Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1910-06-23
Saw Halley's Comet Twice.

y
you paper for few words in regard
to Halley's Comet.
was born at Palestine, Crawford
Co., Ill.,, before the region became
state 1t was then territory. was
born Nov. Is, 1917, which will make
me SO years old next November, and
have the pleasure of saying that l
have seen Halley's Comet twice. |
think it was more brilliant at that
time than it is at this time, but l
know that there wasn't such big ex-
citement over it then as now. l think
that what caused so much excitement
this year over Halley's Comet was
the different opinions of the astrono-
mers. We had but few at the time of
Halley's Comet before this. The peo-
pie seem in this day and time to pay
more attention to science than they do
to the Bible. find that God has told
us how He intends to destroy this
world in Thess. 4:16, "For the Lord
himself shall descend from Heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the
arch angel and with the trump of God,
and the dead in Christ shall arise
first. " He did not mean a comet
when He said a trump. And then we
find in Peter, 10th verse, 1.-THE day
of the Lord will come as thief in the
night in which the Heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and the ele-
ments shall melt with fervent heat.
The earth also and the works that are
therein shall be burned up / notice
that SO many people say that the com
ct Is responsible for our late and cold
spring l don't just remember wheth-
er we had cold spring before when
the comet came, or not. l remember
we had abig snow in May, about that
time for | went out one morning and
killed fine buck. Whether this snow
was the next spring, don't remem-
Der. How well / remember the stars
falling. This was. think, sometime
in November, 1888. was just
small boy and was working at brick
kiln near where was born, for a man
by the name of William Hicks. The
kiln was on Lamont Creek. The kiln
got hole in it and Mr.. Hicks and |
had to fix it at night About 2 O'Clock
in the morning those meteors began to
fall. It just made the elements as
light as day and just as soon as those
stars commenced to fall, Mr.. Hicks
commenced to pray, and never heard
such prayer as he offered up. He
prayed on until he gave out The
stars got thicker and would fall on the
ground and roll for a distance and
then explode, and would look like
sparks of fire. They fell like this till
day broke and then they ceased to fall
any more | don't know what caused
this. | grew up to be a young man
hood at this place and when the war
broke out joined the Union army. /
Joined the Goth Ills in Feb. 1862, and
served three years and one month. l
was mustered out at Fayetteville, N
c., and from this place 1 went to
Washington, and got my discharge.
Then | came home and spent three
years at my home in Illinois. From
there | came to Tracy City, Tenn.
where worked at the blacksmith and
carpenter trades and from there went
to Whiteside, Tenn, and farmed one
year on Frank Daglen's farm, and
from there | came to Sand mountain
cd
present farm 81 years. 1t was a wild
country at that time | came to it, but
it is all settled up now with fine farms
with almost every farmhouse equipped
with telephone connections This
whole country is connected together
with wire What a great change now
to what it was 81 years ago. The old
man..has always made good home and
has raised two sons and one daughter
who give honor to me now.
Dear readers, the next move make
will be to the graveyard,a home where
shall wait until Christ shall call the
dead from the grave, and, dear read
ers, have tried to live so that when
the time comes Christ will say to me,
"Come, We blessed of my father, in
herit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world
Ny best regards to the editor and all
old friends.
JOHN ALLEN GASSARD,
| Higden, Ala, June 6, 1910.