The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-09-03

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The home of the "old South" was
r1ch In a few books tina were regu-
Iariy read and healtnfulIy dIgested-
the Bible, ~"Pflnrin's Progress Hero
qotus' RLlin. Plutarch, GlDbon, Hume.
robertson. Swift. Defoe. Fielding,
SInallett, Shakespeare, Milton. Pope,
turns. and Scott. Dickens and Thack-
cray were read in the periodicals Of
the day. Macaullay, too came by piece
meal. In such a home John Sharp
Williams was reared.
Born at Memphis. Tenn. in 1854.
MS mother died when ne was a child,
and his father fell at the head Of
his regiment the Twenty-seventh Ten
nessee, at Shiloh. before his gifted son
had told his eighth year Then it was
that his family sought refuge from the
advancing Union arms and took up
their abode at his mothers family
homestead, in the Yazoo hclta, IN Mis-
sissippi. He received a better educa-
tlon than most youths Of family and
fortune at the South Of his genera
tloh- he attended the Kentucky Mil
ltdry institute at Frankfort; he was at
the University at ~Sewanee; ne was at
me University Of Virginia at Char
louisville, and at the University of
heidelberg. IN Germany. subsequently
ne studied law at the University Of
virginia, and in the office Of a lead
NS ~0'' III IL VI Ill IdIlNe memphis.
In 1873, having been admitted to the
par, he returned to Mississippi and
opened an office at Yazoo.
Young Williams spent several
Years IN Europe, a part Of the time at
DlJos, in Burgundy, where BOnaparte
liked the headquarters of that phan-
tom army with which he mystified
his adVersaries just before Marengo,
and there Williams was a student Of
a branch of the College de France. but
nus purpose was more to perfect HIM
self in the language of the French
tongue and familiarize himself with
the literature of the French people
than to take the regular course. He
travelled much on the continent and
generally on foot, which is the best
way to see a country and study a
people. He is what Baily is not, q
man of rich imagination, and the his
torlc lands on both sides OF the Rhine
were more to him thar the mere story
of their history has told. Such a man
as John sharp Williams could not have
fingered IN h vicinity OF the classic
river without rejecting of the time
when Julian in those very precincts
medltated q reform of the bloated
and cancerOus Roman Empire, and
asked himself the question if our re-
public shall go the way of the Ro-
man commonwealth. No doubt 1t was
a reflection on ancient and modern
story IN border lands of Latin and
Teuton that was the germ of that
magnificent philOsophic Grafton Will
llams delivered on the Philippine ques-
ton in the Fifty-seventh Congress
and that was surpassed by no other
speech on that subject in Congress
or out of congress not even by the
great effort of George f. Hoar in
the Senate.
Upon Williams return home he
found there was considerable confu-
VII sion and soma IN h a rro C,,nnt -, 49,
condition of his patrimonial estate.
He instantly developed into a business
man. and for about eight years his
eye was constantly on his plantations
Under like conditions many men, rear
ed as he was. would have let things
drift. hoping for something to turn
UP. Not so with this young South
rner. He practiced law, but he was
also a planter. He brought business
methods to the plantation. Economy
n thrift resulted. There was dis
cipline and order everywhere. H
bought supplies with Judgment and
: saw to 1t that there was no waste
He made his plantations profitable
at a time when there was a small
[ profit in planting, Eel under the mos
favorable conditions, and disaster ives
: the rule rather than the exception ir
l the Cotton States. After a time he
5 lifted the debt from the estate. He
, was now in independent circumstan-
ces, a leading lawyer, a successful
l planter. and a prosperous man.
l And thereby hangs a tale, all toe
; uncommon, and a foretaste of Utopia
[ MIR. Williams has a younger brother
= a co-heir with him in the estate they
inherited from their parents. TIL
= confidence and fellowship between
: these two are beautiful and ideal
= There was never a division of thei
= heritage, never a settlement of thei1
accounts, if, indeed, there were such
;. The property of one was the D
D OF the other. What belonged to botl
d belonged to each. Not only were thei.
LANDS and chattles in common, Blu
:, their bank accounts and private pur
t ses We're in When the eide.
= brother was manager the younge,
t called on him for money or supple
0 when he was in need, and always re
K ceived the full of his requests, whe1
= the elder entered politics and was re
s turned to Congress the younger tool
e charge of the estate, and for -four
teen years has been the purseholder
II Both are happily married, and eacl
IL IS the father of seven children. TIL,
II relations between them are simply de
Hghtful. 1T is like the precious ONT
IS ment upon the beard that ran dow
y upon the beard, even Aaron's beard
e that went down to the skirts Of hi
l. garments. As the dew of Hermor
= and as the dew that descended upo
.d the mountain OF Zion"
p John sharp Williams was electe
is to the Fifty-third Congress, and Ia
lie been q member of the House Of Rep
is rcsentattves since March 4th, 1899, til
< day Grove Cleveland was the secon
K, time inaugurated President Of tn
i United states. This young MississiI
le plan, who sustains to the Statesman
ship OF this generation of his sta
and his section the r>lation Robel
ly j. Walker sustained to a former ger
at Grafton, was unheralGed upon his Ell
r rance TO the Capital City, and attrac-
Id cd small attention. He was an eNter
lie sive. an Intelligent. and n succcssft
is planter from q State whose agricu
~ tural interests were manifold all +
at other interests, and in
was but natural that he should /
IN assigned to the Committee Of Agricu
Of ture in the organization OF the HOus
to lie ATTENDED strictly to his duties
J. that capacity, and lent to the delit
10 erations of thai council board a va,
N amount of practical common sens
Il that was the result Of his personal e,
- In~+ar o~J n A,.cI.- -