The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-08-06
LAsT5woRDs OF GRRAT MEN
Bill Arp Takes Consolation
From Dying Words of Daniel
Webster.
Atlanta Constitution.

ciO" DSAhR "otuS Va Duh"
,at Webster.
st Atlanta Constitution.
CT still live" 1 was ruminatin
about the last words Of great men, an
a those of Daniel Webster always in
~ press me with peculiar force. On th
- very confines of eternity, on the brin
- of the everlasting change that he kne'
was at hand, his great mind seemed
be studying and waiting for the mC
. ment OF his departure an
q watching for the separation of the sor
from the body, and wondering how h
=, would pass the crisis. There was n
fear, no dread, as he calmly whisper
: ed, \" still ive," and immediaGel
: ldied. His body died, and what wa
! the next vision of his great soul tn
!, world would like to know, but it is for
hidden. thought of all this not lons
ago as seemed to be drawing near th
end and approached the confines o
that undiscovered country from whose
, bourne no traveller returns. l wa
serious and solemn with expectation
but was not alarmed, for my faith il
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 love and
their grief at my departure. Two
months is long time to be child
again without vital force enough tu
walk alone. But l 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
caresses.
I Well, that is enough on that line.
You readers can find sermons and
prosy commentaries on sickness and
death on another page. "Carpe diem"
Let us enjoy the day and be thankful
that we still live. But to drop rever-
emily from the sublime to the ridicu-
lous. recall that when was young
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
Webster said3" No, we did not re-
member and he replied: Why he
opened his great big eyes aud looked
at his friends who were weeping. around
him and whispered, Boys, don't cry;
am not dead yet.'''
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
pared with the great battles that came
after 1t, it was almost insignificant, for
there was only four hundred and
seventy Federal killed and three hun
dred 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 the scat
tered munitions of war, and it took
Mcdowell a month to call IN his army
of twenty-seven thousand men and re. |
organize. But in the long run they
got even with. us and q 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. Apno |
Domini will tell.
The other day my doctor said 1 must
take some exercise and he took his |
mother and me up the river road for a |
few miles TO the ruins of the Cooper |
iron works. twas wild, weird, ghostly |
place on the banks of the Etowah,
where once were 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 cruinbling walls have
falleL 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 a cruel
and brutal war. But this is one burn
ling 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-
taiity 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 a spear point and side
blade curved downward like reap
hook and long handle in socket, so
that our boys might take 'em coming
and going. If they didn't run we were
tospear 'em, and IL they did run we
were to overtake 'em and hook 'em
/ back. That's what old man Lewis
told me, and ne was the stermechanic
, who made them, and he still lives near.
here and 10 in his 88th year. saw
him today and he ateps light and
lspringy. lie is an Englishman. "Mr.
e Lewis" said i, g why didn't the Geos-
{ IgIa boys use these pixies pn &C Well,
/ you see,n said he, g the old army Of
Il tlcers who were drilling our boys at
l Big Shanty looked at these pixies and
3 | SAID to the Governor; What will the
q enemy be dong with their guns while
our boys are rushing on them with
i. these pikes2 They will shoot our boys
a down before they can get to them,' and
!. lthey made so much fun over the pikef
a that they were refused. West Point
!, wouldn't have ANYTHING that was moi