The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-08-05

hand, his great minu etlhe ~ 2
STUDYING and waiting for the moment
Of his notwithstanding and watching
for the separation of the soul from the
body. and wondering how he would pass
the crisis. There was no fear, no dread,
as he calmly whispered, Il still live"
and Immediately died. His body died,
and what was the next great vision OF
his soul the world would like to know,
but it is forbidden. l thought Of all this
not long ago as ! seemed to be drawing
near the end and approach the confines
of that undiscovered country from
whose bourne no traveller returns. | was
serious and solemn with expectation
but was not alarmed, for my talth IS
that nv Maker will a k care OF me ana
of all others who love Him ana " 10 90
right. All that troubled me was the
separation from those l love ana tnelr
grief at my departure. Two mohlhs Is
q long time to be a child again without
vital force enough to walk alone. bue
I have passed the crisis, and though
weak and nervous am on the upgrade'
and can walk about the garden ana
carry the little grandchild in my arms
and give him flowers and feast on ms
smiles and caresses.
Well. that is enough on that line.
i0n readers Cdu lIDd otI " eNA t1OS
commentaries on sickness and death on
another page. "CarpC diem Let US
eniov the day and be thankful that we
still live. But to drop rcverently from
the sublime to the ridiculous, L recall
that when was young a number of
us were quoting the last words of great
men such as Seneca and Plato and cal
vim AMI Luther and one said: well,
Won know what Daniel Webster said
No, we did not remember, and ne re-
plicd: why ne opened his great big
eyes and looked at his friends who were
wcepins around him and whispered,
"Boys, don't cry: 1 am not dead yet
Forty-one years ago last Sunday tho
battle of Manassas was fought. 1t was
the first battle of the Civil War and made
q deeper impression upon those engaged
in it than any other. Compared with
the great battles that came after it, 1T
was almost insignificant, for there were
only four hundred ard seventy federals
Eillnd and three hundred and seventeen
Confederates. The Federal account gives
sixteen hundred of their army as miss
ing. That is a mistake, for by 4 O'Clock
they were all missing. Our cavalry
couldn't find them though they followed
their trail of discarded guns and haver-
l IL IlliNo LIZ II IN ~
was such a rout and such a panic dur
ing the war. We didn't have enough
wagons ncxt day to gather up the lnuni-
lions of war, and it took Mcdowell a
month to cali in his army Of twenty
seven thousand men and reorganize.
But in the long run they got even with
us and a little ahead, and the Grand
Army is still Dragging about 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.
Tho other day my doctor said l must take
some exercise and he took his mother
and NE up the river road for a few
miles to the ruins Of the Cooper Iron
Works. It was a wild, weird, ghostly
place on the banks of the Etowah, where
once were rolling-miils and foundry and
furnaces and our mills and tan yards and
hundreds of cottages where happy labor
ers and mechanics lived. But Sherman's
army burned and destroyed everything.
and since then most of the crumbling
walls have fallen and the trees have
grown up in their midst and wild vines
have climbed the trees and nothing is
visible but ruins and sad spectacle of a
cruel and brutal war. But this is one
burning that, according to the rules and
usages Of war, was justified, for these
iron works were making cannon for the
Confederacy. 1t was the lonesome CHM
news Of the poor all along his line OF
march that marked his brutality and
proved his assertion tat War is hell
But no more of this. While viewing
these ruins my memory went back to
the time Joe Brown was Governor and
ordered that 5000 pixies be made with a
spear point and a side blade curved
downward like a reaphook aud a long
straight handle in a socket, so that our
hovs might take 'em coming and going.
If they didn't run we were TO spear EN-,
and if they did run we were to overtakc
'em and spear EN- back. That's what
old man Lewis told me, and he was the
master mechanic who made them. and
he still lives near here and is in his SSth
year. I saw him today and he steps
light and springy. He is an English
man. Mr.. Lewis" said I "why didn't
the Georgia boys use these pixies? -
Wei. you see said he, "the old army
officers who were drilling our boys at
Big Shanty looked at these pixies and
said to the Governor: What will the en-
envy be doing with their guns while our
boys are rushing on them with these
pixies? They Will shoot our boys down
before they can get to them end they
made sc much fun OF the pixies that they
were refused. West Point would not
Rave anything to do with anything that
Was not used at West Point" And 50
the further manufacture of pixies was
stopped and those that were made are
scattered all over the country as curios
for museums. A sister Of mino said she
saw one not long ago in a museum in
R0cfOn Rnt ctilJ 7 don't cCo v-by -noarc
ar" an" more out of order than hayo-
nets when a desperate charge is to be
made. Charge bayonots" is in the
West Point tactics, and why not
charge pikes7" They are an awful
looking weapon, and if thcy were com
ing at mo and my gun should miss Are
] should dron it and run like a turkey.
| bad rather be bored with a bullet than
stuck like a hog. But it is all over now,
and we have beaten our spc3rs into
pruning hooks according to scriDture
and viii learn war no more, except when
the mulattoes and negroes refuse to give
III hGIr nrIc 70 ~"