The Tupelo journal., 1917-11-16
CARRIED BACK TO OLDEN DAYS
IN TUPELO.

IN TUPELO.
The death of John M. Allen, and
the many fattering tributes | have
read in the newspapers concerning
him. have carried me back to over a
very long period to your town of Tu-
pelo, which was once my town, and a
most delightful place of residence 1t
was to me for a good many years.
Still there is a tinge Of sadness IN
@Iconnection with my thoughts of Tu-
pelo. for the reason that a very large
number of the friends l knew there
when | was in the morning of life,
have Joined s"the innumerable cara
van"
/ have for many reasons a greater
love for Tupelo than for any other
place in which l have yer lived. l
NAV say that l began real, earnest
life there, since l carried my young
bride of eighteen to the dear old town
when / was but twenty-three years OF
age, and l was only twenty-five when
l established the paper you are now
conducting. l cannot realize that 1t
has been forty-six years since 1 Is
sued the first edition of the journal,
and that l am now seventy-one years
of age. In the fall of 1871, / bought
the old Spectator" newspaper from
Arthur Handley, and Immediately
changed it's name to the Tupelo Jour-
nal. which name it has borne IN n
since that day.
John Allen and l were the same
age, barring a difference of n
month in my seniority, and had
| known him since he was t~wenty-one
years of age. l always felt nos
! kindly toward him, and like most
newspaper men of warn impulses, l
suppose | had his name in the jour
nal probably oftener than l should
have. as my old lifelong friend VIII
Thomas. of Baldwin, told me on n
occasion, that while standing in the
Baldwin post office awaiting the OPP
ening of the mail with quite a num-
Der of others one day, some one IN
the crowd seeing the Baldwin pack
age of Journals being placed in the
various boxes, called out in a loud
voice: 81 wonder what Herndon
has to say of John Allen this week
Another big hearted resident OF
Tupelo in that olden day, was Ed.
L. Russell, a bosom friend of John
Aliens, and a man who extracted
more gladness from life than any one
/ have ever known. His career as a
clerk in the store Of F. F. Norton,
one of the largest business houses OF
Tupelo in that day, to that OF a prac-
ticing attorney in Verona, then as
assistant counsellor of the Mobile and
Ohio railroad, and finally to the pres
idency of the great corporation at a
salary of fifteen thousand dollars a
year, was a rise phenomenal, but Ed
deserved all the good things that life
bestowed upon him. He also, was
about the same age Of John Allen,
but he laid down-not life's bur-
dens-but it's wonderful joys a good
many years ago.
The Journal was the first paper
that ever mentioned John Allen as a
coming congressman, and this was a
good many years before he came out
as a candidate for the Office.
John Miller, another former citizen
Of Tupelo, as we'll as a former edl-
tor of the Journal, was in, Washing
ton last June, in attendance on the
Confederate Reunion here. He has
aged considerably Of late, and the
lines on his face have %deepened TAP
preciably) since the death OF his
wife last year. When | first knew
Alice Miller she vas a pupil IN
Thompson's Academy, Baldwin, Miss,
aged about fifteen years. She was
light of heart, warmly impulsive, and
the ever beaming sunshine of life
found a natural resting place in her
fair young face. All Baldwin knew
her and loved her.
Recently l was looking over a copy
of .The Mississippi Press Associa-
tion," form its organization in 1866,
to May, 1884, and Of the long list
who responded to roll call at Aber-
deem, in 1881, as near as | can reckon
today, only about one fifth of them
are still living. Major Jonas of the