Water Valley progress., 1903-05-02

this time. have been living here over
30 years.
And now let me ask the good char
liable ladies who seek to do some
thing for some good cause to send
no more endless chain letters to me.
They are nuisance and have an
noyed me greatly. I thought that
when that common cheat and swim
dler, Joel Smith, of Monticello, Fla,
was broken up and arrested the
endless chain business had stopped,
but of late it has revived and re-
ceived three last week. One of them
started in Canada for so-called mis-
sionary work and got all the way
down to Louisiana and from there
to me, wanting me to copy two let
ters and send ten cents in Christ's
name, and under no circumstances
to break the chain. Well, broke it
and shall break every one that comes
to me, and shall burn the letters,
for they never contain any return
postage. Some years ago the good
ladies Of Fredericksburg, Va, wrote
to me, saying they wanted about $500
or $40o to place headstones to the
graves of $50 Georgia soldiers who
were buried there. / made an earn
est appeal to our people and asked
for dollar from each good man
or woman, and I raised $500 in three
weeks. Adjt. Gen. Phil Byrd sent me two
dollars all the way from New Bruins
wick. bought the marble, all LETT
tered nicely, from the northern man
who owns the works at Marietta
bought them at one dollar each,
which was less than the cost, for
the company said they helped to put
our boys there and they ought to
help mark their graves. The rail-
roads shipped them free. There was
no endless chain in that business.
Three thousand neglected confederate
graves at Marietta! Our boys, our
dead, buried on our soil, died in de-
Tense of their homes, their state,
their people. On the other side OF
the railroad are about as many who
were trespassers on our soil van-
dals who came as invaders with arms
and torches, and their graves are
adorned with gravel walks and flow.
ers and evergreens, and there is q
grand entrance to their city of the
dead, all done by the national gov
ernment. and a keeper employed.
And yet it is now settled we were
right and they were wrong. Oh, lib
erty and union! what crimes have
been committed in thy name.
But Secretary Root seems to be
good man and is going to help us make
up the roster, the muster roll of our
living and our dead. Maybe he will
get q little closer to us and help
the Marietta women to make their
confederate graveyard just as elegant
and ornamental as the one on the
other side Why not try him? Dead
soldiers are, not enemies to each
other, and if theirs could speak may
be they would say: Give Us your
hand, brother." Is it not about time
for our women to make an appeal
to the government for aid in this
patriotic work? Not only for Mari
eta, but wherever our soldiers are
ern visitors who spend their winters
there, and it seems to me if they
brought along heart and soul
with them, they would go to these
ladies and say: Here are $40.
Please mark ten of those graves for
me-" But reckon most of them just
bring their bodies and leave their
hearts at home.
Why not do as our Mr.. Granger
did? Just as soon as our ladies'
started move to build monument
to Gen. Young and our Barlow he
roes, he was the first to ask the privi-
lege of subscribing $25 to the cause.
He has gotten it all back already in
our good will and gratitude. He
brought his heart with him when
he moved down here and his wife
brought her whole soul. She is al
ways doing something for somebody.
bill Arp, in Atlanta Constitution.