The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1901-12-27
\ BACKWARD GLANCE.
Bill Arp Tells Of the Epochs In
His Life.
rhe KiIIing Of His Dog the FIST
Then He Had n Fight ana Le"r"e"
to Play Cards-Verses 10
IN His sweetheart.

copyrighted by tne A. ill.'',ss;a,, \
Shakespeare tells of mans seven
ares. but, his seven does not mt our
day-nor indeed, did they ut MS own
dav, with any distinct lines OF de-
n,arcation between them. They glide
into each other and it is hard to tell
where the one quits and the other pc
gins. We have infants and school-
bows and lovers, but very few are sol-
diers. and not one in "a hundred ever
becomes justice Of the peace. HIS
sixth AGE does not do justice 70 our
men and women of three score years
and ten, for most of them grow 1at
instead sof lean, and our big manly
voices have not turned to treble, nor
do they pipe and whistle in their sounu'
I can sing base to the long-meter COX
ology and my wife can sing MARY
had little lamb to the baby AS 10
the seventh age, which he pictures as
second childhood and mere OBLIVION
without teeth or taste or eyes or ears
or anything, we never see them-our
old people die before they get to that
But in the life of every man and wom-
an there are epochs, events, mile
stones. as it were, that stand out
prominent in memory and mark their
progress from youth to old age. MY
earliest recollection is the killing OF
our dog Hector, who was supposed
to be mad, and'i it grieved us, for we
loved him and he loved us. Next Ire
call the falling of the stars in 1855
NV father held me up and with my
feet upon the top railing OF the ban
nisters, / saw them come down IN
myriads as quietly and softly as snow
fakes and they went out as they
neared the earth. They were separate
and distinct as the stars, but as near
together as the sparks from the chin
ney of an old-time blacksmith shop.
George Lester was my playmate and
lived close by and the next morning
he and | hunted all over his moth
er's garden to find some signs OF the
stars that fell, but found none. While
they were falling our negro cook, Aunt
Ailsey. was down on her knees pray
ing, and as she chung to my mothers
nigh gown, she called on Jesus to come
and take us all to Heaven. That night
was an epoch and it is worth being
rs years old to have witnessed 1t. Ny
next remembrance of note is a jour
ney to Savannah with my father and
mother and brother, where we took a
sail vessel for Boston. remember the
magnificent double row of china trees
in the long street, and wonder now
if there is a person living in Savan-
nah who was living there then and
remembers that row of beautiful trees
that are long since dead and gone.
/ remember that voyage of 33 days
around Cape Hatteras, where our ship
was almost wrecked, and mother held
fast unto her children and silently
prayed for deliverance. | remember
when we reached Boston and how,
after our visit was over, father bought
a carriage and pair of horses, and we
journeyed by land from Boston to
Georgia and never crossed a railroad,
for there was none to cross. | remem-
Der our stop at the natural bridge in
Virginia, and how he walked away
down in the gorge and looked up and
afterwards stood on the bridge and
looked down from the dizzy height
When l was about ten years old |
had another epoch, for / had fight
on Sunday at a camp meeting and
got licked and my fine Sunday clothes
were all spoiled with mud and dirt.
A country boy said l was town boy
and was dressed too fine and he was
gwine to take the starch outen my
rutfled shirt. And he did. / fought
as hard as could, but he licked me
and l cried. had gone to the spring
to get some water and the fight came
off there. My father whipped me next
morning and the school-teacher got
ready to whip me again, but | showed
him my legs and he let me off with
talk. My next episode has left an in
delible impression. We had to walk
two miles to school and about half
way there was big gully that we used
to slide down in. One morning Bill
Maltbie and Overton Young and Jim
Wilson and myself stopped to slide
down and Bill pulled out deck of
cards and said he would show us how
to play. 1 had never seen a deck be-
fore in my life, but ] had hearn tell
of 'em. They were mighty pretty and
he taught us how to shuttle and cut
and deal and turn Jack and play seven
up. One morning Tom Wilson and
Jim Alexander came along as they
were going to school and heard our
racket in the gully and they caught