The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-05-29

after that without the aid of yellow
| jackets.
| Mr.. Williams had a grey horse tina
! ne lad used Il great deal IN hunting
lie would go at full speed when il
the chase, but could stop so suddenly
| When one said "Woa,' that as Mr.. vii.
| hams said, a fellows chew of tobac
co would fly out of his mouth. Ono
day we We're out hunting and a young
man. was riding the gray horse. MI
| WllllamS fand | were sitting on tn,
! roadside when we saw the gray com
ing at fu2 speed the young man lean
ing forward as if to help hiE rum The
! rider did not see us, and had we'll.
nigh passed us when Mr.. Williams, no.
! thinking what might be the conse.
| quence, said, "Woa!" The horse didn'i
make another step-stopped dead
stil-but the young fellow went ovel
like hoop, and had not the sand beer
/ pretty deep he might have received
| some serious bruises AS 1T was, ht
got up in bad humor; but didn't ex-
actly know whether to blame Mr.. Will
| Hams for saying "Woa!' or the horse
for "Woaing' too much. That young
man afterWard became a distinguish.
| ed teacher, and was no other thar
Prof H. r.. Cotton. When he was {
boy his father, old Doctor Cotton, was
| the pastor of SardiS Presbyterian
church, and Henry spent much of his
| time in that neighbOrhood, but rarely
| ever had much to do with other boys
| lie loved 10 roam the fields and woods
| and hunt bird eggs of which he ac-
| cumulated a vast number; and catch
| bugs, Lizards, worms, butterflies and
any and everything he could find. In
| snort, he was natural born natural
| list, and never seemed happier than
when he had his pockets and his hat
! full of all sorts of creeping things.
In those days there was no section
| in North Carolina that could boast of
a better population than resided on
| Lower Little River and on the east
side of the Cape Fear near the mouth
of Little River. There were the three
| Smiths, Farquard William and
John; the Williamses, Alexander John
c., Rev. d. s., and Isaac, and their
children the Elliots, three of them,
and their children; the McNeills,
| Hodges, Monroes, McDiamids, Nc
/ KellarS, McFadgens, and Others ali
well-to-do people and. nearly all of
them related to each other. 1t was a
delightful section and for year or
two, as a teacher, l enjoyed the privi-
! lege of living among them.
[ met Prof. N. d. Johnson the other
day. who, while he does not exactly
belong to the "old ish," is neverthe.
less an old-time friend of the post
bellum days. Twenty-Five years ago
| / made a temperance speech at Spring
Hill church. in Richmond county,
where l became acquainted with the
! Johnsons. The Professor promised to
give me some facts connected with
| the early history of that church, the
organization of the old Spring Hill
! temperance society, etc, to weave into
| some future sketch.
The venerable Rev. John Monroe
was the pastor of that church when
1 was there and seemed to be a father
| in Israel, indeed. In fact, from what
! could see and hear of him the mem
| bers of his church as we'll as the peo-
| pie generally, seemed to regard him as
prophet, priest and king. Just before
leaving the chureh the day the old pa
| trarch came to me i91 a very quiet
| way and said he'd like to have word
| with me; so saying, he led the way
until we had walked beyond a turn in
| the road; then stopping and speak
| ing just above a whisper, he. said: My
| brother, / know you are bound to have
money to pay your travelling expenses
and l want to give you a mite" hand
/ ing me a dollar Don't say anthing
about it; L only wish l had more to
give you" / thought. as l looked into
! his honest face, as he was handing
| to me his only dollar, with the wish
! that he had more to give for the sake
| of the cause of temperance, surely it
can't be long before a generation
taught, as old John Monroe has
taught, will come forth in giant
| strength to combat with and to over
come the black monster of intemper-
| ance. And is not that generation here
today? Professor Johnson will do his
county good service if, in the notes
| he makes of the early struggles
through which the people, about
| Spring Hill, fought their way to high
er and better conditions, socially and
religiously, he will give a page to the
life and labors' of Rev. John Monroe,
and the other moral and religious
| stalwartS who. with homemade axes.
blazed the way for their children and
grandchildren to find an easy entrance
into the land flowing with milk and
| honey A hundred years ago, how
dark as compared with now! My faith
er was a boy and was beginning to
! learn of men and things. They told
| him the story of the Revolution and
of Washington's greatness, calling him
! the father of his country: he heard
| and read of Napoleon Bonaparte; and
he may have heard of the bloody
scenes of the French revolution; and
as his mind unfolded it took in the
| bits of history that were little better
than myths; but my father, when a
| boy, heard no talk of railroads or tele-
! graphs, or telephones, or electric
| lights; nor had he ever seen an en-
velope nor a match; and could "not
| have believed, if you had told him.
/ that the time would come when upon
our streets carriages, called cars,
would run on tracks, faster than Il
! horse could run, nothing a pulling,
nothing a pushing. And if you had
| told him that the time would come
when a song sung in London would be
| bottled up and brought across the
ocean, unbottled and sung a thousand
! times Gas the photograph is able to
reproduce sound and to speak Words)
! he would have said. "impossible!"
| We are a smart people in this era
of the worlds history; but we must
not suppose we acquired all the wis
| dom and brought to pass all the great
| events of this great age, of and within
ourselves. Back of us were heroes
1 who fought battles and oVercame OBJ
stacles that would appall the bravest
and the strongest of our day. It need
| ed John Monroe's to do the work of
| I hundred years ago. The Queen of
| oh ha1 OH