The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1910-02-10
"REOUIESCAT In PACE"
Tom Wilder Indites Few Lines TO
Scott Parker to Convey to Him Ger
tain Sad and neIanchoIy TidiHgs
and Offer the Coincidence OF Friend

! tain Sad and 0eIanchoiy Itdings
and Offer the Coincidence of Friend
/ Several wears ago-ten or twelve
! perhaps-Mr. W. S. Parker OF Hen
I derson. conceived a get-rich-quick
plan and forthwith invested a good
round sum of good honest dollars in
a flock of AngOra goats with which
he stocked his farm near town. They
were beautiful to look upon. mild
eyed and innocent looking, and
many an afternoon did our friend
spend out at the farm watching his
animal possessions and devising ways
and means to care for the untold
wealth of fleece and fiOcks that would
surely be his. AS he saw the vision
that lay before him the most Opulent
flock owners Of whom we have record
in both sacred and prOfane history
of either ancient or modern times,
would look like thirty cents in COM
parison with the Angora king OF
Henderson.
But things are not always what
they seem. Mr.. Parker's goats grew
wool all right but the silken product
was harvested by barbed wire fences,
thorn hedges, growing underbrush,
the sides OF wallings and tops OF adj
iacent OuthOuses. There was none
to clip. The yield from tho whole
flock and the increase as long as they
were kept was not sufficient to stun
a sofa pillOw-nOr was anything else
gathered where they went along. And
they went ryWhere-nOthing could
stop them. Mr.. Parkpr-Or his hired
man-was responsible for the decla-
ration that they could go through a
crack that would turn jack rabbit,
Grover fence that a coon dog could
not climb.
But Mr.. Parker finally got rid OF
his goats-either by death or giving
them away to some person he was
suspected of having a grudge against
Some of our readers will recall a let
ter he wrote to the News and OBJ
server giving his experience with An
CORA goats. Bill Nye never wrote
anything finer. But you had to know
Scott Parker to appreciate the ex-
quisite humoF of the thing. In an
swer to correspondent who wanted
information on the subject Mr.. Par
ker advised him that he would find IL
quarter section of hadps more profit
able for irrigation purposes than
money invested in AngOra goats
or words to that effect. He might
as we'll plant fruit trees on the public
road or near Il big manufacturing
enterprise and expect to derive bene-
fit therpfrOm It's to put his money
into these deviIish little animals dnd
expect to get it back. But we can
not do our friend Justice by attempt
ing to quote him.
This matter is brought forward
again by the following letter which
explains itself. How Mr. Wilder came
by the goat i'll question isnot stated,
but We will ask no questions if he will
promise not to disturb the serenity
of friend Parker's mind by rpviving
that pprplexing problem How old
was Ann?" by substituting therefor:
"Hnwold was Man,
Mr.. WiIdpr's letter follows:
Louisburg, NC, Jan. %, 1910.
Mr. ". S Parker,
Henderson, \. c.
My dear Sir:-NO doubt it will be
question with you as to the wherefore
of this letter and | hasten therefore. to
say that the impelling responsible yof a
sad duty forces me to write. | know
that it is never delight to be the bearer
of unpleasant tidings but sometimes the
need is forced upon us. Such is the
present case-though years have passed
away since you were in intimate aSsOci-
alton with the one concerning the de-
mise whereof am informing you. vet
feel sure that the memory of those other
and better days still fingers with you
and mayhap in your meditatiye mo-
ments the thought arises in your mind
as to wheter that dread reaper who is
the ultimate consumer has SO far spared
this one or wheter already in his uncon-
querable sweep he has overwhelmed and
swallowed up this friend OF bygone years
OF course it is trite and common place
knowledge that nothing is exempt from
the Onslaughts of age and disease and
however one may desire long life and
continued health for another yet it is
we'll to bear in mind that the knowledge
of the certainty OF this visit does not
relieve against the intense pOignancy
which accompanies the shock when we
are advised of his coming to those friends
OF other days whose demise we We're not
expecting.
1t grieves me to be the bearer of news
that will no doubt touch a tender chord
and it hurt me to think of how You viii
ponder Ovsr the virtues of one who in
other days was Joy and a comfort to
you but whom, alas and alack. you will
no more have the pleasure and delight
of seeing in earthly form.
| wish that | might know how, in
some way to prepare you for the shock
for know it will be such-but however
one may try to school ones self against
these visitatiOns it is impossible to pic
ture fully and TO realize in its entirety
beforehand what it is to thus lose an old
friend. To go out and gaze around
where these friends of bygone days for
merly were, to think of the kindly feelings
which were then mutual, to realize how.
in those good days your own feelings
were so tied up in the health and life OF
that o Their and then to realize that these
things are of the past, that no more will
your eyes feast themselves on the van
ished form and that the places that have
afOreume known them shall see them no
more forever. ah me; sadness. gloom
and desOlation await such a realization.
Even now | would spare you the hnr-
rowing recital were | not sure that in
thus sparing your feelings | would do
violence to the friendship which has ex-
| listed between us for all these years. but
with she assurance that when the infor-
nation did at last reach you. and it
| would OF course do so. you would at
| once wonder why had not given it to
you even by wire, | do now with all
solemnity and with a proper sense oil
the gravity of the situation dolefully
dispassionately. sadly inform you that
the old mamie goat, "Scott's Delight, :
one time your pride and pleasure. van.
ished. vamoosed, kicked the bucket
cashed in her checks. in fact departed
this life and died yesterday
| Vain are your tears and the deer
throbs that throb up from your over
| wrOuChf Cizzard avail NOT PaouiaSco,