The new enterprise. (Madison, Fla.) 1901-1908, 1902-03-20
Barlow Man Pays Loving Tribute
to Army Oomrade "0id Hook"
ALOYAL AND PATRIOTIC ENGLISHMAN
An unIntentlonal Error Corrected.
William Suggests Wholesome
Books Suitable For Young M
People to Read.

vi Course-OI course IL was Tom
Moore. How came to say Burns
wrote that pretty ballad beginning
And | know by the smoke that SO
gracefully curled2" knew better and
the editor should have corrected 1t, for
he knew better, too. What is an editor
for II he does not correct a "lapsus
pennae" like that? But | am glad |
made the mistake, for 1t has brought
me three letters and a postal kindly
correcting me, and proves that the
people who read the old-time authors
are not all dead. The last line OF that
verse always reminds me of a good old
man, a comrade, Captain John Hook
enhull, an Englishman by birth, but a
Georgia rebel who used to recite peo-
try for us around the camp i1es In
1862 and 1868, We called him "Old
Hook" and everybody loved him for
he was a cockney and dropped the his
where he should not and vice versa
There Is always a charm in broken
English and to murder the kings Eng
lish is no great offense. "old Hook"
knew a good deal of Tom Moore and
Burns and Hood and Campbell and it
was a treat 10 hear him say:
The cart that is tumble might 'ope
for 1t ere"
He knew that other sweet ballad Of
Annie Crawford:
Kathleen Mavourneen, the gray dawn
Is breaking,
The horn of the hunter Is heard on
the hill"
And he always said "The 'orn of the
'unter is card on the Ill" The "Ex.
lie of Erin" which he called the "EIex.
lie of Herin," was another of his ia.
vorltes. He learned these poems from
his sweetheart while he was an ap.
prentice In London-an orphan boy
bound for seven years to a hard mas.
ter, a brewer, and his daily service
was to carry the Jars Of malt from the
cellar up a flight Of stone steps to the
floor above. He never had a kind
word from his master, and one day
he trlpped and broke a jar and was
Utterly abused for 1t, and told that
he had forfeited the 20 pounds that he
was to get when his term was out, He
was then is and had yet three years
to toll at his hard, monotonous work.
That night he poured out his heart to
the girl he loved and declared he would
run away and go to America on tho
first sail vessel that left the port. That
he would mako some money here and
send 1t TO her II she would promise to
come to him, and then they would
marry and be so happy--and she prom
Used. Within a week the opportunity
came. He told one Of the sailors his
sad story and the sailor told the mate,
and they took him aboard by night
and hid him down In the hold Of the
vessel until the good ship had weighed
anchor and was far out to sea. "old
Hook" told 1t all to us one cold night
at Manassas and how sad and sweet
was his last kiss, his last embrace, his
last good bye. He choked up sometimes
and the tears gllstened in his eyes,
but 1t was pretty story, and Dickens
could have built upon 1t and made a
tender romance. This was away back
in the forties when our state was
the Western and Atlantic rail
road and wanted laborers and had sent
a man to New York to hire immi'
grants as they landed at Castle Gar.
den. "Old Hook" did not have to wait
a day, but was hired and shipped to
Atlanta and from there to Allatoona,
where he did his. first work. He said
be did not feel safe upon the ocean |
voyage or In New York harbor, for he
feared he might in some way be
caught as a fugitive and taken back,
but when he got to Allatoona and saw
the woods all around him and the high |
hills and deep ravines. and mingled |
with good, kind-hearted men and wo
men, he felt safe and free. 81 never
knew W.T. freedom was before and you
'av no idea wat a bless
ing 1t is. The good woman Were !
boarded and her daughter were so kind
and gentle TO me that l would 'ay !
ugged them II dared, but | thought
al Of the time of the girl | had left
behind me, and 1t nerved me to good
onest work and the contractor soon
raised my wages, and in six months
ad 'undred dollars in bank and got |
, good man to send 1t to another good
nan I'm New York. and he found the |