The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-04-10
Bill Arp'S Letter.
Many Friends Write to Bill Each Letter Con-
tains Something He Had Not Known
Before.

Store away knowledge; Get ali 20"
car. There is comfort in il. t.old
smith says Of the village Schoo}m:,tcy
and his pupils:
And still they gaze1 ard still the won
That one small head could carry all il
knew.
! remember how | used 10 wonder
how our Professor Charles McCoV
learned all that he knew about nta;hc-
matics and astronomy Some Eaars
ago ] heard Professor Proctor, wh
was then the greatest living aStron0.
mer. lecture for three nights at lake
Weir chatauqua in Florida, ana h
lifted me up to the seventh heayca, ae
it We're. and l had TO strain my min"
to soar with him amongst the starr,
but he maoniticd the creation and thc
universe and the Creator in such q
way that [ have not forgotten it ant
my reverence and awe and love for
the Supreme Being has been greatly
increased.
| was ruminating about this be
cause | have received a letter from a
learned friend who thinks | should
have told a little more about leap
year and how the Julian calendar @o5
behind time ten days in 1,5S2 wears
and Pope Gregory,s astronomer. It..
NiuS. made a new one called the >ir"-
gOrian calendar. And how il say
that all years whose date number is
diNisible by four without a rem"ipdel
are leap years unless they are csatu.
ry years. These are not century years
unless they are divisble by 400 with
out :: remainder. Therefore, the yea
1000 Will be leap year. But ever
this allowance viii not exactly even
up the march of time and we VIII lose
another day in 3,524 years. Sir John
Herchel corrected this. by making
every 4.OOOth year a leap year and this
wonld keep old Father Time all right
for $4,000 years-nuf sed--We will not
figure beyond that.
Another respected friend writes a..
Interesting letter about Hugh Lawson
White. once a candidate for the DreSI
dental nomination. and says althoIg'.
he was reared and lived and died IL
| Tennessee he was born in Iredeil
county, North Carolina. His mother
was a Lawson. daughter of Iuoh
Lawson, and from that Lawson 1nces-
| try more distinguished people have
sprung than from any other we r.ead
Of Among their descendants are the
Whites, Of Tennessee; Mrs. Stone wall
jackson. Mrs. General w. T. sherman
Mrs. General 4. p. Hill, Mrs. idla;
Ewing Stevenson, the Ewings OF Dhio
and Tennessee. General Evell. Geaer-
| al Henderson. of Virginia; the Law.
| sons, Of Georgia. and Governor j; red
| Irwin, of Georgia All Of these were
lineal descendants. just think OF il.
What a divergence of fate and fame
and fortune that made Of one hlood
! Mrs. Stonewall Jackson and Mrs. \.
! =. Hill. Mrs. General Sherman " s q
! Ewing and Mrs. SfOneWall .Jac!.SOn
was Il Morrison. The writer SAY, he
has a copy OF Hugh Lavson's will that
was executed in 1906, and tha: n;
I grave is in an old churchyard bet veen
4 Salisbury and Charlotte, and the head
stone still shows the initials. III. J..
/ Verify, verify. there is somethin.; il
| the blood that transmits charactef n
/ several generations.
| Bat the trouble IS that this aGceS-
! tral blood becomes crossed and re
(. crossed so often thai il is apt to lose
| it's virtue and becomes contaminlte
! with the blood Of some vicious GDccs-
/ tors. This could only be prevente.!
| by what is called Sin and in breeding :"
as marrying cousins or second cousins;
/ but the doctors say that produces
4 physical dcgeneracy IN the offspring,
/ and so what can a man 90 but try TO
/ elevate himself and not bank on his
/ ancestors. Colonel Campbell Wallace
/ was q noble man and made hi OWr
! fame and fortune. and he told me hat
/ when he was q young man he TOOK a
/ notion that maybe he was q GcS end
ant OF Sir William Wallace, the .ereat
/ Scottish chief, and as his father died
| when Campbell was q boy. and -0ld
! him nothing about it. he rode 4 hun
/ tlred miles over the mountains Ot Ter
! nessee TO see great uncle WHO was
! old enough TO know about his ances-
tors, and the old uncle said Nov.
! Cam, YOU had better let that pedi-
! gree business alone, for your GREAT
| grandfather was a powerful sorry
man, and one day be stole some farcr>
often fiat boat and they s,tchcd him
and took him down TO the cancDi i r..
and whipped him-they did shcre, ;
Since then" said Colonel Wallace.
have taken Pope's couplet for ny
/ pedigree.
Honor ana shame from no condition
rise,
lies
But / do like good stock whether l.:
man or beast or fowl or fruit or low
ers. ! liked the Adams faniI,- ara
the Randolphs and Breckinridees ard
Holts and many others because they
held up 50 long. My wife came from
| that Pocahontas-Rand Holt stock
| that had coal black hair and lark
! hazel eyes. and wore No. , shoe. and
| stepped like a deer. and it was good
cross she made breeding back upon the
Anglo-Saxon and Scotch-Irish that nv
ancestors came from. There i nos
quite SO much .'iniun" in our children
as there was in her. but still there is
enough to make them love their
friends and keep one eye on thei- enc
| mics if they have any.