The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, May 31, 1900, Image 3
SONG OF THE I
We are the toilers from whom God
barred
The gifts that are good to hold.
We meant full well and we tried full
hard.
And our failures were manifold.
And we are the elan of those whoso kin
Were a millstone dragging them down.
Yea, we had to sweat for our mother's
sin.
And lose the victor's crown.
The seeming-able, who all but scored,
From their teemiug tribe we come;
?ni?l \v;? mrrw ? mm ?t?.u u.-, v ?
Thai oar lives wore dark aud dumh?
The men ten-talented, who still
Strangely missed of the goal. <
Of them we are: it seems Thy will
| To harrow some in soul.
We are the sinuers, too, wiioss lust
Conquered the higher claims;
We sat us prone in tlio eotnnion dust
And played at the devil's games.
tnS \xr?\.
I The Itineram
^
Cv C. A. 5
$?
SW'XVv.nvvvvvn-xvxvjvwvvvvvL'}
^/j-w.T .'.7/.//j/^Ji./y.//v//u/j /.i
fF any one hail
asked mo, tv. en>0^
ty years ago, to
pick from all
the young meu
my acquaint%
<n anco the one
|a** least likely to
i/tO become a minis*er
Gospel,
I should,
iji , w v without hesita^'
tion, have:
named Jackson Williams. For Will-1
iams was a very plain youth, of a ;
shrewd, practical turn of mind, sharp
at a bargain and given to acquiring ;
property. He was of that typo of j
vouug man who eventually oecomes
wealthy in small village communities;
lie was ufilicted, moreover, with a confirmed
defect of speech, which in itself
would seem a fatal obstacle to sue- j
ce?s as a clergyman.
At tho age of twenty-two, "Old i
.Tacky,'' as we called him, married
Rosilla Cahill, whom we all knew as I
the brightest, qnickest-witted girl in !
town, although not, perhaps, the most i
beautiful. In mind she was not a lit- j
tie like Jackson, but was more merry- |
hearted and humorous. In discuss- i
ing, at their wedding, their prospects ;
in life, their friends were agreed that
they were certain to prosper; or, as
one expressed it, "Nobody need worry
about Jack and Rosy! "Why, they will
owu the whole town by the time they
are fifty!"
A few months later Jackson Williams
attended a series of meetings,
presided over by a great revivalist.
Ho experienced a profound change in
his convictions of duty, and deter- 1
mined to devote his life to the active
f promotion of religion. In the fol- \
lowing autumn he began to study for
the ministry at a seminary, and in due
course entered on his labors as an
itinerant minister.
It was suspected that his young
wife was much dissatisfied with their
changed prospects; but if so, she re*?*
5 It At* fool i n n*c
iraiueu uuui cajjicooiu^ uv*. .
eveu to her intimate friends, and set !
herself faithfully to become a help- j
meet to her husband in his chosen vocation.
(
The ideal, popular clergyman of the
present generation appears to be a
personally graceful, eloquent, emo- '
tional man. Jackson Williams was no
such man. In the pulpit he was con- i
servative and dry in all that he said
or advised, and his defect of speech 1
helped his cautious words iu making 1
him appear lackiug in zeal and elo- '
quence.
The ideal minister's wife, too, !
seems to be an easygoing woman of a
social, sympathetic nature, not muoh
distressed about house or home, but
:?1,'fo nolmlr nnrl float '
lUL'ilUCU IV ic*u.v iuv vmmm.j ?? ~ ? ,
with the tide. Rosy Williams was
the reverse of that type. She longed i
for something permanent and stable i
in life, and lay awake nights planning
how she might save twenty-live dol- i
larsayear from her husband's meagre,
uncertain salary. When their children,
Dolly and Jackson. Jr., began
to goto school, shobecame.even more i
solicitous to shield them from the ill
consequences of their itinerant life.
But fate seemed against her. Jacksou
Williams rarely remained for more
than a vear 011 one "circuit" or parish.
Tue presiding elders of his con- :
ferenee had discovered his useful
qualities as well as his defects as a
preacher. Wherever there was a
church which was financially weak or
lacked a parsonage, or was in need of
repairs or of reorganization, there
they sent Jackson Williams.
In such a place his shrewdness,
thrift and good hard sense came into
play, with the result that oiten in a
single year, always in two, the church
was repaired or rebuilt, or a new par
mittees reorganized and stimulated to ;
f activity, as the case called for. But [
as a consequeuce of the expenditures ;
which he got his parishioners to make ,
on the church, he usually left to go
to another similarly degenerate place, ,
with half his small salary in arrears j
and his wife in despair. For there
were numerous "run down" churches j
UNSUCCESSFUL
We aro the hard-luck folk, who strove
Zealously, but in vaiu:
We lost and lost, while our comrades
throve.
And still we lost again.
We are the doubles of those whose way
Was festal with fruits and flowers;
Lsooy ana Drain we were souwi jis iuey,
nut the prizes were not ours.
A mighty army our full ranks make,
We shake the graves as we go;
The sudden stroke ami the slow heartbreak,
They both have brought us low.
And while we are laying life's sword aside
Sj cut and dishonored and sad.
Our epitaph this, when once we havo died;
"The weak lie here, and the bad."
We wonder if this can be really the close, ]
Life's fever cooled by death's trance;
A.uU we cry, tuou^u it seem to our nearest
of foes:
"God, ::ive ns another chance!"
?Richard Burton, in the Outlook.
rr/r,/r/e/rrr//,r*'/frr/'r/r/r//'M |
t Parsonage. | i
jk
Stephens. j
LVxvxvuiwtv^iX'tvtvw^mvM
/J/.//, & ?
in our State, and tbe presiding elders
kept my poor frieud going.
At Link's Mills, where the Will- \
iamses were stationed during the year i
189S, the condition of affairs had, as
usual, been bad. The old parsonage i
had burned in October, 1S97; and
after the fire it was discovered that,
owing to the neglect of the church
stewards, the insurance had hecu allowed
to lapse months before.
Yet during that year Jackson Williams
had contrived to get a snug little
parsonage of live rooms built and
paid for, at a cost of only live bun- (
dred dollars besides his own labor, i
On the other hand, when he went to
attend the annual conference at Lan- ;
caster on April -1th, his salary was J j
l'nllv five hundred dollars in arrears. ! |
Mrs. Williams stayed at home to
care for her family, in some faint hope ]
that they would not be sent to another
circuit, since they had but re- '
cently moved into the new parsonage.
These hopes were short-lived.
On the evening of the seventh a ]
letter from Williams informed his j (
wife that she must again pack their i <
household goods. "But we have not ! <
far to move this time," he added. "It! j
is only five miles. They are going to ]
send me to Marston, down at the foot ?
of the lake. But the church there ]
has no parsonage," he added, "audi j
suppose that we shall rent a house ;
until I go ahead and build one, as I ]
did at the Mills."
It would be difficult for any one,
except an itinerant minister's wife, to
realize the bitterness of soul which
fell ou Mrs. Rosy Williams as she re- ,
folded her husbaud's letter. But as
calmly as possible she explained to
Dolly, aged fifteen, and Jackson, Jr.,
aged thirteen, that they must stay at
limviA from school on the next dav
to help her in packing.
Dolly burst forth in lamentations, '
"Onr new, pretty house that papa
made! Have we got to leave it,
mother?" she cried.
"Yes, " replied the mother, sadly, 1
"and leave the most of your father's
3alary, too, I fear."
"And live in some old dirty place .
down at Marston, as we did a year
ago at Simouton!" cried the little girl. ,
"I don't care! I think it is too bad!
I think this house belongs to us?or j
ought to!"
Mrs. Williams thought so, too.
Something of her girlish spirit sml
denly revived, and it Dore iruu mat
evening in an exploit which will not j
soon be forgotten in that part of the
State. |
The weather was still very cold <
Snow lay on the ground, and the two
feet or more of ice on the lake had
not as yet been broken up, or thawed
perceptibly. Just across the lake ]
from Link's Mills, a crew of loggers |
with their teams were "browing"
Bpruce logs. At sunset they were not
a little surprised to see the minister's
wife approaching on the ice. Her ^
errand was soon made known. She ]
wished tohiretnemto draw the new ,
parsonage to Mars ton, and she want- \
ed to have the job done before six ]
o'clock on the following morning! ,
The foreman of the crew laughed, <
and returned au evasive answer. Find- j
ing that the men could not be induced } .
to attempt such a queer and doubtful I
job, merely for hire, Mrs. Williams I;
then told the whole story, and an- j j
pealed to them to help her through with
her project. This appeal put a |
different complexion on the affair. It \
tickled the humor and, no doubt, .
touched the hearts of the lumbermen. ;
"We'll do it, ma'am!" exclaimed the \
foreman, grinning broadly. "You get .
your crockery down off'n the shelves :
and your stovepipe cool. We'll be ,
over by nine or ten, and fetch chains ]
and skids and a couple of logs for
'shoes' to haul it on."
The church at Link's Mill stands a
little apart from the village proper, i
and is separated from the rest of the
place by a piue grove where there is a
cemetery. The new parsonage stood
a few rods beyond the church. If
passers along the road saw teams arriving
there late in the evening, they
paid little attention. Loggers' teams
often passed.
The loggers worked quietly and
quickly. Before eleven o'clock the
little new parsonage, with the minister's
wife, family and household goods
still in it, started on its singular journey?first
down to the lake shore, then
out on the ice, and so onward to Marston,
where the people were greatly
astonished and mystified next morning
to see it,set close to their weatherbeaten
meeting-house, and making it
look like an old soldier who has suddenly
married a very young wife!
Slmnto \vn? risinrr liliHirtlv from flirt
^M4V4'V ~ ? o --J
chioiuey, ami all cm ions inquirers at
the door were met by Mrs. Williams
in person, who cheerily informed
them that she was 1 heir new minister's
wife, and brought her parsonage
along with her!
The people of Marston could find
no fault with such u windfall, but the
people of Link's Mills were greatly
agitated.
A member of the church, a farmer,
driving into the village with vegetables
next morning, was the first to notice
the absence of the parsonage.
"Wal, I'll be planted and hoed!"
he gasped. "What's missin'?"
"Brother Blodgett, d'yon know our
parsonage is gone?" he asked of tho
rirst person he met, who chanced to
be one of the church stewards.
"Gone?" was the surprised ejaculation.
"Where could it go to?"
"Dunuo; but it ain'tthere, sartin."
Tim stew ard hastened to the church.
Sure enough, all trace of the parsonage
liad disappeared! With dazed I
faces, the two then went in quest of
other brethren and told the strange
news. Few would believe it until
they had gone to view the vacant site j
for themselves.
A crowd gathered, wondered and
searched. It was not until nearly
noon that the facts became known.
Many were very angry, and a meeting
of the church-members was held that
evening to decide what should be done.
Legal proceedings were talked of, but
meantime the story had gone abroad,
and the public generally applauded
the exploit.
When the Rev. Jackson Williams
returned from conference, Saturday,
to preach his farewell sermou at Lipk's |
Mills, he was as much astonished as
anybody to find his family moved to
Marstou, and he offered to restore the
oarsonace; but a certain indulgout re
zard for Mrs. Williams's "cnteness" I
it length led the church members to i
offset the house against their late min
ister's unpaid salary. Mrs. Williams
now regards this parsonoge as her own
exclusive property, and has been
tieard to say that if their next circuit
is not more than twenty miles from
Marston she shall take it along with
uer.?Youth's Companion.
Absolutely Powerless.
He walked up and down the room,
gesticulating excitedly, and saying
uncomplimentary things about his
rival.
"It is terrible!" he said.
"What is terrible?" they asked.
"Talk about the problem of the Man
in the Iron Mask!" he exclaimed, ignoring
the question. "Why, this is
a thousand-fold worse than that!"
"What is it?" they asked.
"Aiy rival nas ueeu canjiug i?wd
stories about me to the girl I love!"
bo cried.
"And what did you do?" they asked.
"Nothing," he answered. "I was
powerless."
They laughed scornfully and made
merry jests at his expense.
"What would you have me do?" he
inquired.
"Kill him!" they replied.
He shook his hgad.
"At least," they insisted, "you
:ould thrash him within an inch of his
life; you could resent an insult by
pounding him until he would figure
principally as a nonentity for the next
six or eight weeks."
"You forget," he said.
"Forget what?" they demanded.
"He carries both an accident and
life insurance policies in the company
:hat I represent."
A Unique Aboriginal Alphabet.
In a recent number of the French
publication Anthropologic, M. M.
Delaposse gives an interesting ac;ouut
of the Vai language. This is
:ho only indigenous written language
tnowu among negroes. These negroes
Dccupy a territory on the confines of
Sierra Leone and Liberia. The alphabet
is syllabic, and it is the ouly
syllabic alphabet existing in Africa.; J
The author considers it at least two
liundred years old, and perhaps older;
it is not even certain that it was inrented
by the Vai themselves. Of
the characters in the alphabet,
tweuty-five resemble Berber consonants
in form, and twenty resemble
European letters and numerals; but
these may be purely superficial resemblances,
as the sounds do not correspond.
Professor Delaposse does
not consider that the Yai alphabet has
been derived from these sources. t
Twenty Million Fin* Per Day.
It requires an average of more than
twenty miliioa pins per day to sustain
the falling skirts, replace the missing
suspender buttons and meet the other i
needs of the American people. "What
becomes of all these pins is a ques- j
tiou that nobody has been able to
answer, but there is no falling off in
the demand, so that this number must
disappear iu some manner every day.
THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. I
g.
The 5outh.
The prohibitionists of South Caro- '
Jina held a conference at Columbia
Wednesday night, at which a large
number of counties were represented,
and decided to make a determined
fight against the State's liquor traffic
and for prohibition. Col. Jas. A.
Hoyt, of Greenville, was nominated for
Governor, and James L. Tribble, of
Anderson., for Lieutenant Governor.
Nominations for other State officers
were not made, but the support of the
prohibitionists will bo given candidates
who come out on their platform.
The fight is within the Democratic
party.
A delegation from the South, including
Senators McComas. Pritchard and
Martin, and John S. Williams and W.
E. Christian, of the Seaboard Air
Line, called on the President Wednesday
and invited him to attend a banquet
in Richmond. Va., on June 2.' in
celebration of the opening of a new
through railroad line from Richmond
to Tampa. Fla. The President said he
would attend if he found he could do
i;U.
The situation at Boynton, Va.. where
Stephen Baptist, the negro, is on trial
for the murder of Mr. Peter Jones, is
reported as uneasy. The military stood
in line just in roar of the bar. After
the argument, however, the jrowd
seemed satisfied that the jury would
bring in a verdict of guilty, and dis?
persed to their homes. At midnight
the report was that the situation was
unchanged.
The North.
George Hitchcock, of Bcston. Mass.,
has been elected a corresponding member
of the Vienna Artists' Association
of the official Academy of Fine Arts.
The women have won with the
two members of the board of the general
superintendents after a ballot battle
lasting nearly a week and finally
disposed of a question that for many
years has been a source of dispute in
the Methodist conference?the admission
of women to the general conference.
This was settled in favor of the
women.
A notable reception was given the
Doer envoys at the Grand Opera House,
Washington.
The Shear Trust, of New York, has
dissolved, and those who formed it iu
1898 are said to be heavy losers.
A bridegroom near Macon, Ga.. it is
reported, shot and killed his intended
father-in-law and brother-in-law and
mortally wounded another man in a
quarrel over the marriage ceremony.
It is reported that there is trouble
in the ranks of the Knights of Labor.
A national conference of charities
and corrections is being held at Topeka,
Kan.
The American Baptist Mission Societies
and the Publication Society began
their an lual meetings Thursday
at Detroit, Mich.
The will of Mrs. Juliet S. Bradford,
widow of Prof. Vincent L. Bradford,
LL. D., and D. C. L., who died recently
in Philadelphia leaving an e3?
tnto valued at SnO.OOO. makes a bequsst
Master Workman John N. Parsons.
Armenia.
Pope Leo XIII, according to a Rome
cablegram, is unwilling to reopen the
question of "Americanism."
Indiana Republicans have started a
boom for Senator Charles W. Fairbanks
for the Presidential nomination
in 1901.
Miscellaneous.
The Senate committee on appropriations
has reported the sundry civil
bill to the Senate. The total appropriation
as reported is $09,903,370. Provisions
is made for pla.lng headstones
at the graves cf Confederate soldiers
buried at Arlington and at the nation[
?1 soldiers' homes.
of $3,000 to the Washington and Lee
University to endow "The Vincent L.
Bradford Scholarship."
| Walter Williams, Deputy Coroner,
shot and killed William M. Downer,
the proprietor of a bathhouse at Denver,
Col., and then killed himself.
The fourteenth annual convention
of the American Section of the Tbeosophical
Society began last week at the
Athenaeum Building, Chicago, 111.
On account of slack orders the three
Worcester. Mass.. plants of the Washburn
and Moen branch of the American
Steel and Wire Company will go
on 9-hour time.
Foreign.
Madam Melba ia laid up with a severe
cold at London.
There have been 13 deaths from bubonic
plague at Port Said.
I Cambridge University has conferred
an LL. D. on King Oscar of Sweden.
Baron Haller-Hallerstpin wants to
get into the German Reichstag to represent
the workers.
Three thousand Berlin bankers and
brokers have protested against the
Kaiser's excessive naval bill tax.
General Frank Wheaton's wife and
daughter were among Americans presented
to Queen Victoria at Buckingham
Palace.
j The Democratic Union party, in Ha|
vana, has decided not to vote in the
| coming elections.
hns railed the attention of
THE CIRL WHO'S BEEN ABROA&
She spent six months in Earope,
About ten years ago,
And now finds Minktown Centra
Decidedly too slow;
Sbe never has stopped talking
Of lands across the sea,
And how she did the town once
Of beautiful "Puree."
When she is at a party.
To make her feel at home,
The hostess says: "Now tell us
About your stay in Kome!"
And one day in our dry goods store
ok a noL'n,) AII? in warn Won Ira
If lie would*kindly give her
The price of things in "frank3."
I'd like to buy her ticket
And send her far away
On that ship she calls the ''Grocer"
(If I was sure sho'd stay);
And I know the folks around her
Would gladly help her packThat
girl who's been to Europe
And can't seem to set back.
?Puck.
PITH AND POINT.
Tommy?"Pop, what's a wooden
j wedding?" Tommy's Pop ?"When a
J chip marries a fellow who is a perfect
' stick."
"Miss Bird sent two dollars for 'a
sure method to preserve the voice.' "
"What was it?" "Sing into a phonograph."?Philadelphia
Bnlletin.
Despite the priee of giddy bonnet.
When woman set3 her mind upon it, '
It isn't long before you And
The bonnet set upon her mind.
Clara?"I bavo my photograph
taken every three years; I think it's
so interesting." Fanny?"Oh, whatever
do you do with them all?"?PickMe-Up.
He?"Will we announce our en|
gagement on Wednesday?" She?"I'd
rather not; I have an important engagement
for that day."?Yonkers
Statesman.
Customer?"Give me ten cents*
worth of paregoric, please." Druggist
mindedly)?"How much is it?" Druggist?
"A quorter."
Smiles?"I'm glad I wasn't Shakespere."
Giles ? "Why are you?"
Smiles?"Because I should be dead
now." Giles?"Yes, that's true?and
Shakespere would be forgotten."
"Why stand ye idle hero all tho
day?" asked the taxpayer, who is
fond of quotations. "Because," replied
the party of the second part,
"I am a city employe."?Chicago
News.
"I will admit," said the Cornfed
Philosopher, "that oratory is mostly
gas, but even ga3 is muuijuaiiug?
not to mention the way it rips things
open sometimes." ? Indianapolis
Press.
Prospective Purchase??"I thought
you said this place would make a good
poultry farm. Why, it's almost completely
under wat-r." Heal Estate
Ageut?''Just the thing for ducks, my
dear sir."
Condemned Mar (to lawyer)?"It's
a long sentence, sir, to be sent to
prison lor life." Lawyer (inclined to
be more hopeful)?"Yes, it does seem
long, but perhaps you won't livo a
great while "?Tit-Bits.
"It's no trouble at all to get mar
ried," remarked the girl with the uew
engagement ring. "No," replied her
married sister, with a sigh. "The
tronble doesn't begin until shortly
after the ceremony."?Chicago News.
"You're looking kind of green,
Bill," said the Half Eagle to the Dollar
Note; "you need change." "No,
thank you," replied the other, "change
would break me up completely, and
probably make me look like thirty
cents."
"Well, gentlemen," remarked the
president of the olob, "motions are in
order. It hate be n suggested that wo
have o banquet. What shall be done?"
"Mr. President," spoke up the manwho-was
eeldom-beard from. "I move
- - ? ?* ii. ?
we dispose ot it dj laying ii> uu ma
table." The motion was carried.?
Philadelphia North American.
Cowtllp Greens.
One of the most familiar forms in
wet meadows is erroneously known as
"cowslip" (vulgarly "cowslop"), a
general favorite in springtime for
greens. How it received its common
appellation is not clear. It furnishes
a striking illustration of the ofttimes
unfitting aud misleading character of
popular names, for it bears no relation
to the English cowslip, but is
closely allied to the buttercup?a fact
suggested to the uninitiated by its
shining yellow petals and superabun
dance ot sinmcns. jlu uvum tuu^nvation
in names, the botanist Gray favored
recogniziug it under its English
name, marsh-marigold, but here
again we may be led slightly astray as
to its relationship, for it is more than
a primrose. It is properly known aa
Caltha palustns.?Self-Culttire Magazine.
Soldier Who Loved the Sea.
It i3 not generally known that the
favorite pastime of Lord Roberts as a
boy was that of carving boats out of
wood. Ho was a rare adept at this,
and it is told how ho would wager a
vessel of his own manufacture to beat
another lad's purchased ,boat for anything
iu the shape of a boyish bet.
All tho boats Lord Roberts made were
named after some great naval hero or
after a big battle which had been
fought at sen. This is all tho more
curious, seeing what a brilliant career
was in store for Lord Roberts as a
leader of men in the field.
A . jgj