Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1903-01-03


| high tops OF those trees seemed TO
reach the sky and men and women
walked aud children played under
their shade, but not a human being
in that town remembered him or knew
who planted those trees. lie found
one old schoolmate, but he was blind
and in the poor house. Fifty-fve
years ago when first visited the lit
tie town of Rome l noticed good
old man by the name of Smith-John-
ny Smith he was oalled-and he, too,
was planting little trees around the
churches. He was lover of ornament
and he was doing II without pay, but
not without reward. They grew apaos
and gave some shade before he died,
and kept on growing until they, too,
almost reached the sky and are
still there. living, breathing monu-
ment to the good old man. But who
knows who planted them be-
sides myself? And there is my old
friend and partner, Judge Branham,
who for rs years has been working on
that beautiful cemetery on Myrtle
hill--making new walks and grading
them, laying off lots on the new pur-
chase, building walls on the steep
slopes, planting trees and flowers aud
in many ways ornamentng and
beautifying the city of the dead.
Within few more years he win be
one of its sleeping citizens and later
on another generation will frequent
the romantic place and wonder who
shaped it into beauty, and nobody can
tell DIR. Johnson said that every man
ought to plant tree or write book
or do something for the benefit and
comfort Of those who are to live after
he is dead. "Our forefathers did much
for u.s. he said, "and we must pay the
debt"
Last week oLt school girl wanted
speech. Her mother and ransacRed
the books for one that was short and
sweet, and we selected three or four
to choose from. There was Mrs.
Heman's beautiful poem on "Death:"
Leaves have their time TO fall.
And flowers 10 wither at the north winds
breath"
Then there Was part Of "The Fish
erman's Prayer" by Jean Ingelow, and
"The Last Leaf" by Oliver w. Holmes,
which was not so solemn, and liked 1t
the best. 1t just fits o man l know,
and / never see him but what l think
of those sad and humorous verses:
II saw him once before--as he passed by
the door
And again,
The paving stones resound as he totters
DER the ground
With his cane,
And now he walks the streets and looks at
those he meets,
Sad and wan;
And he shakes his feeble head and It seems
as II he said:
They are goner
The mossy marbles rest on the lips that he
had pressed
In their bloom
And the lames he loved to hear have been
carved for many year
On the tomb
Our old man is In his ninetieth year,
and has seen trouble. He is tall and
STOPPING, and steps short andsure. His
friends are all dead, but he goes about
with long cane, and looks hard at
you when you stop to greet him, and
then he tries to smile, il he knows
you.
when he was In his prime-ere the prun-
Ing knife OF Time
Cut him down.
Not q better man was found by the crier
on his round
Through the town.
But now his nose is thin and IL rests upon
his chin
Like a staff
And crook Is in HIS back and melan-
choly crack
Is in his laugh"
Then the poet repents, and says:
II know II is sin for me to SIT and grin
AT him here;
But his old-fashioned hat and his breeches
and all that,
Are so queer"
And now it becomes me to apologize
to the readers of my recent letter, and
tell them that friend from Augusta
has supplied the missing links in my
history Of the presidents.
Franklin Pierce's mother was Anna
Kendrick.
james Buchanan's mother was Eli2.
abeth Speer.
Benjamin Harrison's mother was
Elizabeth Irwin.
Millard Filmore's wife was Abigail
Powers.
Buchanan was the only bachelor
president.
AndAlfred Iyerson was United States
senator in 1861, instead Of Ben Hill.
When / wrote that letter was la
boring under some little excitement,
for that morning about four a. m. the
burglars got into our house and
perused the front rooms and hall and
upstairs and found nothing they want
ed. There was feeble light in our
bedroom, and they could see my pants
from the window, for they hung on a
chair near by, and they wanted the
money that wasn't in the pockets.
They cut out the lower slat of the
blind and unfastened 1t and raised the
sash, but suddenly got alarmed and de-
parted those coasts, for which / am
thankful, for had no gun or pistol.
But ] dare them to come back again.
Ny wife never screamed or walked up.
Bill Arp, in Atlanta Constitution.