Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1914-05-15
The Good Old Days of Long Ago.
Capt Bob Banks Writes Interestingly Of the Happy Days of
Good Old Comedy Era

April "a. 1914, contained greater
interest for the writer than that
devoted to Clippings From the
Aberdeen Examiner.
The publication of the extracts
in such manner, was, on the part
of the BEACON, an act of gra-
ciousness. all too uncommon in
this age of commercialism when
greed and avarice, hate and envy,
proceeding from sharp competi-
ton and ungenerous rivalry too
cfsen find place in the periodical
and newspaper publications of
the day.
Indeed, it was a delicate and
at the same time generous COM
pliment to the Examiner COM
pliment in which the deed speaks
louder than words.
It's force and excellence will
quickly appear to the fine per-
ception of Major S. A. Jonas. a
gentleman and scholarly patriot
who for nearly half a century
has controlled the editorial col
umns of the Examiner, and in
all those years has permitted no
unclean thing, no undemocratic
thing or any disloyal or treason
able sentiment to reach the pub
lie through the paper and pass
unchallengeG and unrebuked by
it's editor.
Many years have passed since
the major and this writer last
met. Of the two of us, he is
the older man, and the changing
years (tempord mutdntuy, ct nos
mutamur in iAis) may have
wrought changes in him since
then-may have bent his once
erect form and robbed his step
of the elasticity it had in the
brave days Of syore when. with
merriness in our souls and the
grace of God like that of Abou
Den Adhem IN our hearts. we
used % step across the street to
Sec d friend iii whose estab-
IMMINENT the clinlx of 'isa nss::st,.
1. { l;sJil against grass gave forth
blithesonl1 sounds. making a
sort Of festal music that whetted
appetite, drove cafe away and
bade cordial welcome to the
weary and heavy laden to whose
eager ears the harp of Orpheus
could not have been more charm
ing.
That, to be sure, was in an age
when there was life in the old
land, and one could enjoy his
own vine and fig tree, and there
were none-neither police nor
constabulary-to molest or make
him afraid. 1t was an age when
sumptuary laws had not found
lodgment in Southern hearts,
and Mississippi homes were gen.
tlemens' castles in which law
and order were observed. and
preserved; personal liberty had a
fixed abiding place; freedom of
conscience found sanctuary;
spies and informers dared not en-
ter, and the vile concoctions of
the bootlegger, the blind tiger
and the outlaw were unknown.
They were the happy days of
a good old gone by era when
gentlemen happily met with less
difficulty than now in finding an
| inspiring beverage fit to quench
thirst, pledge the health of
living friends or indulge sweet
thought and 52Itle speech of the
dead.
Fortunate days, when one
could, if his lueiinations prompt
| ed and his purse permitted, en-
: liven his boald with vintages
unsurpassed in taste, bouquet or
effect by those which in ancient
days, without offense to the will
o. God or the laws of men,
pleased the palates of princes,
warmed the blood of heroes ard
tuned the souls of poets to i'm
mortal song.
Alas! those days, if not dead
in Mississippi, are now as faded
and gone as are the companions
! 8of the Last Rose of Summer.
The brimming bowl, the flow
of soul and the comfort they shed
in attuning hearts to peace and
harmony, to faith, hope and
charity, may now anywhere be
had in our commonwealth
without either violating some
law of the land or offending the
'I-am-holier-than- thou" spirit of
ome goody goody Of society,
whose heart never thrills to the
snusis of AnHcrerntic song or
bile With gfat1fNl appreciation,
goAid KIM David'a when, havihs
-. 4, SSa Sss wins With hls lailk,