The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1901-08-23

BILL ARP'S LETTER
Barlow Man Discusses Old Times
and Shows a Jealous Streak,
BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER
Aud Lang syne Customs Are only
Praised and Upheld By
Those Advanced In
Years.
BIRDS OF AFEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER

How naturally mankind adapt them
selves to those Of their kind. their age,
sex and mental condition. Birds Of the
same feather will flock together, and
so these little grandchildren will run
away from me to frolic with other lit
tie tots, and 1t makes me jealous. Just
so the next set from 10 TO ~ years
clan together. Then comes the blush
ing school girls from IL to is. who
have heightened out their dresses and
ceased to pull up their garters every
few minutes as they walk about. 1t is
the same with the boys, and when
they get to be baseball experts with a
college attachment they talk Of their
exploits in language that is heather
Chinee to everybody except them
selves and claim to be the elect. And
so it goes on and on until we have
passed our maturity, and then we vet
Grams take our comfort in communion
with veterans and pay our tribute to
the good old times that will never re-
turn. We are the elect.
believe it is true that nobody but
the old men and women give praise to
the old times and the customs Of their
fathers, and so if every generation of
old people believes that the age Of
their youth was the best, then the
times must have degenerated awfully
since the days of the prophets. Have
they or have they not cotton better
instead of worse? The answer is,
they are better in some respects and
worse in others. Public morals were
very loose a hundred years ago. An
drew Jackson was a gambler, horse
racer and duelist seventy-IlYe years
ago. Such a man could not be elected
president now. Foreign missions and
Sabbath schools were almost unknown.
The slave trade with Africa was in
full blast in New England
and New England rum was
the purchase money. Imprisonment
for debt was the law generally, and so
was hogging in the navy. Whisky
was unknown, but brandy and rum
were kept in almost every respectable
household. Illiteracy prevailed al
most all over the south except among
the aristocracy. There were but few
books to read and fewer newspapers.
There were no railroads or telegraphs
or sewing machines. But the people
were generally honest and religious.
There we're no trusts, no strikes, no
millionaires, no suicides, or robberies,
and a murder was a rare event and
done in the heat of passion. No doubt
but that there are hundred of these
crimes committed now to one then &C
cording to population. Well, then, why
arraign the old people for lamenting
that the good old times have gone?
Not long ago l heard gifted and cul.
tured minister of the olden time
preach most charming and impress
sive sermon from the text in Jeremiah
which reads, Stand in the way and
ask for the old paths, which is the
good way, and walk therein, and W
shall find rest for your souls" One
of the best tests Of the strength of d
sermon is your remembrance of the
text. When a gifted and scholarly
minister is done with it and with holy
hands says, Let us pray" what a sol
emnity fills the place, and the tex
fingers with you for years to come
1t does not seem like the same scrip
} ture. THE old paths" walk We Il
the old paths" has been ringing in my
ears ever since.
l know that Lord Bacon was grow
ing old when he wrote, "Old wood tt
burn, old wine to drink, old friends t.
trust, and old authors to read" AnC
Goldsmith said, 81 love everything tina
is old" King James used to call 70!
his old shoes when ne was tired"
There is something almost sacred
about the old songs, such as "AulC
Lang Syne," "The Old Oaken Bucket,
"The Old Arm Chair, and even "OlC
GIlIHSS IS DSdu, CudJ OOOu Oiu Mall
My friend Tom Sawyer, of Florida
writes that he still clings to his OLE
clothes; that he has worn his pants fo
years and years and had them half
tsoled in the seat and reinforced at TIT
Knees and rehemmed at the bottom
that he bought a home made pair 0
socks twenty-seven years ago and i
wearing them still, though he has hat
enew feet knit to them three times AM