The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-08-26
ATLANTA Constitution.)

IL al
more than 1000 years old. Nevertheless
history is made up Or the character ana
deeds Of notable and great men, ana II -
our duty TO study them and pEont -
thcir example. The Latin maxim was IN
tended no doubt 10 apply 10 our nelsh-
hor who has recently died and not 10 the
groat public men who's acts and deeds
make up history. The world has q per
fect right to ~analyze and cTiticise the
characters OF Alexander and Caesar ana
cromwell and Bonaparte and Benedlc'
Arnold but even these were not settled
until a century or more had passed atleT
their death. B~onaparte is not settled YET
and English. French and American ms
torians are still hammering away at MS
character and his deeds. That he was a
scourge 10 mankind and the age in which
he lived and a traitor TO his devoted
wife and all to crafty his selfish am
bition. no reflective man can doubt. Inc
disposition to idolize great warriors
handicaps all young historians ana cap
tivateS the people when one OF theSe
fighting men offers for office. 1t was this
that elected Taylor and Harrison ana
Jackson. How Roosevelt will get along
with his war record for killing bears re-
mains TO be seen. but l reckon that he
Is It1SllS mo oh GtAA1o .
slandcring men after they are dead. He
will lose nothing up North by telling
lies on Jeffrson Davis. He belongs TO
the same school of historians that Prof.
Goodwin Smith-that lying Engishman
who wrote a history of the United states
that was taught in Northern colleges and
said that the first settlers Of Virginia
we're rencgadcs from England-mostly
convicts who were given choice Of the
callows or of exile to Virginia, and
strange to say they cohse the exile.
But was Illuminating about the last
words of Daniel Webster, who in my
opinion, was the greatest man the coun-
Try ever produced, not the greatest but
the grandest-the most godlike. He made
many great speeches, but the greatest
of all was that delivered at Capon
Springs. where he was brave enough to
qualify all his previous u~ttcranccS con-
corning the rights of the States and to
declare thai any State had the right to
withdraw from the Union when u%njustly
treated and that the State was the sole
Judge of hat. For this he was denied
the privilege of speaking again in
Fancul hall. For this he was sacrificed
in verse by Whittier. For this that
speech was left out of his published
works-the publishers saying that it
would greatly damage their sale TO have
it III. This brings me to the text |
started to write about, for | have re
ccived three letters from cultured gentle
men who tell me hat Il still live were
| not Webster's last words, but there were
two more that the editor suppressed,
and these two were more brandy
These gentlemen concur in saying that
Webster was very fond of brandy and in
his last days INDUCED too much and
during his last illness his physician kept
him alive on brandy. The morning he
died his physician called and finding him
alive, but apparently unconscious, said to
the attendant, He cannot live but a lit
tie while, but if he should live until S
o'clock give him some brandy When
the clock struck 8 Mr.. Webster reused
up and pointed to it and whispered, Il
still livc-Inorc brandy The last two
words are left out of the biography and
may not have been said. Nevertheless
this version has parayzed much of my
sentiment and all | can do is to leave it
in doubt. l remember that it was said
Of Mr.. Webster that he was overload of
his brandy toddics. Brandy was a gem
tleman's drink, WhiSkey was for the COM
mon people and rum was for eggnog
and for the yankees to ship to Africa to
Duy HlSSciS Will. Even III my young
days the gentlemen drank brandy-pcach
or apple, or cognac. 1t was kept on the
iGcboards and was always offered to
visitors. When | was about fourteen
years old John Mcpherson Berrien came
to our little town of LaWrenccville to
attend court. He was considered a very
great man. He was our United States
Senator and had been Encouragement of
the United States under jackson. After
| had swept out the store l walked down
to the hotel to get a glimpse of him.
He had just gotten up and came out on
the piazza in his shirt sleeves TO take
a wash. After that the landlord brought
him out a bottle of brandy and some
sugar and the great man took a liberal
tOddy. 1t was a revelation to me to sec
how suddenly q great man could come
down to the Lowell Of common people. But
then it must be remembered that Mr..
Berricn was from Savannah.
Now here is another letter in which
| take peculiar interest and ommen to
the veterans Of Georgia. For years
have lamented that We have no record
roll OF our Confederate soldiers. al
luded to this not long ago in one of my
letters, and it has provoked an old friend
TO write TO me upon the subject and give
me encouragement. The letter is from
Hon. Walter Clark. Associate Justice OF
the supreme Court of North Carolina
and who Was recently nominated FOR
chief usticc. He has recently finished
the history CT the North Carolina Regi-
ments, III five volumes, having been
chosen for tbs work by tho Confederate
Veterans Association. These volumes
are not q r%cstcr. but a history OF the
acts and deeds Of every regiment eighty
Jour II number). Twenty years ago that
grand old State published j roster. in
Tour volumes. wherein is recorded the
name OF every officer and private. and
what became Of them. North Carolina
was the banner State of the Confederacv
ana continues to be. With a voting pom
ulatlon OF $4,000, it sent 125. 900 troops
~ the front, and 1000 Of these were
killed or died in service. udga CLARK