The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1898-04-26
Bill Arp on Pensions
Present War. Talk Brings the Subject to Mind--6Ives Some
Statistics Regarding Georgia's Soldiers.

needed. Colonel TrammcIl. from his
long experience, could run the whole
business and this would save $1,000 a
year, besides the secretarys salary,
which is another thousand. If Colonel
Trammell or his successor needei any
occasional help to decide new questions,
he might call in the Comptroller General
and the Secretary of State, who would
willingly serve for nothing part OF one
day in a month. School Commissioner
Glenn has that kind of help on lls
board and it costs the State nothing.
Why can't we do that and save 4 leak
Of $4,000? Why not? l tell you, my
long-suffering friends, the government
expenses have got to be cut down IN some
way: not Just 4 little, but 4 good deal.
..Sine qua nons'' are bigger things now
than sinecures. The people are poor.
The preachers tell lis that a hungry man
can't get religion and if he should ne
can't enjoy it. If we don't stop the leak
the whole dam business Will burst ana
wash away and the mill can't grind at
all. | remember we'll when we had no
pensions nor school fund and The people
got along pretty we'll. The young men
| married the young girls and left the
WIDOWS 1Or the WluoNeIS. IIItIt NhFo
no such a word as trousseau in the die
t%ionary, but if there were less clothes
there was more love and fewer divorces.
But we will talk about these things
later, when we get to the Legislature.
I'm not going to vote for any man VINO
will not promise to cut down the taxes,
and we will talk about this pension bust
ness when the veterans meet in July. |
was Illuminating abont that day-the an
niversary of the greatest battle ever
fought and the greatest VICTORY ever won
by Confederate soldiers. 1t was Il small
affair compared with Gettysburg and
Shiloh and the Wilderness, but its i'm
precision on the country and the soldiers
was more profound han any other. 1t
was like 4 young mothers first child
none that came after ever created so
great a sensation. How vivid are the
scenes, the rapid night march from Win
chester. the crossing the Shenandoah by
tOrchlight, wading mp to the armpits with
guns and cartridges held up. l can see
Jimmy Smith, the little drummer boy Of
the Eighth Georgia, and little McKos-
ker, bobbing up and down over the deep
places with water running into their
mouths, while taller soldiers behind them
held them steady. I hear the shouts
of Stonewall Jackson's men as they came
through the woods and turned the tide to
victory. / see the willow glade and the
little branch where DR.. Miller and his
assistants worked all night with their
knives and probes and bandages. and
every little while said. "neXt,'' like the
BARRIERS to their customers. [ see the
dead in the pine thicket and the wound
ed placed in the ambulances and hurried
10 the Lewis house for a hospital. l see
the New York Zouaves in the field near
the old stone house on the pike. How
thick they lay pom the grOund-hOw fat
they seemed mex morning as the burial
squads rolled them into shallow
trenches. They had swollen in form and
feature dnring the night until THEN
corpsos filled their loose clothes almOs1
to bursting.
But when We all meet on the Dist We
will talk over the misty past and re
jo:ce with those who rejoice and weeI
with those who weep. A sea of tears
has already been shed. both North and
South. but still the chalices are not emp
ty nor the hearts of the veterans feared
over by the iron hand of time.
BILL ARP.