Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VOL. 84 EDGEFIELD, S. C., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31,1919 NO. 42 JOHNSTON LETTER. Week of Prayer W?1 be Ob served. Sudden Death of Little Child on De cember 16. The W. M. S. of thc Baptist church and the other auxiliaries, also will observe the first week in January as a special week of prayer. There will be a special service each afternoon except Wednesday, when the service will be held instead of the regular prayer service, this to be in charge of the'Y. W. A. and G. A. On Sunday, December 21st, at the Baptist church, a large congregation had the great pleasure of hearing Rev. Leon M. Latimer, who has been ' pastor of the Parker Memorial Bap tist church in Alabama. This church is one of the best in the South, and has recently contributed $112,303 to the great campaign. Mr. Latimer spent his boyhood days here and it was a real joy to every one, of whom all were his frie. Js, to meet him again, and to bear him preach. His message was a beautiful and impressive one and all were helped and comforted as they listened to his theme on our follow ing out God's plan in our lives. After spending two days here with his mother, Mrs. Susie M. Latimer, he went to join his brother, Mr. Hugh F. Latimer, who was in his way to Johns Hopkins University for an op eration. A beautiful Christmas eve prayer service was held at the Baptist church and the birth of the Saviour of the world and His mission was deeply impressed upon all preseni. "Silent Night" was given as a spe cial musical number. After the meet ing, many of the church members surprised the pastor, Rev. Brooke with a Christmas pounding. On Christmas eve, a beautiful spir it was manifested in several of the good folk, who arranged, baskets of fruits and Christmas goodies and even some big stockings were filled, o give brightness to the act, and these were given to those in whose homes so much Christmas cheer did not abound. This was indeed, the real spirit of Christmas. Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Brunson of Augusta, spent a part of last week here. Mrs. Cobb of Union is expected next week to visit her sifter, Mrs. W. F. Scott. Mrs. J. W. Mixson of Union and Mrs .Rodgers of Bennnettsville, have been guests in the home of Mrs. 0. D. Black. Mr. and Mrs. Pat Blalock of Edge field were visitors here on Sunday. During the holidays, Mr. Artis Price of this place and Miss West of Batesburg, were married, and Mr. Ed Johnson and Miss Holston of, Edgefield were married. Both affairs were quiet ones. On Sunday, December 28th, Cupid worked rapidly and there were three marriages at'the parsonages, the couples being young people of the nearby community. Mrs. M. E. Norris is spending a while in Florida with relatives. Miss Frances Turner spent the hol idays in Timmonsville with Miss Lu cile McLendon. Misses Elliot and Gonya Hardy are at home from Washington, D. C., where they hold positions. Mr. and Mr.s John Fleming Marsh will soon be domiciled in the resi dence of Mrs. Annie B. Harrison. Mrs. J. B. Haltiwanger of Charles ton and Mrs. Scott of Monticello, lOthers of Prof. and Mrs. W. F. cott, spent the p?st two weeks here. Mrs Martha Dorn, of Spartanburg visiting her daughter, Mrs. Dobey. Mr. and Mrs. Willie Pearce Ste ens, of Florida, are here for a visit relatives. Mr. and Mrs. Archie Lewis have turned to Johnston to make their ome, naving resided at Eureka last ar. Little George Lee Scott, the baby y of Prof. and Mrs. William F. ott died suddenly on Tuesday af rnoon, December 16th. The little e would have been two years old December 30th. Little George Lee had been play during the afternoon with his her, and later the two, with the se, went out into the yard. While ying he lost his breath, it seemed, never regained it. A physician was immediately sun moned and he stated the child ha died from heart failure. He had su: fered similar attacks. The deepest sympathy of ever one, not only of the town, but til community, was for the grief-stricl en parents. The little one was an unusual! bright and atractive child, and ha completely entwined its dear littl self into the hearts of its fond pi rents. The funeral services were conducl ed in the home on Thursday morr ing by Rev. W. S. Brooke, who wa assisted by Rev. David Kellar an Rev. J. D. Kinard. The little white casket was the: borne out by the young gentleme: of the High School and the internen was made in the Mt. of Olives cerne tery, and the precious form was plac ed beneath a covering of lovely flow ers. The little spirit was a rose hui here, which the tender Shephen wanted to blossom out in His owi Kingdom. Mr. and Mrs. David Crim havi gone to Alabama to make their home Mr. Raymond Sifley of Orange burg is a welcome visitor here. Mrs. J. H. Knight, of McBean, Ga. has been the guest of Mrs. Georgi; Turner. Mrs. Leora Wright Simmons, whi is Matron of Coker College, is her* for a visit. Mrs. J. F. Browne of Spartanburg has been for a visit to her nieces Mrs. Stirnen and Mrs. Howard. For many years her husband wai principal of the High School here and her many friends gave her a cor dial greeting. Messrs. David and William Ouzti have been for a visit to the home folks. Mr. J. A. Suber spent a few days of the past week at Saluda with nh parents. Rev. and Mrs. David Kellar anc family have gone to Greenville tc visit Mrs. Kellar's mother. . The members.-.of the. W.oman'i Missionary Society of the Methodisl church gave the little baby of Mrs Kellar a beautiful carriage for s Christmas gift. Mrs. Kate Rushton Barr and fam ily will soon move here and will oc cupy the residence formerly occupied by Mr. Olin Eidson, he with his fam ily having moved to the home of his father, Mr. J. D. Eidson, who is alone since the death of his sister. Mr. Fred Parker, Jr., has been spending the holidays here and has had visiting him two of his college mates," Messrs. Crawford and Webb. Miss Annie Stokes was a welcome visitor here during the past week. Little Annie, the baby of Mr. and Mrs. James Cullum, has been quite sick with pneumonia, but is now im proving. The many friends cf Miss Eliza Mims will be gratified to know that she continues to improve, having suf fered an attack of pneumonia. Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Nickerson of Augusta have been visiting their mother, Mrs .Fannie Nickerson. Mrs. Horace Wright of George town is the guest of her sisters, the Misses Sawyer. Misses Eva and Jessie Rushton spent their holidays here in the home of their sister, Mrs. Olin Eidson. Miss Louelle Norris of Columbia, spent the week here. Mrs. Huiet Waters and little George are in Alexandria, Ala., vis iting the former's mother. Miss Annie Waters and Miss Bes sie Plunkett of Augusta, were visit ors here last week. Master Willis Dozier invited about twelve of his young friends to this home on Christmas eve to enjoy a Christmas tree party.- The tree was beautiful and he gave everyone of his friends a pretty gift, and it was a happy surprise to him to find that each of those present had placed a gift on the tree for him. There was a large family re-union in the home of Mr. and Mrs. O. S. Wertz, all of their ,children gather ed under the home roof. On Christmas eve the Mary Ann Buie chapter, U. D. C., sent to Vet eran W. S. Quattlebaum, who has been paralyzed for several years, a beautiful Christmas box of fruits. Mrs. Eugene McAlpine and little son, are visiting in the home of Dr. S. G. Mobley. She was accompanied by Miss Sarah Carwile, who has been visiting her. i , 'I Miss Florence Mints Writes o a Visit to Concord, Mass. Dear Advertiser: The famous spots of Revolution?r interest are very unevenly distribu? ?ed; some little towns being marke from one edge to the other with bal tie fields or ancient taverns conned ed with famous generals. One of th most prominent of these in the com monwealth of Massachusetts is Con cord, a name poorly suited to it fighting patriots of seventeen seven ty-five. Battle fields are generally barre: fields, where one has to imagine, wit] the help of a few historical facts that here his ancestors made them selves famous. I never expect to se' anywhere a more delightful histor! spot, even in the spring, than th scene of the Concord battle at tb Old North Bridge over which tradi ti on says Paul Revere brought th' news of the British approach. A love ly shaded lane leads to a pleasan spot surrounded by trees and dividei by a stretch of water. On one side o: the bridge the British were poste< and on the other the Americans. I lonely statue of a soldier with om hand on his gun and the other on hi: plow verifies the statement that tti< men actually left their plows am came to fight in the battles of tha memorable time. In the square was a quaint ol< tavern built before seventeen seven ty-five where we had lunch. On th< nineteenth of April it was the head quarters of Maj. Pitcairn . and hil British troops. Here he uttered hil famous saying, while stirring hil toddy, that he would thus stir th< American troops. On the Concord square was i statue of one of the famous minut< men and a towering flag staff 01 which were the words "The birth place of American liberty." Concord is not only famous for it; b^ttj.es^but for its authors, wbr>. alon< would have made the "town prom! nent. On one street alone were th( homes of Hawthorne, Louisa Alcotl and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Johr Thoreau also an author was a native of Concord. The graves of these foul are placed in a most beautiful ceme tery over rolling hills interspersec with paths and covered with shrub bery. I was impressed especially witl the simple markers that denoted the final resting place of these so worths of a great monument. The first normal school in America was founded here on the fourth ol July, eighteen thirty-nine with thret pupils. The country is now so scatter ed with them that no one thinks ol attributing their beginning to Con cord which seems to claim all the hon ors of many different kinds. Sight seers are very interesting people to me, though I am ofter among them and one of them, with my pencil and hurried notes some times written so that they can scarce ly be read the day after I have writ ten them. I sometimes wonder, too, if the people who live under the shad ow of battle fields or even those who occupy these historic houses, get the refreshing, exhilarating inspiration of those who consider themselves favored to oend a few hours and glean a few facts that these residents have known all their lives nor cared perhaps to enjoy. Just as great events sometimes take on added significance as the years pass over them, after time has had the chance to give them their rightful place in history, so is famil iarity a breeder of contempt in the instance of great places. Perhaps those who walk the same streets that Hawthorne trod see less wonder in his wonder books and less interest in his "Twice Told Tales" than those who dream only of these scenes in the midst of which he wrote. FLORENCE MIMS. 142 Hemenway Street, Boston, Mass. Mr. and Mrs. W. E. LaGrone and children are at home from a visit to relatives in Aiken. Miss? Emmie Mitchell has gone to Augusta to spent a while with her niece, Mrs. Chester. Miss Helen Lott entertained a number of her young friends on Sat urday afternoon with a Christmas party, and every one had a very hap py time. WhatSouth Carolina Owes t< Her Women. ;. The prosperity of a state does no consist in the fertility of its soil, th< richness of its mines and forests, th< v?lue of its manufacturers, or the ex tent of its commerce. . The wealth of i state is in its men and women. Land; and houses, mines and manufactur ers, have value only when interprete* in terms of human welfare. Barrel seil is one thing and barren souls art another and worse thing. Uncultiva ie?. fields produce no wealth; uncul tr-?ated men and women only scratel the thin surface of life for small ex i.s'sence. We come therefore, to tall to:you about the human problems We come with that problem limited fo./ we propose to discuss briefly what South Carolina owes to har wo m?n. We confess that we come timid lyi but at the same time we have the consciousness of your interest anc sympathy. Woman's greatest influence is up on social conditions. In proportion a: her women are educated ard pro tected, the state prospers. It seem? to us therefore, that it is a vital mat ter; when South Carolina is face tc face with the question of the meas urer of the privileges and opportuni ties she shall extend to her women. ?In many respects, the laws ol South Carolina in their particular re lation to women hold an honorable place among the laws of the othei states of the Union. Broad and no ble was the conception of the men oi our'state when they made provision forewoman's higher education by ad mitting them to the University ol Sooth Carolina. South Carolina women already have a great numbei of privileges that women in some other states do not enjoy. A woman may own real and personal property, and 'sell or dispose of it as she pleas es. If she he married she moy dispose of 'her property without her hus band's consent. But these laws rel.at ^^j_-wom.en^r were- enacted* many years ago. They are "excellent as fai as they go, but they do not go far enough. Social conditions have been completely revolutionized within the I memory of those now living. Among ?the evidences of this revolution we have but to recall that a vast numbul !of women have been forced into the 'business world. They did not seek the ;turmoil of industry and most of them I would have evaded it if they could have done so, but the fact remains, that every day increasing numbers of women must go into the world of business competing with men for the bread of life. The sorrowful truth is, that they are competing under whol ly unequal advantages. If a woman, through necessity is thrown upon the world, then every opportunity should be given her by her state tc fight successfully the battle of life. Deep in her heart the ambitious and sincere woman says l'l am faint with hunger and I must have bread. I can not be deterred from doing my best to earn it by the fear that some man may fail to remove his hat in my pres ence or will sit in a street car while I hang on to a strap. If I must I can do without a seat in the street car, but I cannot do without bread." But do we not wish the bread spre 1 with butter? And sometimes we also like a little marmalade! A way in which South Carolina should protect her women is by the enactment of a min imum wage law. Fundamentally, hu man beings are very much alike, their fundamental needs do not vary greatly in kind. There is a certain minimum wage which, vary as it may in different industries, should be fix ed by law. Below that minimum neither man nor woman can provide for himself or herself the necessities that keep life upon a higher plane than just merely human. Standards of living of course always vary. They vary among communities and among individuals in the same community. Teaching is the lowest paid profes sion in which men and women of South Carolina enter. There are men in the cities of our state who pay their chauffeurs one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars per month, while sincere, conscientious, well trained and noble young women get less than half as much to teach their children. If anyone can see the jus tice or intelligence in this he has the gift of second sight. One day we shall learn that there is justice in the plea of women for equal pay for equal work. Furthermore, South Carolina owes it to herself, her men and esp? cially to her women and children t enforce the prohibition law. It i worse than idle for men to talk aboi; chivalry when they stand by and se a woman's heart broken by the rui of her husband or son. It is difficul to see where the chivalry comes i when the state allows so many thoi sands of men and women to becom physical and moral wrecks becaus of alcohol. South Carolina owes it t herself now and to the unborn gent rations to protect herself from thi curse. And if the women were give a chance to help decide it they woul put men into office who would er force these laws. Also the pro-sui fragists hold that a constituency o voting women would have a very dil ferent influence on the managemen of cities, on the cleaning of th streets, the building laws, the schoc accomodatipns, the board of healtr the general sanitary and moral con ditions. The woman half of the com munity, speaking generally, is moral industrious, economical and devo?ei to loving, disinterested service am in consequence, claims to be an ad vantage to the state as well as th home. Since the day the wily serpen tempted Eve in the Garden of Edel and beguiled her into eating the for bidden fruit, woman has been man' intellectual equal. And when sh< gave some of the fruit unto her hus band and he did eat and his eye: opened, did he reproach her? Ah, no We fancy he offered her a brand o: flattery that was subtle and intoxi eating. He must have told her tha she was wise and intuitive; that sh< was a marvel and a wonder." Anent the scathing commentarj of a distinguished South Carolins Judge on woman suffrage and of wo men serving on juries, we would saj that the time is coming. Personally we do not wish to serve on juries, bul in every community there are num bers of well-off, middle-aged women ?locally renowned"-for .-. their^SBK horse sense and their kind hearts women who are wise in the knowl edge of the human heart and ripe ir experience ; women to whom every one who knows them goes for coun sel and advice. These women woulc make ideal jurors, who would bring an unhurried, unworried attention tc the consideration of a case submitted 'to them that is impossible to mer j worried and troubled about theil own affairs. Men universally asserl 'that they have never been able tc learn even the a b c of feminine psy chology, and that womankind is a rid dle beyond their guessing. Realizing this, men juries generally just throw up their hands and give the problem up when they are called upon to deal with a woman criminal, and let hei go scot free. This gives us those tra vesties on justice that disgrace oui courts, where after the prosecutoi has spent weeks of time and hun dreds of dollars in proving a woman guilty of some crime, the jury brings in a verdict of "not guilty" in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. A woman jury would cor rect this evil. A woman jury would have no traditions of gallantry to up hold, nor would it be affected by the beauty of the defendant or consider that the possession of blue eyes and golden hair and a willowy figure gave a lady a right to put poison in her husband's coffee because she had fallen in love with another man. And a woman jury would possess the in fallible recipe for testing a woman's tears and telling when they were genuine tears of grief or repentance and when crocodile tears. Nor would women juries be unduly harsh to their sex. They would simply under stand just what motives lay behind every act that a woman committed. They would simply judge her intelli gently as men judge another man. That women should be on the juries that try cases that involve little chil dren and erring.girls is self obvious. They have an intuition that is a sort of second sight in these matters and that would enable them to dispense justice with the wisdom of a Solo mon. Before the legislature of our state the door of opportunity swings wide. It is a new world of effort that lies before them-to legislate for those who having but recently entered the industrial world has had as yet but little thought bestowed upon them, "Miss not thc occasion; by the fore My Eightieth Mile-Post in Life. I am, standing this morning at the eightieth mile-post the 10th of De cember in the year of our Lord 1919. And with a grateful heart I can say that I have a healthy body, a .sound mind and a clear vision ; my vitality is still strong, nothing I eat hurts me and I can sleep as soundly as a lazy negro. I hardly ever feel a pain or ache, I have never had any protract ed sickness in all these years. The longest that I have ever suffered was from the wounds received in the bul let-showers of the battle field. And as I stand by this eightieth post, my mind is active, looking back when I was a bare-foot bey, as I worked in the cotton and cane. And the dear old school days! What hallowed asso ciations cluster there! Yes, we were happy then and we loved each other as .only school mates can love. But memory holds them sacred. The old school house has been torn down and camed away and the wild briar now marks the place where it stood. The little spring where we went for water has dried up, sweet wild daisies grow in its bed. There are only three or four of us living who so much en joyed those dear old' school days at the old field school, while a few of us remain near the sacred spot where the old school house Stood. On the 24th day of April 1861, when my company "G" volunteered in Allen Kemp's old field for the war, there were 105 men who went from there to Virginia. Now I can call to j memory only five of that grand old Company "G" living. During the blood? struggle of the "sixties" I was wounded severely three different times. I received my third wound through the hip at the j Wilderness on the 6th day of May, j 1864 from which I suffered for ?months. On the 7th of August 1864, il married (on my c ..' 'le's} ~~~ bf''' the best women, thal i ever ?to man. We were' ? ! for forty years, and .. ... < jf or ty.-year?. . the- an ' ?came in the stillness !hour and said to he. ?come up higher." And for sixteen ?years I have been battling alone with the world, the flesh'and the devil, and have often come through without the smell of fire upon my garments. As I look back to-day from this mile-post, how well do I remember the hopes of youth, when the blood ?in my veins leaped like quick silver, ?singing to me the sweet song of life, and across the field of hope, sweet zephyrs blew. Youth and hope poured out their treasures at my feet, uncon ; quered lands shook out their banners in my face, great sun-lit paths strewn with passionate flowers, beckoning me to come, but the gaily painted boat in which I started out on life's voyage that was such a brilliant one, now lies rotting at the wharf. Youth has gone and old age is here and close behind me stalks a shadow grim. I hear its foot steps more dis tinctly every day and ^eel its icy breath upon my cheek. My prayer to God is, that I be kept from imbecility and decrepitude, that I may retain my vision and that "He will not leave me in time of old age, nor forsake me when my flesh faileth." J. Russell Wright. , Facts About 1920. ">j The year 1920 comprises the lat ter part of the 144th and the begin-, ning of the 145 year of American in dependence, and corresponds to the year 6633 of. the Julian period, the year 5,681 of the Hebrew era begins at sunset September 12; the year 2673 since the foundation of Rome according to Varro; the year of 2580 of the Jananese era, and to the 9th year of the period entitled Tai sho; the year 1339 of the Moham medan era, or the era of the Hegira, begins at sunset on September 14. The first day of the year is the 2, 422,325th day since the commence ment of the Julian period.-Colum bia Record. lock take Thatv subtle power the never-halting time, Lest a mere moment's putting off should make Mischance almost as heavy as a scrime." SARAH RAINSFORD COLLETT. The Advertiser $2.00 a year in advance.