The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-11-13

btcI I'D ILGllEOdl lEOu -AtldHNd u ~
gusta. II vas the first railroad l ever
saw and travelled on. Ny good old father
was one Of the original stockholders He
subscribed 200 and paid il as il was
called for. IN those days roads We're
not built on bonds or questionable. mys-
ferrous schemes. There was no pre-
ferred stock or income bonds or first and
second NOR cages, but everything was
simple, plain and honest. ] have great
| reverence for that road. l lived in Law
renceville while il was being built. Stone
Mountain was our nearest depot. and il
| was there first ventured to board a
train as / journeyed TO Athens 10 enter
college. How solemn. how inspiring was
that ride. | remember that il seemed to
me- that the trees and fences and farms
and habitations were all moving swiftly
while the train seemed TO be
still and quivering on its track. | had
the same feeling the first time | ever
went up in an elevator. 1t was at the
Gil5cy 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 its 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
~ ct ~ Dlnnn nr2 hOy-c on6 y N
neyed there sixteen miles from Lawrence
vile and spent a happy day and while
there and on the way we rcveled in
+, loves young dream and eyes looked love
to eyes that spoke again. ! remember
Wien there was a tower on that noun
tain's top-a tower 100 feet high. whose
! slender top did sometimes touch the
clouds, and ut was built by Aaron Cloud,
whose very name made him a fitting arch
itect. 1t was the first sky-scraper ever
built in Georgia. | remember the delight
full day when 9 brunette lassie with ha-
eel eyes and Indian hair assembled those
winding stairs with me and as we sat
together on its dizzy pinnacle l thought
i was a little nearer heaven than I 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. ard there almost IN
tho CLOUDS we plighted our troth. ! 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. ! remember when there
was a fine hotel at the base of that noun
i tain and one night there was a ball on
the spacious dining room, and bright the
lights shone Ger fair women and brave
men" and 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. a substantial
farmer, and a few years later "our
Becky became Mrs. Rebeccah FELTON,, the
wife Of the learned and eloquent doctor
Of Cartersville. l remember when that
great solid mountain of granite seemed
larger-yes. much larger-than il looks to
be now. for I 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. 9TH world recedes-it disap-
pears and so it will to those who die OF
old age. Tom Hood expressed il beauti-
fully and patheticallv when he said:
Il remember. : remember the fr trees
dark and high,
l used to think their slender tops were
close against the sky,
Bat now I'm growing older and find it
little Joy
To know I'm farther off from heaven
than when | was a boy"
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. Il was here ! saw this railroad
when I was a boy of fourteen, and it was
completed to Madison. What a sensation
Of wonder and alarm as | looked at the
? huge leviathan that came putting down
the track with a train behind 1t. My
father had to hold my hand, for | trem-
bled lest it should jump the track and
Kill US all
My father was proud of that road
proud because he helped to build it. 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, but he had
faith and chung to it with hope. About
that time a commercial evolution
crisis-a panic-came over the country
t and to save his mercantile credit he wa
forced to sell his stock. 1t distressed
; him and gricved my mother, but he SAID
there was no help for it The stock
must go. | remember the night he came
homo and told my mother that the stocl
was gone-he had sold it to Judge Hutch
inS for - cents on the dOllar-the StOcE
that he had paid 100 cents for twelve
years before. Father was sad and the
tears fell on mothers cheek and none O
us cared for supper. When father wen
back to the store that night | sat doWT
: by mothers side and took her hand II
mine. Mother" said /. you must no
feel SO bad about that stock. Let me tel
you a secret. Last night ! proposed t
Octavia Hutchins. | asked her to MARI
{ me and she said she would and we have
fixed the time-thc 18th Of March-and il
!, less than three months III get that Stocf
Z back and it will be in the family again
{ Now, don't you tell, but YOU mustn't CT!
| any more" and | kissed her on her checl
and said, Mother. Mr.. Shakespeare say
AIS we'll that ends WE'LL" But III,
q dear mother was a woman and woman
I like she told an intimate friend what
said about getting the stock back an
that friend told another woman in conf
II dencc aud the confidence kept spreadin;
: and spreading until the engagement AM