The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1902-08-07
LAST WORDS or GREAT MEN
bill Arp Takes Consolation
From Dying Words of Daniel
Webster.

Atlanta Constitution.
eel still live." l was Illuminating
about tho last words Of grcaL men, ant
those of Daniel Webster always i'm
press mo with peculiar force. On the
very confines of eternity, on tho brinl
OF the everlasting change that he kne"
was at hand, his great mind seemed tc
be studying and waiting for the mo-
ment OF his dcparture-~-waiting and
watching for the separation of tho soul
from the body, and wondering how he
would pass the crisis. There was no
fear, no droad, as he calmly whisper
ed, "I still llvc," and Immediately
died. His body died, and what was
the next vision of his great soul the
world would like to know, but it is for
hidden. l thought of all this not long
ago as l seemed to be drawing near the
end and approached the confines of
that undiscovered country from whose
bourne no traveller returns. l was
serious and solemn with expectation,
but was not alarmed, for my faith is
that my Maker will take care of me
and of all others who love Him and try
to do right. All that troubled me was
the separation from those l love and
their grief at my departure. Two
months Is a long time TO be a child
again without vital force enough to
walk alone. But have passed the
crisis, and though weak and nervous
am ON the upgrade, and can walk
about the garden and carry the little
grandchild in my arms and give HIM
flowers and feast on his smiles and
CaTosscs.
Well, that is enough on that line.
You readers can find sermons and
prosy commentaries on sickness and
death on another page. "Carpe dicm."
Let us enjoy tho day and be thankful
that we still live. But to drop revcr-
emily from the sublime to the ridicu-
lOus. l recall that when l was young
n number of us were quoting the last
words OF great men such as Seneca and
Plato and Calvin and Luther and one
said: Well, you know what Daniel
,'Wcbstcr said?" No, we did not re-
member and he replied: "Why he
opened his great big eyes and looked
at his friends who were weeping around
him and whispered, Boys, don't cry;
1 am not dead yci.'';
Forty-one years ago last Sunday the
battle of Manassas was fought. 1t
was the first battle of the civil war and
made deeper impression upon those
engaged in it than any other. Com
after it, it was almost insignificant, for
There was only four hundred and
seventy Federal killed and three hun
drcd and seventeen Confederates. The
Federal account gives sixteen hundred
OF their army as missing. That is a
mistake, for by four O'Clock they were
all missing. Our cavalry couldn't find
them, though they followed their trail
of discarded guns and haversacks for
miles and miles. There never was
such a rout and such panic during
the war. We didn't have enough wa
gons next day to gather up tho scat
tered munitions of war, and it took
Mcdowell month TO call IN his army
of twcnty-seven thousand men and re-
organize. But in the long run they
got even with us and little ahead, and
the Grand Army is still Dragging how
four of them whipped one Of us in four
years. That's all right. We are
satisfied with our record and it grows
brighter as the years roll on. Ammo
Domini will tell.
The other day my doctor said must
take some exercise and he took his
mother and me up the river road for a
few miles to the ruins of tho Cooper
iron works. 1t was wild, weird, ghostly
place on the banks of the Etowah,
where once Wero rolling mills and
foundry and furnaces and flour mills
and tan yards and hundreds of cottages,
where happy laborers and mechanics
lived. But Sherman's army burned
and destroyed everything, and since
then most of the crulnbling walls have
fallcl. and the trees have grown up in
their midst and wild vines have climb
ed the trees and nothing is visible but
runs and the sad spectacle Of cruel
and brutal war. But this is one burn
ing that, according TO the rules and
usages of war, was justified, for these
iron works were making cannon for
the Confederacy. 1t was the lone
some chimneys of the poor all along
his line of march that marked his bru-
tality and proved his assertion that
"war is hell"
But no more of this. While view.
ing these ruins my memory went back
to the time when Joe Brown was
Governor and ordered that 5000 pixies
be made with spear point and a side
blade curved downward like reap
hook and long handle in socket, sc
that our boys might take 'em coming
and going. If they didn't run we were
to spear 'em, and if they did run W.
were TO overtake 'em and hook ZEN
back. That's what old. man Levi,
told mo, and he was the master mechani,
who made them, and he still lives nea
here and is in his 88th year. l say
him today and he steps light ant
sprlngy. He is an Englishman. "Mr
Lewis" said |, {" why didn't the Geor
gla boys use these pixies ?" Well
you sce," said he, " the old army OF
licers who were drilling our boys a
Big Shanty looked at these pixies an
saia to the Governor; 'What will tn
enemy be dong with their guns Will
our boys are rushing on them wit
these pixies? They will shoot our boy