The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1900-08-08
In THE wIREGRAss.
WIIE SRia philosopher Visits
1890 @setlement aud Enjoys Him

1t is good Tor man to travel and
tudy geography without 81 book.
Im down here In the wlregrass talking
% the people living along the line
rom Cordele TO Savannah. This ls q
new road TO me. 1T Is only ten years
Did and is called the "SAM road.
The Seaboard has got 1t now. Sal has
bought Sam and is running him. II
railroads have sex the feminine is
ahead. Some mighty big things are
feminine. Ships are called she, but
that they say 10 because the rigging
costs more than the hull.
An old man showed me the spot at
Mt. Vernon where the old log school
house stood In which my father taught
school some eighty years ago. Father
used to tell us his varied experience
there. How some bad boys bad ran
three teachers off In succession and
broke up the schools and how reluct-
antly he undertook the work OF reform.
ing them. He had about sixty scholars,
boys and girls, and their ages ranged
from eight to eighteen years. The old
est boy was six feet tall, u sapling with
long arms and legs, u red he3d and q
freckled face. He WAS the ringleader
in running the teachers oil and father
was cautioned about him. The first
day he made them good kind, friend
ly talk, told them he came to do them
good, to teach them books and morals
and manners, and he wanted them to
obey the rules and help him to make
the school q success. You can't afford
he said, to grow up without some edu-
cation. No nice young man would
marry the girls, and no smart girl
would marry an uneducated boy. Now,
,uhn hnnl a
dinner | want you to come In good or
der. Don't rush and crowd the door
way like you did this morning. You
ran over little girl ard threw her
down and hurt her. Be quiet and or
derly and come In two or three at q
time, and before you take your seat
make little bow to me. That's nice ;
that's good manners. | will like that
and want all OF you boys and girls to
do that. viii you do it? Ii you will
please hold up your hands. All hands
went up promptly except those OF Bill
Jenkins, the red-headed rebel. Next
morning he declined to make bow,
but looked sour and defiant. When
school turned out that evening, father
heard him say "pll be burned IL I'll
make bow to any Yankee" Next
morning two other big boys failed to
bow. Bill Jenkins had worked on them
That evening father told Bill to stay in
little while, as he wished to see him
after school broke up. He stayed and
the door WAS shut. The other boys
peeped through the cracks between
the logs to see and hear what was 60
ing on. Father talked to jenkins kind
ly and told him OF the bad example he
was setting and so forth, and begged
him to conform to the rules. Now"
said he, William, will you promise TO
make bow to me tomorrow morning."
"No, I'll be burned IL do," said Jenk
ins." That settled it. The crisis that
father had dreaded had come. He got
between jenkins and the door and said
firmly: Well, sir, you have got to do
one OF three things. You have got to
bow, or quit school, or take a whipping
Which will you dor" "I'll be gol
burned II III do airy ono," said Bill.
Fathers hickory was within his reac h
between two logs. He seized it and
began on jenkins with stinging strokes
aud Jenkins made for him with his long
arms, and used cuss words abundant.
They fought like wild cats, turned over
benches, broke the water bucket and
for ten minutes the conflict ragged, for
father was stout and was in the rig ht
and kept the hickory going and Tended
off the strokes OF Bill's long arms.
After while they clinched and father
got him down between two puncheon
seats and pummelled him good. He
hollered enough and to let him up, and
after they got their breath father said
"Now, jenkins, what will you do" He
blubbered out Pm gwine home and
stay there. "Ill be gol burned II Pm
gwine to school to you any more"
Well, why didn't you say that at first
and save the whipping 2" said father.
All this time there were-R hundred
eyea> peeping. through the cracks be
Sween the logs, but not word was
said. Jenkins never came back and
the crisis was over. From that time
on for two years there was good
orderly school and my fathers reputa
tiOn was made. The Yankee had whip
ped Bill Jenkins and that settled him
In the favor CT the pf irons.
| wish everybody could visit the little
village OF Longpond. 1t Is In the cUun-
try, eight miles from Mt Vernon, aud
eight miles from railroad | never
was in better settlement of farming
people. | spoke there in the day time
and those country people came from far
and near and spread before us the
finest pic mic dinner ever saw. 1t is
and grandfathers all came from Robin
son County, in North Carolina. AT
least three-fOurths OF the names begin
with the prefix OF Nc. | made mem
Orandum OF the many Mes | was intro.
duced to-all ditferent-such as Near.
thur, McItae, McAlister, McLung, Nc
Nair, McLaurin, McLemore, McGuffie,
McDuffie, Mcconnell, Mcdonald, Nc.
Daniel and 80 forth. There were thirty
seven OF them and many Of these had
Sons and brothers and kindred of the
same name, and so 1t was Nc someth-
ing verywhere. If q mans name be-
gins with Nc In that region 1t is a
guarantee OF good stock. 1t Is fine
farming region and these people are
almost all farmers. | never saw finer
corn and cotton In upper Georgia. The
women, matrons and maidens were all
we'll and neatly dressed and were good
looking, good size and healthy. They
could handle their skirts as gracefully
as city lady md as my old friend Bill
Ramsey used to say. Major, these wo-
men are well coupled and stand up
square on their paster joints" Rainey
had dealt In horses for fifty years and
talked horse-talk about women and
everything else. He was q genuine
David Harem. | have most pleasing
recollections OF Longpond and It's peo-
pie.
My next call was TO Hagan- Claxton,
a double Town only three miles 8ptrt,
but whose people work In harmony and
have very fine high school an school