The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1899-05-04
LOOKING BACKWARD.
Arp Talks About Friends Of His
Early Days
GETS LETTERS FROM SOME
Who. Like Him, Are Growing Old. and Like
10 Talk OF the Long Ago-PioEesr Days
and the Men Who Made Them Far0GS.


How these old men do cling to-
gether. Almost every day brings a
good kind letter from some venerable !
nan who is lonesome or has com
Of interest with me, and wishes |
to write, for he knows that l will |
listen. There ere many more OF them |
living than / thought, for old men |
crow silent as they near the end. They |
ponder ana runinate. but make no
noise. Providence is kind in giving to
most Of them children and children's
children to comfort them and 10
brighten up tho passing hours. An
old man must be iorlorn. indeed, who
has none OF these. Charles Lamb, in
his old and mellow days, wrote sadly
when he said:
"Where are my play mates, the com
panions Of NY childhood in the Joyful
school days. All, all are gone--the
cid familiar faces gone before to that
unknown aud silent shore Bot Lamb
was wifeless and cLildless aud had a
right to he sad. He should have
adopted some bright little orphan child
who would love him and call him
father and cling to him in his declin-
inc wears. Every old bachelor
should.
have just received letter from
an old and forgotten friend whom l
knew in the long ago and supposed
VAS dead. He is nearing his four
1,,k hn ri
school master hand that his genera
ton were taught to write. He is in
good health and strong of mind and
loves to commune with memories Of
tho past-the halcyon days, as he
calls them. wonder how many COL
lego boys know that the pretty word
halcyon comes from two Greek words
that mean the sen and an egg. When
the elder duck lays her eggs on the
cliff by the sea it is always warm and
pleasant weather, and hence came the
word halcyon-als, the sea, and oou,
an egg. My friends name is J. j.
richards and he is the survivor of the
tho three brothers William G. and Il.
Addison Richards, who were our fore
most literary men away back in the
forties. They published Georgia H.
lustratcd" and the Orion Magazine,
and maby beautiful legends of the
Cherokee Indians.
This brother published 8 war paper
called Tho Soldiers Friend, of which
havs some copies issued in 1864, in
Augusta, Ga, and are little gems, both
ia editorial and selected matter. He
| now lives not for from Mcpherson bar.
''irks, near Atlanta, and is the post
.,ster ut Golden Gate, and still finds
time and pleasure in writing poetry
when the spirit moves him. He, too,
has added some verses to "JOhn An
derson, My Joe." These old men do
not like the way that Burns left John
and his spouse sleeping at the foot
| of the bill, but want them to riee again
and enjoy heaven. Wallace Reed
ought to 90 out to that Golden Gate
and interview Mr.. Richards and
chr oDicle some of his memories. for
he is about the only literary link be.
ween the present and the past. These
pioneers should not be forgotten.
Most all pioneers are. We eat the
fruit of tho orchards and vineyards
and take no concern about who plant.
ed them. Not a dozen people in
Rome, a city of $4,000 people, know
who planted the trees that give such
magnificent shade around the churches
or who first laid out and ornamented
the beautiful Myrtle hill cemetery
Who knows of the long and patient tot
of Mark "A. Cooper in developing and
building up the iron industry of Chcro
kee Georgia? What engineer sought
and found the winding way for rail
road from Atlanta to Chattanooga near
ly sixty years ago and planned all it!
curves aud spanned the rivers ant
creeks with bridges? Not long agt
I asked u conductor on the Nashville
and Chattanooga railroad TO tell M
who planned that magnificent worl
across the Cumberland mountains, auG
he could not tell me. Who founde,
old Franklin college, now the Univer
sity of Georgia, and who conceive,
and projected the establishment of the
Wesleyan Female college, the first fe
male college in the world? The anti
quaries and relic hunters will pay hi,
prices for old things, such as anoien
coins and furniture aud curious, bu
care nothing for the pioneers of on
civilization, the men who cleared tn
wilderness and blazed the way for tn
generation to come. This reminds IN
that q one-armed Confederate soldie
who is now pinched with povert
wishes to sell two very old volume
that were published in l542-th
"Iliad" and Odyssey" of Home,
The binding is in whitish leathe
with raised images and fowe,
stamped on it and the autographs O
the title rage are Albert, Prime
Glenbevrie, and Philip Melanchthol
And there is Latin inscription {
follows: "Sum johann Conradi Rhe,
matt, 1915"
Now if this he Melanchthon's gen,
I inc autograph these volumes are ,
great historic value, for no create
man has lived or died in all these Gel
turies-the man at whose feet Luth,
knelt in reverence. and of whom Era
, mus exclaimed, "My Goo, how profuur
= is his learning, how exalted is his vi
| tue" These two-Luther and Nj,
r lanchthon-sleep side by side in Wi
0 ,tenberg and in 1860 the king of Pru
) sia erected over his grave a beautif
). monuments duplicate of that ov
Luther's. lido not know what e,
g dence this veteran has that Melanc
4 thon ever owned these ancient "
e rnes, but will know. It is certai
however, that they were published
!. his day and he could have owned thel
The Latin inscription reminds o.
Of another that was sent to me +
Translation not long ago by a friend
Alabama. It is on the top of q m,
sive gold-headed cane that is an he
loom in the family. There is Gro