The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-01-12

Not counting the great Civil War Of for
ty years ago, this last year of 1901 was
the most bloody and disastrous of any in
my recollection. Over 10000 Of our sol
diers died in the Philippines-most of
them in hospitals That's Of little conse-
quence, of course, to the government
but it brought nyriads of signs and tears
to mothers and wives and children. me
Spanish war and what has grown out OF
it, has eternally disgraced the annals OF
the nations history. And it Keeps on
and will keep on, no doubt, bringing
misery and ruin in its tram. SoMe
preachers say it is the work OF the LORD
/ don't believe it. "Offenses must needs
come, but woe unto them by whom they
come Besides all this the year was
full of disasters on land and sea- EXPO
sions in the mines, railroad wrecks, DOLL
ers bursting, fires, floods, murders, sui
cides, husbands killing wives and emil
dren. lovers killing sweethearts, ana
every other devilish thing. Every days
dispatches record some thing new and hor-
rible. and we are getting so accustomed
to it that it hardly disturbs or surprises
us. We, too, are getting hardened TO
blood and bloody deeds. This unconcern
ALWAYS follows in the wake of war. After
the battle of Malvern Hill | remember
hearing one soldier bet another that he
could walk across the ridge and step on
a dead man at every step. He tried II
for a hundred yards and won. Soldiers
who had been kind and gentle at home
became hardened to the sight of blood
and death. After the war was over many
a good mother watched and waited for
her boy to come home, but he never came,
and she died still wondering how he was
killed and where he was buried. But few
OF his comrades were left, and they were
widely scattered The records were not
kept or were lost in the war. Out of 16, 000
buried a Vicksburg less than 1000 have
names upon their graves: so ii
is at Fredericksburg and all the
others OF the Federals and Confederates
80 per cent of all the dead are unknown
and sleep in unmarked and unrecorded
graves. And this is war and as General
Sherman said, War is hell" There is
enough unwritten grief to fill an ocean,
and many broken hearted mother let
coneealment like a worm in the bud feed
on her pallid cheeks and turn her hair to
gray before its time. And yet we keep on
fighting and calling for more troops-not
for defense or liberty, but for conquest.
1t is a war of aggression upon people
who never did us harm and. beg to be let
alone. The eight million negroes here at
home give us great concern, but the gov
eminent wants ten millions more to add
TO the perplexity of the problem. OH the
shame of 1.-THE pity of it, 1t is the same
old unchristian story, Mans inhumanity
TO man makes countless thousands
mourn
But / didn't start today to write
an elegy on the year that has
gone. 1t is pleasanter to wish all a
happy new year and to hope for better
one. A superstitious friend says that it
will be better because 1902 is divisble,
but 1901 was not. The times seem pros
porous and new Industries are contnu-
ally being planted all over the South.
War always brings activity in it's train
More iron and steel for ships and men
of war, more cannon and guns for the
army, more clothing and food for the SOL
diers. But l have more regard for the
humble, contented people than for all
the pomp and circumstance of war. /
have moro regard for an uneducated hon
who made his money by questionable
schemes. My good old friend John Jen-
kins is dead. He hauled wood for me
many years and gave an honest cord. On
lis last bed he sent for his brother Jack
and whispered, Jack, I'm gwine ter die,
they say, and I'm willin' to go; but !
owe Bob Fertilizer dollar and a half,
and it bothers me nightly" Never
mind, John" said Jack, ''Ill pay Bob
that money when / go to town for the
coffin Now, just turn over and die just
as easy as you can And he did. He
was a Hard She'll Baptist
The other night we had a good lady
visitor from the North, and when she
said something about this horrid old
Philippine war, the conversation drifted
to the hardships and sufferings caused
by our Civil War and, just to amuse and
entertain her, my wife and l related how
when we got back to Rome with our
half dozen little children we all had to
sleep on the floor, for we had no fur
niture, and we had no -four or coffee or
sugar, and there was none to be had, for
what little there was was kept hidden and
couldn't be bought with Confederate
money; and how cur corn meal was near
COW in the county, and she was kept hid
in canebrake, and how l borrowed a
horse and rode twelve miles and bought
her for $4,000 in Confederate money and
drove her home in the night and kept
her hid in the barn, and she gave just
enough milk to keep our baby from per-
ishing; and how | bought ten bushels of
corn away down the river at $1o0
bTshel and got good old Rowland Bryant
TO keep it for me at his home six miles
from town, and once a week he took a
bushel to mill and had it ground and
brought it to town and under the seat of
his buggy; and HOW the scouts and out
laws robbed everybody who had any
thing, and these outlaws were a com
pany of cavalry made up of thieves and
deserters from our own army; and how /
had a bale of factory shifting hid out
in the country for two years, and as soon
as we dared it was brought home and my
wife could exchange few yards at a
time for potatoes and chickens; and how
about these times the Confederate de-
tectives arrested quartermaster
ana put him in jail, and he
was desperately scared and want
ed to get out and run away, and there