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ATLANTA CONSTITUTION SUPPLEMENT, SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 21, 1872.
Atlanta Constitution Supplement
fcuxiuY mousing, Aren, si, i8<2.
A ran Mach '■jrc -ra dorp. ra 'la p.
lu li'i.iM ii- n-> daw cm follow,
A face whets li-'iitm anil »hadow» crorp
OVr *rchiag brow and dimplud noilow.
A voice, now Jond in maiden rice-
As tide* on pebbly reache* throbbing—
Now norrow-hnehed •* *nn*et .«ea
In purple raj* at even sobbing.
Ob, twining hand*! Oh. rich dark eh<scn
Of gleaming braid*, that crown in glory
A face a* fair a* i-pirfr* ww-n
In ancient book* of Bible *tory.
Oh. Love! Oh. life! like gmieron* vrine—
Life breeze* from the stream* and mountain!
Thv presence thrill* thi* ihmiI of mine.
Thy glance* stir my heart** deep fountain.".
Oh, Love! Oh. Life! a ro*c, a weed.
Touched by thy hand, my pecric** beauty,
I* chrrisbcd with the mi*er’* gn-«*d,
And guarded well in Jealoa* duty.
But though you've woven, warp and woof,
Into the thread of my life’* pa*sion,
I dare not -peak, bnt stand aloof. ..
And dream and isigh—the olden fashion.
Solicitor General, were M. Hall MacAllis>
ter, Robert M. Charlton and Francis S.
Bartow. It is, of course, sad to contem
plate the death of cither of these distin
guished gentlemen, hot that of General
White is peculiarly so. All the o ! he*-s
passed away naturally or in defense of our
‘cause/’ while he had the nvsfortune to
fall by the hand of n base assassin. What
noble victim! The murderer’s dagger
never drank purer blood, nor did braver
*r better man ever yield his life even to
foernan worthy of his steel.’’ It is im
possible to realize that this elegant gentle
man, who, from my first recollection, ex
cited my boyish admiration, and whom,
when I came to know him in my mature
years, I found to be as generous in heart
and as gifted in mind as he wa3 handsome
and imposing in person, was destroyed as
the common animals are by a vile creature
having human si* ape.
Richard II. Clark.
The Sources ard State of the School Fund.
Department op Education,
Atlanta, Ga., April 17, 1872.
Reminiscences of Savannah.
Atlanta, Ga., March 9, 1872.
7/on. Kdafd J. Harden:
Knowing that you tike an interest in
historical incidents of all kinds, and espe
cially such as relate to Georgia, and Savan
nah, and numbering you among the few
friends of my boyhood who yet survive, I
take the liberty to call your attention to
an occnrrence or two, the knowledge of
which is perhaps now not outside of my
own family. My inothir has, and has had
bincc the death of my father, who was
Josiah Hayden Clark, a small manuscript
book of original poems composed by him,
and mostly of a religious character. Among
these are two odes. One was sung at the
laying of the comer stone of the Greene
and Pulaski Monument, in 1825; the other,
at the ceremonies had in honor of Jeffer
son and Adams after their death, in 1826
On each of these occasions, the commit
tees charged with the duty invited the com-
pising of original odes. My father sent
them hjs unpretentious productions, and
they were chosen. The competitors were
many, and some of them inen of fame in
tho city and elsewhere, while he was un
known outside of his own limited circle.
1 think it doubtful if tho committee even
knew the author at the time the selections
were made; for in tho publication of the
proceedings had at tho Greene and Pulaski
Monument, the ode then sung was publish
ed as by ** A Brother of Solomon’s Lodge/’
When several years since, the foundation
of the Pulaski Monument was laid in Chip
pewa square, tho. proceedings of 1825, in
Johnson square, wire republished, includ
ing the original ode. I will here give you
copies of both :
An Ode snug at tho laying of the comer
stone of the Greene and Pulaski Monu
ment at Savannah, Go., March, 1825 — La
Fayette present
t»y thy „
A monument to deeds of praise;
A monument to heroes gone.
To heroes who our battles won:
Thy spirit bode them to be free.
And led them on to victory.
Let marble crumble Into earth.
Let freedom’s sons be lost in death.
But let the Patriot'll fame resound
Till the archangel's trump shall sound.
God of onr Fathers .hear our prayer!
Their children ask Thy holy care:
Preserve onr rights, preserve us free—
Great God! all glory be to Thee.
An Ode sung in Savannah, Ga., on the 27th
of July, 1826. Occasion—death of Jef
ferson and Adams.
Now arc the mighty fall n.
Freedom's apostles gone!.
Hut O. how lovely I n their lives,
And they In death were one.
First for their country's rights.
Bold to avenge It* wrong;
They bent their bow, r _ *' _
Freedom, o~ J '
flow full of fire their s
No song* of joy salute the car.
The lute aside is tlung.
Great God of Earth and Heaven,
Hoar now a .Notion's prayer;
If Freedom’s fathers we forget.
Our freedom from us tear.
Perhaps a few’ more facts touching tlic
odes and their author, may not bo unin
foresting. When the first production was
selected by the committee, Judge Chari
ton, the elder, himself a contributor, sought
out the author and asked him how long he
had been in Savannah ? The reply was,
upwards of seven years. And how is it,
said the Judge, that you have been here
that long without my knowledge ? Be
cause, said my father, I travel but two
roads—one to my place of business, the
other to my church.
lie was a roan of the most fervent
piety—was not ambitious of the applause
of men. lie was an official in the old
Methodist Church on South Broad street,
os far hack as tho pastorates of Bishops
Andrew, Capers and Pierce. Among his
special friends were Benjamin Snider,
Thomas Purse. John Murchison, John and
William Rcrasliait ami Otis Johnson. lie
came to Savannah in 1318, and died in Oc
tober, 183*2, at the early ago of thirty-nine.
11c died at the house of his friend Snider,
and his remains were interred in tho old
cemetery, where they yet remain. Now,
my dear Judge, as in a few short years all
who have any knowledge of or connection
with the incidents alluded to, may pass
away forever, I submit them to you, with
authority to publish this communication.
The older we get the more plcasuro we
take in old reminiscences, and this pleasure
increases until" very old men live almost
entirely in the past. Being myself a native
of your classic and beautiful city, I find
that with more years there grows'more
love for her and tho persons and places I
knew in my boyhood and very early man
hood. Looking back now to tho date of
ray admission to the bar, in February, 1844,
I am sadly reminded that there is bat one
man now living, from the Judge to the un
der Sheriff, who was an official of the court
at the time, and he is Jno. Edward Davis,
then Sheriff. The Judge was Clias. S.
Henry, and the Solicitor General was Wm.
Parker White. Robert W. Pooler was
Clerk, and Edward G. Wilson his deputy.
Western & Atlantic Railroad to the educa
tional fund. The law authorizing the lease of
the road, passed eleven days afterwards,
provides that, in case there arc any outstand-
ng debts against the road at the time of the
lease, these debts shall be paid out of any
moneys in the treasury not otherwise appro
priated, “ to be replaced by the monthly pay
ments made by the lessees.” This later act
clearly has the effect of suspending the grant
to the school fund contained in the school
law till the debts of the road are paid, and,
if the amount of these debts should prove to
be as great as is believed, all monetary sup
plies from that source will be cut off for some
years to come, unless they are restored by
the act amendatory of the orginial school
law.
The amendatory act left section 43 of the
original school law (section 33 of the amend
ed law) standing unchanged down to the
words “school fund,” and added certain
provisions to the section. In the part of the
section left unchanged occurs the grant of
half the net earnings of the road to the
school fund. If adding to this section had
the effect of re-enacting that part of it left
unchanged, tfi§n this rc-cnacting of that part
of the section will give it a date subsequent
to that of the lease act, and may or may not
To the school officers, teachers, and all persons restore to the school fund one-half of the
interested in the public schools: net earnings of the road, according as ^one
In entering upon tlic duties of this office,
I found myself perplexed by the different
views entertained by able minds as to what
really constitutes the school fund of the
State, and embarrassed by outstanding debts
against the department, contracted in curry
ing forward the school operations of last
year, and by the utter lack of anything like
adequate resources to meet these obligations,
to furnish the needed State aid in prose-
ling the work of public instruction in the
Eure.
After giving tlic most earnest attention to
these different subjects, I am fully persuaded
that the most efficient service which I can
render, in the present state of things, to the
interest which I represent, is to submit for
the consideration oi all—legislators and peo
ple—an impartial discussion of tlic several
topics above indicated, in order to secure
wise action upon them in the future.
At a recent meeting of the State Board of
Education, the following action was taken
upon the fund:
“Besotted, That there is due the educa
tional fund as follows:
“ 1. All tlic poll tax, the tax on shows and
exhibitions, and the tax on spirituous and
malt liquors that has been levied since the
adoption of the Constitution of 1868.
“ 2. All the interest due on tlic bonds is
sued under act of December 11, 1858.
44 3. All dividends that have accrued on one
hundred and eighty-six shares of the capital
stock of the Georgia Railroad & Banking
Company not hitherto used for educations
purposes—said shares having been set apart
as a permanent educational fund by tlic act
approved January 22d, 1852.
"Besotted, That this Board would also
submit, as a question for the consideration of
the General Assembly, whether there may
not also be due the educational fund onc-
lialf the monthly payments made by the les
sees of the Western & Atlantic Railroad, es
timating from .the 10th January, 1872, tlic
date of the act amcndatoiy of the public
school law of October 13, 1870.”
It will be observed that the first resolution
contains three distinct propositions. In
reference to the first of these, there is no
difference of opinion. All agree that tlic
taxes therein named constitute a legitimate
part of the school revenue. All discussion
as to the right of this department to claim
these taxes, is silenced by the Constitution,
which “sets apart and devotes” them to tlic
support of common schools.
In respect to the claim setup in the second
proposition, there is a difference of opinion.
The act of 1858, referred to, gave one hun
dred thousand dollars of tlic annual net earn
ings of tlic Western & Atlantic Railroad to
the State school fund, the corpus of which
was to be used for educational purposes, and
provided that the remainder of the said an
nual net earnings should be used as a sink
ing fund, to # take up the bonds then out-
of one thousand dollars each, were issued
November 1st, 1850, and two hundred of
like amount November 1st, I860, amounting
in all to three hundred and fifty thousand
dollars. These bonds arc now in the hands
of the Secretary of State. It is true that the
fund thus raised was Intended for the benefit
of the white children of the State, but there
can be no doubt but that the convention that
have failed to do so. They have simply re-1 meat of the General Assembly, to send
ported, from time to time, so much tax
money, without separating between the poll
and other tax.
When all the taxes are collected, the
Comptroller will be able, from certain data
in his office, to make the separation and
arrive at the exact amount of the poll tax,
and not till then. A few days ago, on a
requisition from the Governor, he made a
report on the amount of the school funds
collected up to date, giving only an approx
imate estimate for .1*371. His exhibit is as
follows:
Poll tax of 1868 $00,405 61
44 1869 98,198 16
44 1870 20,601 67
All other sources except polls,
same year 91,300 78
Liquor tax, tax on shows, etc.,
from 1st Jan. to 1st Oct. 1871.. 26,516 87
$327,083 09
Since the above statement was
submitted, tlic amount charged
therein as 44 interest on deposits
of school fund” has been re
funded to the State Treasurer,
to-wit , 7,415 26
or the other of two views may obtain. This
re-enactment may be considered as a virtual
repeal of that part of the lease act which ap
propriates the whole of the monthly pay
ments to the liquidation of the debts of the
road, leaving only one half of these pay
ments to go in that way, and restoring the
other half to the school fund. This view, it
will be observed, would require the words
“monthly payment,” under the changed
policy in reference to the road, to be con
strued as net earnings. The other view,
which seems to he the better and more ra
tional one, is that the unchanged part of the
section was simply permitted to stand
as moilif.ed by the lease act. This view* takes
away from the school fund the whole of the
revenue derived from the road, till all the
debts of .the road are paid.
It will be seen from the action of the State
Board above given, that this last view is the
one which will be acted upon until a legisla
tive interpretation is given by the General
Assembly.
The whole object of tlic foregoing discus
sion has been to evoke thought and investi
gation, that right views in reference to the
different sources of the State School Fund
may he reached, and that our legislators may
be induced, at an early day, to put whatever
may be lawfully claimed in an available
form by proper legislation.
I come now to speak of tlic embarrass
ments under which I am laboring, on ac
count of the debts already contracted, and
the lack of resources to pay these debts, or
to aid in the school work of this year. In
doing so, I shall endeavor to point out the
causes of the embarrassment and locate the
responsibility. According to the official re
mit of the Comptroller General, there had
icon collected and paid into the treasury, of
the taxes set apart in the Constitution as a
school fund, up to October 1st, 1871, the
sum of $327,083 09.
A law was passed July 28th, 1870, with the
delusive title of “ An act to set apart and
secure the School Fund.” This law made it
the duty of the Comptroller General, from
time to time, as definite amounts due to the
school fund might be ascertained, to report
the same to the Governor, who was required
thereupon to deposit with the Treasurer
seven per cent, bonds of the State to such an
amount as would perfectly secure the school
fund. These bonds were further required to
be kept in the treasuiy, and to be sold to
meet appropriations for school 'purposes
alone.
The effect of this law was to throw the
school money in bulk with all other moneys
in tlic treasury to be drawn upon and used.
I find, by reference to the Senate Journal,
page 260, that the amount thus thrown in
bulk to be used was $242,027 62, for which
bonds were deposited with the treasurer to
tlic amount of $268,000. The taxes from
which this fund was derived are, by the
standing against the State. As these bonds Constitution, “ set apart and devoted to the
were thus taken up, others of equal amount su PP° rt °* common schools, and I must be
were to be issued, drawn in favor of the Permitted to say that any law which diverts
Secretary of State, as trustee of theeduca- them to other uses, upon any pretext what-
tional fund, and bearing interest at six per ever, is, in my judgment, a clear violation of
cent, per annum. . that instrument.
The object of tlic legislators, according to B ?t, however much the passage of the
tlic view of some, was not to diminish the law is to bo condemned, the manner of ex-
then existing indebtedness of the State, hut ccuting it is still more deserving of uni-
simply to transfer it from other parties to roadversipn. The bonds put in tho treasury
tiro Secretory of State, as trustee of the cdu- in place of tho money abstracted were of
cational fund. O^nc^hundred and fifty bonds, that illegal issue which had the Treasurer’s
$319,667 83
Leaving $319,667 73
From all sources since 1st Octo
ber, 1871, to 1st March, 1872,
approximate estimate 68,057 73
Total amount of school fund as
• ascertained and set apart, up to
1st March, 1872 $387,72i
From the above estimate of tho
Comptroller there must be taken
the following:
Amount diverted un
der act of July 28,
1870, for which un
saleable bonds were
deposited $242,027 62
Expenses of this office
to date, as rccent-
jnature lithographed. I am told by the
Treasurer that the then acting Governor
had been trying in vain to sell them in the
stock markets before they were deposited
in the treasury, and that there has never
been a time since when a sale of them
could have been negotiated.
It will be observed that this diversion
adopted the present Constitution had the of the school fund from its legitimate ob-
power to changei the direction of it, and j cc t occurred before the passage of the
there is just as little doubt that they have
done so in setting apart and devoting “any
educational fund now belonging to the
State” to the support of common schools.
I have consulted a number of the very
Irost legal minds of the State, and they all
agree that the effect of section 3. article 6, of
tlic Constitution, upon these particular bonds
Is, as we have represented above, to fix them
as a permanent school fund.
In reference to the interest that may be
lawfully claimed on them, there is a wide
difference of opinion. The unpaid interest
coupons still attached to tlic bonds amount,
up to November 1st, 1871, to $231,000.
According to the view entertained by some
good legal authorities, these bonds being in
existence at the time of the adoption of the
Constitution as a school fund, the words of
that instrument above quoted, devoting “any
educational fund, now belonging to tiro
State” to the support of common schools,
took effect upon them, carrying all the in
terest there due upon them, as well a3 all to
fall due subsequently, to the support of a
system of public instruction.
Other legal minds, deservedly ranking very
high as authority upon questions of this
kind, take a veiy different view. They say
that the aet of 1858, which is followed very
closely by the chapter on education in the
Code, simply gave the interest on these
bonds as an annuity for the education of the
children of the State; that tlic machinery
provided in the act and in tiro Code clearly
contemplated the annual expenditure of tiro
annuity for the purpose for which it was
given; that from the date when the first in
stallment of the unpaid interest fell due
down to the passage of the school laws of Oc
tober 13, 1870, a state of war having interven
ed, the objectf or which the money was given
was not carried out; and that, upon the plain
legal principle, that when a gift is made to a
particular person for a specific object, and
that object is not carried out, the gift reverts
to the donor, no part of the interest can be
lawfully claimed which fell due prior to the
date of the school law just named. This
view would give the school fund only about
one year’s interest or $21,000.
As to the third proposition of the resolu
tion, it Is only necessary to remark that as
the act of 1852 gives the railroad shares
themselves, that is the corpu*. to the educa
tional fund, 1 have not met with any one
who donbts that this department is entitled
to all that is claimed in the action of the
State Board above given.
The second resolution demands a fuller
discussion.
The school law of October 13th, 1870,
first school law. Let us see, then, what
were the resources which this department
had upon which to rely to meet the ex
penses of the schools inaugurated through
out the State last year.
From tho amount of the school fund
officially reported as paid in, up to October
1st, 1871, $327,0S3 09, take $242,027 62,
the amount diverted, and there is left
$$5,055 47. Take from this last sum the
expenses of this offictf up to 1st of January
of this year, about $10,000, and there is
left, in round numbers $75,000, which
ought to have been in the treasury as an
available fund.
This constituted the sole resource for
meeting the expenses of the school last year.
This statement will be better understood
by referring to the school law of October 13,
1870. There was no provision in that law
for local taxation to pay teachers and school
officers. The-only provision in it, looking to
the raising of resources to supplement the
Slate school fund, is found in section 43.
That section made it the duty of tlic State
Board to make an estimate of the supple
mental amount necessary to be raised by
taxation upon the property of the State to
keep up the schools for three months of the
year, and report that estimate to the General
Assembly. The General Assembly was not
to be convened till near the close of the
year, and, if they had seen proper to pass
tlie tax law contemplated, it would have
been at least twelve months liefore the tax
could have been assessed and collected. It
is plain, then, that the only resource to he
relied upon for the support of tlic schools
was the $75,000 already mentioned.
With tills very slender resource, the mis
taken policy was adopted of encouraging the
general establishment of schools, and a debt
of at least $300,000, and perhaps Consider
ably more, was created.
It gives me no pleasure thus to speak of
the blunders, to use no harsher term, in the
management of this grear interest, in the
past, bnt justice to the tax payers, to the suf
fering teachers, and to the children now
growing up untaught, demands the utmost
plainness of speech.
Since my entrance upon the duties of this
offiee, I have been endeavoring to arrive at
the exact financial status of this department.
I have had especial difficulty in ascertaining
what amount of the taxes of 1871 belongs to
the school fond. Notwithstanding the Comp
troller General instructed the Tax Collectors
to keep the poll tax separate and distinct
from all other taxes, and so report them to
ly reported by tlic
Treasurer, all of
which, except
$619 13 were incur
red before the 15th
January last, the
commencement of
the official term of
the present incum
bent $ 10,890 67—252,918 31
the Ordinary of each county a statement of
the fund standing to the credit of his county
for school purposes, to he submitted to the
new County Board at its first meeting.
Tlic foregoing discussion and exhibit ay ill
show the reason why this has not been done.
If we had the whole of the $387,735 06
which the Comptroller's report shows to Ik*
due tiro school fund now in hand, I am of
the opinion that it would exhaust all of it to
pay the present indebtedness.
The counties may rest assured, then, that
there is no hope of aid in school operations
tlic present year from the Stale.
The taxes of 1873, which will probably
yield to tlic school fund $100,000, and which
it is hoped, will be rendered secure by the
additional legislation herein suggested, will
not be collected early enough for distribu
tion in aid of the schools of this year.
I would recommend tiro different County
Boards to make the estimate required of
them in section 38 of tiro school law upon
the hypothesis that there will be no aid af
forded by tile State, and to submit it when
made to tiro Grand Juries, seeking, at the
same time, to secure its approval; but would
repeat what I stated in the circular of tlic
"tli of February, that there is no safety in
attempting actual school work without that
approval.
Allow me to say, in conclusion, that I am
not disheartened by the blunders and mis
management exposed on almost every page
of this paper. I am well convinced that, in
the altered state of our Southern society, tiro
public school system has become an absolute
necessity. There is no hope outside of it for
multitudes of the children of tho State—
white as well as colored—while it can be de
monstrated that, under it, education can be
made cheaper, more thorough and far more
general.
Let us, then, ns becomes thoughtful men,
summon to our aid all the patience, the
energy, and tho wisdom which we may be
able to command, and make an earnest,
protracted effort to retrieve tho errors of
tho past, and build up a system, adapted
to the wants of our people, which shall be
the pride and glory of the State.
Gustavus J. Orr,
State School Commissioner.
I Hi; CONSTITUTION
JOB OFFICE!
LIcrik. and Edward u. ivusod uis deputy. mt scuooi xotu, iotv, * " .
The Examining Committee, besides tfia gave “one-bait the net earnings” of thE the Treasurer, a very large number of them
Amount which ought now to be in
the treasury $134,806 75
Thu present General Assembly, at its late
session, passed a law* appropriating the sum
of $300,000 for the payment of the teachers
and school officers who served last year.
This money was to come, first, “out of tlic
funds then in the treasury appropriated by
law to tlic public school system,” and if
those funds should prove insufficient, then
from the sale of the bonds placed in tlic
treasuiy in 1870, in the room of the school
funds then drawn out.
Tho statement above shows that there
ought now to be in the treasuiy, to the credit
of the school fund, the sum of $134,806 70;
whereas, I learn from the Treasurer that the
whole amount of funds of all kinds now in
liis custody will not rcacli one-tenth part of
that sum.
Under tlic act of July 28th, 1870, tiro very
reprehensible policy of throwing school
funds into the treasuiy in common with all
other moneys, to be drawn upon, was inau
gurated and persisted in. The present Gen
oral Assembly sought to arrest tins by enact
ing, in section 33 amended school law, that
44 When said common school fund shall
bo received and receipted for, from what
ever source received, it shall be tho duty
of tho officer authorized by law to receive
such fund, to keep the same separate and
distinct from other funds, and said funds
shall bo us'd for educational purposes and
none other, and shall not be invested *
bonds of this State.’’
This is the first legislation in reference
to the school fund since the adoption of the
present Constitution, which I have been
able to find, that seeks to carry out in good
faith tho provision of that instrument upon
tho subject.*
Much as this action is to be commendcd l
it is itself defective in two respects. In the
first place, it came too late to save the
fund. If this be a fault in our represen
tatives, it will beheld 03 a venial one when
it is remembered that a large number of
other subjects of the gravest moment were
pressing themselves upon their attention,
and demanding, at their hands, immediate
action. All could not have been done at
once that ought to have been done. The
other fault is, that the action above quoted
does not effectually reach the sourco of the
trouble. As has already been explained, a
very large bulk of tho taxes come into the
hands of tho treasurer without any means
of discriminating between school and other
funds, through the negligence or incompe
tency of tho tax collectors.
If, in addition to the action given above,
tho Legislature had further provided that
tho Comptroller General should, in no
ca3c, receipt tax collectors for moneys re
ported till tho tax for school purposes was
separated, in their returns, from other
taxes, the remedy would have been com
pleted; and I hope this action will be
taken at an early day.
In tho merciful allotments of Providence,
it rarely happens that men experience
from anything that befalls them unmiti
gated evil. So it has been in the' passage
of the law of July 28, 1870, already so
often referred to. While that law opens
wide the door for the escape of the school
fund, it also provides that bonds shall be
issued to secure the moneys thus disap
pearing, and I am authorized by the Gov
ernor to say that, under the authority thus
given, he will, at the earliest practicable
day, cause to be issued, in proper legal
form, bonds of the State in sufficient
amount 44 to perfectly secure” the $134,-
806 75, which, according to the showing
made above, has been used for other than
school purposes; and have them put upon
tho market
In reference to the bonds placed in the
hands of the Treasurer under that law, in
1870, ->vhich he was authorized to sell to raise
the remainder of tlic $300,000 appropriated,
he has grave doubts as to whether they can
be sold at all under the existing provisions of
law. They are defective in execution, which,
in liis opinion, will prevent the sale of them
at any other than 44 rates injurious to the
credit of the State.” He requests me to say,
nevertheless, that he will make an honest ef
fort to cany into execution the law
stands.
The State School Commissioner, the State
Board and the Governor all sympathize deep
ly with the teachers who arc still unpaid for
honest and faithful services rendered in ac
cordance with contracts entered Into, in good
faith, on their part, and would be glad to
have it in their power to afford immediate
relief, hut these officers, like other citizens,
are bound to obey the laws and can do noth
ing not strictly m conformity thereto. As
soon as any funds can be realized from the
sale of the two classes of bonds above men
tioned, dne notice will be given, and the
money will be distributed among the coun
ties as speedily as possible.
Section 38 of the amended school law
makes it the duty of the State School Com
t J*»b of Pritilini?, din
The Constitution Office!!
We have just made u Urge addition to the Job
Department—
New Type, Paper, and Card Stock,
So that wc hare now one ef the Finest Office* in the
State. We are prepared to print at *hort notice, and
in the
Best Stylo,
Kailroml Work, Pamphlets,
Editors Constitution: Prompted by the min-
S led feelings of desire that justice sliould be
one, and of resentment against actual injus
tice, and impelled also by tho iovc of my
heart, 1 take my pen in hand to state a few
facts in reference to Ilia poem tvhose'title
heads this article. Until recently, I was not
aware that any one had publicly laid claim
to its authorship; and, as an anonymous
poem, I, as well as its author, was willing
that it should go down to posterity. J3ut,
some weeks ago, I 'saw, for the first time, the
work of Professor Davidson, of the Univer
sity of South Carolina, on the writers of tlic
South, in which is cited n braggart, spread-
feather letter from Lamar Fontaine, asserting
that “ the world may howl over it as it may,
but the poem is his and ho wrote iu” The
real author was a man of extreme modesty
and lack of pretension, and, were he living,
would he the last to refer to the fact that “ the
world” had uoticcd his poem, much less been
so exercised about it as to wrangic and “ bowl
over it.”
Published without liis consent and in op
position to his expiess wisli and request, and
himself in Ilia Army of Virginia at tlie time
of it) publication, lie did not know that it
was in ''The immortal custody of the press,*'
till it had been scattered broad cast through
out the land—published and republished, set
to music nnd sung by tlic wives and daugh
ters of Confederate soldiers, he was utterly
amazed at its reception. In August, 18G4,
his ‘'dust returned to the earth as it was,” and
his spirit “unto God who gave it,” an other
hand than that which wrote it, must seek to
save hispoent from men who would rob tlic
dead. There was but one w'tncss to the
writing, which took place in the laic sum
mer or early fall of 1801. It was read imme
diately after to a circle of literary friends.
One of these copied it and had it published.
The out-going of a heart that tenderly loved
tho wife and mother, “far away in the cot
on the mountain,” and “the two on tlic low
trundle bed,” the elderly of those two here
claims these words, which, till wars shall
cease, are set to sonl-music, as the peculiar
possession of liis mother, his brother and
himself, who hold them doubly dear, because
they arc the expression of a husband's and a
father’s love. That husband and father, and
not the least > f Southern poets, though he
died in his prime, was Thaddcus Olive, of
the 2d Georgia regimen*, whose homo was
Buena Vista, Marion county, Ga. If there
be any still living, who can testify to the truth
of the facts above stated, I earnestly request
them to do so forthwith. In the meantime,
I have the satisfaction of knowing that my
father’s poem lias been claimed for him, that
the usurpers of his rights have not gone un-
rebuked, and that my hands have woven a
garlind, with which to decorate his grave.
Been F. Oliveh.
Madison, Ga., April 1872.
t3T A Virginia City man thus describes his
method of conjugal discipline* “Whenever
I see she’s got .her mad up, ifit is a dozen
times a day, I just quietly say nothin,’ but
kinder humor her, and she comes round all
right after a while. Then when she throws
things at me or gives a wild slash for me
with the broom or rollin’ pin, I just dodges a
little, and sbo never bits me tlic third time
before L get my eyes on her and let her know
that I disapprove of sach action on her part
Perhaps I have to leave the house to show
her this, but she secs the point. Then, by
being careful not to irritate her, and letting
her have her own way, I manage to make
her do as I please.”
General Craui'*'Property
The Washington correspondent of the
Louisville Cornier Journal says: But your
correspondent begs to refer to the President
merely as a typical head of his party, and
not the individual representative of any
fraud, or job, or corruption. He has always
entertained tho belief of tho President’s in
tegrity, and states furthermore that an Inves
tigation into bis pecuniary affairs corrobo
rates that belief. Be doc3 this specifically to
a bis opinion, to do justice to a politi-
rersary, and also to correct an errone
ous impression.
The President lias leen and is possessed of
this property, viz: One hundred thousand
dollarS-donated to him by the merchants of
New York; house in Philadelphia, $10,000,
rented now at $2,400 per year; 040 acres of
land near St Louis, purchased, with all im
provements, at less than $30,0C0; one-fourth
of 120 acres of land situated near Chicago;
$'*,000 stock in a Michigan iron company
his long Branch residence, $30,000, and
small amount in Adams Express and rail
road shares. Tho bulk of tbis property was
obtained through the gifts made to him by
the New York merchants before he was
elected President, the real estate presented to
him in Philadelphia and in Washington, and
bis purchase of the St Louis estalefrom liis
brother-in-law. It is not improper to stale
more specifically that the President’s income,
outside of his salary as President, is about
$0,000 per year. I make these statements
because it has been charged by Wendell
Phillips that General Grant wa3 worth $7,-
OOO.OuO or $8,000,000, and because I am satis
fied that statement is untrue. Perhaps it
should be added to this that General Grant is
anything but an extravagant than,and the
missioncr, immediately alter the adjourn- st °ry is told.
t lrcu)n:s, f esters,
Bill Heads,
L-Hcr Hen’s,
■naiii
Atlanta Constitution.
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PROPRUSTOES:
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On .11 nutter, other than holiness addres
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