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SO PIE PAGES PRO Pl PIE SCRAP ROOK
TELLS OF A VISIT TO GEORGE
MCDUFFIE.
Dear Tom: I spent the day not long
ago at the old George McDuffie place
near Boneville. I saw one of the cor
ner rocks of the old homestead build
ing and examined the stunip of the
old McDuffie Oak. The sap is all rot
ted off yet the stump is about twenty
seven feet in circumference. My
min'd naturally reveited to my boy
hood days when my father lived at
Willington, Su C., about one mile
from “Cherry Hill,” the home of
George McDuffie. And having seen
your splendid article on George Mc-
Duffie in your magazine, I concluded
to write you a few boyhood memories
of the great statesman.
Old Uncle Jimmie Danielly was a
great admirer of “Naughty George,”
and George returned the admiration
with interest for “Old Ironsides,” as
he called Uncle Jimmie.
Old Uncle Jimmie was spending
some time at our house in 1847 when
they received a special invitation to
Cherry Hill and my father agreed to
take me with him. When we arrived
we found Mr. McDuffie lying on a
couch and very nervous (he had then
been an invalid from a wound re
ceived in a duel which occurred about
fifteen years before). After some
moments spent in compliments, Mc-
Duffie said? “Well, boys, I’ve sent
for you to know how this great racket
about the division of the Methodist
Episcopal Church will end. Is it not
the entering wedge to divide the
North and South politically on the
same lines'!” My father hoped not,
said he believed the conservative in
fluence of the church would cause the
two sections to compromise their dif
ferences or separate in peace by mu
tual consent. Uncle Jimmie said that
,5f all fanatics were dead that might
happen. McDuffie in the meantime,
had taken two or three drinks from a
long .bottle, excusing himself with a
merry smile by quoting from the dis
cipline of the Methodist church the
clause, “Except in cases of necessi
ty.” Then Uncle Jimmie, in his fine
falsetto voice, inquired, “What do
you think of it, George?” McDuf
fie raised himself to a sitting posture
and said, “I’m afraid we have waited
too long. We would have settled this
fifteen years ago had it not been for
Henry Clay’s poultices and Daniel
Webster’s amazing magnetic influence
over Southern members.” Then ris
ing to his feet and standing out in
the middle of the floor, McDuffie
seemed to become a young man. Hi*
eyes, which were coal black, glowed
like two furnaces, electric flashes
played over his face like lightning
over an evening cloud. He said as
near as I can remember:
“Gentlemen, the churqh has al
ways raised more hell than the world
could digest. This division is the
first gun of the greatest war of mod
ern times. We will fight for life
while the infernal yankees will fight
for power. If they succeed, they
will centralize the government upon
the Hamiltonian plan, they will free
the nigger and enfranchise him. We
will be dependents upon their mercy.
If we succeed, we will be so proud
we will always be going round with a
chip on cur shoulders waiting fox
somebody to knock it off. The end
of the republic t is near at hand. Mon
ey worship will cover this country.
The chivahic spirit of the South will
be swallowed up in commercialism.
We old fellows may pass away before
it comes.” »
Then turning to me he said: ‘‘ My
boy, you’ll be into it, and will see hell
and a heap of it.”
He then turned to the old men, and
said: “When we made the nullifica
tion fight we were as strong or strong
er than the North, now they are much
stronger than we in men and re
sources. Human wisdom cannot fore
tell all that will hapen but the repub
lic is at an end.”
Then he dropped down on his
couch, looked around like a dying
lion and said, “I am exhausted, I am
exhausted. ’ ’
He then took another drink from
the bottle, winked at the old preachers
and again quoted, “Except in cases
of necessity, gentlemen, except in
cases of necessity.”
I had seen him before on the cam
pus at the old Waddell Academy at
Willington when he would put up a
half dollar for us to box, wrestle, run
or jump for. There were a hundred
and forty students at Willington and
he w r on every heart from the young
men of twenty-three down to the lit
tle boys of five or six. I loved him
then, I love him still. Peace and
glory to George McDuffie.
I will try to describe his appear
ance. When standing speaking, he
impressed me as being tlje tallest man
I had ever seen. He was always
clean shaven and his complexion was
a sort of bluish pomegranite; his face
was rugged, but his features were so
well proportioned that they formed
a glorious whole which was indescrib
able. I yet think he was the grand
est man I ever saw, not excepting old
Bob Lee and Stonewall Jackson.
Some time I purpose to give you a
sketch of John C. Calhoun and
James Danielly. Publish this or any
part of it you think worth the trou
ble, or throw it into the w’aste basket,
as you choose.
Yours with best wishes.
S. A. WALKER.
Cobbham, Ga., Nov. 10, 1907.
(Too good for any sensible waste
basket, Uncle Sam. Send those oth
ers along when they’re ready.)
THE IDEAL GEORGIA REMINIS
CENCES.
When the roster is made up of
those whose pens have paid high
tribute to Georgia, and shed unfad
ing honor upon her illustrious sons,
we are inclined to think that Lucian
Knight will lead the list
Back across the country, from
White’s Statistics and the Historical
Recollections through Stevens and
McCall and Smith, down to the pre
paid biographies which we class as
' WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
history today, there is nothing bet
ter or anything quite so good as
“The Reminiscences of Famous
Georgians,” written in exile by the
young editor, orator and minister,
whose genius and devotion have made
him for two decades one of the be
loved and brilliant children of the
State.
For the work of Lucian Knight
fairly glow's with genius and enthu
siasm. It takes the dry bones of his
tory and reminiscence and makes
them stand up clothed and beautiful
in human interest and vitality. It
gilds fact and incident with the touch
of romance, and while sacrificing no
truth or accuracy in relation, wraps
each figure and period oin the senti
ment of patriotic devotion, and like
the ancient Scot, freshens and deep
ens with the chisel of the pen the
epitaph upon the tombs of the fam
ous Georgians of the past.
It is doubtful if any history ever
written anywhere or at any time, has
been framed in English so melliflu
ous and beautiful as these reminis
cences. They run like rippling water
through the annals of the common
wealth, musical in flow, and sweet
and pure in origin as in direction and
conclusion.
For no man who has ever written
history for Georgia has been more
free from prejudice, more untouched
by enmities, and more fair in his
friendly and unbiased justice to the
state and its mighty sons. Lucian
Knight writes in the sunshine with no
shadow upon his noble spirit and no
malice in his gentle heart. His work,
by all the signs, has been a labor of
love, and he has lived with those he
loved, labored for those he loved and
loved those for whom he labored.
If these “Reminiscences” had been
written when our world was younger
and before the age had been vexed
with the making of so many books,
it would have made immortal the
young man who wrote it As it is,
each succeeding year will deepen the
sense of obligation which Georgia and
its people owe to the writer of these
charming sketches.
Let no man think that in the sheer
beauty and witchery of his style, Lu
cian Knight has been indifferent to
fact and accuracy. Legend, indeed,
and tradition wrap some of the de
lightful incidents of his reminis
cences, but it is the legend and tra
dition whose long acceptance has
deepened into history. All that is
vivid, dramatic or eventful in the
lives of illustrious Georgians is
gathered into the pages of the book.
But along with these there runs the
pure current of biography, or record,
of the linking of great names to great
events, of the part that each man
played, and of the place that man
man deserves upon the roll of honor,
while as a commentator upon policies
and as a philosopher of events, Mr.
Knight displays an insight, a balance,
and a comprehension which give a
double value to his charming work.
There is not a young man in Geor
gia who ought to be without these
Reminiscences. If he is going into
public life they will enrich his equip-
meat with the amplest store of inci
dent, and the clearest illumination of
Georgia’s great periods and of the
great men who ruled them.
There is not an old man in Georgia
who would not find more charming
than, novel or romance this revival
of ihe scenes and figures of a past
in which they had borne a part. If
Reminiscence is a torch to youth it is
a delight to age, and around many a
winter fireside these rare sketches and
comments would furnish the matexual
for an evening of intellectual and so
cial charm.
There is not a literary man in Geor
gia or elsewhere who can afford to
leave this brilliant work out of his li
brary, for in no other and similar
book that we have ever read is there
as much to charm the ear, and delight
the taste and quicken the imagina
tion.
Beyond all this Georgia owes to
her brilliant son who, in broken
health, has written in exile this no
ble and beautiful tribute—the full
and generous meed of practical and
substantial appreciation of the gal
lant service he hast rendered to the
commonwealth and to history.
Out yonder on the far Pacific coast,
islanded in an Avalon as sweet as
Arthur’s Knights of ehivalric mem
ory, he has wrought with a sweetness,
a patience and a courtesy that stamps
him one of them —and not less one
of ours.
Let us send to Lucian Knight—our
Galahad of Literature—in his far
Avalon the assurance that we appre
ciata the beautiful chapters with
which he has garlanded Georgia for
her noble place in history.
Lst us send him in a thousand sub
scriptions to his first volume of Rem
iniscence, Georgia’s thanks for what
he has already done, and Georgia’s
generous inspiration for what he has
yet to do. —The Georgian.
| National I
I Union Farmer I
J HOMER L. HIGGS, Editor and Proprietor A
0 GREENFIELD, TENNESSEE J
| (J A Farmers Union pa-
Y per strictly, has the ?
Y unanimous support
Y of the officials of the ?
y Tennessee Farmers
Y Union. Circulation ?
Y growing rapidly....
? Sample Copies Sent Upon Application 6
WAKEFIELD Poultry Yards has a fair
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