
the well springs of memory flow out in
such a stream that my old heart is over !
flowed and l could sit and pencil down
its gushings for hours-aye, even TO.
days narrating scenes, inciden 8, man.
ners and characters of the grand old
men and women whit. lived during those
happy years. You remember many of
hem. those olden time gentlemen and
ladies' who owned the plantations and
The niggers, and who lived and deport.
ed themselves like lords. Were there
ever such times before There never
Will be again,
cannot refrain from bringing up to
memory of some Of your readers. a few
OF the prominent men of those DAYS
men who have long since paid the debt
OF nature-men who guided the affairs
OF the county in church and state-bu, :
who now rest beneath green mounds. :
forgotten by all save kindred and con "
temporarles. A conspicuous figure ari.
ses before me in the person of Mai. Jos. =,
whose posterity still fingers in '
the same neighborhood where he lived. y
one of whom inherited his distin
traits of Observation-Disclosures .
Energy, courage and honor. A conspic. \
descendant is the Hon. Joseph l.. -.
stokes, a broad -guagel, liberal minded 4
nan, whose integrity and common sense '
Will measure full up to the proportions w
IT his rotund corporeity, l met HIM in +
lacon and regret that | did not have the p'
opportunity to talk oyer the oldea time hi
With him. There never lived a drawer. ?,
ruer mar than Joe Stokes AMI the old al
'eteran, Capt Tom, is not one whit be. ia
Ind him. Another conspicuous dcscen. IN
ent is Rev. Nick Augustus, who is de. p,
otlng all OF his great talents to the d.,
'ork of the holy cause in which both of 40
Is noble grandfathers were CO. labolers. A.
eaious' enthusiastic and efficient. The
Iorth Miss. Conference has no abl, -
lember' and when his lofty abilities are
lily understood and appreci tied he will
elected a bishop of his church. :.
Another name familiar in those dav. -.
as Capt. Price, father of the Judge W
Walter Price and Tom, who was ~
'remost n all good works, and who be. ~
to them a heritage more price. ~
SIS than precious stones. And there e.
as Charles Barnett and Judge Smith NJ
the Moores, Thos. and Charles. who =,
were representative men of the TYNE -.
which speak, And in Macon there ~
ere Geo. Foote and A. W. Dabney. 8,
N Ihos. Bush and Hichey Dunn and Ia,
bert Harrison and Judge Beauchamp. Oh
prominent in the affairs of the conn. Ia,
What has become of that type of ~,
Are they all dead. and has ~
d type become extinct? Or is it that +;c
u and l have grown older a a meas. ":
g men differently from what we did -
len we were younger Nearly all Of II
old timers are gone. In Macon -
" Judge Foote, ]. r. Lavett and les. r.
Blythe and Jesse Buck remain Of all II
cltizens of '55. But l must stop -
lting about these grand old men or IL
! fill this paper full of them, and will -
Sc tni' part of this epistle by refer. sor
g to the pleasure it gave me to meet in
old friends. Capt. VIM. Augustus fai
| Alex. McCaskill. Capt. Bill and str
under the same blanket and eat str
III out of the same pot in 80 and '8a. :.
lie Aieck was trampins aroundin Va, ~.
n the immortal Noxubee Rifles. sals
What struck me most forcibly during To- q
visit was the fix in which | found the 0'A'
ro. Apparently there is some i'm
veinent in his condition but il !, ras
!! ! really do not know, but I fear
only apparent. ! saw many of Item
re- around on Sunday in huggies and
n vehicles, some new but many were Ia
rattietraps ready to fall down.. Id
accept this fact as an indication Of 10 g,
and Advancement. tia b.
the outconne~of the initiative and To
glorious in the-uigger's make.rn W.
lke r. give my views on thi. and a
out time and space forbid IL now onr'A
= a.ure ! may DO SO. I have some k'xe
! = my own about what ''old Abe, r"1'.
!. 'ae white man when he freed the III
~, ana ! think when the true b,s.
2. that act. with the motives th.,
p'ed y = written, . preacher. y
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