The Barnwell people. (Barnwell, S.C.) 1884-1925, December 23, 1920, Image 3
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BARNWELL IN THE LONG AGO.
XV. The War Clouds Thicken.
Yes, with loud and
The air is vocal
SECESSION!
proud acclaim!
with exultation!
Old sores are hard to heal. They
miy take a fresh start, and finally
culminate in augmented agony and
even death. So it was in the “fif
ties” and “sixties.” Misunderstand-
* ings, grave allegations of injustice,
and ill-foreboding suspicions contin
ued between the North and the
So;ith. ' The “hustings” had convulsed
with" hot political utterances, while
the press reeled and staggered under
weight of agitating and scorching
discussion^. In some cases (may be
rare ones) it could have been said:
“Judgment has fled to brutish beasts,
and men have lost their reason.” War
clouds darkened, till at last the thun
derbolts of belligerency were hurled
forth, exciting and enraging
women, and even bojia , and girls,
* y
every where! ,
Although the most enthusiastic
Southern leaders still hoped fotf a final
issue out of all dispute without any
shedding of blood, therk were young
men in every section who proclaimed
their readiness to go forth to battle,
in case the worst “must needs” come
to*pass. On the way to school in the
fifties.” we children met a gentleman
un horseback to whom one of our lit
tle squad said: “they say we are go
ing to have a war.” He replied: “All
right, I am ready.” So said many.
In 1800, the secession fever gradu
ally and inevitably nose in every
nook and comer of the * Palmetto
State, and old “Barnwell Diatrict”
was up to blood-heat in her advocacy
of a speedy withdrawal from the
Union. Our people believed (at they
still do) that a State had the right to
secede; and furthermore, that such a
right might and would Ik* exercised
peaceably.
Moreover, many doubtless had
come to set* that separate and itale-
pendent States, some maintaining
slaves and others vociferously and bit
terly condemning it. could not dwell
aether in unity or be loyal t.. th«
same government. Abraham Lincoln
remarked, in substance, that a real
Union of States, where it consisted
of both slavt holding and non-slave
holding bodies, could not exist. . The
South certainly saw this to be true
Their view of the best settlement of
difficulties was for the slave-holding
States to “secede” and build up a
government of their own. Alwlition-
ists contended that slavery must U*
abandoned and the Union perpetuated
«*n a non-slavery basis. Normally, at
1»est. we all now know that their con
tent icn was sustained by the decision
of arms, carnage, and blood. Most
of us, if not all of us. now’ feel recon
ciled to the rc-union of tho North and
South under the same nat.ona! flag.
The sincerely and loyalty of the
South m having “accepted the situa
tion" can no longer be truthfully dis
puted. A living pri»of of the fact is
found in the attitude of Southern
young men under our national stand
ard. on the cactus fields of Santiago,
I89S, and in the Argonnt* Forest and
along the Hinder.burg Line, liHS.
The most ardent Pacifist among us,
no matter how conscientiously and
rightfully opposed to war can fail to
see the present South’s honest alleg
iance to the General Government.
Hut 1 am here perhaps anticipating,
by allusions that can be more appro-
' priately made in some later chapter
. of my reminiscences. And so, I re
turn to the task of some brief refer
ences to my observation and experi
ences as a boy in the years I860 and
1861.
As the Secession conviction and
purpose more and more firmly grip-
„ ped the Southern minds and hearts,
1860, there coul^ be seen all over
Barnwell District a class # known as
“Minute Men,” wearing beautiful
rosettes on the lapels of their coats,
indicative of the spirit of readiness
for military service in defence of
Southern rights, no matter what turn
things might take The rosettes re
ferred to consisted* of -silk ribbon of
various colors, wrought into a rose
like shape, to which was fastened a
bright, glittering brass button show
ing on its front a perfect palmetto
tree with the conspicious and legible
words engraved on it: “Animis Op-
ibusque Parati.” This was the
State's motto (“coat of Arms”) * in
Latin, and signified, “Ready In Mind
And Means.”
The first class (Animis .... Par-
ati”) contained more truth than the
>econd part (“Opibusque ^Parati”),
For, although the Southern spirit
to the emergency, our lack
^oTmean^twiwrSnnSSaffy^elBH"
wore ourselves out, whipping them.”
It has been said that, taking the
Army of Northern Virginia as an il
lustration, Gen. Lee fought some
fifty great battles, and excepting the
two of Sharpsburg and Gettysburg,
he either held his battleground or
drove a retreating foe in haste from
it, every time. (Appomattox, of
course, came in as third.) ,
And yet,- for lack of men and
means, Lee’s Army, Johnston’s and
others, ultimately had to succumb.
It was true of us in a senseis Pat,
the Irishman, remarked concerning
himself during a fight in the West:
/T am not whipped, nor am I demoral
ized; but I am badly scattered.”
At bong Branch Baptist Church
during the Barnwell Baptist Asso
ciation, Nbv. 1860, I, a boy just 13,
saw men present, young and middle
aged, wearing the pretty rosettes to
mehV+which allusion is made above. And
Columbia,Dec. 20—Governor Cooper
today set aside Monday January 3rd.
as “cotton acreage reduction day” in
South Carolina. In doing so he issued
a statement in which he declared that
— 4
it is “ineumbent upon the cotton
states to take intelligent cognizance
of the situation with reference to raw
cotton and see to it that the market
does not refnain glutted throughout
another seasoh.” ’ '
-In calling upon the South Carolin-
A Pair of Shoes
B* RALPH HAMILTON
of course, “we little boys”, all wished
we could each wear one. Some boys
fi^k that even they Were ready to
fight, though not knowing what a real
war meant, and not yet knowing ,how'
to translate the I^atin on the palmet
to buttons. I stood out by the well
just back of Long Branch Church
Building, and heard Col. Darlington,
now of Allendale, translate . for his J
hearers the words which were at that
time of my life beyond the reach of
my youthful comprehensibility. (See
Webster’s great old blue^ back spel
ling hook—one of the Iwst ever made
—for this big word and others of a
kindred orthography I.
the "mpoediwg spirit’l-of uUl,
(©, 1920, W«st«rn Newspaper Union.) *
She was a creature of warm, sympa
thetic and generous impulses; although
the charity she extended was un
demonstrative and her acts of kindli
ness hidden from gublic view as far
as possible. It was at a revival meet
ing In the slums, whither Norma Lunt
had accompanied her brother, a clergy
man/tp, play the organ for the occa
sion that one of her impetuous exhibi
tions of good heartedness material
ized, and the object of her liberality
was a poorly dressed girl of her own
age, w’ho had come into, the hall half
perished with the cold.
Norma noted her thin and thread
bare garb and most of all the broken,
snow-clogged shoes. A pitying emo
tion induced her to quietly remove to
a seat near the girl. As quietly she
removed her own well kept shoes un
noticed, placed them on the floor and
whispered to the other:
‘‘Before you go out again put on
these comfortable shoes—they are for
you. Keep up a brave heart, dear. You
look like a good girl and if you wMIl
give me your address. I will see you
again.”
So the wondering, but delighted girl
named a tenement location and had no
Idea that Norma, when she left the
place later, did so in her stocking feet.
Norma was infused with a thrilling
spirit of self sacrifice and heroism that
sustained her, but was laid up with the
effects of her exposure for a full
month afterward. The Incident got
Into the papers and her name ap
peared in connection with it. When
she was recovered and went to search
for Alice Lull, she found she had
moved aw^y from the tenement where
she had formerly lived.
In the course of a few months Nor
ma’s brother broke down in health and
mm* offered a 4»oiwe on a ranch in New
Barnwell fOon became dominant, she
“rhiindgi in” with other sections of
the State, and in spite of the* remon-
stancc and feeble resistance of just a
few of our conservative statesmen and
citizens. “The Secession Convention”
soon assembled in Columbia, in the
First Baptist Church Building.
Small pox I have been told, in the
Capitol City, cauasd an adjournment
fur a subsequent meeting in Charles
ton wherein the “Ordinance i of Se
cession” was passed in Dec. I860,
signed at once by those whose names
may be found attached thereto on the
marble monument (slabI to lie seen
in the State House at Columbia. S.
C. I have gazed at it, time and again,
with mingled feelings of a blended
romp!* non I once saw, at Union, S.
C., in the home of Mrs. Arthur, the
table on which that “Secession Or
dinance*’ lay. when the name* of its
“Signers’’ were appended. In seeing
IHdh the Talde of white marble in
our State House and this historic
Table. I. a« an old ex-Confederate.
somehow or other, ran not restrain
an emotion that exclaims: “Loved
And laimented.’’ I have never felt
that I was ever u “nebel.” ami I do
not yet grunt that such an accusation
tail Ite truthfully and constitution
ally” substantiated. But if it ever
doe* so turn out. 1 am sure there will
he room left for repentance and har-
M Lrt Southern Hrstormns “Hew
to the line, and the chips full as they
may.”
In January’ 1861, not many days
after South Carolina seceded, I went
to Barnwell (\ H. on salcsday. A tall
flag pole stood aloft on the “Public
Square” and a pretty flag floated in
the air. Emblazoned on it. I could
read, at quite a distance from it.
these incissive words, in large let
ters: “Cotton Is King.”
(Moȣ Anon.)
♦ ♦ ♦
Acreage Reduction Day
Mexico by an old friend of his dead
father. Gerald wept thither accom
panied by Norms, whose life had been
always linked closely with his own.
The old cattle raiser prepared for
them a little cottage with attractive
floral surroundings, and saw to it that
they lived something more than com
fortably. Ills hostness was an exten
sive one and there was some bookkeep
ing to do. which Norma attended to
and received for this service a small,
hut regular recompense. Gerald had
been advised to give up his profession,
as his voice had failed him. He took
to writing books, hut with Indifferent
svccc**. The returns from the same
• ere spasmodic. He was very much
discouraged when one day he received
a visit from Ids publisher.
“Lunt.” lie said, “you were born am)
brought up In the South. I have a
client with money who wishes to have
a aeries of books written about that
section. He has outlined six of these
and all yon have to do Is to HU In the
plot and details. You are to In* paid
luo thousand dollars a hook, and If
they lake yon will receive fifty per
cent of th# profits, lie doe* not wish
to appear as the author at all, but
l»elict«»* he knows the literary tastes
of hi* possible reading clientele and
that the tHioks will make a good hit
and turn out a profitable speculation.”
It was wonderful how Gem Id Lunt
braced up after two volumes had been
puhIDhcd and his reputation was made
and ii go4»tf Income guaranteed. It
wiim when he was fully rejuvenated in
■■plrii. umi liculth that a lively young
lady. Alice Trevor, beeame a summer
boarder at the home of a neighbor.
From the first Nonna racked liej*
memory to get an inkling of where she
had seen that charming face before,
but she could not solve the question
and nothing that Miss Trevor said en
couraged her. They became close
friends-and Gerald Lunt for the first
time In his Life was attracted by a
member of the op»*osite sex.*-.
Miss Trevor grew to so like Nonna
that site protracted her stay. The lat
ter was glad to notice the interest her
brother took In the young lady, for
she seemed to be ids equal In culture
and education. It was given out gen
erally that she was quite wealthy,
through an inheritance from a father
by adoption. *•
“We are , engaged, Norma,” an
nounced Gerald in his quiet, even
tones one day. “Alice wishes to see
you particularly about it-this after
noon. Will you go and see her dear?”
“Certainly, and with the heartiest
congratulations,” replied Norma warm
ly. “I shall welcome her as a sister
and 1 know she will make you happy.”
A fluttering emotion pervaded the
her In
ians t fi HevaTT their best thought on-l '<>vely Alice as ixorma fiaspco
January 3rd. to meeting the situation
which at present they find themselves
in, the governor was complying with
a request made by the South Caroirna---rooiu. Then she drew a mahogany
J
t
5
z
said:
“I have a great deal to tell you,” and
she closed and locked the door of her
Division of the American Cotton
Association. Similar actiqn has been
taken by the governors of the other
cotton growing states of the nation.
- -
case from the wardrobe and opened its
cover. Within reposed a pair of shoesr-
In wonder Norma stared.
A
“You do not recall them, or myself?”
questioned Miss Trevor. “I am the
Alice Lull who received those from you
at the darkest hour of my life, and
your kindness and the golden words of
MANYPEOPLE THINK THAT IS
WHERE BUSINESS HAS GONE-AND
SOME FEW WOULD PROBABLY BE
WILLING TO GO THERE AFTER IT.
HOWEVER, THAT’S NOT NECESSARY.
« *
JUDICIOUS ADVERTISING WILL’ DIS
PEL THE BLUEDEVIL OF HARD
TIMES AND MAKE THIS OLD WORLD
SEEM LIKE A PARADISE ONCE MORE.
YOU HAVE THE GOODS TO SELL-
• *
WE HAVE THE MEANS BY WHICH
YOU CAN GET YOUR MESSAGE BE-
FORE THE BUYING PUBLIC AT A
MINIMUM OF COST.
* - * * #-
COME IN AND LET’S TALK IT OVER
OR PHONE NUMBER 89 AND A REP-
.. _ ____ \ _ ^ . * , i
RESENTATIVE WILL CALL ON YOU.
Mr. Clyde Sterling Vickery of this ]
city and Miss Lucille Bennett,—of ]
Dunbarton, were cpiietly married on : y 0ur i3 ro ,j, er sa ved me from sinking
\\ ednesday afternoon, December 15, | utterly under poverty and discourage-
at the Methodist parsonage here, the ( ment. A lijtle later I was adopted by
Rev. F. S. Qlennan officiating. Only ' n rich relative under ray present name,
a few relative* a«4 friends of ..the 1 R I* J "ho have encouraged the en-
contracting parties were present at °f Jiooks written by Oer-
the ceremony. * ld * 0h! DlJ t, * ar ’ lnve ,OT * m< *’
our final diacomfiture. A» thf “boy*
long rt#nshed memory of both of you.
Barnwell.
in gray” would always have
t
ft. Send L s \ our Job Work# m y t* hi* rLo»oo bride.** * ;
» »-i - i # * « . f '