The ledger. [volume] (Gaffney City, S.C.) 1896-1907, November 28, 1895, Image 2
THE WEEKLY LEDGER: GAFFNEY, 8. 0., NOVEMBER £8, 1898.
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[Copyright, 1895, by American Press Association.]
In the pleasant days when we went to school
We read, m ;i well worn history hook,
How, restless under a despot’s rule,
A hand of pilgrims their land forsook,
And, crossing a wide, mysterious main
To a country strange and little known.
Began, with hardship and toil and pain,
The home and nation we call our own.
The tale rehearsed how they strove with fate,
They and their meek and patient wives,
And rose up early and labored late
To keep and comfort their lonely lives.
They felled the forests with fire and ax,
They dug and planted the rugged soil
And faced denials, and pinching lacks,
And constant danger, and ceaseless toil.
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For Nature met them with jealous mood.
She gave scant welcome to human schemes
Which tore the shade from her solitude,
And rent the forests, and dammed the streams.
Her Indian children had never dared
To spoil her shrines and to thwart her will—
The red man’s life was her own and shared,
Without a question, her good and ill.
With few of the helps we know today
To yield relief as the seasons rolled,
They paid the price that she bade them pay—
They gasped with heat, and they shook with
cold.
The ills she sent them they grimly boro,
Yet none the less did that stubborn band
Hold fast to the stern, unpityiug shore
Whereon their vessel had chanced to land.
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One summer fiercely and long the snu
Had parched their gardens and scorched their
grain,
And days and weeks It ad gone on and on
With n r or a sprinkle of saving rain.
The heat drunk greedily all the springs
And dried the wheat ore the ears were filled;
It withered the corn to ye r \v strings,
And all the tenderer cro A « were killed.
And strongest spirits grew faint indeed,
Foreseeing nothing but want and woe,
Wasting hunger, and bitfbi need,
And aetnal famine with winter’s snow.
The preachers doubled their sermons’ length
And droned long chapters and prayed and
prayed,
Yet, sp te of their faith’s persistent strength,
Was every man of them sore afraid.
Bnt when their courage was almost gone,
So deaf seemed heaven to their prayers and
pain,
A cloud arose in the sky at dawn,
Dark and heavy wi*h pr noised rain.
And when poured plcutcously down at last
The crystal blessing denied so long
They changed the day from a gloomy fast
Into a service of joy and song.
«
And ever after their children, too.
And their children's children after them,
With love and gratitude ever new,
Set one day separate, like a gem
Of purer luster than all the rest
In the golden round of the year of days,
When all might offer, as one, their best
Of true Thanksgiving and humble praise.
So let no spirit, though far apart
From happv fortune its path may stray,
Refuse to honor, with vo ; ce and heart,
The dear tradition we ceep today.
For never a soul in all the earth,
In hut or palace, in any clime,
But has some blessing or comfort worth
The giving thanks at this joyful time.
We who are happy, whose lot is crowned
With every favor that life can bring,
How can we '*il, as the day conies round,
To offer thanks, to rejoice and sing?
We who are wretched, whose days are dark,
Void of all that can bless or cheer.
May still be glad, as its dawn we mark,
That rest and freedom are almost here.
For grain bins brimming with amber wheat,
And all the riches of harvest born;
For laden hives, with their burden sweet;
For heaps of fruits and for golden corn;
For bursting cotton and wanning fleece;
For bleating flocks and for mi iky herds;
For home, for comfort, for thrift, for peace,
For kindly hands and for loving words;
For all the gifts of the teeming earth;
For every blessing the antunm sends;
For love, for pleasure, for tears, for mirth,
For faithful hearts and for loyal friends;
For household circles still fond and whole,
Let every one in his own best way,
With grateful thought and with humble soul,
Yield thanksgiving and praise today t
A SOLDIER’S
THANKSGIVING.
BT LIEUTENANT TRIGO.
[Copyright, 1895, by American Press Assoeia-
ion.l
We started to dig our way out of the
}-ison peu at Salisbury, N. C., on the
L’d day of August, IMC.’J. There were five
of ns, all of whom had been captured at
tho mmo time, and wo reached tho pris
on in May.
In all prison jxe.; tho inmates paired
off at least, and in many instances four,
fivo or rix men formed n r.ort of close
corporation. All clothing, blankets,
money and other articles went into a
common fund, and the n en shared alike
in tho comforts and discomforts. It so
happened that none of ns was despoiled
when captured, and on entering tho
gates of Salisbury we had (GO in car 1 ),
each a good blanket and a full uniform,
and wo were thus enabled to live in far
greater comfort than tho great majority.
Wo had a choice of ground on which to
pitch our tent, and having an eye to a
tunnel we got ns near tho dead lino and
tho fence as possible. The distance to
tho dead line was G feet and to the
fence about 23.
Up to this time a score of prisoners
bad escaped by means of tunnels, and
dozens of tunnels had been discovered
while being dug. Tho Confederates en
tered the peu almost daily through the
mouths of June, July, August and Sep
tember and made a close search for dig
gers. Such vigilance acted to discourage
the prisoners, and I believe onr tunnel
was the only one begun in tbe month of
October. Onr tent was a roomy one,
and wo began operations, sinking a
shaft five feet deep and largo enough to
allow a man to work in. This hole was
in the middle of our tent, and when not
in use was covered with four sticks and
a blanket. All the dirt was carried
away in our pockets and flung into
abandoned wells or scattered over the
ground. A spoon, the two halves of a
canteen and the handles of a skillet
were our tools for digging. As wo had
noticed that every visit of the searchers
was made in the afternoon or evening
we began and prosecuted our work in
the forenoon. After a couple of weeks
soma digging was made after 10 o’clock
at night, but wo never felt safe while
thus engaged. When the tunnel proper
was begun, two men were working at
tho same time below ground. A third
stood watch at tho door, and the fourth
and fifth carried away tho dirt.
The tunnel was three feet below the
surface and but a trifle larger than a
man’s body. The digger had to pnll
himself in by using his elbows, and be
drew after him a tin basin and a string.
The dirt was placed in tbe basin and
Irawn oat by the man in the shaft.
Crawling into a hollow log is fun com
pared to wriggling in and out of such a
tunnel. Tho body shots out all the air,
the place is stifling hot, and after half
an hour’s work the strongest man is used
up.
When our tunnel had reached tbe
fence, we had to go down four feet to
work under the ends of the logs, and the
air became so foul that we made but
alow headway and some days did uot
work at all We had planned to run the
tunnel close to tbe dispensary, and after
passing the fence the digging became
easier, bnt delay from one cause or an
other prevented tbe completion of our
enterprise until tbe 20th of November.
At noon of that date we had dug our
full distance and had only to break
through a foot of crust to be in the open
air outside tbe fence. We must wait for
night, of course. The weather was fine,
with a promise of a starlight night, bnt
during the afternoon we made all our
arrangements to go Twice daring the
afternoon alarms were given that search
ing parties were coming in, bnt they
proved to be false. Night finally came
with our plan undetected, and about 8
o’clock the first of the five entered the
tunnel, crept to the far end and broke
through the crust. We bad dug within
13 inches of tbe wall of the dispensary.
Tbe building was used os sleeping quar
ters for two or three men couuected with
the hospital department, and as we pass
ed out of the tunnel in turn each of us
heard them talking and moving about.
Each man crept away to the left, climb
ed over a fence and followed it for 20
rods, and then made for a certain tree
which could be seen from the stockade
and which had been agreed upon as the
rendezvous. We encountered uo guards
and raised no alarm, and within half an
hour from the time the first man enter
ed the tunnel the five of us were gath
ered under the tree.
We traveled all night, with only
brief stops for rest, and when daylight
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highway cu
countering
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of any rort.
quii t a n-.r i <1}'
ed. At fir.-M l;
ft ot, ami insjc;
ho n cugnhv 1
which 1 am :
to snrrcink'i
hand. Uo v
than 20 ye;.:'
fc'ildh'i' 11'lnniucd
a pistol wi:h limit w;i a fo.nliardy
tiling for I.': i t M/i. 1. a laravo
heart in him, ho ai :t\l n j impal e. Tho
idea with ill if ri v.n ; th t wo had
bl.uidmvl upon a party < x" i oMYr.i m at
om, in r :uih, ixud uo u:m l.r. .i tudto
u.so hi i club.
It was only after t’-o yr,m:g roldier
had polio down under onr h: ivw; that
wo fonjid l.o v .-.a a.l no an l m:.r nod.
Two n on I f.; d up hi i 1 dy mid boro it
into a thicket aero.-; thon. 11, and when
at a safe di; t.-iieo v.e c.v.iiui.m d hii-i in
juries and did all that v.; \. . .b!e un
der tho circuim. tant'o; lx r. \ vs him.
Sumo uf tho blows had fiat .nod his
skull, ami at tho oud i f two hours he
was dead. When 1 toll yon that wo wore
sorely grieved over tho matter, I d > not
half express cur feelings. In ono r.nso
wo had tho moral and legal right to at
tack him and defend camdvcs, but wIkj
we saw him lying dead wc could not
help but feel that there was innocent
blood on our hands. On an envelope in
his pocket was his name, Gcorgo Wil
liamson, and ho also had with h m a ten
days’ furlough, granted by the com
mander of tho post at Salisbury nine
days before. Ho was ono i f tho guards
at tho prison pen, then, and hod boon
homo on a furlough and was making
his way back.
We found a spot where a treo had
been overturned and buried the body as
well as wo could, and during the re
mainder of tho day no ono seemed to
think of food. As night camo we started
on again, but wc had uot made a dis-
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BE SPRANG TO FI IS FEET.
tance of ten miles when a comrade
named Clark caught his foot and twist
ed bis ankle in a way to render him per
fectly helpless. Theie was no thought of
going on without him. After scouting
around and finding that we were in the
woods half a mile from the highway
and at least a mile from any cleared
field, we erected a rude shelter and pre
pared to wait until Clark could proceed
with us. The next day wo got some corn
from a field two miles away and parch
ed it over a small fire, and later on we
captured several opossums, killed a pig,
which was running wild, and knocked
over and devoured three or four crows
-md pronouuced them excellent eating.
Thanksgiving day found us still there,
though Clark was getting .the better of
his injury, and we hoped to make a start
next morning. Our dinner was ready at
3 o’clock in the afternoon and consisted
of a roasted crow, three sweet potatoes
and a cake made of meal and water.
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came we judged that wo hud made a
good 25 miles. Wo had followed the
mill off, but without i u-
any cue, and a; tho day
broke wo sought tho eover of a thicket
and lay down to re t and rkop. It was
af; or noon befero any ono awoke, and
thon the first move v, no (o look for
water. Wo scon found that, and thou
tho question of food camo up. Keeping
all together, wo moved to t'.o wo t,
knowing that we should come t i a plon-
tatiou sooner or 1 her. Tho best wo
could do in tho \ .y i f wo ; .n.i wm for
each man to arm himself \vi h a club.
The higdiway was on onr 1 ft as wo
wont forward, ami wo hud |>:Meiv i. 1
for about a mi lo when web out of
the cover of athichit and 1 ...ml our
selves upon tho road, which took a
tnrn thero to avoid a hill. It w;;.; only
a narrow ron 1, and a e mplo of jumps
would have given us cover i :i iho other
side, bnt as wo left the bushes wo ennio
face to face with a soidier in Confeder
ate uniform. II > was skiing Gown on a
stone to rest ai. 1 was without wcanuns
d the
won 1 ! .vo 1 i avoid-
lit i f us he sprang' to bis
lead i f in ui';; a way when
i u i a i c an'd p. b oners,
i ho did, ho cal 1 on us
and seined a mini with each
...-i only a b y, I ng less
s old, and not ha. in r even
The meal had been stolen from a negro
shanty three miles away during the pre
vious aftemoon. Perhaps “taken” would
bo the better term, as ono of the men
went to tho shanty to beg for something
and found no ono at home.
The five cf ns sat in a circle ea'ing
this Thanksgiving dinner when a stran
ger suddenly appeared among us. That
ho was a native could bo told at u glance,
and that he was the owner of tho ueare.-t
farm on the west wo soon ascertained.
Eo was out hunting, and had been led
to us by his dog. Ho knew in a moment
that wo were Union soldiers who had
“cat stick,” and ho must Lave been cog
nizant c;f the fact that there was a stand
ing reward of £50 for tho capture of any
prisoner seeking to make his e.-capo.
For a long time uo one spoke. The man
THANKSGIVING.
Thank yivbig ia
all with them. ■
such a d::y it i.; G a
American.'. Thmii:
as much iiiA ■;. ib
ly, wit hi. sf. r; ■!
with it:, be];,:,
place in which
joyed to ibs full;',
are people who
without its o. n
Smallest bind f
seem absurd to
day which fills US
: r turkey, and as
! ) tbe hearts of all
vina doesn’t make
i the Fourth of Ju-
r: !: : or as Christmas,
The country is the only
ihanh yivingmaybeen-
stext ; , although there
ci iim that it is uot
p i uliar charm in the
a fiat. At first it may
tho s
lit of human
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“WILL YOU GIVE US YOUR NAME?”
leaned on his rifle and looked down on
us, and as wo gazed at him each one of
ns felt that we were helpless. By and
by 1 o queried:
“Any one of yo’ bin sick?”
Wo told him that Clark had sprained
his ankle, and that wc had been camped
there for several days.
“Heaps o’ soldiers bin lookin out fur
yo’,” ho said, “and it’s a wonder yo’
dodged ’em. Do yo’ know what day
’tis?”
“Yes. Thanksgiving.”
“And is that yo’r d.nner?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I reckon I kin do better than
that fur yo’. Jist stop right yere and
don’t be anxious, and I’ll bring yo’
some grub from tho house.”
He was gone before we could question
him. Wo believed that he had gone for
help instead of food, but if wc started
off wo could uot hope to evade pursuit
with Claik as a burden on us. We talk
ed it over and concluded that it might
as well be surrender without on effort,
aud wo were feeling gloomy enough
when the n an returned. To our surprise
bo was alone and had a basket on his
arm and a jug in his baud. The basket
contained meat, bread, pickles, pie and
other good things, and the juc held
cider. Ho placed them before us and
said:
“Beys, I don’t know who yo’ are. I
shall never own np that I ever saw yo’.
Tho s’arch fur yo’ is now about over,
aud I reckon yo’d better move slowly on
by tomorrer. ”
“But why do yon do this for an ene
my?” was asked.
“I hev uo enemies on Thanksgiving
day!” he replied ns he uncovered his
head. “Besides I’ve got a son who is a
soldier. War’ he in tho hands of b ; s
enemies on this day I should hope fur
them to treat him as I treat yo’. “
“Will you give ns your name?”
"James Williamson, aud my boy ar’
named Geoigel He was home on fur
lough a few days ago, but 1ms gone buck
to the prison pen. I shan’t see yo’ agin.
Jest leave the basket and jug alougside
the tree, aud I’ll get ’em tomorrer. Good
luck to yo’. ”
We sat there staring iuto each other’s
faces aud never thanked him nor said
goodby. We could uot speal: for several
minutes after the souud of hib .‘ootsteps
had died out of our ears. It was his son
—his soldier boy—we had encountered
on tho highway and killed—his sou ly
ing dead in a shallow grave in the for
est a few miles away! We had slain his
only child perhaps, and he repaid us
with food and succor and kind words!
No man touched food or driuk. No man
felt hunger or tbirstl We sat there for
an hour, silent and conscience stricken
aud even tearful, aud then we got up
aud moved away on our journey and
made no halt for miles and miles. Long
weeks after that two ragged, starving
and wounded Union prisoners entered
the Federal lines in Tennessee, but onij
two. The other three of our party, were
dead ou the mountains or in the valley
—dead without burial Fate bad de
manded three Uvea for one.
affairs that a 1 > p aid t .rkey should be
able to perform v fit .■ laaximum grace
in a £13 fiat. Bm tfi i.: t is not a mys
tery when wo come to look it squarely
in the face and m t it with tho mental
dissecting knife. It i lioc anso these flat
dwellers enjoy immy Thanksgivings in
the turkey of the piv-ent.
After the head of tho family has gone
to the table alone to il<> the carving, be
cause ho would n . have sufficient elbow
room if the family were congregated
about him, they t it down and dream of
tho turkey, of ti e past when they were
out on tho farm 1 iking across dreamy
vistas of nestling- landscape, punctuated
by the scam-row shivering in his straw
hat and 1 uni duster, to iet the world
know that sumnu r was a thing of the
past. A.d .‘ till they fancy they see thil
old scam row standing among the com-
Etaeks, with the wind blowing through
his whiskers. They see him right over
there on tho fire c.-cape of tho neighbor
ing fiat, for all the fiat scape to them il
a large area of farm land nestling with
red leafed trees and mortgages that can
not bo raised hy hand and are not self
raising like the flour raised upon it. *•
It ha s Ircm.h.t with it pleasant mem
ories which cover a period of 80 yean.
It only goes back to lust March in the
flesh, but it carries the man back to the
timowln n lie slept I ke a top ou a corn-
husk mattress mid am o in the early
morn to gat her Hie steaming pancake OH
the fly, 'll K >. r& omimed-thftt he
would ever have to gather the matut
lior: o ear on tho fly. It takes him
to tho old game of shinucy, and __
buck to him faces that had longainoe
faded in m hi; memory. Out in tbecrisp
chilly air he shunts, “Shiuuey on your
own side!” as of old, and hears the
yelping of the hound, shining like pat
ent leather with enthusiasm, and is
stirred once more ly the ripping whin of
the (lushed partrdye, and the reverber
ating bang of tho sportsman’s gnn, that
Bounds so sva tin tho aisles of the si
lent forest. Mo v. Ill not wake from this
pleasant dream of past happiness until "
the morrow, fur then the turkey will be
cold, and the Mgs of fancy’s fireside,
will have been icduced to white ashes X
to stir fitfully in tho vagrant gustoC
wind, liven when iho turkey’s shining
carcass has 1 eon chopped up to be util
ized as the 1 .t o of nil economic soup, the
reminiscent charm will have vanished
gracefully, like a £10 bTl at a seaside *
resort, for tl.o turkey, like love, is never' fi
itself again when unco it’s cold. Its feet X
are on the ash heap aud will strntX
about no more. Its head, with its greet
Dundreary whiskers of flam Tig red, will. *
no more v.arbio in the rosy kiss 0#
dawn and fill the beholder with rosy
anticipating cf the jocund feast Its
work is done, and its days are past, and
now the family, so well begrimed with
gravy to tlm very ryes, sit aud regard
one another in silent joy. The smaller
members will have to t:ik»n bath to get
the turkiy off tinny. But the victory is
theirs,, as they sit in the city flat filled
with visions of ecstasy aud break the
magic wishbone and wish that everyone
from tho Ii gl.e t to the lowest has had
just so in; rry aud glad a ThanksgivingM
has fallen to their happy lot
R. K Muxkittrick.
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The True Tliaulintfivlug Spirit,
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Justice Finch am—If your bands eonld
talk, Sam, don’t yon suppose they oouM
tell who took that turkey?
8am—Don’ b’lieve they eonld,
’cause 1 bTicvrs dat de true spirit Qfe
riianksgivin time is nchhcr to let de
right hand know what do lef*
doia