The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1905-11-23
A Visit to Barnwell and Beaufort.

A Visit to Barnwell and Beaufort.
cannot say that the town of BarnWell
has many charms for me now; but doubt
less the fault lies wholly in me. Duty
sometimes calls me there, but not pleas
ure. For me, walk along its streets is
little less than stroll through cemetery
where loved ones sleep. As a boy, l used
to think that Barnwell was the very hub
and centre of the world, and I really felt
q degree of tender sorrow for the poor
unfortunate whom fate had compelled
70 be born somewhere else. But the in
satiable grave has swallowed up the
friends of other days, and have lived to
learn that it is the people, not the place,
that one comes to love; love Of country is
not love of dirt and bricks and wood, but
love of people.
made visit lately to the Barnwell
Association, which met out in what l
once knew as Slaytown, at the Friendship
church, and there renewed my youth
among those would have known and
loved all the better, if had not moved
away long, long ago to other confines. l
stayed in the home of Ray, name IA
miliar in boyhood, and memory was busy
all the time trying to summon up the dim
things of other days. Icrossed Hagood's
mill, where used to swim and fish and
get full of red bugs and seedticks-the
4ixodes bows" of natural history. They
say "the water that has passed never
turns the Wheel" but it was not so with
me. AS I crossed the bridges, and look
ed upon the flowing stream rushing
through the open mill gates, all the wheels
in my head were set a going, and was,
in Imagination and fancy at least, bare
footed boy once more with the end of my
big toe s'stumped" off, according to the
, normal state and condition of boyhood.
But I felt happy all the time, and was
glad to see and shake hands with many
whose life and mine had flowed apart
during thirty y-eight years, which have, by
some unknown means, mysteriously Sup
ped away and eluded me. Maybe shall
find these lost years again in the store
house where all the centuries are treas
;ured and kept awaiting for Us, with every
issue that belonged to them. In speaking
] . word for the old preachers took occa-
sion to tell the brethren that Barnweii
county is favored spot on the whole
earth. No man can 60 half way through
! any community in it without getting full
/ OF fried chicken, cockspurs, and beggars
lice. And what more can q mortal
want?
The Association was well attended, and
quite lively. My old neighbor, Bob Mix
aon. the fellow with whom I ate dirt,
PLAYED and fought in boyhood, was made
moderator, and proved himself to be q
3yyeritable master of assemblies: A few OF
the more venerable saints had strong
desire to waste an hour or more OF good
and precious time in reading statistics
!, from the church letters, but sort OF COM
I, promise prevailed, and the time was more
probably used. Why some wish to read
these dry details, to which no one pays any
attention, and all of which will be clearly
$ presented in comparative table, is one
] Of the religious questions to be solved
/ only in the clearer light of millennial
elories. The fathers did this thing in a
day when news was scarce and printing
uncommon, and the SONS feel constrained
to do likewise. So, too, the fathers sent
fra,ernal messengers to other Assocla'
tions to carry and bring the news, and In
some sections the custom still prevails.
This began in day when there were
NO newspapers, and communication was
difficult. The desire to keep it up now is
surely abnormal. However, the thing Is
harmless, and I have no word OF COM
plant.
On Saturday after the Assoclatlon'
in company with Higgins and Masters
we took the train for Fairfax, where we
had arranged for dinner by telegraph
higgins was in his glory, and his teeth,
from incisor to molar. ran red with tne
succulent sugarcane syrup, for which
Barnwell county is famous. He became en-
thustastic and almost poetic as he expa'
tiated upon its virtues, and one could see
in his eyes yearning for the land OF the
susS;arcane. -,
Our objective point was Grahsmville,
to sid in dedicating the Euhaw church.
The four oldest churches in the State are
said to be the First church in Charleston,
the church at Society Hill, the Liberty
Hill and the Euhaw churches. These are
the mothers of all the Baptist churches
in South Carolina. The First church IN
Charleston dates back to 1858, and the
Euhaw to 1745. Three or four houses
~ - ,o,,oo onOt thonph the