The news & observer., 1900-11-11


gusta. 1t was the first railroad ever
saw and travelled on. Ny good old father
was one of the original stockholders. He
subscribed 5. 900 and paid it as it was
called for. In those days roads were
not built on bonds or questionable, mys-
terious schemes There was no pre-
ferred stock or income bonds or first and
second mortgages, but everything was
simple. plain and honest. have great
reverence for that road. l lived in Law
renceville while it was being built. Stone
Mountain was our nearest depot, ,and IL
was there | first ventured to poara
train as | journeyed to Athens TO enoer
college. How solemn, how inspiring was
that ride ! remember that it seemed TO
me that the trees and fences and farms
and habitations were all moving swiftly
backwards while the train seemed ito be
still and quivering on it's track. had
the same feeling the first time | ever
went ND in an elevator. 1t was at the
Gilsey House, in New York., and | was
not conscious of going up, but thought
the hotel was rapidly descending into
some subterranean cavity. Young people
nowadays have no such experience. They
do not remember the time when there
were no railroads or telegraphs, or sew
ing machines, or cooking stoves, or
matches or steel pens, and therefore they
cannot appreciate or be grateful for the
blessings they enjoy.
AS we neared Stone Mountain and
looked upon it's bald. majestic summit
was carried back in memory to the de-
lightful days of my youth when nearly
sixty years ago that mountain was our
trysting place, and boys and girls jour-
neyed there sixteen miles from Lawrence
Vile and spent a happy day and While
there and on the way we reveled in
loves young dream and eyes looked love
10 eyes that spoke again. i remember
when there was a tower on that noun
tain's top-a tower 100 feet high. whose
slender top did sometimes touch the
clouds, and it was built by Aaron Cloud,
whose very name made him fitting arch
itect 1t was the first sky-scraper ever
built in Georgia. / remember the delight
full day when brunette lassie with ha-
Zal eyes and Indian hair assembled those
winding stairs with me and as we sat
together on its dizzy pinnacle | thought
/ was a little nearer heaven than l had
ever been before. Under pretense of
shielding her from harm, / half enclosed
her with my arm and the palpitating lace
upon her bosom told me how fast her
heart was beating, and there almost in
the clouds we plighted our trcth. | re-
member when one winter night the storm
came and the rain descended and the
winds blew, and that tower fell and great
was the fall of it. l remember when there
was q fine hotel at the base of that noun
tain and one night there was ball on
the spacious dining room, and bright the
lights shone DER fair women and brave
men" ard for the first time ! saw that
queenly girl whom the boys called Becky
Lattimer, and whose dashing beauty drew
them to her as molases draws flies Her
father lived not far away, substantial
farmer, and a few years later "our
Becky" became Mrs Rebeccah FELTON,, the
wife of the learned and eloquent doctor
of Gainesville. I remember when that
great solid mountain of granite seemed
larger-yes, much larger-than it looks to
be now, for l was young then and nature
had not begun to shrink with me- Every
thing is smaller now and every year gets
smaller still. AS Pope says of the dying
Christian, "The world recedes--it disap-
pears" and so it will to those who die OF
old age. Tom Hood expressed it beautl-
fully and pathetically when he said:
II remember. remember the fir trees
dark and high,
! used to think their slender tops were
close against the sky,
But now I'm growing older and find it
little joy
To know I'm farther off from heaven
than when l was boy.
I remember that historical town called
Madison. where many of my college mates
lived. They are all gone now, not one
is left to comfort me in my declining
years. 1t was here / saw this railroad
when / was a boy of fourteen, and it was
completed to Madison, What sensation
of wonder and alarm as | looked at the
huge leviathan that came putting down
the track with a train behind it, My
father had to hold my hand, for l trem-
bled lest it should jump the track and
kill us all.
NY father was proud of that road
proud because he helped to build 1t. He
kept that stock for twelve years without
receiving a dividend. The stock went
down, down, down, till it reached its
lowest point in 1849. 1t was then worth
only q cents on the dollar, DuC ne nad
faith and clung to it with hope. About
that time a commercial revolution--a
crisis-a panic-came over the country
and to save his mercantile credit he was
forced to sell his stock 1t distressed
him and grieved my mother, but he said
there was no help for it. The stock
must 60 l remember the night he came
home and told my mother that the stock
was gone-he had sold it to Judge Hutch
ins for 81 cents on the dollar-the stock
that he had paid 100 cents for twelve
years before. Father was sad and the
tears fell on mothers cheek and none of
us cared for supper. When father went
back to the store that night l sat down
by mothers side and took her hand in
mine Mother" said I, you must not
feel so bad about that stock. Let me tell
You secret. Last night | proposed to
Octavia Hutchins, l asked her to marry
me and she said she would and we have
fixed the time-the 7th of March-and in
less than three months I'll get that stock
back and it will be in the family again.
Now, don't you tell, but you mustn't cry
any more" and I kissed her on her cheek
and said "Mother, Mr.. Shakespeare says
'Alls we'll that ends we'll. But my
dear mother was a woman and woman