The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1900-03-16
AUNT LOU"
Says a Few Words to the no,s ofHen,ou
COUNTY,.


CnHOMCLg, and It being the nrst time
had failed 10 meet the appreciation Of any
one of the few editors with whom had
presumed 10 correspond, / wrote 10 Tur
CHROMCLE. aud la answer learned that
my article had never reached that Office.
am told there are some post-oiiceswh
II letter lies over night the rats are sure
20 gnaw the envelope. So that must have
been the fate which befell my poor man
uscript, bat send this copy withthe hope
that 10 may find space In the columns Of
the dear old CHRONICLE, whose visits /
hail each week with so much pleasure.
Yesterday morning while / was in my
room all alone finishing letter IN answer
TO one ! had received from q dear school
girl at Athens, / was startled by the an
nouncement that n message over the tel
ephOne had brought tdings Of the death
Of young man who, when 1 saw him a
few weeks ago, looked as ifhe might lived
his three score years.
lie died a fugitive in q distant State,
whittier he had fed 20 evade the law. He
was the son OF we'll to do parents. His
father is a merchant i'm this community.
His mother is a devoted christian wom-
an, whose influence seems to have been
counteracted by opposite forces: she is
left tonurse her great heartsoTow, while
itseems impossible TO do or say anything
that will bring the comfort she so much
needs.
Since / had news of that young mans
untimely death the question has been re.
curing to my mind, why do such things
occur? But / guess there comes a time
in the life Of every young man like that
which came to the one in the Scriptures:
lie went to the Savior to inquire what he
must do to inherit eternal life. That was
his hour of decision, and he went away
sorrowful, but why? Because he could
not bring self into the divine plan. He
had great possessions, plenty Of money,
perhaps, and there is nothing that will
more efectually work the destruction Of
a young man than plenty of money and
plenty of that neglected luxury that we
call leisure.
What a great, grand, beautiful thing is
life with its possibilities as we'll as its re-
sponsibilities, and yet how many there
are who have plenty of leisure and fail to
use 1t so as to grasp the greatest and
grandest and best there is in life.
/ knew a lady visiting in city, and
whenever a fire occurred, which was FREE
quently the case, she would write to her
friends at home and caution them against
the danger of fire. So when these I'M
fortunate happenings take place l always
feel as if wanted to offer word of eau
tion to the boys; not especially that class,
however, that some people are pleased to
call "kids," but its the grown up boys OF
whom Pm thinking just now; that class
we toast as the strength of the nation and
the hope of the church, and am sorry to
say the most neglected Of all the classes
that belong to society.
And now, instinetively, my mind turns
to Benton County boys. Maybe its be,
cause have known them longer and bet
ter tEan l have ever known any Other
boys, and then, too, my own dear boy
the only one God ever trusted to my care
was born and reared in Benton County
His record so far as / knows satisfactory
to me, and to say more Of him, perhaps
would be unbecOming in me as a mother
But l am glad that there are many othe
Benton County mothers whose heart
have been kept young and glad because
their boys have been brave and true anC
have looked life in the face and demand
ed the very best it had to- give them ,ant
don't think any county in the State cal
show better element with regard to it
young men of high moral tone and rea
worth than can dear old Benton. I'll
true educational advantages have beef
rather limited and butfeW of her SONS ar
learned in the classics, but l am sur
there's quite a number who can boast a
least foTcible English.
Since the year 1859 have been takin
note of the Benton County boy. Now
please don't imagine because recall thi
far away date that | am q centenarian
No. l have lived seventy-three years, an
life still seems joyous and worth the liy
ing. / think l must have begun life a
: just the right time, as have always bee
in sympathy with the human family an
more especially for the last forty years
have been in sympathy with the Bento
County boys.
In glancing over these years, Teca
: the names and faces of some who ougf
! to have lived longer and better, but i
their hour of decision made the fatal mi.
take; chose their own way, went dow
! the slope of time and disappeared frol
human sight; but they have been gail
cred into the embrace of mother nature
, in whose bosom there is plenty of ROOF
, for even the most unworthy of her chile
| Ien--for them have no word of reproacl
And now I greet the memory of otheI
, who, like the boys of to-day, had the
|. struggle with life, but after all came
/ the front with clear heads and clea
hands and pure hearts some of them r
y spending to their country's call yielde
) up noble lives on distant battlefields al
to-day their memories are cherished
the heart OF the nation, But Pm scri
bling these lines to the live, energet
working boy of to-day that one who ca
make those about him conscious of h
y individuality by laboring at the roughe
s farm work, studying or teaching i'll Il