The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1899-05-18
The Peoples Journal.
PICkENS 3. G.
,,Ih ARP VISITS ATHENS.
NJ ouotcs Latin to Remind Him of
Old Times-Tho Boys % lib ooi-
lcgc Days.

:. ,II;,n I am now in Athens, the
aIossic city, and must queue some
"t,n n he classic, too, anu show that
hovo not forgotten my alma mater.
:. Tha times have changed and we
,nst change with them,' said the
Tatin % 3 600 years ago, and this maxim
ia more striking now than 1T was then.
Tho changes are more rapid ana more
radical. Old Franklin college, within
,xhose unpretending walls L walked
and studied and expanded my youthful
mind, has grown to be a university
and we old men are streaming our
minds to keep up with the now order,
the widening OF mental and physical
training which is now offered to our
hovs. Time was when we thought that
Dr. Church and Professors Mckay,
Waddell, Lcconte, Jackson, Stevens,
Hull and Nahum Wood knew all that
was worth knowing in this sublunary
world when there was no higher
honor than to be I'M Kappa or a
Demosthenian orator, or TO be chosen
IA 81 Junior orator OF one OF these socic-
ties. Time was when to be in love
with q lovely Athens girl was in itself
a liberal education, lor they were fair
- look upon, refined in manners and
,vnre onlv a score or two Of them then,
and they had the pick OF 100 students,
vounp men OF the best families of
Georgia and her sister States, and half
a hundred new ones coming in every
to girls is the proximity OF q male col
there comes along female college in
nit a.
boys have an equal chance.
NV visits 10 this classic city have
been few and far between. | do not
suppose there is q soul living here now
who was here in 1884, when | first SAW
the little embryo city. My parents
and my brother and | stopped over
night st the old Sledge hotel as we
iourneyed from Boston to Georgia in a
carriage. We went to Boston by seq
from Savannah, but came back ali the
way by land in u private carriage and
mover crossed u railroad. There WAS
none to cross. My next visit was
eleven years later, when | came to
enter the sophomore class. Two mules
at tandem pulled our little car from
Union Point forty miles to Athens.
There were common passengers below
ID,
for they were college boys, and as sucn,
preferred to ride high just as college
boys do now. With what fear and
trembling we went through tho cx-
animation that was to determine our
fate whether we were littcn to enter or
only ittcn to get iitten. 1t was q
thrilling and mOmcntcous ordeal, but
we survived it. What awful majesty
appeared in DR.. Church's classic
features anu in the quick chances OF
his dark and piercing eyes. Ho was
from New England, and after he came
South married Is sister OF our judge
Trippc, y beautiful woman and the
mother OF five OF the most beautiful
daughters ever seen in one family.
They were Iuecnly. These yankee
school teachers all mated with our
Southern girls and didn't mind owning
few negroes any more than so many
with the wlfc's patrimony. Old Judge
Warren got his that way, but it cut
him of from his yankeo relations.
Nathaniel Beman was another dis
tlngulshcd yankee teacher, but whclh-
or he became Il slave owner or not
have not learned.
teacher, but didn't got any slaves by
marriage. He bought some, however,
and that created q coolness among his
Northen kindred. 1t took those yam
KEGS q long time to acquie5co in slavery
unless they came down South. Old
Bill Seward tried to marry Putnam
county girl who had about a hundred
and because she wouldent have him he
went back North and raised how
about slavery. Josiah Meiggs, another
Connecticut yankee and grandson o.
Return Jonathan Meiggs, was the tirs
president OF this college and hold his
)lacc for twelve years. | think tha
le, too, married q Southern girl-t
sister OF Governor John Forsyth. Mex
;amc bioses Waddell, an educator o
,reRt renowL. He married. 8 sister o
|ohn G. Calhoun and educated him
md Lerare and Pettigrow and Other
otable mon before he became prcsi
ent. After that he had for his pupil;
many OF the great men OF Georgia, in
luding Stephens, ToOmbs, Howcl
,obb, johnson, George Picrce and the
And there were giants il
hose days. Some folks say there ar,
ust as great mon now, but thcro are Sc
many more Of them that they have be
ONE common and do not attract Sc
luch attention. Maybe so-ycs, mayb,
o.
The poet says, "I feel like ono wht
reads alone some banquet hall dc
ertcd," and 80 do l when viewing
hesc classic halls and meandcriEg il
he shade Of these classic trees. All 0
ny preceptors save one have passcl
'vcr tho river. All my collcgcmatc
save perhaps q dozen have followed
hem, and II Sw wedonhorg OWNED th'
|uturc State correctly they arc goinl
to school again in another world
Some OF them who wore dear to N,
have left children or grandchildren
who greet me kindly for their father
sake. Fond memory recalls tn.
Churches, Dawsons, Fcrrolls, Howard
ana Boiling Stovall, whom | low cd, ant
thero was the gentle Henry Timrod
VINO was as lovable as q timid schoO
glrl' how often did we see him brush
ing the dew from of the upland law1
alone or taking his evening stroll.
mlShoNt companion, but always kind
ana gentle. We little dreamed thu,
tbormS,a m was even then nursing poetic
moui rnouhnes ana breathing the sweet har
mouiesol nature. Poor boy. How die
our hearts bloed for him whon lono
alter we learned OF his sufrerinrs 'nt one
his sorrows. hs' "h'
Where now are tho solid men y
Athens who gave it character ar,
dignity Hs thcy moved u,nor,, .. .