The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-01-14

oICAo oASN
then, in hospitals. That's OF little conse-
ouence of course, to the government,
but it brought myriads Of signs and tears
to mothers and wives and children Inc
Spanish war, and what has grown out OF
it, has eternally disgraced the annals OF
the nations history. And 1t keeps OIL
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. "Ofenses must needs
come, but woe unto them by whom tney
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 chill
dren, lovers killing sw'eethearts, and
every other deyilish thing. Every days
dispatches record something 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
n dead man at every step. he tired IL
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
q 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, 00C
buried at Vicksburg less than 1900 have
names NnOn their graves. SO in
is at Fredericksburg and all the
others. O the Federals and Confederates
so 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 a broken hearted mother let
concealment like a worm in the bud feed
on her pallid cheeks and turn her hair to
gray before it's time. And yet we keep on
fighting and calling for more troops-not
for defense or liberty, but for conquest
It is a war of aggression upon a 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. It is the same
old unchristian story, Mans inhumanity
to man makes countless thousands
MOURN
But l didn't start today to write
an elegy on the year that has
gone. 1t Is p~leasanter to wish all a
happy new year and to hope for a better
one. A superstitious friend says that it
will be better because 1902 is divisible.
but 1901 was not. The times seem pros
porous and new industries are continu-
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 I have more regard for the
humble, contented people than for all
the ponp and circumstance of war. l
have more regard for an uneducated hon
est man than for an educated rich one,
VINO 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 I
owe Bob Fertilizer a dollar ana a half,
and it botl,ers mo nightly" Never
mind, JOHN said Jack, I'll pay Bob
that money when / go TO town for the
~ Nofr JooI iuiu TX liz hl6 just
as easy as YOU csn." And he did. He
vas a Hard Shell 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
Dy 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 al had TO
sleep on the floor, for VIC had 60 fur
niturc, and W. 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
~ all gone, and there wasn't but one
COW in the county, and she was kept hid
in a canebrake, and how I borrowed a
horse and rode twelve miles and bought
her for $1,000 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
lShing; and how l bought ten bushels of
Germ away down the river at $50 a
bUshel and got good old Rowland Bryant
TO keep il for me at his home six miles
from town, and once a week he took q
bushel to mill and had it ground and
brought it to town and under the seat Of
dis buggy; and how the scouts and out
laws robbed everybody who had any
thing, and these outlaws We're a com
rany Of cavalry made up of thieves and
deserteTa from oui own army; and how I
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 a few yards at a
time for potatoes and chickens; and how
about these times the Confederate de-
t~cctiyeS arrested a 1uartermaSter
ana put him in Jail. and he
was desperately scared and want
cd to get out and run away. and there
wasn't a lawyer in Selma, for General
Morgan and General Pettus and Dawson
aud all the rest were in the army, and a
friend of mine advised him to send for
me-. and he did. aud | went down there in
;I old buggy, for there was no railroad
running then. and I interviewed him III
jail AID agreed to get him out for SO, 900.
and it was deposited with my friend aud