The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1916-11-29
A GREAT SOUTH CAROL|NlAN,
The Life Work of DR.. John L. Grardeau Ftinglv Re-
counted in Volume Just Issued


dial reception and response by many.
The volume is published by The State
Company and edited by DR.. George
A. Blackman, of Columbia, under the
title of "The Life Work of John l..
Girardeau, D. d., LII. D."
This biography although belated is
welcomed by all who ever knew Dr.
Girardeau and by thousands of others
who were touched by his immense
| reputation and influence.
Lafayette Girardeau was his name
originally. He added "John," his
fathers name, after he entered the
ministry.
DR.. Girardcau had a distinct and
pronounced and intense personality.
1T was his personality even more
than his wonderful ability or wonder
ful work, that carried his name and
influence so far in his day and time.
He was French, genuinely French in
temperament as we'll as name and an
cestry. The Huguenots were the most
sane, the most exalted the most in
corruptlble, the most hristian product
OF the Protestant Reformation. They
have not survived largely as church
ana nave bcqucathcd no racial or ma
tlonalistic organization outside of
France, yet their beauty and power
is a fade!ess influence in the modern
world. The ancestors of Dr.. Girar-
deau were among those who came to
America and settled in South Caro-
lima and Georgia after the Edict of
NantZ.
This distinctly IIuguenot ancestry
and temperament had fortunate and
interesting setting. Dr.. Girardeau
was from the "low country" Only
those who know do know the signi-
hcance of, such surroundings and such
an upbrlnglng as was found in that
peculiar civilization in lower South
Carolina during the century and half
preceding the American civil war.
Although it has been lampooncd by
thoes who lacked and cnvicd it's cX-
cellenclcs, although it has sometimes
been disgraced and betrayed by those
blessed by its favors, although snecr-
cd at by those who desired and miss
ed its genuine qualities, although dis
slpated by change and innovation, it
attained power and maintained a
worth out Of all proportion to the
wealth and numbers of the low coun-
try people. That subtitle, gentle, gen
lal, mellow culture is fast fading from
the lace OF the earth. 1t is very re-
grettaGie but while ascendant was
early life in the veritablc garden of
this lower Caroline culture and civil
iiZation, amidst the azaleas, roses. ia
ponlcas, mngnolias Of personal, social,
mental and spiritual refinement.
Another and most significant con-
trlbution was made to the strikinr
personality of DR.. Gjrardcau. His
family was intensely, devoted, unos-
tcntatiously plious. 1t is perfectly
clear from all sources that DR.. Girar-
acau IN childhood, in his youth an in
his whole life lived consciously ana
moved spontaneously and simply
amidst the realities of the soul AMI
Iol. Religion to him seemed nat
urai, an unpanful, an unslrprisinr
verify.
Except for the four years of the
coVll war, when he was chaplain in
the onfcdrrate army, Dr. Girardcau
spent his entire life in South aro-
l1na' most of it il: the city of Charles
ton' re was born on James Island,
November a.. lS23, married Miss
lchclopc Sarah liamlin in 1919, (Mrs.
Grardcau Is still living) died in Co.
Iumbit June %, 1898. His father
was 1ohh ;'ohun Girardcau, his moth
or MISS Claudia llcrnc Frcer. In an
antobi%raphical sketch made up of
byl"f sentences AMI catch words incor-
oratc' IN this voiImc, he says of
MS mother: "My earliest rcco!lcc-
IONS are connected with my mother,
oh one Sunday afternoon, when | bad
'uSI learned to rcad--about five wears
o!u-Shc called ne to her and holding
the Bible in her lap, babe me lean
on her knees and read the nineteenth
chapter Of John 5 Gospel, commcn.ing
Then PLATE, therefore, took Jesus
and scour%ed Him. ] was very much
affected by the accountant Of the Sn-
vlour's Sutfcrngs AM cried. She
th3n told me to 20 upstairs. | re-
member that, as | went, in the mi ,s,
oi tears was very vain Of the feel
ing had exhibited, ami wondered
whether mother would not tell il TO
others" Eleven times in paraprapb
| he mentions how he was saved aliyr
from accident as if by a personal ami
special providence for himself, and
concluded:
"Whcn in the slippery paths Of
Youth
With needless steps ran
Thine arms unseen conveyed me safe
And let me up to man"
Ills mother died when he was q
child AMI his father married again,
His son, John Lafayette was the
eldest of twelve children, ana he
himself the father Of five sons and
five daughters.
His early school days were on the
island under Mr.. Rivers. At ten
years Of age he went TO Charleston
and attended the school of the Ger