The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-01-14
DR.. 0. P. HAWTHORN.
IDENTIFIED WITH Due WEST FOR
. NEARLY EIGHTY YEARS.
Saw Many Changes in the Town
| and Witnessed the Great
I Growth of its Colleges.

DR.. o. P. Hawthorn, Of Due West, was in
town last Monday. He came by rail and
stopped with his handsome daughter Mrs.
o. A. Ellis, Of Hodges. s.. 81.
DR.. Hawthorn's history dates back to
the earliest days Of the City Of Colleges,
when that beautiful little town Of today
was DeWitt's Corner, and then for awhile
it was Due West Corner. But it was not
long until the Corner was dropped, and
the town was simply Due West, with g.
prejudice against railroads. Away back
in the "forties" the people then, as now,
were patriotic and subscribed to the build
ing Of the railroad, provided it didn't
come nearer the town than Donalds.
Away back in the fifties the people then,
as now, only little more 80, were the
strictest of the Psalm-singing A. R. P.'s.
They preached infant damnation for one
set at least, and communicates had to Sc
cure tokens" in advance Of going to the
sacred table. The newspaper fought the
Masonic fraternity as boon companion Of
his Satanic Majesty. The Catholic Church
was approaching with a force more dread
full than an army with banners. The Tel
eseope or Miscellany newspaper when not
fighting Catholics and Masons, preached
then, as now, holiness and purity Of liv-
ing, with an incidental effort at all times
to strengthen and to build up the Seceder
Church; sending the blessed tidings Of the
Redeemer to bless all mankind.
In the "fifties" the Woman's College
.sprang into existence, holding in its right
hand the great light, Female Education, to
magnify and glorify proud old Erskine
that had stood for years as a beacon light
on the mountain. The prejudice in former
years against railroads could not endure
the blazing light of reason and intelii-
gence in this advanced age. The people,
or their descendants, who we're so much
against railroads and were 50 jealous for
the spread Of the true religion, now Joined
together and on their own account built
q railroad whose tracks run up to the very
shadow Of Erskine. The railroad made
Due West anew. 1t is now busy mart as
we'll as an educational centre.
It is changed town now, as DR.. Haw-
thorn will testify. Tn" people are today
as crazy on the subject Of foreign missions
as they we're in olden times against rail-
roads. But as all the people today cannot
be fooled all the time, any more than q
former generation could shut Off the light
that brings progress, a brighter day Is
dawning fortthe best colleges and the best
town on earth. .v.. ....'...
The good old town OF DeWitt's Corner,
Due West Corner, and later Of Due West
Is still progressing. The community is
rural and the students are far removed
from 1.-THE temptations that beset boys at
colleges in bigger towns. That good old
town when DR.. Hawthorne and his
handsome daughter at Hodges lived there,
was eleven miles northeast of Abbeville.
In order to get further from the sin and
iniquity Of city life, good old Erskine has
been moved to something like hundred
miles from Columbia and forty miles from
Greenville. Having moved clear out Of
reach of Abbeville and having moved to
such respectful distances from Columbia
and Greenville, students in the classic city
are safe in the lines Of purity and holiness
of living.
But great religious error Is entering
the A. R. P. pulpit. Some Of their preach
ers have been itinerating. In their jour-
neyings they have departed from the faith
Of their fathers, and no longer. sing
Psalms. In DR.. Hawthorn's youth, nei-
ther he nor his brothers ever dreamed
that the Seceder church would go back on
the Psain-singing worship. Strange as it
may seem, some Of the A. R. P. preachers
have quit singing Psalms. They now sing
Psolms, and in doing so no doubt feel as if
they were walking in the paths which their
fathers trod.
DR.. Hawthorn, in his love for the church
and in his loyalty to Due West never
thought his people would quit singing
Psalms.