The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-06-03
Bill APPS Letter.
Mrs. AIRY Goes on a Visit to
Friends and Bill Gets
Rather Melancholy.

an tnat j am constrained 10 answer
through the press. 1t is a monthly
published in Nashville by Captain S.
A. Cunningham.
This reminds me TO say that Sam
DAVIS is not The only hero Of his kind.
William NJ. Formby writes me from
Lewisville, Ark, that there is in Lit
lie Rock the grave Of David (. Dodd,
who when only eighteen years of age
was arrested near there as a spy and
important papers found on his person
General Steel was in command OF that
post and offered him Il pardon if he
would disclose the names of those from
whom he got the information. Like
Sam Davis, he refused and said he
would die first and he did die. He
wrote q letter to his mother, who
then lived in Atlanta, Cass county,
Texas, telling her of his untimely
fate My friend says he has a copy
OF that letter and has seen the grave
in Little Rock, which some friends
have marked with plain white
shaft. / have written to him 10 send
copy Of the letter to The Veteran.
and il possible a photograph of the
marble shaft. Such loyalty and Ii
deity must be preserved and put on
record.
We are all demoraliZed at our house
and home, for the maternal ancestor
has gone off on Il trip to Rome and
will stay there, | reckon, until ! write
TO her that Jessie or her little child
rem or some other member OF the
family is sick. Then she will come
on the first train. She has got KIN
dred and friends over there, lots OF
them, and they will keep her until
she goes the grand rounds, for she
lived there twenty-seven gears. She
and | were among the pioneers OF
the Hill City. In fact, we are the
only living persons VINO were living
in Rome when we moved there fifty
years ago. just think of it and pom
der il. How surely and stealthily
population passes away. How insidi-
Gus is Time. the unrelenting old ras-
cal. Only fifty years, and not man
or woman left but my wife and l.
There were then about 800 people
in Rome and now there are ten times
that number. Every old settler is
dead save Colonel II. W. Alexander,
and he came three years after | did.
y
preacher and teacher, every merchant
and mechanic are dead. Old Judge
Underwood, II. w. II. Underwood.
Judge Wright, General Black, Alex
ander, Sloan, Shorter, DR.. Battey, DR..
Underwood, all strong and notable
men. ! could write a book about
each of them. And then there was
Old Jake Herndon and Big John, the
Munchausens or the town. who were
ready to swear that when they first
settled there away back in the thir-
ties the CoSa river was a little spring
branch. Old Jake declared he had
seen a freShet that rose to the gum
tree on court house hill, and the
thermometer was 240 in the shade.
He always said thermometer and ac
cented the first syllable. My little
boy had an old-fashioned rubber ball
and showed it to Uncle Jake and he
remarked that he once had a ball
made out of ''shore enuff in un-rub-
ber," and it would bounce out of
sight. and one day he bounced it on
common hard and it never came down
till next day, and then his little dog
grabbed it and it rebounded and
took the dog up with it and he had
never seen the dog or ball since. Old
Jake believed his own lies. | heard
him say once that when hog killing
time came round he heated rocks on
each side of his mnlpond and threw
them in and drove the hogs through
and they came out clean on the other
side. Big John kept the only saloon
in town. A saloon was called Il gro
Gerry then and Big Johns grocery was
u landmark-the loafing place-for he
kept a comfortable bench on each
side of the front door. They were
outside on the sidewalk and were
generally occupied. Old Jake Hern-
don could be found there half the
day and Big John gave him his whis-
key free as an attraction. He was Il
drawing card and drew the thirsty
men like molasses draws flies. Some
times | wonder where they are now
and what they are doing, for Swe-
denborg says that folks will pursue
the same occupations in the< next
world that they do in this, but with
greater diligence and to greater per-
lection.
My venerable friend Ma jor Aver
lives on Howard street, the Peachtree
Of Rome. 1t extends from Broad
street to the bridge and was thicl>y
settled th1rty-fiVe years ago, and is
yet, but this is the only family thai
lived there thirty-two years ago, when
he built his house. Think of it. All
gone within thirty-two years. Rome
is thirty miles distant from Carriers
vile and the river lands are all occu-
pied by farmers, but not one Of them
lived along the line before the civil
war, and the river still sings as it
flows.
For men may come and men may 90,
But | GO on forever
My wife will come home to spent
her birthday next week, / know She
knows that many of her numerous
offspring will gather at the paternal
mansion and have a gift of some sort
and kiss her classic brow and stroke
her raven hair. That is where she tri-
umphs over me. Not gray hair Oh
her head, nor dark one on mine. buI
she is catching up pretty fast. | re-
member when | was six times as old
rs she was and six years later ! was
just twice as old, and now | am sew
enty-four. Now let the school bows
nd ci,.ls. II hot