The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-02-03

SOuLQ was lndl OISdulLCu Ill l o-V W
President Cooper, of the South Caro-
lima College, and continued by Prof.
Lieber.
43. The first national thanksgiv-
ing day in America was appointed
by Henry Laurens, of South Caro-
lima, when he was president of the
continental congress, upon hearing
of the surrender of Burgoyne.
A. Michaux, famous French
botanist, visited Charleston in 1910,
and established there the first botan-
ical garden in America.
45. South Carolina was the first
State in America to attempt to raise
tea. In 1850, Francis Bonynge, who
had lived in China and India, urged
his fellow citizens to attempt it, be-
lieving their climate and agricul-
tural conditions favorable. 1t was
tried, but without much success. that
reserved for the famous Summer
vile enterprise of the present day.
However, there has been for many
years a tea tree in the county OF
Anderson. Unlike pictures and de-
scriptions of the tea farms of Sum-
merville and the far east, this is
tall tree. 1t is on the McFall estate
at High Shoals, a few miles out OF
Anderson, it has been there for many
years and the tea made from its
leaves is very fine.
49,. William Gilmore Simms, of
South Carolina, was the first South
erner to make literature profess
sional business.
Al. South Carolina is the first,
perhaps the only State to erect a
statue to an Indian. The turret OF
the opera house, in Camden, is sur
mounted by a gilded iron statue of
king Haiglar.' In 1926 the statue,
which is a masterpiece of art, was
executed by a Frenchman, ]. B.
Matthew, and placed on the summit
of the old Market House steeple,
whence it was removed to its present
resting place just in time to escape
destruction when the Market was
burned.
4S. Fort Mill, South Carolina,
boasts the first, probably the only,
monument in America to the slaves
of the old South. 1t is a marble
shaft Is feet high, and bears the
inscription: 1850. The faithful
slaves who,. loyal to sacred trust,
toiled for the support of the army
with matchless devotion, and with
sterling fidelity guarded our de-
fenceless homes, omen and chill
dren during the struggle for the prin-
ciples of our Confederate States of
America. 1865. This shaft was un'
yelled in 1896" There is opposite
the State house, in Boston, a bronze
mural tablet oflarge dimensions, on
the wall of the Boston Common, COM
memorating negro regiment which
belonged to Massachusetts, and took
part in the war. But that repre-
sents the sentiment of abolition, not
the personality of the slave. The
one is a monument to an idea, the
other, though not so beautiful as a
work of art, commentaries the ac-
tual slave as a beloved personality.
40. The first railroad in America
was built between Charleston and
Hamburg, now North Augusta. 1t was
built by "The South Carolina Com
pany'' in 1882, and was for some
time the longest railroad in the
world. A short road in England, I
think from London to Bristol, was
completed only a few weeks before
the South Carolina road.
so. Prof. Charles Eliot Norton,
of Harvard University, Icalled John
lizard Middleton, of Charleston, the
first American archaeologist, and
dwells on the accuracy and excel
lence of the drawings reproduced in
his chief work, a folio published in
London in 1918, entitled Grecian re-
mains in Italy, a description of Cy-
clopean walls and of Roman antiqui-
ties with Typographical and pictur-
esuue views of ancient Latium by ].
l. Middleton. Mr.. Middleton was an
artist of no mean ability and could
have achieved distinction in several
lines had not his life been too easy
and pleasant for laborious days. His
ample fortune, variety of talents and
social success combined to make him
careless of the reputation which he
might have won had necessity or
ambition spurred him on.
81. Dr.. John Edwards Holbrool,
a native of Charleston, and professor
of anatomy in the Medical College,