The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1898-04-19

] ieVer heaL Wnether they feel SO or not.
| Tor 1T Is havcst time for news ard the
| people want tbs news anu will buy the
papers. The farmers, too are affected
and are studying what to plant for pro,
lit, and the spectators in grain and
meat are bulling and bearing, accord
ing to their faith.
| But tho great masses of the Ameri-
can people, the toilers and consumers,
who have nothing to gain and nothing
| to lose by q war, are lockers on with
unconcern. They have no AK to grind,
nor even hatchet, but still have q
leeole hope OF more work and better
wages. Down here at the South there
| Is no great interest except in the cities,
for our people never get any contracts
or government jobs, and don't expect
| any gain from war with Spain. If
we get custom house here and there
the material must come from over the
line, notwiths landing the marble and
the granite are at our doors. Northern
contractors clean out our rivers and
harbors and all the profit goes away
| from home.
Our mischievous people tell the
| negroes they have got to go and do all
the fighting, for it is McKinley's war
and they all voted for him. The boys
| read to them paragraphs from the
northern papers which say that north
ern soldiers would die of fever in Cuba
| In week and that only Southern
negroes can stand the climate. Lots
OF them around here are fixing to hide
out and have done picked out their
cane9rake. Clarence, the drayman, is
q leader, heeler in elections, and he
says: | never vote for any war.
amt gwine to fight. | amt done
uothin' to nobody and nobody amt
itnN fN | ,i, ~
nobody and how can man fight wild
out he's mad. Mr.. Akerman and Mr..
! Crawford got me into dis scrape and
dey must git me out. | wonder if dey
Is gwine to de war"
Last Sunday | saw gang OF ne roes
standing around a preacher and he WAS
reading the big headings of The Con
sttution to them. There is a large
pictorial recruiting poster in the post
Office and they stand of and look at it
with serious alarm. But they are not
going from these parts, neither are
the white people going right now. Old
man Ingram was good fighter in the
last war and seemed to like the busi-
ness and he says h , wouldn't mind going
II they will let him fight under General
Lee and wear gray clothes. NV friend,
Captain Dobbs, says he will go along
with DR.. Calhoun and ~ll skirmish
around awhile and get sick and
get the doctor to give him dis
charge at the end Of three months and
then he will come home and draw a
pension all the rest of his life.
Well, if it has to be war Mr.. Nc
kinley had better turn it over to Cen
eral Lee to fight it.
Big things are piling in on us just
now The state canvass for state
"illclals Is now going on and getting
red not and 1T takes nearly all our time
to keep up with that and the war too.
May be we need another war governor
and if we do Colonel Gambler has had
more experience in that line than some
other folks.
Colonel Renfroe could take care OF
the negro cOnvicts and march them to
the front just like old Joe Brown did
the 200 convicts in the Denitentiary
when Sherman came along. Governor
Brown went down there with wagon
load of gray clothes aud made them
take Olt their stripes and he gave them
All guns and had them to elect their
officers and then made them a speech
and said:
"Gentlemen, Fellow Citizens, Sodi-
ers 1t doesn't follow that because
you are convicts you are not patriots.
Now is the great opportunity of your
lives to redeem yourselves and wipe
OIL the disgrace from yourselves and
your kindred. The enemy is at vour
doors and you must fight him-ycs!
Fight till the las; armed foe expires
Eight for your alters and your fires,
God and your native land"
And they hailed their freedom with a
shout and they marched forth like new
men, and they did fight. Just so,
Colonel Renfroe could march the 1000
negro convicts forth and under his
lead they, too, will fight.
Then here is the cold wintry blast
that has come over our country and
killed our fruit and vegetables and
paralyzcd our hopes. Our most for
ward peaches are not killed, but our
potatoes are utterly prostrated. They
will come out again and | think will
! make US good crop. Two years ago
mine were killed down to the ground
but they came out again and | never
had better crop. This leads me to
think that maybe they had better be
cut down down early and then they
would make more fruit and less vines
My wife threw all sorts Of old clothes
over her Mareschal Neal rose vine that
was full Of buds. My ncighbors GOV.
cred up their beans and beets, and
some OF them spread newspapers over
their potatoes and saved them. | was
away down in Greensboro the coolest
night and it was not cold enough there
to kill anything. A few degrees of
latitude makes great difference. Mr.
Marbury, the weather man, fore.
tod us of this coming freeze and |
have great faith in him. When the
weather bureau was first established
we thought it was a hGmbug, but long
observation has convinced the world
that the winds and the waves and the
weather are not the mystery they used
to be. Science has revealed their
courses and their changes and the tele
graph tells it truly many hours before
hand The scripture says. The
wind blOwcth where it listeth and yc
hear the sound thereof, but We cannot
tell whence it cometh nor whittier it
gOcth.
was Illuminating about the classic
town OF Greensboro, one OF the oldest
towns in tho state. Wnat beautiful
country surrounds it! What pretty
roads and streets. What attractive
homes and pretty mansions. What
wealth OF lovely flowers saw
~isterias there growing wild and bow
ering upon old dead trees. Many OF
these stately ante-bollum mansions still
have the tall luted columns and the
Darapet roofs that were so common in
the olden time. | saw the old Cone