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MM VOL.77. EDGEFIELD, S. C., WEDNESDAYS! UAEY 15,1913 NO. 49 JOHNSTON LETTER. Knights of Pythias Banquet. Lee's Birthday to be Suita - bly Observed. Mr. Lott's Class of Young Men. The banquet of the Knights of Pythias held on the last Thursday evening at Turner hall was quite the pleasantest affair held here in some time, the only regret of it being the inability of the speak er. Hon. Mendel L. Smith, of Cam Cdii, to be present, but arrangement was made for speeches by local tal ent. The hall presented a pretty ap pearance, having been given over to 14 young ladies,and the banquet table was in the shape of a Greek cross, in the center there being a large pryamid of ferns and flowers, and at the four points, were arrange ments of flowers, with troipcal fruits arranged temptingly on the festive board. Two hundred covers were laid, and the feast was creatly enjoyed. Concluding:this, Mr. .1. A. Lott acted as toast master, and the first to be heara from was Prof. Williair Fletcher Scott, on * why I am not a Pythian." He was greeted with a round of applause and his reason? afforded much laughter, and in his closing remarks ho spoke of his high regard of the principles sustained by the K. of P. The second speaker was Rev. E. H. Beckham, his subject being *\Not decided." In his own charac teristic way he handled his subject, and caused great laughter as he made a play upon the undecided younp couples nearby, and told them that as soon as they did decide, they knew whereto fiud him. The third called upon was Mr. S. J. Watson, and his subject was 4'Hair/' and the very subject brought forth merriment, aud dur-. icg his speech, ?he kept ali laugh ing.- Ht-closed by saying that ?t^ though he bad now lost all bis hair, he had managed to keep all secrets of the Knights of Pythias. The fourth speaker was Rer. P. E. Monroe on ''Damon and Pythi as." The keynote of his remarks was friendship and he spoke feel ingly of this characteristic of the order. Several other extemporaneous speeches were called for from some present. Mr. Dunbar, of Augusta, has leased the hotel of Mr. O. S. Werta, and moved his family here this week. The town at present has only one hotel and the need of an other one has been felt. Mrs. Harry Hamilton and Mas ter Harry spent last week in Edge field with Mesdames W. E. Lott and J H.Allen. Mrs. Chas. Early has returned to Florence after a months stay at the home of her father, Mr. W. W. Batcher. Gen. Robt. E. Lee's birthday will be celebrated on Sunday Jan uary 20th, instead of the 19th. The occasion will be held at the school auditorium. The Christmas offering from the Womans' Missionary Society, of the Baptist church was $110. The Y. W. A. had a good gift, but as yet all the envelopes haw not been gathered in. The Sunbeams gave $50. Little Agnes Brown, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Brown, happen ed to a very painful accident latt week. She had an open knife in her hand and running across the room fell, the knife in some way, pierc ing the lower jaw, a part of the blade extending through. The class of yuung gentlemen, taught by Mrs. J. A. Lott, at the Baptist Sunday school, is one of the most interesting and promising. At the end of each quarter she has a written examination and the papers are splendid. In the last examina tion each ene did remarkably well, but especial mention is made of Mr. Wallace Turner who made 100, perfect; Mr. Jefferson, 2nd, 99; Mr. Irwin Reames, 3rd, 98. It wae not known that at the end of the year a prize would be given, and Wallace was surprised with a hand some volume o? Ben nur. Mr. James Turner baa been suffer ing greatly for the past month with his eye and for two weeks has been ia a darkened room with the afflict ed member bandaged, and it was feared at first that it would have to be removed. About 0 or 8 months ago, his left eye was removed, thinking this might strengthen tb other. A. junior Y. W. A. was organ i z ed last Sunday afternoon, the ofti eers being, president, Miss Paulin Lewis; vice-president, Miss Bessie Ford Turner; treasurer. Miss Lois Hoyt; secretary, Miss Prances Tin ner; organist, Misa Bettie Waters. The first quarterly conference o' the year will convene Saturday anrl Sunday at the Methodist church, and the presiding elder, Bisho. Duncan will preach at the Sunday morning service. Mrs. John W. Marah entertained with a delightful dining on Satur day, for their <ruest, and aunt of tin latter, Mrs. W. B. Bouknight, o Jacksonville, Florida. Miss Annie Loise Asbill, ol Winston-Salem, N. C., is spen I inp awhile with her young friends. Mr. James Kenny, of Mississippi, visited relatives here recently, it having been 3D years since he was iu South Carolina. Miss Cora Mobley is the guest ol Miss Mary Matheny in Augusta. Newsy Letter From Plum Branch. Dear Editor:- We are rejoicing over the fact that the weather man made a mistake when he predicted i cold wave for us. We had a wave but not a cold one, only a little damp and disagreeable. Instead of the cold v/ave we have had good weather on our oat crop, for the outlook is good and the best of it is we have a larger crop. Yes there has been more oats sown this last year than for years past, and if the spring is favorable there will be considerably more sown. Our merchants are busy closing up last year's accounts and making preparations for a good business for this year and with a will to make a success, regardless of the money v???r^.ncy^.. Th? farmers ; generally are hopeful anti apparently happy over the prospects of a good crop year. According to some of the old people's saying and prognostica tions of the old twelve days we will have a seasonable year. Well let us hope. Were it not for hope we would be the mont miserable creatures on earth. The high school with all the teachers in their places have return ed after the holidays and resumed their work, and the children are glad and happy and seem to enjoy their part ol' the program, i. e. the recess part of it from the noise they make at noon and evening. Some sickness in and around town. None serious however. Mr. B. D. Kitchings has been quite sick but is up and around the house. Mrs. E. Colman has been sick with grippe and cold but she is up and able to walk about the house. Brother Freeman the Baptist minister left us last Saturday for his new home and work al Black stock in Chester county where he has two churches and a good and pleasant field to work in. We were sorry to see him leave us but we are glad that he has a good place aud we hope for him and his fami ly a prosperous and a happy year. Brother Freeman and his family have endeared themselves to the large majority of our people here, not only among his own flock but the Methodist, and the young peo ple are a unit in his praise. Well, Bro. Mim*, look up our new supervisor, Mr. Edmunds, and tell him our roads are more "holy than righteous," and we will take pleasure in showing bim around. I guess our law makers will get down to work now soon. There is one thing they might do that will save the state a lot of money by doing away with the criminal part of our jury. Let us have a jury to try all civil cases but I don't see the need of a criminal jury when one man can undo all that 12 men and judge do, and sometimes it takes several days for the 12 meu the judge and lawyers to convict, and one man can undo in a moment what they hare done. Something is out of joint if this state of things can't be reme died. We have some good lawyors in our legislative halls and if there is any way to take the pardoning power out of the governor's hands it should be done at least for the next two years. Brother Minis, we or our grand old stat* are in bad shape when our executive will con done crime. We have laws, let us abide by them and every ufn .er from a magistrate to a consta ble is supposed to see that the law is kept to the h-tter. If matters continue to go on as ?.hey now are our grand old state and her people will be looked upon as a set of anarchists by our sister state. Don Carlos. Rev. John Lake Preached in Greenville. A. writer in the Baptist Courier last week had the following to say Mtncernine a sermon preached??at ihe First Baptist church in Green-: k ille by Rev. John Lake: The text was "The sower sow i'th the word." Mark 4:14. Th?Kd is something quite charming about VI,-. Lake. His face wins you, and lhere is an honest ring in his voie*. Me is simplicity itself; and has the happy faculty of being abi^ to se lect, a few things out of many, a few that illustrate his point. There appears to be nothing especial ly gifted in his method of telling his story, but it has been a loner time since I saw an audience aw deeply interested in missionary narratives. There were all classes of people out on Sunday morning but if there was a listless auditor in the house he was not in my range of vision. The sermon gave illustration? from the missionary's own experi ence of the various classes of hear ers spoken of in the parable. But before he began with these illustra tions he dropped a word that might well sink into the heart of those wh;) were opposed to missions. He said, "You have all seen men sow ing, who could ill spare the seed they were scattering over thc ground; and yet they dared not stop sowing. Their very bread depend ed on it." "We have discouragements in our work." There are "by-path" hearers. Many a , time the mission ary batfi sat in a boat aud pi^t?bV ed to teeming hundreds upon the shore; and in the very midst of his most earnest appeals, wo'uld be stopped by some listener with a question about the price of his clothes! Aud this not from mere curiosity. It is just now becom ing fashionable in China to wear thc Western garb and the price is a matter of useful information. "A? an illustration of the "stony ground hearer" the preacher told of a young princess, who while in school in England had joined a Christian church and after return ing to China became an attendant rupon the Queen Dowager, that won derful but monstrous old woman who hated fiercely all things Chris tian and foreign. The young prin cess won the old woman. Une evening when the two were walk ing together the queen said, "I love you. But, while in your Western school, did they induce you to be come a Christian ?" The young princess said "Ko," and the two continued friends. "There was also a fine story to illustrale the "thorny ground hear er; and, best of all, two others to illustrate those who received the Word into good and honest hearts. But these last can't be reduced in compass without killing them. One was of a poor, and, remarkable to relate, an honest, servant, who was as ignorant as he was ugly but who slowly and surely came to oonver siou and afterwards to a devoted and useful life. The other was of a great scholar who became a Christiau after he became a profes sor in a Christian college; and who later, reading the Bible translated by Baptists and printed in our Chi nese publishing house, noticed that baptizo was translated by the Chi nese word for immersion. Mrs. Lake had but little trouble in lead ing him to the light; and to hear was to obey. Tnat man was bap tized in a pond before a jeeriug crowd and is today a deacon-preach er and one of great power. "The missionary explained that the version of the Bible which con verted that man is now out of print and that he wants to raise 110,000 to enable our publishing huuse tu issue another edition." He-If I wa?< rich, darling, would you love me more than you do? She-Well, 1 might not love you any more, but I would look forward to our wedding day with a great deal more impatience titan I do at present. ''The Defenders of Charleston." Th? history of any nation is laigely the history of its great men, pleaders in thought and action. Especially is this true of Edgefield, for her histoiy has been made en tirely by her own brave men. Edge tield county may jus-tly claim a con spicuous place in all c f the great struggles that have involved the country since it has been eetablish ed.'.asa county, by the number and bravery of the soldiers she has sent io the front, and for the heroism of our women that sustained them at home; lu that -sad struggle between thu States from the borders of Ed guli old county, a large number of companies went to thc front in defile pf the principles they be 13yjS?fe^be TH?ht. "} ine su bj eux-'-? of this sketch is ''The defenders of Charleston," and it is with a feeling of pi ide that I write, that the defenders of Char let-tou in the sixties were lo a large extent Edgefield county men. It is not my purpose in this article to give au account of the battles out side of this state, even of these in which our troops participated, for time and Bpace will not permit. I will only state here, that the volun teers.from Edgetield were mostly embodied in the nineteenth and seventh regiments. Those in the nineteenth went kwi\st, and were in all the campaigns and battles in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, and ihu>e who endured were with Johnston at thc final sur render. The seventh was sent early in the war to Virginia, and shared with thc dauntless Lee, the glories and disasters that befell him from Bull Run to the falling of the cur tain at Appomattox. Charles on, being then the lar uest sea-port town in South Caroli na, with a full bay open to the lar ??esi steamers, and in close touch in a commercial way with the largest countries of the world, was neces^a rily a much desired port to be tak en. Th? uuion troops realized this and from the beginning it was evi dent that they would bend every effort to capture tho city. On the 19th of April President Lincoln issued a proclamation blockading the whole southern coast from South Carolina to Texas and they felt assured that with Charleston well m hand, they could land troops and supplies as needed, it only re mained to be sh:>wn that the city by thc sea was not to be as easily cap tured a? was supposed, fur history will agree wit1' rue that the tights about Charleston harbor are among the mo&t remarkable of all time. All eyes were now turned on Slimier, and from the booming ol" the first nun, th?*re was a tremendous out burst of patriotic feeling over thc entire south. The defense of Fort S mn ter rtiand* in the first rank among the great hieges of history, and must have a place along with the devine H?' (-rihraltar and Sevasto pal. Alfred Rhett, was the immortal coal mander of this port and the credit is due to his courage, and the value of the men who manned his batteries. The Confederate government sent Gen. Beauregard to assume charge of the defense in Charleston haibor, and he aiso had in his command troops from Georgia and Florida. T'iese were under Gen. .Johnson llagood, and it MUS at Honey lill legation to Ger Representative T. P. DeLaughter. that the Georgians showed sud ile ill and ardor, the enemies loss be ing very heavy. Next in i m [?ort ance to Sumter, ind only a few hundred'yards away s Moultrie. This port was held by Uol. William R Butler of Edgetield, me of thc bravest of the brave, ur/ith live companies of the first Caro lina infantry. I must mention with ?special emphasis the battle of Bat tery Wagner on Morris Island. Beauregard was gifted with won derful engineering ability, and the shell shown in the construction of this f->rt was of the highest order. One of the fons now used at West Point is an exact imitation of thjs one. The ground on which these fortifications stood has lung since disappeared beneath the 'waves, but tht' memory of tl.? *h?rOish| ?:4fc*y-! ed there will live forever. Studeuts of the Confederate war should also remember the tight at Sercssionvill >, on James island, in which the union forces under Gen. Huuter were defeated by the Con federates under Gen. Johnson Ha guud. They were repelled twice in au effort to destroy the railroad be tween Charleston and Savannah, and two weeks after this defeat the union forces abandoned James Is land. Major Joseph Abney another one of ridgefield's brave men, with dis intrepid body of sharpshooters held a position on the other side, and the most poorly defended coast i)f .lames leland, but this however was not engaged in the battle of Se [session vii le. We ii ml another Edgefield conn Ly niau at the front as commander jf Battery Bee. on Sullivan's Is land. This was Lieut. Gul. John G Sim ki tis. As soon as South Carolina receded and it was known that war was inevitable, he was among the li rsi to offer his services to Gov. Picken*. Ile did splendid service in the repulse of the Iron Clads in the naval Attack on Charleston. On th-* night of the 16th of duly, he with Lbr HS companies of the regiment, iud Capt. Adams, Haikell and Ta tum, was ordered to Battery Wag ner on Morris Island. Here he act id as ?thief of artillery, au?l he and Ilia devoted little band without rent or sleep stood under a terri Kc bom bardment, until the night of the 18th, when while reoulsing the iiitimy he fell, pierced through the right lung by a minnie ball. I must not neglect to mention -Jen. R. G. M. Dunovant, who was n charge of fores in Charleston, .mt I have been unable to lind hts ixact location. In the commissary lepartment we find Mr. John K Sac?n, and our beloved Col. Jamen Bacon. These were all brave and gallant nen and their lives have not 'von i ved iii vain. Had they all li veil hey would have held positions of ,ru<*tand honor, and donn good al o in their nation's service, and his ory will certainly accord mein their iroper place. Helen Sheppard Nicholson. (The foregoing paper was read ,t a meeting of the E Igefield diap er, U. D. C., by Mrs. Nicholson. lupply Humus, and all Things Else Will be Added. How does the so-called "resting" )f laud improve il? By the fact hat weeds and other vegetation ;ro,w on it and take up the available lera! Assembly Representative Jerome H. Courtney. plant foods and this vegetation dy ing and decaying furnishes this plant food hack to the soil for other crops and in its de jay also sets free still other plant foods for the use of succeeding plants. How is hud under cultivation made richer? By the application of ?stable manure, the plowing under of crops and the supplying of min eral plant foods in larger quantities than the crops remove. How are rich lands which pro duce crops maintained fertile? By the growing of legumes, which add nitrogen; thc application of more mineral plant foods, phosphorus and potassinni, than the crops remove; and the plowing under of stable ma lt'ire and vegetable mxtt?r to re plenish the supply of decaying or ? gallic. .maltexpr huoiilif. These seem simple facts, which every farmer knows are true. Then why not follow nature's methods and man's common sense practice in dealing with tho soul? A correspondent recently intimat ed that wc seemed to have lost siirht of everything else in soil man agement in our desire to get more humus. This is not quite true, but if we could get our sonthtrn far mers to supply the needed humus to their soils, we would be quite ..viiling to.ignore all other matters fur several years, feeling secure that the addition ot' the needed hu mus would do more to increase the productiveness of Southern soils han ?nything else th u can be done md confident lh.it all other things will come in good season when our ?oils have been made as productive is a ful! supply of decaying vegeti '?le matter will surely make them.. Statement From Mr. Black well. I notice an item in your paper of .lanuaiy 8, from the Plum Branch correspondent where he has used my name very freely in connection with a supper tri ven in honor of the Plum Branch Ktiiirhtn of Pythias hy Dr. and Mrs. .). B. Adams. While 1 have no objections to his ts'ing my name in connection with such a grand affair as this no doubt was, and it. was my most sincere re gret that I could not bc present,. [ wish that the Plum Branch cor res (muden t would refrain from using my natue in connection with a \ouny lady in another section of the state, and in case he should re fer to me or this lady in particular, I would be jr I ad if he would first as certain the facts of thc case, for I don't know as there is anything tc* the report ?hat this girl has pneu monia. P don't think it was any thing more than a cold and what ? said in regard to this was only a supposition of mine that it might be something of the kind and was not. said for publication. I do sincerely hope that the lady referred to will never see tn? piece that was written by the Plum Branch correspondent and in case she should see it I am writing this that she might fully understand that this information was not given out by mc. Yours very truly, J. B. Blackwell. This piece of lace on my dress is over Sfty years old.1' "It's beautiful. Did yon make it yourself/ '