The Robesonian. [volume] (Lumberton, N.C.) 1870-current, 1909-01-18
WITH AUNT BECKY.
Aunt Recky's Birthday The
Wondrous Change - From
Pants of Tow to Distinction
--Roosevelt's Petty Meanness
News Items.

|
-Roosevelt's Petty Meanness
News Items. Il
Of The Robesnniaa.
Yesterday, the 18th day of t
January, 1909, marked another c
milestone on my life journey, t
and | should be feeling pretty {
old, | guess, for | have rounded |
out my three-score years; but |
thanks tothe tender mercies Of my
loving Heavenly Father, am in
good health and enabled yet to
attend to my household duties
and do the various little things
necessary to the comfort of my
family.
IT'S wonderous how the change is,
since fifty years ago,
When girls wore homespnn dresses,
and boys their pants of tow,
And children did half days work be-
fore they went to school.
Yes, | remember we'll when
girls wore dresses woven in the
old-fashioned looms, for | was
one of that number, and was just
as proud of a pretty new home
made dress as | would be today
of a silken robe. Though 1.-The
pants of tow" ante-date my rec
objection, | had an uncle who en-
joyed telling of that period in his
| life, when he and other boys Of
8 and 10 years attended school
clad only in one long garment
made of the above material.
This uncle of mine arose to
distinction. From a member of
the legal bar he went to the
United States and Confederate
States Congress. In Washington
, he met a young Alabama lady of
historic and aristocratic ancestry
whom he married and brought
to his home in South Carolina,
. and oft-times | have heard him
teaze her by relating incidents
of his youth which she did not
relish so fully as he did and
) would profess to discredit them,
treating them as joke. Among
other things he told her that
when he left "old Queensdale'
. to go out into the world to make
his fortune he had only one good
suit of clothes and IS in his peck
ct. But he was in no wise
=, ashamed Of his humble start in
life. His parents had reared q
family of twelve children, edu.
= eating all of them we'll, accord.
ing to Scotch Presbyterian Gus
= tom. One son was educated tt
D the Gospel ministry, one to the
legal and one to the medical pro
fession, and this lawyer uncle
was proud Of his ancestry, ant
appreciated their zeal and self
sacrifice in giving their children
the advantages which at tina
time were difficult to procure
He was indeed a noble type O
, manhood, magnificent in ply
Ia sique, jovial and kindly In dispc
sition, courteous and chivalric i
manner, and Of sterling hor
! or and integrity. His wido7
lives in her native Alabam
home, the only surviving tie c
the original old Queensdale fan
lily and a true specimen of tn
high-bred, lovely woman of tn
old South. " This gentleman Wa
a great-uncle of your brilliar
townsman, Col. N. A. Mclean
I am letting my Southern ten
. per boil over these days, when
read of Roosevelt's unpreceden
ed persecution of poor old Be
Tillman. What a shame, for tt
. President of this great COUNT
/, to condescend to such pet
meanness in order to crafty h
! feelings of animosity and r
venge, and abusing the pow
vested in him by setting detec
ives on.the private trail of our la7
makers, even to the theft of il
a portant papers from Senator Ii
~ mans desk. 1t is difficult to I
alize that our Chief Executi
can so far have refrigerated a,
turned aside from the path
honor and rectitude, which h
always been followed by his p.
&c decessors. His is a turbulent a
vindictive spirit. and | will
glad when his rule is over.
. Everything is quiet in
Fork, except that a wedding
> to occur this evening in the hol
of Mr.. John Mcfarland, VIII
W his popular and attractive daus
y ter, Miss Maggie, is to wed \
Richard Boddiford, thrifty a
are sturdy young farmer near M;
h ton.
Rev. Mr.. McColl, of the M.
church, who succeeds Rev.
Ashly on the Oak Grove z
oNr Rowland circuit, filled his Fl
appointment at the former chul
70. on last Sabbath.
Tell my old colored frie
. Wash Mcqueen, that the Squir
health is much improved {
", that all are we'll on the old pl
tation, and among his friel
and relatives in the Fork.
Aunt Becky,
ar. Old Fork, N. c., Jan. Ii, 19C
The first infections of can