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VOLUME ONE.
N U MTB EE SEVEN.
“One morn they missed him on the ’customed hill,
Along the heath, and near his favorite tree
Another came; nor yet beside the rill,
Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood, was he.”
G
EORGIA, and in fact the whole South,
may well be proud to have claimed such
a galaxy of intellectual giants as Rob
ert Toombs, Alexander Stephens, Ben-
jamin Hill and H. W. Grady, but
not eclipsed by any of these was
our beloved “Bill Arp,” whose
rich humor and fine philosophy
entertained his readers throughout
- - -
the Union for over fifty years.
It is said that great minds come to any coun
try only at long intervals, and are of Provi
dential, rather than human, ordering; verify
in the truth that “God sends teachers to
every age, to every clime, and every race of
men, with knowledge best suited to their
tastes.”
Indeed, it seems, when we recall the names
and deeds of the above mentioned, that the Old
South was hoarding fine intellectual material
to meet the conditions which followed the
firing on Fort Sumpter. *
'Charles Henry Smith, eldest son of Caroline
Ann Maguire and Asahel Reid Smith, was
born at Lawrenceville, Ga., June 15, 1826. His
education was begun in a country school,
where manual labor was a requirement, and
completed at Franklin College, at present the
State University, located at Athens.
On the maternal side, he was of Scotch-
Irish parentage. His grandparents fled from
Ireland during the Robert Emmett Insurrec
tion of 1798, and settled at Charleston, S. C.
Mr. Smith was married in 1849 to Miss Oc
tavia Hutchins, daughter of an influential
lawyer of Lawrenceville. In speaking of her
to a friend, years afterward, he said: “When
I told her the sweet old story, she was a bru
nette beauty of sweet sixteen, with a strain
of Indian blood in her veins, which came
straight down from Pocahontas, through the
Randolphs of Virginia, and you see I argued
the case with her this way: if that Indian
maiden of centuries ago loved John Smith to
a degree that she threw herself between him and
the death-dealing war-club, why couldn’t this par
ticular Indian maiden love Chas. H. Smith? My plea
was successful, and many happy years, and a large
family have blessed our union. She w-as one of ten,
I was one of ten; we have ten, and they have
twenty, making in all fifty w’ith whom we have to
mingle. ’ ’
Origin of “Bill Arp” as a Pen Name.
In 1861, President Lincoln issued a proclamation
ordering the dispersion of all military opposition
Maj. Chas. H. Smith, ("‘Bill Mrp”)
By MRS. J. F. MILLER
ATLANTA, GA., APRIL 5, 1906.
to the Union within the next thirty days. Mr.
Smith, then a young Southern lawyer of promi
nence, and of intensely patriotic feeling, consid
ered the time propitious for putting these feelings
into words. He therefore determined to write to
Mr. Lincoln a letter which should fitly express the
strong Southern sentiment engendered by the time
and conditions. Before sending this letter, how
ever, Mr. Smith took it to the office of his countv
"S', ’ ■'
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A V
MAJ. CHAS. H. SMITH (“BILL ARP")
judge and read it aloud, in order to have the judi
cial opinion regarding a communication which
meant so much to the South.
While reading, he noticed an uncouth country
man standing near the door, who seemed deeply
interested in the contents of the letter, and who
when he finished, ventured to ask:—
“Say, Mister, air you gwine ter print that?”
“I am thinking of it; why?”
“Well, sir, if you is, and don’t want ter sign
yer own name, jest sign mine, fer them’s my senti-
ments, and my name is Bill Arp.” Impressed by the
earnest simplicity of that unlettered Georgian, the
name was signed, and for forty-odd years its very
sound was a delightful passport to something worth
reading.
In the war between the States, Mr. Smith served
in the Army of Northern Virginia, the first year
as major on the staff of General Bar
tow, killed at Manassas, after which he was trans-
ferred to Gen. G. T. (“Tige”) Anderson’s
staff. In 1863 he was sent by President Davis
to Macon to assist in the organization of a
military court, for the purpose of trying pris
oners charged with treason to the Confed
eracy.
He accompanied Davis on his humiliating
flight from Millen to Macon, and when Wil
son’s raid made matters too warm for them
at the latter place, he made a short visit to
his wife and children, then with her father
at Lawrenceville.
Fearing the court records would fall into
the hands of the enemy, he bound them in a
bundle, with a strong cord, to which he at
tached a rock, and threw the package into
Yellow river.
During these exciting times in the South,
a paper known as “The Southern Confed
eracy,” was being published at Atlanta, and
through its columns Major Smith’s talent as
a writer became widely known, “The Roman
Runagee,” written May 22, 1864, being a fine
sample of his feelings at that time.
It was in this famous letter that he ex
claimed: “Those everlasting Yankees, may
they live always, when the devil gets them!”
For several years following the Civil War,
he practiced law at Rome, Ga., doing much
literary work between times.
A few years before his death his charming,
home-like letters were being published in
weekly periodicals all over the country, and
he was also engaged in preparing several
books which should contain a compilation of
his best letters heretofore published.
In the suburbs of Cartersville, a small town
in North Georgia, may be seen the old South
ern mansion, “The Shadows,” the home of
“Bill Arp,” named by his son, Victor Smith,
of The Xew York Press’ staff, on account of the
shadows from the grand red oaks scattered over
the front lawn.
His children, six sons and four daughters, are
scattered over several States.
In March, 1899, Major and Mrs. Smith cele
brated-their golden w’edding, at which all their chil
dren were present, save their youngest son, Carl,
who was in Mexico. During this occasion he said
to a friend: “Fifty years is a long time, and
(Concluded on next page)
TWO DOLL AES A YEAR.
EIVE CENTS A \ '
