The Burke County news. [volume] (Morganton, N.C.) 1899-1901, 1899-05-05
Arp Talks ABOUT Friends Of His
Early Days.
GETS LETTERS from SOME
Nho. Lie tim. Are Gro~ing Old. and Lis
10 Talk of the Long Age -Pio,ee DAYS
and the Men Who Made Them Famous.

ycther. Almost every day brings /.
good kind letter from ONE venerable
man who Is lonesome or mas a com.
munity Of interest with me, and wishes
10 write, for he knows that Will
listen. There are many more Of them
living than | thought, for old men
grow silent az they near the end. They
ponder AMI 1uminate. but make 10
noise. Providence is kind In giving II
most of them children and children S
children to comfort them aud 10
brighten up the passing hours. An
old man must be forlorn. indeed, who
has none of these. Charles Lamb. ia
his old and mellow days, wrote sadly
when he said:
Where are my piaymates, the com
paulons Of ny childhood IN the Joyful
school days. All, all are gonc-the
old familiar faces gone before to that
unknown ard silent shore" But Lamb
was wifeless and chlldless and had q
right to be sad. He should have
adopted some bright little orphan child
who would lose him and call him
III u 1iiur W AIilu III Ills uCCliU
1"' years. Every old butchelor
should.
nave Just received a letter from.
III old and forgotten friend whom
inew IN the long ago and supposed
vas dead. He is nearing his four
score years. cut writes the same old
school master hand that his genera
ton were taught to write. He is in
good health and strong Of mind and
oyes to with emo OF
The past-the halcyon days, as he
calls them. l wonder how many col.
lcEc boys know that the pretty word
halcyon comes from two Greek worh>
that mean the sea and an egg. When
tbs cider duck lays her eggs on the
cliffs by the sea it is always warm and
pleasant weather, and hence came the
word halcyon-als, the sea, ard oou,
All egg. My friends name is j. J.
Richards and he is the survivor of the
the three brothers William c.. and T.
Addison Richards, who we're our fore.
most literary men away back in the
f%orties. They published "Georgis H.
Illustrated" and the Orion Magazine,
and many beautiful, legends of the
Cherokee Indians.
This brother published II war paper
cuilou The Soldiers Friend, of which
have some copies issued IL 1864, il
Augusta. Ga, and are little gems, bott
- editorial and selected matter. e.
HOW lives not far from Mcpherson bar.
racks, near Atlanta, and is the post
master at Golden Gate, and still iuds
tune and pleasure in writing poetry
When the spirit moves him. He. too
has added some verses to John AZ
derson, Ny Joe" These old men dc
not like the way that Burns left .Joh1
and his Spouse sleeping st the foo,
of the bill, but want them to rise agar
and enjoy heaven. Wallace Rtet
ought 20 go out 10 that Golden Cat,
and interview Mr.. Richards AZ,
chronicle some Of his memories. fol
be Is about the only literary link B.
tween the present aud the past. Els,
pioneers should not be forgotten
Most ali pioneers are. We eat tht
- "a VIC oA'hiiuS auu whey IA
and take 10 concern about who plant
81 them. Hot a dozen recpl" Ii
home, a city OF 1900 people. kuoy
who planted the uteo that give suci
maSulhcent-Lade around the churches
or who first lali out and ofnamcuteC
the beautiful Mt. hill cemetery
VINO Knows oftae long and patieut TOT
q Mark A. Cooper IN developing ant
building up The iron industry of Chero
kee Georgia? What engineer sough'
| and found the winding way for a rail