Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1901-08-29
ARP ON OLD FRIENDS
Bill Says He Receives Letters From
Old Men.
KNEW EACH OTHER LONG AGO
Likes the Letters and Tries 70 An
swer Them Rheumatism in Arm
cramps His Replies.

They are not all dead. In fact. they
seem TO multiply as the years roll on
my contemporaries. mean. | Te.ciye
more letters from old men than | eyer
| did. aud they write well and C.ye Ions.
! eplStleS. Nnen man gets along in the
! seventies he feels lonesome. notwith-
standing the near presence OF children
ana grandchildren. The companions CT
| MS youth are gone, and 50 some Of
| lhese OLD men unhosom themselves to
| me lor sympathy. | like such letter,
ana Try TO answer them all. but rh,u-
matlsm in my arms and hanGs cramps
my replies. One old gentleman f.om
! Alabama says he feels better after he
has written. for he is native Gso-gl-
an and loves her people and hrr Cd
! red hills and the sweet memories NJ
! Emory college and his visits 10 Athens
where his uncle Elizar Newton lived
| and he met me there in the IDr,lgs
and John Grant and Dan Hughes and
! Jack Brown and Billy Williams WL,.
/ married my friends cousin and t,1,-
! charge OF the blind asylum-anl row
ne heard Dr. Church preach ami VS.
| charmed with the music OF the choir
where Miss Ann Waddell and R,sl
fringle and other pretty girls sau..
| and how tall. long, high man. with
| big hooked nose and a huge "lOuun
Adamus' on his throat sang base. an
now he was a roommate Of Tom N,r-
wood at Emory and classmatc r
bishop Key and Judge 4. 3. Iong-
Etreet. the author Of Georgia S.cuna.'
was the president: and how he rcmly-
ed TO Alabama in lS49 and married IN
has seven daugh ters and no son, aul
has ten orphan grandchildren. and has
to work early and late TO Support and
educate them. but never sees and r.ro-
y hears from any friend of his y0u,h
md is at times sad and depressed AMI
! ongs for sympathy. Poor old man.
| wish that he lived near me. Tor
would visit him and cheer him IN. anl
tell him anecdotes and antido'cs. ami
we would talk over the times and sH.p
college stories and braG about the Ga.d
old days when there were no tee
graphs or telephones or bicycles and va
did not want any; no sewing mach rs
or store clothes, and we didn't n,cl
any; no football or baseball or haZ n
or suicides or appendicitis. And in
those days came Toomhs and Stepa'ns
and Judge Dougherty and Howell CDlb
and Walter COlquitt and spakc to the
people face to face, and such eloquent
men as George PearCee and Bishop
Capers and Jesse Mercer ard DR.. !Ioyt
and Goulding and Ingles preached to
them. Yes, we would tx about t1n
days Of our boyhood. when there wai
no gas or kerosine or friction matches
nothing but candles to give rs l~nt.
and no Prometheus to steal fire from
heaven to light them with. Shakcsp a =
knew how it was, for he wrote:
How far that little candle throws its
beams,
So shines a good deed in naughty
world"
If Shakespeare wrote by Candlo ligrt,
why shouldn't We? And he. too used
the flint and steel to make a spark 10
light them. "Pfck your flint and keep
your powder dry" was General lack
sons order to New Orleans. When
was a young merchant gun-tlints wrr2
as common as marbles, and sgld th"n
at the same price-10 cents a GOt Il.
Wonderful. wonderful are the chang $,
and we old people fall il with ia ID
and adapt them to our use and our
comfort wouldn't be set back to the
good old times. if | could. bat ! NO 1T
enjoy seeing this generation all st
back about seventy years, jCSt Tor
about a week. My Alabama friend n !
other veterans would be ti"hicd 10
death to see the universal dlsmay no
railroads or telegraph, no mail but
once a week-2nd 25 Cents for n"l'
IeI.cr. no daily newspapers in TIE
,.a.e and only four wccNlias, with 10
sens ions. DO suiCilC5 or lynch r"2
There would be no cooking stJvca, no
coal. no steel pens or envelopes, n
cigarettes. No mili.O1aires or free i =
gers. ! remember when cotton vas
hacked in round balCs VITA a croWoaE
The long bag vas made first ami )
suspended from q hole in the Fln
house floor and Uncle Jack got down
n it and PACKED the cotton hard as It
was thrown to him. He pIrhed two
hales a day and they weighted 400
pounds each. Two of them fllc1 the
bed OF the big wagon and fve more
were crossed on top and fastened down
with a long pole. All the little spaces
were filled with corn and fOdf,-, the
big cover put on and with four or
six-horse team we were off for Angus
ta 1t was ten-day's trip and We boys
were happy TO go along and camp out
all nilAt and listen to the niger dri-
vers tell about ghosts and Jack-o'-
Lanterns and witches and raw head
and bloody bones. 1t wal great fun. We
brought back sugar and molasses in
do
for white sugar wasn't invented, eX-
cept a kind called loaf sugar, which
was put up in fve-poun1 cones ana
covered with blue paper. That k!nl
was for rich folks and was very pree-
ious. 1t was crystallized like these -
tie SQUARE Jumps that are common now.
When our mother would uA"tdp lN7
loaf she would let US children lex ihe
sweet white tissue paper lhat va" meat
to the sugar 1t was goOl. MCSt any
thing was good then. A Suck OF 5liiP-H
candy was a rare treat. so was nal an
orange. or a bunch Of "rees rs, as the
niggers called them. Most ahytAlhs
was good then, for our appctlte hal
not been surfeited with cafeS an
Issweetmeats, as they are now. we I-VeI
saesafras root and angelica ana sHg-
berries and locusts and wild cheFT.es
and the inside bark of clc3tput trees
and slippery elm. We were always hun
CRY and hunting for something. My
Alabama friend is sad, not only b..
cause he has lost his youthful compan
ions, but his youthful appetite. Even
Ginger cakes have lost their relish anI
a game Of sweepstakes and town bal
and bull-pen their fasc.aaticn. 1 envy
the happy children as they play around
me, but |. am happy, too, in trying to
make them happy, for | know that
there Is trouble enough ahead OF them
for man that is born of 4 woman is OF
few days and full Of trouble. The bes!
we can do is to do the best we can TO
fortify against it and take the bad with
the good Try to be calm and serene.