The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-09-16
Bill Arlp'S Letter.

ronvright. 1902. by The Constitution)
what a commotion. The public schools
have opened the winter session. hun
dre1s Of children are going 70 ana ITO
ana every family is excited for theif
own The books have been hunted up.
tho faces washed and hair brushed. Inc
hovs ha1A a new suit and the girls new
ecboo1 dresses. and it looks like every
thing and everybody is working Tor the
cbi15ren Merchants, mechanics, doc.
Tors lawyers, preachers and farmers
SOON to be very busy in their trades and
professions. but behind them all IS the
welfare and happiness of their children.
We have but one Scohlar nova sweet
oron5cbitd. who has risen to a hiSher
Grade apd has TO strain her young NINA
n solve the mazes and mysteries OF
Jatin and algebra, but she VIII 90 II.
Our schools have good teachers. ana
vim help at home the willing pupil VIII
koep up With the foremost. Yes, help al
49, wish that every child had II.
IN ! grade of thirty or forty pupils u
i impossible for the teacher TO give more
than a few minutes to each one, out l
some times give an hour TO our iltile
Girl at night. That IS what an oid
grandpa is good for. But 1t IS ha'd li
even me to fall into line With new BOOKS
ta,a master them. The first Latin book
read was a simple little one ealleo
.I1ic+orian Sacra." and the first line was
"Deus caelam ct terrain mira sex dles'
"God created the heavens and the earth
IN .ix davs.v know the whole chapter
now but that book is out of print ana l
don't know the new ones. Just 50 WITH
ALGEBRA. Old Jeremiah Day is dead ahd
nov there is a new book and new rules
ana they are harder 10 me. How we old
mon do love to talk over the goou olu
WAYS of fifty and sixty years ago.
Cantain Calhoun was telling yesterday
how old Beman mauled knowledge INTO
the brain through the shanks and posle-
riore of rebellious boys. / haven Iof-
gotten some of the lickings that good Ola
John Norton gave me, for | was lull u
mischief. Professor Ronald Johnston Is
here now on a visit. He taught mere
MANY years and most all these young
married men carry his marks, for he IS
q Scotchman and has a Scotchnans falin
in solomon and the rod. In 1861 he joined
the Confederate army, and When tue val
was over resumed his school and mas no"
, been teaching over fifty years. lie IS d
fit successor to Beman and lsha1n anu
Toucbie but has gentled down a good
! deal. and loves " Dtt hlS
was Illuminating about these school
hooks and their cost. 1t took "a TO buy
four little books for the new grade and !
know, If is TOO much, and | rejoice to
ene that a company has been formed 10
nublish Southern school books in a South
crn citv and keep our money at home. l
rejoice that DR.. j. William Jones has pub
! lished a school history of the united
States that is acceptable to our people.
/ He is a grand old. gentleman without lear
and without reprOach, and has donc more
10 preserve our good names ana our rec
! ord than any other man. His biography OF
Jefferson Davis and of Robert +. Lee
should be in every household. Even led
DIV, who claims to be a historian, ought to
read that of Mr.. Davis and repent and
retract and apologize before he IS SCI
down as an arch calumniator of a true
natriot and a noble man. This cminds
mo of that brave girl, Laura Talbcrt Gait.
who refused to sing marching Through
Georgia. in the Louisville public school.
Blessings on her: she ought to be adopted
as the successor to Winnie Davis, the
Daughters of the Confederacy. My good
friend. Joe Brown. has written a parody
on that song, and the last line to every
verse IS:
We went thIeving through Geor-
gia."
have lost some of my respect for the
city of Louisville as a Southern city since
that infamous song is allowed to be sung
i'll their public schools.
But / am comforted every day with
letters of inquiry about the roster that
Georgia is going to make and about Judge
Walter Clark'S books and how to get
them. Here is a beautiful letter from
Hon. p. T. Turnkey, mayor OF the city
of Highland Park, Ills. He is 81 years
old. but does not look it in his hand
some photograph. He was born and
reared in Tennessee and graduated at
West Point in 1916. Stonewall Jackson
was his roommate; Generals d. r. Jones
and William Montgomery Gardner his
classmates. That is getting pretty close
10 us, for u. r. Jones was our brigadier
for a while, and Gardner was our colonel.
Mr.. Turnkey wants those books and | wish
) to say here that the books must be order
cd from ". O. Sheriff., State Librarian,
Raleigh, y. c. Send 50 and they will be
sent by express, but not prepaid. And
here is a letter from G.. w. Nichols. of
Jcsup. Ga. who also sends his interesting
book. ~ Soldiers Story of the Lawton
Gordon Evans Brigade" That's right. If
we can find one man in every regiment
who Will write its history VIC will soon
get our roster started on a North Caro-
Ina basis.
But | am not we'll and must forbear
for this time. BILL ARP.
Alben1arle Monuments.