The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-07-09
IN HOTEL LoBBIEs
AND ELSEWHERE


A South carolInian.
Col William Hayne Perry. whose death
ct his country seat Of Sans souci. Green
Vile. S. c.. was announced yesterday.
was gifted far beyond most men. and
suffered measure of physical pain which
few mortals are called upon by fate to
suffer.
For sevral years Colonel Perry had
BEEN bedridden and entirely helpless, be-
ing unable to take even a glass of water
or a Whit Of his beloved pipe unassited.
said a personal friend OF the Perry fam
lily. In the fun strength of strong man
hood he was suddenly stricken with
paralysis of his arms and legs and hence
forth was as helpless as a little baby, His
mind remained perfectly clear and alert.
and his power of speech unaffected as If
to make his suffering all the greater, for
he had Teen extremely fond of strenuous
outdoor exercise He was accounted ons
Of tho best horsemen In South Carolina
and was a noted breeder of hlooded stock.
Though confined continuously TO his
bedroom. which was frightened by the
tender devotion and ceaseless care of his
worlds good women. Colonel Perry kept
constantly IN touch with the outside
world in which. he had played a conspic-
uous and honored part Every morning
Mrs. Perry would read to him the daily
newspaper. and occasionally he received
three or four of his most intimate per-
sonal friends and kinsmen, including his
family physician. the distinguished DIR.
Esrle of Greenville, one of the most bril-
liant and charming of southern gentle
men, who unhappily was absent from
South Carolina when death came to re-
lieve the patient and friend whom even
his skill was powerless to restore to
strength. Dr. Earle himself is DISTRESS
inely afflicted as to his eyesght and is
now in New York for treatment.
There Is much of pathos in the condi-
ton that through the long years of his
great affliction. his tobacco pipe was to
Colonel Perry constant and never-fail-
ing solace In an antique glass case in
the splendid old library at Sans Sonci
there is mute and insentient, yet path
etically and intensely human, testimony
to the blessing that tobacco was to this
man. He possessed what was held TO be
the rarest collection of meersehaum pipes
in the south. He obtained and kept these
pipes not for the love of collecting and
displaying, but for the love of smoking
them as every pipe now bears witness.
After he was first stricken down and con-
fined a prisoner of pain in his own house,
almost his first request was for one of
his pipes. His wife took from the pocket
of the now useless coat he had been
wearing his favorite pipe, filled 1t with
tobacco, placed the stem between his
lips, and applied a light. and he smoked;
and daily, hourly almost, ever since then
she has performed a similar duty. But
that first cherished pipe fell from the
smokers lips and was broken upon the
floor beside the invald's chair which he
Was fated to occupy so long. He asked
for another one of his beloved meer-
sehaums, and that too was broken; and
another and another in the same manner.
Then he was besought to try briarroot;
but he insisted that his meersehaums be
brought to him and his wish was obey
ed One by one all those rare and price
less old pipes were broken; and in the
antique glass case in the old library they
rest today with the thousands of rare
books which the master shall not touch
again, for he too rests there as silent as
the pipes and books he loved so well,
while outside under the ancient oaks of
a paradise of beauty turned to place
of grief the funeral cortege is forming