University of South Carolina Libraries
VOL. XVI. LAURENS S. C WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 1901. NQ "LEE, THE PRINCE OF CHIVALRY." A Splendid Tribute to the Conled< rate Dead by a Native of Greenville County The following address was delivered in Atlanta on lllo2GtU of April by .Janu s W. Austin, Esq., a native of Greenville County, ami the oldest son of Dr. \V. II. Austin, oi ' Walkersville. Mr. Austin is one of tho leading law)018 of At lanta, and as (ho orator on Memorial Day he has acquitted himself with great credit. The address was heard by several thousand people, and is as follows : My bYicnds- The minstrel of the ancient days who told m song ami story of llie Trojan war sings of a PCOIIO where I'antlaius, an aged councillor Ol Troy,standing with Urcstldn, his niece, upon the city's eastern battlements, looks down on l'nain's legions coming back in untamed splendor from tlw Daidan plain wlicrcou they had met in equal combat with the haughty Greek, and as the serried hosts return and each successive phnlaux liles within ilie gate, points out to her the Trojan heroes as they pass. Fust comes the brave Aeneas, commander of the host, the very front and llower of Troy, and next Auteuor, second in comni; nd, a Warrioi shrewd in tactics and rinow i ed, and after him, great Tuani's war like and illustrious sons?there the hold Hector with Iii-* helmet hacked and battered from the blows of Agamem? lion's hosts, and then the wanton j Paris, Ilelcnus next, aud now Dclpho hus?and us each ptince of l'nain's royal blood lilcs into view, I'andarus calls his mime out to his niece and , rapidly recounts fie style of man he is. ( Like wave on wave, the columns pass, , aud Paudarus shades his eyes and looks j out on the plain intently and more , steadfastly. There is one sou of Priam I not yet come, the llowei of Ilium's | brave. Has noble Troilus fallen in the fray ? The old man's heart sinks as his restless eyes searches the mov ing mass in vain. ])ut look! lie starts! u flash of joy lights ul> his shaggy brow, ami quickly turning to his niece, his hand uplifted to his ear?" Hark! do you not hoar the people cry 4 Troilus?' " And as that names rings und re-echoes from teu thousand throats, the rear guard of the army comes in view with Troilus at its head. Then does the old man's pent-up feeling lind its vent and as his idol and great Ilium's pride with war like tread eonies on, PandnfUS erics to Crcssida: "Yonder! 'tis Troilus, hravc Troilus, the prince of chivalry ! Look well upon hun, niece. Look how his sword is bloodied and his helm more hacked than Hector's and how he looks and how he goes." And as the gallant Troilus noes P**t aud outers in the gate, and other warriors come on, the old man turns away and'wilh a gesture pregnant of his scorn cries out: "The eagle's gone !" and tnen descends the wull. Today, my countrymen I ask you for a spaeo to mount with me on fancy's airy wing, and from imagination's vantage ground, look down upon the highway of the years while 1 point out, lik' Pandarus from the Trojan wall the heroes of the limes gone by, as in review they pass before the sub tle vision of the mind. And tirfil among earth's valiant and immortal sons I call on you to turn and look upon that Spartan band that comes before our gaze, moving with rueasuied and unbroken step, their javelins high in air, and brave Leonidas at their front. Silent and grim and noiselessly they pass while deathless valor aits enslamped on every tirtn set face. They move beyond our ken, they disappear, we hear the thunder of the ages peal?" Thermopylae 1" And fast 09 Sparta's failing ranks there comes another ami a greater host and at its head upon his fleet-limbed horte Bucephalus, the stain '-t and puiBsant prince of .Maccdon, in regal splendor rides. The conqueror of his age, proud Hellas' champion, there goes by. Mark with what majesty the haughty Alexander leads his serried ranks nu conscious of li;- prowess of that mighty arm that laid the whole world w^ste. With all the pomp ami panoply of war, be passes on, and now is lost to view. And aftei him, anoth er cavalcade comes on. We see the dust whirl upward from the plain, and hear the rumbling of the solid earth as trembling from the iread of an un numbered host. Nearer they come? the dust clouds rolling hack?behold! the Hornau eagles flash their burnished wingtJ, and Caesar's legions sweep by in all the splendid pageaut of viclorous war. We bear the trumpets sound, and like great Mars himself, the con queror of the Nervii th'jndera past, guiding w Ith dauntless hand the plung tag steeds of his trir/apbal car, while fast behind his v iriot wheel* the countless Stauda' f imperial Rome tiaiue out in > it and unending line. The din c ^'s receding ranks grows fain*, . m the distance dies away, and now a sound of martial music, loud and clear, sends other echoes (lying, and signals the near ap proach of yet another host. With rylbmic swing and measured (ramp Ibe ranguard of the advancing columns comes in view, and at us front wc see the Hag of modern France flame on the way. The flag, that !lew defiant over Egypt's burning sands beside the ancient Pyramids, and high above the clouds, shone like a stur, from dizzy Alpine heights?thai like a bird of prey ?wept down Cif?nlpine slopes, laid waste the citron grove* and peaceful vales of Italy, and (lapped its wings against the lurid glare of Moscow's flauie-oncircled walls, leads on the army of .Napoleon now passing in review. Ah ! what a spectacle as that magnificent array goes by! Thcie pisses on tho dash ing squadions of that son of Mars, the peerless Ney, and Kellermann, Mural and Souit, Orauchy, l.cfcvro and I other corps commanders of that splen did host move by, each holding as he rides tho coveted baton of a marshal of pioud France and the army of the emperor. Corps after corps goes past, and now the liguro of Napoleon looms up before our view. Tho mighty Corsican?the man of destiny?rides by, sublime and terrible. Tho man of destiny, who, witli un heeding and remorseless hand, un locked the massivo doors of Janus'a temple cl ni d, and Illing them Ppeii ' for a score of years?the mau of de*, liny, who, with thespaik*tof reckless I passion nnd his hot a i billon, kindled 1 the raging fires of universal war, whose crimson glow lit up a mighty coulinent from end to end the man of destiny, at whose approach thrones shook am' i trembled, principalities and p iwers 1 i? II prone and disappeared?the man I of destiny, whose supernatural genius , in the art of war Hashed like the blind M.g lightning's strokes and whose ' dread thunder-roll dismayed, hewilder ! ed and affrighted foe -the man id des liny sweeps, with his mighty army. I past and now i< gone ! His batteries land troops, his long battalions and his Hying squadrous, with all the moving train and enginery of war, go past and and disappear. Sparta, Maccdon ami Koine and modern (Jaul have sent their heroes and their armies past, aud now with quickened palse we wait expectant for another and a last great host, Veterans of the iron cross I can you not hear again the long roll of the drums, the bugles' clnriO I Call that set the long gray lines in motion - "the sled, the mustering squadron forming in the ranks of war?'' Out from the spectral mist that hide? the past, the immortal at my of the South again comes forth and warlike forms the grave has hidden from our view, again take horse; the feel that once trod Dixie's soil, acrain prcs>s down in slump, again InpotUOUS strike spur in uiellled chat gor; the hands that ouco we loved io press our children's heads and fell such louch a holy benediction again reach down and draw iho brightest swords that ever gleamed on bloo<ly battlefield. And on they come?the bullet-ridden, blood-stained (lags, the Hags that fairest hands that sunlight ever kissed wove and holiest tears thai ever dropped from woman's face baptized? "Again unfurled Ihey tly. And llnp their silken bars against the wind, LikeoA^les' win^s against a southern sky." On they come, those moving lines of gray, sons of the proud old South ? from the rice Holds and the cotton and the waving sugar cane, from the mountains and the lowlands, Dixie's warriors come!"' There passes Stuart's cavalry, and Morgan's horse goes by? there Hamilton's dashing legion, Wheeler's swift-riding centaurs, stal wart Forrest's hussars, Bossor's reck less riders and horsemen of Fit/.hugh anil William Henry Lee?all gallop by - and as, with whirl of dust and clat tering of hoof troop ou .troop and squadron after squadron of the (Jon federate horse svecp on, we cry of them as of the Spartan band, " Death less valor sits emtamped on every face." And after them, with roll of drums and colors flying, the serried hues of Southern in 1'untry march past?an in fantry that Caesar's vaunted legions, the army of Prince Conde, the titlest corps led on by Marshal Ney, the flame-swept British squares at Water loo, cannot outrank nor can surpass. The very bulwark and defense of Southern arms, the front, the center, left and right of battle line?their mov ing columns now pass on, brave daunt less bouIm! and there, amidst their moving ranks, come on with measured tramp and teei unfaltering those heroes of unending fame, brave Pickett's gallant men whose whistling lines ol bayonets flashed and gleamed upon the heights at Gettysburg upon that day of wrath w hen they? '? The brave, went down. Without dis>;raee, They leaped to Kuln's red embrace; Thdy only heard Fame's t> anders wake, And nnw the dazzling sunlmist break In smiles on (ilory's bloody faeo." Cavalry and infantry in long lines move by, and now we hear the heavy roll of Dixie's dread artillery?the guns that thundered from an hundred hills and hurled their hail of shot ami shell and rain of fire and death against in vading foe, and riding on hard by tneir lumbering guns we see the martial forms of Feuilleton and Long, and (leorgia's gallant Alexander, brave Pelham, Walker and heroic Latimer pass on?Ah! Latimer, heroic. Lali I mer, who with an arm shot clean away at (iettysburg rode bleeding for an bun dred miles to Harrisenburg, and grim horseman riding on with death?dis mounted, and then, died ! and fast he hind heroic Latimer there comes the bravest soul of that artillery line? Thompson?who on retreat from Pe tersburg to Appomattox, when fight ing at Amelia Springs with broken, mangled, bleeding arm? swept like, a Ilamo to front of charging cavalry? the shattered arm lied to Iiis side, ins bridle reigns between Iiis leolh, ids one good arm holding the saber that he waved aloft, and thus lie led the charge, and thus he died ! Eloquence is dumb before such heroism. The painter's brush will halt, the poet's song die on his Hps, the sounding chords of min strel's harp grow mute before a battle scene like that ! He came from the valley of Virginia und was cousin to our own beloved and gallant s tidier, Colonel W. S. Thomp son, of Atlanta, standing here, vete rans, in your midst today. And still tho great precession passes on ; and now we see delllo before our view the Titans of the armies of tho South, hor generals of tho line?Albert Sidney Johnston, tho Achilles of the Southern host-1, and Joseph 10. Johnston, her QuintUS Eabius Maximus, but greater far than Roman general?tho bravo, and valiant Hraxton Bragg?impetuous Hood, and Stonewall Jackson, peerless aud incomparable?and after them, the other corps Commanders and generals of divisions and brigade, long line of talent militant such an no other army of the world surpassed ; and now, my countrymen, como on the nohlo line of Georgia's warliko sons led by the gal* laut Gordon?tho white scar of battle ll,lining <>n a check that never once grew paid before advancing foe?with Ilardee. Voting ami WolTord, Law ion ami the. binve Barlow, Walker, ('tun ming ami Henry Jackson am] gallant Cobb, who died at Fredericksburg? and countless olhers bravo as they- ? soldiers all, my countrymen, whose names are written in unlading hue upon that scroll where valor's deeds lind everlasting record, ami who have place enduring in the great Pantheon of history where heroes live till lime shall be no more. And now like him who stoud on Troy's embattled walls waiting for son of Priam uo( yet come, so tlo wo scan the plain with eager glance and look with wi Iful and expectant eyes for I hat one son of Dixie not yet come our idol and the old Sooth's pride, tl u old South'* and the new. Call Soldiers such US those gone; past have in one man a head and frout, a chief that t an be worthy of such n unes, such men ? and worthy of such deeds? For an swer, turn, my eouutrvmull, and look un yonder horseman riding near, clad in his simple uniform of gray?three stars upon the collar wreathed with lines of gold, denoting his high rank look on that horseman riding with in comparable grace of Southern cavalier on Traveler?immortal horse, of ;he Confederacy ! whose name, like Co penhagen's and Puccphalus's, linked with his master's, will go down in his lOty?-look Oil that silent horseman, and he will give you answer! Nearer, and nearer yet he rides, and now, my countrym- u. a.- that resplendent figure comes tu . ?!l review, with hand up lifted do I point to him, and as the aged Trojan did ot Troilus shout, I cry Ol him??'Yonder, 'tis Lee! brave Lee, the prince of chivalry 1" " No purer sword led braver band. Nor braver bled for a brighter land, Nor brighter land had a cause so Kranit, Nor cause a etnef like Lee." Veterans of the iron cross, " the eagle's gone." The prince of chivalry shall ride no more. " The eagle's gone," but crows and jackdaws still remain to peek at valor's dust and caw against that glorious courage and re nown their craven spirits never knew nor yet can understand. They tell us that the greatest soldier of Iiis age can have no place within a reunited coun try's hall of fame. Crcsar may seek to grasp a tyrant's crown, ambitious Uon upaile may ruthlessly striko down his country's government, Cromwell's iron baud may drip with blood of England's cavaliers, and drive his king an exile to a foreign shore, and Washington may draw his sword despite his pledged al legiance to an English throne p d hurl war's thuuderbolts against his mother, land, yet Ctesar's marble image stood within the precincts of the Hornau forum, Napoleon's arch of triumph holds lofty place within his country's capital, ami Cromwell's statue stands in state within W estm'liister's con secrated ground, while, higher than the dome of proud Columbia's capilol the towering shaft of Washington majes tically rises up to meet the sun. And still the knightliest soldier of all time can have no place within Columbia's hall of fame. My countrymen, there, is no Parth enon of tireeee, no forum of the Ko rnau capital, no '? place d'honeur " by the Seine, no Westminister Abbey, and no American hall of fame where his heroic statue could not grace the lof tiest niche and bring a nobler lUbtcr to the great company of immortals there enshrined in marble or in bronze. And he can have no place within our hall of fame. He needs it not. There is no hall of honor built by mortal hands whose gilded dome can rise up high enough toward Heaven to compass in the height oi his great fame ! Thank Cod, the hall of fame whcicin his knightly ligure sits enthroned is not inclosed by pillared marble nor by vaulting roof shut in, but holds its everlasting place within the hearts of all who love the great, the brave, the noble, the sublime. liut it is not the nation's voice that speaks the harsh decree, my country men, for, with brightening thought aud hoartl aglow with gratitude do we recall that countless gallant soldiers who once wore the blue with knightly grace and souls magnanimous, un grudgingly chivalric tribute render to our priucttly Lee. On Mich as these, may Heaven's benediction rest, but on the venomod toads who would spit in famy and shame upon his spotless name, may that oblivion he can never know fall on their Hille souls and may lluir little names forever be by id brave men forgotten. When tune shall pass still further on and years grown older, let tho truth shine clearer, then will he come into his own and lank enduring as befits his fame, and when, in later days, the muse of history shall come to sing of him, no hero of the Iliad, nor fabled knight of Arthur'.! splendid court, shall in a nobler song outring ihe music of his name, our Southern prince of chivalry ! And now the day grows dim, and yonder sun on purple hills descending gives token of the coming on of night. Soon will her sable curtains fall 41 on Shiloh'a woods nnd Chickamauga's solitudes," but though night's deepen ing gloom shall wrap the silent bat tlefields, no night shall ever come whose ebon winds can e'er shut out the lluming glory of the matchlcs deeds of those whose deathless fame we on this day commemorate?and never night shall come, whose darken ing shadows can obscure the altar tires of love and memory that burn eternal in our Southern hearts for Dixie's sleeping sons. "I was just talking to Captain Brlllon, who recently arrived hero from South Africa. lie Rays all tho British of ficers look upon I)e Wet as a great joke." u Ah, perhaps that's the reason | they're unahlo to catch on to him."?' Philadelphia Press. CASTOR IA For Infants and Children. The Kind You K&w Always Bought Bsars tin ?ljttt?turesjf I SGROFULfl AND ITS AWFUL HORRORS -CUHED BY Johnston's SarsapariHa QUART BOTTLES. jK. most wonderful curb. A Grand Old Lady Give* Her Experience. Mm. Thankful Orilla Hurt! lives In the beautiful village of Brighton, Livingston Co., Mich. This venerable ami highly respected lady was born in the year 1812, the year of the great war, In Hebron. Washington Co., Novr York. She came to Michigan In 1S40. the year of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too." All her faculties are excellently preserved, and possessing a very re tentive memory, her mind Is full of Interesting reminiscences of her early life, of tho early days of the State of Michigan and the interesting and re markable people she has tuet, and tho stirring events of which she was a wit ness. But nothing In her varied and manifold recollections are more mar velous and worthy of attention than are her expe-lences in the use of JOHNSTON'S SARSAPARILLA. Mrs. Hurd Inherited a tendency and pre disposition to scrofula, that terribly destructive blood taint which has cursed and Is cursing the lives of thousands aud marking thousands more as vic tims of tho death angel. Transmitted from goueratlon to generation, It 1? fouud In neary every faintly in one form or another. It may moke its ap pearance In dreadful running sores, In unsightly swellings In the neck or goitre, or In eruptions of varied forma. Attacking the mucous membrane, It may be known as catarrh In the head, or developing In the lungs It may be, and often la, the prime cause or consumption. Speaking of her case, Mrs. Hurd says: "I was troubled for many years with a bad skin disease. My arms an<] limbs would break out In a mass of sores, discharging yellow matter. My neck began to swell and became very unsightly in appearauce. My body was covered with scrofulous eruptions.. My eyes were also greatly Inflamed and weakened, and they pained me very much. My blood was In a very bad condition and my head ached severely at frequent Interval-, and I hail no appetite. I had sores also In my ears. I i was In a miserable condition, I had tried every remedy that had been recom mended, and doctor after doctor bad failed. *Onc of the best physicians in the state told me I roust die of scrofulous consumption, as Internal abee.sses were beginning to form. I at longth was told of Dr. Johnston, of Detroit, aud his famous SarsapariHa. I tried a bottle, more as an experiment than any thing else, as I had no faith In It, and greatly to my agreeable surprise, I began to grow better. You can be sure I kept on taking lt. I took a great many bottles. But I steadily Improved until I became entirely well. All the sores healed up, all the bad symptoms disappeared. I gained perfect health, and I have never been troubled with eerofula since. Of course an old lady of 88 years Is not a young woman, but I hare had remarkably good health sluce then, and I firmly believe that JOHNSTON'S SARSAPARILLA Is the greatest blood purifier and the best medicine in the wido world, both for scrofula and as a spring medicine." This remarkably interesting old lady dlfl not lok to be more than elxty, and she repeated several times, "I believe my life waB saved by JOHNSTON S SARSAPARILLA." JttHJMIOARr 3Dll.Ut* OOMJPAWY, DHTHOIT, MIOM. For ?ale by The Laurens Drug Co , Laurons. S. C. BXU, ARP REVIEWS A BOOK " A Glance at Current History ?'? He Reads it to His Family. I II is only a little book -a very little book?-that the author has sent to mo, bul a perusal of its pages has im pressed me profoundly and has proved a real comfort in my old age. I have read most of it alojd to my wife and daughters and it has comforted them and established them more dimly in the faith, if that were possible. This book is only 0x8 and contains 1<?0 pages in large print?very large?so that the veterans might read it without glasses or a strain of the optic nerve. Its modest title is ? A dance at Cur rent History," by Colonel .John Cus sons, of Glen Allen, Va. It is the work of a retired Confederate veteran, who is known aud loved by all Virgin, ians and who was grand commander of the grand camp of Virginia Con fed eralo veterans and the intimate friend of Goneral Maury, Dr. Hunter Maguiro, Filzhugh 1-ee and Joseph E. Johnston, This book was written with no selfish motive, neither for profit or fame, nor with any desire of crimination, but ratlier to heal the breach aud at the same time preserve the truth of history and hand it down to our children. There is not a line of malice or revenge within its pages, hut a high-toned, dig nified, conservative appeal to his com rades to uphold the government that is now a nation and at the same time defond the South from any taint upon her honor. It is beautifully written in thoughts thai breathe and words that burn and no man, North or South, can question a statement contained within it. 1 wish thai I was a millionaire. I would place a copy of this hook in the home of every family in the South ami in the hands of every young man, and I would make it a little text-hook of history in every public school. There are only six chapters, each not more than ten mi mics long, but there, is not a wasted sentence nor a paragraph too much. The last chapter is a defense, of the American Indian, for the author was long a frontiersman and lived among them and mingled with them for many years, ami as General Maury said of bun, 41 He has more thoroughly studied the Indian character than any man now living." The lirst chapter is de voted to a review of a United States history recently written and published by Professor Cold win Smith, an Eng lishman, who was for yeais a professor of history in Cornell university ami is now a doctor of canon law in Toronto, Canada. This history is published both in London and New York, and is amazingly popular bolh in England and the North. Il :s intensely veno mous against the South, and especially against Virginia. Now listen for a f?:w moments at some of his historical Utterances taken verbatim from his book. Listen and wonder thai such a hook could find patrons anywhere: ?' South Carolina got her Start by com bining buccaneering with slave, owning and making her por'd a shelter for pirates and corsairs such as Captain Ividd and Blackboard. 44 Georgia was the refuge of the I pauper aud bankrupt. Her lirst settlers I were good for nothings who had failed in trade?a shiftless and lazy set?bul later on some better elements came in ?Highlanders, Moravians and pel* socuted Protestants of Salzburg. 44 The lirst settlers of Virginia were an unpromising lot?lackeys, beggars, broken down gentlemen and tapsters out of a job. To this crew of vaga bonds were afterwards added jailbirds. English convicts were offered their choice between the gallows and Vir ginia, and Bonie were, wise enough to choose the gallows. Even their place of settlement?Jamestown?has long boon a desolation. They were n< t such colonists as the Puritans. They made the Indians work for them, while the Puritans worked for themselves. Many of them were kidnaped from the streets of London and all were of dc praved character. Afterwards came African slavery, the bane of Virginia ami her ultimate ruin. As wero the people so wero their leaders. A chief fomentor of tho quarrel witli England was Patrick Henry, a man who had tiied many ways of earning a living and had failed in all. A bankrupt at twenty-three, he.loun^ed in idleness till he found he could live by his tongue. James Madison was a well menning man, but morally weak. Henry Clay was a dazslillg, but artful politician. .John Randolph had natural ability, but lacked good sense and bad no power of self control. lie would Ciller the Senate with bis hunting whip in his hand and behave as if he were in Ins dog kennel.M lie gives faint praise to Washington, and much more to Bene dict Arnold, who, he Bays, 44 was one. of the best of American generals and the most daring of them all. He was slighted and wronged by politi cians ami had despaired Of the cause." lien Franklin and Samuel Adams were lacking in the ordinary traits of gentle men, and as for Patrick Henry, noth ing beltei Vlis '> be expected, for the character . an Knghsh gentleman is not to be formell in the backwoods." Concerning the civil war he. says: 44 The slaveholders escaped military service and thrust the poor people under lire. Guards impressed men in the streets and conscripts wer?! sollt to Lee's army in chains. At the taking of Foil Pillow the negroes were nailed to logs and'burned alive. The South ern lady was but the head of a harem. She was soil, elegant and charming, but the civil War disclosed an element in her character of a different kind." This is enough of tho scandalous and slanderous book, and it is only popular at the North because of its vililication of the South. He Matters New England and the Puritans and gives praise to Benedict Arnold, who was born in Connecticut, ami more to old .lohn Brown than to (icncral Ice. These are the kind of books that Northern children read and study ami believo. How can that section ever be reconciled ? And yet there are people at the South who condemn us for defending the honor of mir ances tors and the heroism of our soldiers und speak of it as 14 ex-Confederate rot." Lord Macauley said: 41 A peo ple who take, no pride in the achieve ments ol their ancestors will achieve nothing for their own children to be proud of." Some of our most gifted men are still toadying to please North ern appetites, "licking the hand that strikes the blow." Ol" all such a pa triotic Northern writer says beware of the ((chronic reconciler," the man who improves every opportunity to haul out his faded olive branch and waive it in the eyes of the people. When any mail, North or South, talks in a mellow way of his love for his old enemy, watch him. He is getting ready to ask for something. Watch him. There is something pathetic in the picture of the North and South clasped in each others arms and shed ding a torrent of hot tears down each others backs, but the avr,ed mothers on either side have not yet learned to love the foe with much violence. Nor does the crippled veteran love the ad versary who robbed bun of his glorious youth aud left him in feeble, ruin, nor have the patriot soldiers on either side desetted th's cause, for which they fought. But think of Virginia -the glorious Old Dominion?the mother of Slates and stalesiuen? Ih r domain extended from Carolina to Canada ami fron l'*e Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. B(..n upon her generous bosom was Wash ington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Lighlhoreo Harry, Iloborl K. Lee, Joe 10. Johnston and Stonewall Jackson. Who would not be proud to be a Vir ginian? Who ,can wondor at the pa triotic pride of those two venerable sisters, Miss Judith and Miss Anna Thomas, of Southanpton County, now passed their eightieth year, tho only I sisters of General George 11. Thomas, land who, ever einco 1801, when he ac o.e.?teil office under Lincoln, have un? ifortnly declared that ihoy once had a bravo and noble brother of that name and that ho won renown in the war with Mexico when he was a major in Colonel Hoher? E. Loo's regiment, but that lie died in 1KI11 and nowlhey nave no brother. Evor Hince Virginia seeedod they have pathetically declared i their dear Brother died in the spring I of 1801. Every Virginia officer of tho I old army, save George H. Thomas, promptly resigned ana volunteered to defend their State. These lonely old maidens seem really to believe that their brother did die. The county of Southampton had presented to Majori Thomas on his return from Mexico a beautiful sword and after our civil war he wrote to his sisters and requested that the sword ho sont to him. They replied that they could not part with it, for it was tho only memento of a very dear* brother who died tu LSCl. They still live alone ami in povert;, in tho same old mansion in which they IVcro horn, hut neither friend nor neighbor ever presumes to mention General Thomas in their presence. These venerable and venerated ladies are nut a typo of the old Virginia aris tocracy. Well may they ho proud of their S'.ate and their ancestry. Hi i.i. Am?. 1*. S. I do not know t/oloiiol UUS BOI19 nor the piico l?f his little b )"k, nor Ii ?ve limy interest in advertising it, hut 1 do w.sh that every veteran and every veteran'* son had it. Iiis address is Glen Allen, Va , and he is the publisher, 1 suppose that sfl will buy it postpaid. B. A. BOTH WANT SAM Ii HUSBAND A Strange Case in Which Two Young Women Are Involved The Richmond Times has the fol lowing ttory of two girls who ait in futualcd with the same man, furnished l?y its llockinglituu, N correspon ilcnt: "here is a strange and novel conflict between two young women as to whose husband is a youug man by the name Of Louis Neville. This young man is the second son of a family of live brothers?honest, industrious people who have for some lime been engaged in the saw-mill business. About two years ago Louis was in love with Miss Helen Dolamore, whoso family reside near Laurel Hill, in this county. Miss Delamero is a fragile young girl of eighteen, and is a great beauty. Her health is extremely deli cate owing to her frail physical organi zation. For this reason and no other the Neville family were bitterly op posed to the marriage, and by dint of effort they succeeded in breaking olT the engagement. Nothing more was thought of this love romance, and in due time Louis placed his effectiotis elsewhere. A pretty young school teacher of his township by the name of Katharine Sti ele was his love this time. Thurs day, September Ulh, last, was the day Uxeil for the wedding and extensive preparations were made and everything moved on as" merry as a marriage boll.*' Invitations to their friends were extended, the attendants oil each side were selected and bad accepted, and nil preparations were concluded. Nothing occurred to mar the serenity of the occasiou until jusl before the day si t for the wedding, when young Neville received a letter from Miss Dclamorc, who is living just over the line, in South Carolina, in which sin: informed him that she bad just heard of his proposer! marriage with Miss Steele, and that she loved him more devotedly than ever before, that her health was good and that she had picked up many pounds of flesh during the past two years, that she had re cently come into properly valued at 800,000, anil that if he manied Miss Steele she would immediately commit suicide. This letter set Louis afire. All his former love for Miss Delamere re turned, ami lie threatened to commit suicide if his family did not consent for bun to immediately marry Miss Dela mere Iiis family realized his condi tion and kept close, watch over him, but on Wednesday before the day ap pointed for his marriage with Miss Steile, he escaped the vigilance of his relatives and went to see Miss Dela mere. As BOOH as he. was missed search was instituted for him, aud ho was finally found in a semi-conscious con dition overin South Carolina in charge of Miss Delamere, who slrcuuously declared Hint they had been regularly married. Louis did not seem to re member much of anything, but did have a very distinct recollection of some kind of performance before a magistrate. He was brought back home against the protest of his wife, as Miss Delamere declares she is, and his condition has not materially im proved. His second intended im mediately called on him and very gen erously forgave all, and for fear of more trouble in the future they were im mediately married, Louis making little or no opposition. Mrs. Neville accounts for her son's awkwaid predicament by saying that he has been subject at long intervals during his life to seasons of slight mental aberration, and that he was temporarily unbalanced by the letter of Miss Dolamore. Miss Delamere says she, is able to prove tllO marriage according to the laws of South Carolina, which do not I require a license, but permit parties to enter the civil contract of marriage under any forms that may suit the con tracting parlies. Mrs. Neville, as she calls bowelf, has employed ox-JlldgO Uisdon T. Dennett, an ex-member of Congress from the Sixth District, and Mr. .1. T. Ixickhart, both of Wades boro, to represent her, and she says she has been advised to wait a reason able time and see if Louis will not get well ami voluntarily return to her and resume Ills married life with her. If he does not she intends to sue out a writ of habeas corpus and appeal to the courts for the possession of her husband. Wife No. 2 and the Neville family charge that Louis was drugged and while in this condition the marriage ceremony was performed between him and MiSS Delamere. Tho case bids fair to bo most cole* brnlcd In tho judicial history of the State. In the meantime wife number two is living with Louis at Laurel [IUI, und wife number one is acting on the advice of her lawyers. One marriage having tak< i place in NorthU&rolina, and the. other in South Carolina, interstate complications may arise in the settlement, of this dispute. 44 Before you go," said the delin quent subscriber to the dying editor, ?4I want to bring you that load of wood I owe you." "I won't need it," gasped the edi tor; 14 Uiey use brimstone there!"?Al | huii i Constitution. Bunts* ^^TlrtKlfld Vo?Hiwwww Alway? Bought HAMPTON DECIylNJSD OFFER He Does Not Want Office at the Hands of Mel,uurin. Columbia State, May t. For several days it has been rumor< <l in Columbia that Con. Wade Hampton bad beou approached by 11 frieud ol Seuator McLnuin to kuow whether or not Geu. Hampton would accept the position of posiubsler for Columbia. A representative of Tbc state called on Gen. Hampton yesterday afternoon at bis comfortable home on Senate streit Olid was received With that Kind cordiality which ban wou so many hearts to the grand lender of South Carolinians in war and pi ace. (on Hampton was lufortued of the report above mentioned aud asked lor some < xpression upon i'. He seemed reluc tant to say uti\thing for publication in regard to it, but when told that the in fortnaliou had come from one who is known to bo in close loueb with Sen utor McLaurin, ibo general, in bis usual firm way, said: "l would not accept anything in the world from that sourco." Here he paused and after a moment continued with significant emphasis: " The people of South Carolina ought to know by thin time thai l caunot l>e bought." Thrd is all Geu. Ilauiptoti would say in regard to the postofilco rumor, ex cept to intimate that it might lie well to apply to Senator McLaurin for in formation on the subject. However, he did not seem sure that such an ap plication would bo accorded a reply that would bo entirely veracious. It can be staled, however, that in well-informed circles it is believed thai Gen. Hampton has been approached more or less definitely with the offer of the. Columbia poslmaslership. That it would be rofU3< d if it came tt\rougll Senator McLaurin cannot be doubted after what the general has said, nor is it believed that Gen. Hampton would accept any favors at the hands of Presi dent McKinley, though it is believed that the President desired to retain Geu. Hampton in the Ofllce of United states railroad commissioner. Ho was unable to do so, however, for political reasons. Tho. reference which Senator Hamp ton made to I lie man who now hohl? the Senatorial seat he once occupied recalls a fact that has been known, hut not published. When the Reform movement of 1800 began Senator Mc Laurin, it will be remembered, was rather late getting oil the band wagon, but filially landed safely. When the name of Hampton's successor was brought out, Senator McLaurin, then in the Legislature, remarked to a Co lumbia gentleman that that was going loo far, tlml he could not follow the " movement" in that direction. When the nominations wen; made, however, McLaurin made a speech sec onding the nomination of the man who was put up by the Reformers to beat the hero of LS7G. While in conversation with (ion. Hampton the talk very naturally drifted to the reunion and one of the. gentlemen suggested that (ion. Hamp ton would doubt less be wearied by haying so many old soldiers to call on him and to shake his hand in public, as all would want to do. 11 Oh no," interjected the great cav alryman, " 1 won't mind that. I am always glad to meet a man who fought through the war without deserting and has not deserted since." In view of the foregoing, the follow ing specials were sent to ihe News aud Courier: Richmond, Ya., May 4.? in justice to Senator McLam in 1 wish to make a plain statement of the facts legatding the offer of the Columbia postmaster slop to Oon. Wade Hampton. The offer was made at my urg< lit sugges tion. As soon as 1 heird that Senator McLaurin would be likely to have much influence in the appointment of I'edeial officers in South Carolina I, on my own motion, requested him to consider Gen. Hampton's name in connection with the place at Columbia. Senator Mc Laurin agreed that it would be a grace ful and proper tribute, and said he would rather see Gdl, Hampton have the place than any lliau living. He hesitated, because he feared the pro position might be misunderstood. I told him I believed that Gen, Hamp ton could be given such strong as surance* that his acceptance of the position would in my way hamper his political action ; that he could be satisfi ed on that point. 1 have reason to be lieve that such assurances were given to him. 1 have, been Gen, Hampton's devoted and personal friend and ad mirer through good and evil fortune for twenty-five years. My hope was that he would be gratified by the volun tary tender of an important position at his own home, which would promote his comfort and be an evidence of the honor in which he is held. Senator McLaurlu's distinct olatemcnt to me after 1 had suggested the appointment was that ho regarded (Jen. Hampton's chiiraeler and record as putting him above and beyond ordinary political considerations. At this distance I have no means of knowing whether in a light between McLaurin and Asbury Latiintr Gen. Hampton would side, with Liliuur, nor can 1 imagine why. I do know that his probable political position was not mentioned between Senator Mc Laurin and myself. a. m. Williams Com-miii a, May 4. ? The publication | ?l tin', rumor concerning Goti. Uauip? (on and (ho position ho took upon tin: matter wan a decided political sensation here to-day. There lias been consider, able talk about how the whole matter started, ?.'wlu good deal of light has been thro\, n on the matter by the fol lowing sit nod statement from Mr. George K. KoCStOr, editor and nub lisher of the Columbia Record and ?* Strong personal friend of Senator Mc* Laurin \ 4> In view of Gen. Wade 1 lampion's interview in this morning's State a brief statement from myself seems | necessary. As is generally known, 1 am a close personal friend of Senator McLaurin and have been ever since he first came to Columbia as a membei of the Legislature in lfS'.ll). It has been falsely said I wanted the Columbia postmastership as a reward for my To produce the best results in fruit, vegetable or grain, the fertilizer used must contain enough Potash. For partic ulars see our pamphlets. We send them free. GERMAN KALI WORKS, Nojs^u St.a New Ywrk. friendship for iho Senator. Some of my friends un d lo gui mu i?? apply for ihu olllee, but 1 declined lo do so, though they said ii would bo easy for me in obtain It. 1 told them 1 would not even accept Ibc Shanghai consul* ship, as it was my intention to remain in editorial harness. Discussing this matter with Senator Mcl/.uirin, lie asked me whom 1 wou'd recommend f>r the Columbia post mastership and led me lo believe thai my recommen dation would have great weight with him. I could not recommend a man unless he w.is Iii lor the olllce and [lampion was well qualitled lo dis charge the duties of post mas'er of Co lumbia, Inn I del mu know whether he would accept tin- place or not. From what was said at the tune u home was given (Jun. Hampton I supposed such a salary a< that ot postniaslet of Columbia would he peculiarly accept able to him as placing him in a position ol independence. Hut I kin? v\ he was old and cherished bitterness toward all who were in any way responsible for Ins retirement fiom the United SI lies Senate, and I did no! intend to have my rricud lender an office lo Gen. [lampion nnd have it r< jcclcd. So 1 told Senat >r McLauriu 1 would make my recommendation later. 11 1 then talked the matter over with three Columbians ami asked one of thorn to ascertain if Gen. Hampton would accept tippoiutment as poslmas ler of Columbia, and l<) make, it per fectly plain that absolutely no condi tions would be at taclird to the appoint ment, bui that it be accepted it ho would not be trammelled in any way and would be considered absolutely free to support or oppose whom he pleased. It was an boiioiablo offer, couched in courteous terms, It was meant as a recognition of Hann ton's worth aud past service- to tie- State, services which, however, did not en title him lo election to a representative office, if his views were at variance with those of the people whom he would have to represent. 'The gentle man saw Gem Hampton and the reply was as courteous as the offer, being (hat Gen. Hampton would not accept tho appointment. There had been no suggestion of "buying" Gen. Hamp ton m the offer and there was no sco 1*11 in its rejection. So bis words as re ported in to-day s Stale are a surprise, to say the least of them. Neither Alc Laurin nor McKinley offered an office to (Ion. Hampton, ?? In conclusion 1 desire to stale thai 'tho information of my > Her was not given the public by nie. 1 told Mc Laurin of what 1 had done and he said it would have given him pleasure lo have used hi-< influence in behalf of Gen. Hampton to secure him tin office without pledge or COll lllioil. 1 said nothing about the matter to anybody else and am at a loss to understand how it became public. " Gkorgk LL Kokstkic. 4i Columbia, s. <./., May 4, HUM. George Cooper, of Logan County, Oklahoma, who was recently undo the defendant in a land suit brought by the Guthrie and Western Itailro.td Com pany, asked that lhe case be tried by seven members of ihc Masonic Order instead ol by the usual jury. The rail< road company's attorney, himself a Mas > i, agreed to the proposition and the case was ho tried, both parlies further agreeing that no appeal should be taken fiom Ilio verdict. Cooper won. A lecturer in Hastings inquired dramatically: "Can any one in this room tell me of a perfect man V" There was a dead silence, ??lias any one," he continued, ?? heard of a perfect woman?'1 Then a patient little, woman ro*0 lip at the back of tin- room au I answered: ??There, was one. I've often hoard of her, bul she's dead now. She was my husband's lirst wife." Nearly one million Odd fellows throughout the United Stales, gathered in over 11,000 lodges, April 20,1111(1 celebrated the eighty-second anniver sary of the founding of the order. [?Vom the single lodge ol six members, organized ill llallimoi'O ill 1810, has .sprung a vasv and boiicliceut oigauiza Hol). - ? ? 40m The mother asked litllo Dot logo into ihc lioxl room und ?ec if the clock i wiii runninir, tor ?ho had nol hoard a strike ail the afternoon. l)ol catno running back, put her curly hoad Into the door ami exclaimed: '? Why, no mamma, de clock ain't a-rtinnin'. it is dest standing still and a*W<*ggin' its tail." Officials of tho United Stales Steel corporation have confirmed Iho infor mation circulated thai the net earnings of tho big corporation for tho month of Much, over and above tho Interest on Iii?-, underlying bonds, am united to $0,270,000, or at tho rate of $111 ,'2 lo, 000 a year. OASTOTIIA. B?M8 tho si1)11 Kind Y?'J Have Always Bought