The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1899-05-04
"A LOOK INTO THO PAST.
Bill Arp Talks About Friends OF His
Iouth-ln Growing Old Men Like
to Talk of tho long Ago.

NltuoSI every u8y DrlnRS ROOu Blnu
letter from s0mo venerable man who is
In; som o" has { Ommunity OF inb rest
with me, and wishes to write, for he
knows that will liston. Thoro are
many moro Of them living than |
thought, for old men grow silcnt as
they near tho end. They ponder and
! ruminatc, but make no noisc. PrOvi-
dcnco Is kind in giving to most Of them
chlidrcn and childrcns children to
| comfort thcm and brighton up tho
passing hours. An old man must be
forlorn indeed, who has mono OF these.
Charles Lamb, in his Old and mellow
days, wrote sadly whom he said:
where arc my playmaIcs, tho com
pahlons OF my childhood in tho Joyful
school days. An, al are gonc-tho old
familiar faces GOnu before mo to that
unknown and silent shore" But Lamb
VAS wifcIcss and childlcss and had u
right 10 he sad. He should have
adopted some bright little orphan
chlld who would love him and call
him father and cling to him in his
drcllnlnG years. Every old bachelor
should
| have just received II good long
.cttcr from an old and forgotten fricpd
whom knew in tho long ago and sup
posed WAS dead. lie is nearing his
Tour score years, but writes tho samo
old sch Dol master hand that his gun-
Grafton were taught to writo. He is in
good health and strong Of mind and
loves TO commune with memories OF
the past-thc halcyon days, as no
calls them. | wonder how many col
lcEc boys know that the pretty word
haicyOn comes from two Creek words
that mean the sea and an egg. Whom
the cider duck!lnys her eggs on tho
ellis hl the sea, it is always arm and
pleasant weather, and hunCc came tho
word hnlcyon--als, tho sea, and Don, an
egg. My friends name Is j. j. Richards
and he Is the survivor Of tho three
brothers, WilliamSC. and II. Addison
lNchardS, who were our foremost litor-
AIRY men away back in tho fortics.
They published " Georgia Illustrated
anu the Orion Magazine, and many
beautiful legends OF tho Cherokee In
dians. This brother published war
paper called Tho Soldiers Friend, OF
which | have some copies issued in
lSH4, in Augusta, Ga, and arc little
gems, both IN editorial and selected
matter. He now lives not far from
Cl'hcrsDn barracks, near Atlanta,
and Is the postmaster at Golden Gate,
finds time and pleasure in writing
poetry when the spirit moves him.
He, too, has added somo verses to
"John Anderson, My joe" These old
men d" no. Ike tho way that Burns left
john aid His oiiUiisc nlccnlnE at the loot
Of the hill, but want thom to rise again
and enjoy heaven. Wallace ItUcd ought
to go out to that Golden Cato aud in
torvicw MIR. Richards and chronicle
some Of his memories, for he Is about
the only literary link between the
present and tho past. These pioneers
should not DO forgotten. Most all
pioneers arc. We eat tho fruit OF the
orchards and vineyards and take no
concern about who planted them. Not
~ dozen people in ltomo, Il city OF 1900
people, know who planted tho troos
that givo such magnificent shade
around tho churches, or who first laid
out and 0rnamcnted the beautiful
Myrtle hill cemetery. Who knows OF
the long and patient toll OF Mark a.
Cooper in developing and building up
the iron industry Of Cherokee Georgia?
What engineer sought and found the
winding Way .or a. railroad from At
lanta 10 Chattanooga nearly sixty yoars
ago and planned all its curves and
gpanncd tho rivers aud creeks with
bridges? Not long ago asked Il conduc.
tor on the Nashville and Chattanooga
railroad to tell me who planned that
magnificent work ACROSS the Cumbor-
land mountains, and hn could rot tell
mo. Who sounded old Franklin college,
now the University Of Georgia, and who
conceived and pro- jcctcd tho establish
mcnt OF the Wesleyan Female college,
tho Iirst female college In the world ?
The antiquities and relic hunters will
pay biz prices for old things, such rs
ancient coins ard furniture and curi0s,
but care nothing for the ponccrd Of
our civilization, tho men who cleared
the wilderness and bIuz ed tho way for
generations to come. This reminds
mo that Il one-armcd Confederate sol
dicr who is now pinchcd with poverty
wishes to sell two very old volumes
that were published in I542--thc
"lliad and Odyssey OF Homer.
The biE2inr is In whitish leather with
raised images ana flowers stamped on
itsand the autographs on tho title page
arc Albert, Prince Glcnbcvrio, and
pbillip'M clanchthon And there is u
Latin Inscription az follows, "Sun
johann Conradi ithcumati, lGl5.n
Now II this be Mclanchthon's genuine
autograph these vol umcs are Of great
historic value, for no greater man has
lived or died In all these centuries
tho man at whose feet Luther knClt In
reverence, ana OF whom Erasmus cX-
claimed, :" My Cod, how profound is
his learning, how exalted is his vir.
tuc." These two, Luther and Mclanch-
thOn-a)ccp side by side in Wittcnbcrg
and In 1860 tho king OF Prussia erected
over his grave Il beautiful monument
duplicate OF that over Luthcrs.
DO not know what evidence this vote
ran has that McIanchthon evcr owned
these ancient volumes, but will know.
IL is certain, however. that thoy were
published In his day and he could have
owned them.
The Latin inscription reminds ono OF
another that Was sent to me for trans-
lation not long ago by q friend in Ala
bana. 1t is on the top OF u massive
gold headed cane that is an heirloom
in the family. There Is crown Gu
gravcd nrOn the golden head and I'M
dcrncatb arc these words t,pis noe
"h0r,' which is not good Latin nor
Greek, out suppose arc abbrcviations..
at any rate they pass my c0mproa on
sion. The cane descended from dis.
tingulBhcd Episcopal bishop OF New
York. The more try to tOlvc such
problems the more ! nm convinced
that 81 little learning is dangerous
thing.' Will not some college boy tell