The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1900-12-12
BILL ARP rs AT HOME AGAIN.
HAD TROUBLE GETTING THERE.
The Railroad Gates Were Blocked
and Ho Took Passage on Another

---
The Railroad Gates We're Blocked
and He Took Passage on Another
Line.
Home again and happy. Children
and grandchildren met me AT the de-
pot and escorted me home, whore q
bountiful supper was awaiting, and
asked the same old blessing that | have
been asking for fifty years, only it was
with unusual gratitude, for | had been
In peril3 OF wind and water and escaped
them. | was weary with long travel,
and now | could rest. | left New AL
bany at midnight, reached Birming-
ham OF daylight, only five minutes late,
and had five minutes time to buy q
ticket for Pell City, and from there
was to board the East and West for
home. How happy | was. But alas
for human hopes. o. soon they car
vapish into despair. There were about
q hundred big, black, greasy negro
preachers ahead OF me at the ticket
o@ce. Their Baptist convention had
been broken up, and they were going
home on the southbound train, and had
an hour to go on, but they would not
let me advance an inch. | hurried
back to the gatekeeper and begged
him to let me in, for my train was W ait
ing, and | pointed to the crowd of me-
Rroes and told him 1T was impossible
for me to get q ticket. He said he was
sorry, but he had his orders. | hurried
pack to mako one more effort, but a
big square ~shouldered preacher, with
o back as broad as u barn door. mad
dropped u dire on the hoor and half q
dozen we're down hunting for 1t. |
hailed the ticket man, but he never
heard or needed me. Frantic, | rushed
back to the IRON gates, and saw my
train slipping off like u snake in the
grass, and that official automation
Unnl1 not lpt me- npaa "'GaipSt or
ders," he said.
Blackstone says there Is a remedy
for every wrong, but there were no
railroads In his day, or he Wouldn't
have written those lines. | had nc
remedy, and there is none. What could
do? No train for Pell City for twelve
hours, and none from Pell City for my
home for twenty-four hours. l was sc
tired and 80 disappointed that | sal
down to ruminate on my valise. | was
weak and sad and pitiful, for there IL
no disappointment 80 distressing to me
as being left by a train when going
home. Just then q drummer, Goo
bless him came up and spoke to me
ana said, MY friend, | am pretty
much In the same fix you are, but WI
can go by Chattanooga, for the Ala
bama Great southern is an hour lat,
this morning. It's schedule is to leav'
here thirty minute before we arrived
but 1t has not come yet, and we hav'
hall an hour to get our tickets. Thos
preachers are nearly all out of the wa,
now"
rose to my feet. saw how it was
and that l would lose only one hour /
getting bone. In my heart J revived
and like David whispered, BLESS tn
Lord, Q my soul" We got our tickets
and In four hours were In Chattanooga
where | telegraphed my wife, "Hol
the fort I'm coming" And 80 All
well that ends well" and no thanks t
those who manage hat iron-bound pc
at Birmingham.
But found the cutest little mario,
gauge railroad in Mississippi that
nave seen in many years. | didn
know there was one left. 1t is Gale
the Gulf and Chicago railroad, bu
many years ago and built sixty mile
and quit. You can ride all day on
Tor III oO. 1t doesn't seem to have an
schedule, and the folks along the lin
JUS walt for 1t and seem content. The
say, Well, It's our road 1t all we'v
got, and they do the best they can,
The owners are clever men and wi
wait on you half an hour IL you telt
phone them. They are very accomm
dating, especially going South, fo
They have no connections to make.
boarded that train at Blue Mountai
az ". III u OnIOGOC, "nOr9 i WAS I
lecture that night at 1880 O'clock.
was only thirty miles, but we didn
getthere until 8.15 o'clock, and my aud
ence didntg give up the ship. They sal
1T was their ~rOad-their only road-an
they knew it's peculiar ways.
We stopped when within three mile
OF town, and after half an hour or so
asked what was the matter, and WI
Told that the steam had given GU
Before hat the train stopped IN tn
woods somewhere and her began t
back. | ventured to ask What was til
matter and was told hat the brake
man had dropped his cob pipe an
they had gone back to look for it. Blu
1t was a railroad and had no right t
complain, for | remember when Their
was not a railroad in the United State,
men ! was seven FEARS old | cam
from Boston to Georgia overland In
carriage with my father and mother
l,ZOO miles, and we never crossed
railroad, for there was not one to cross
and now there are 196, 900 miles /
these United States.
NO., am happy on the way on an
railroad, even If 1T Is thirty miles shor
and four hours long. II beats the oil
stage coach a long ways. | tried
buggy team from Ripley to Blue Mount
only d six mile drive and like to hav
got drowned. | got fundamentally an.
Interestingly wet. | shall wait for tn,
narrow guage next time. Oh, tina
cyclone. [ haven't quit telling abou
1T yet. Next morning a man who wa
In 1T and under 1t and on top OF it sait
he went out to shut hts mules up II
the stable, and before he could ga,
Jack Robinson, 1t picked him up ant
turned him a thousand som~ersaults
and while he was turning he heard hi
mules a braylng In the air above him
'Gentlemen," said he, that are ,
TACT, II eve told it.; and the thine
Just let me down In Jimmy Jones's pota
10 patch as easy as u woman lays hel
baby In the cradle"
That college at Blue Mountain ia {
marvel to me. 1t was founded twenty
five years ago by General Lowrey, &
great ~big-hearted man, who, like Der
Adhem, loved his fellow men. 1t wa,
at first a high school for the benef TT O
the poor girls In the neighborhood anC
expanded into a college. When he
led his SON and sons In law TOOK
barge and continued to expand, and
ow there are 300 girls there over 200
them are boarders at $12 per month
The others live Ia cottages near by and
board themselves at a cost OF about 81
ponnfk f@. tL., IL ~