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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 more Barred Plymouth Rock and White Wyandotte cockerels for sale at 11.50. Send in your order new so yea can get eggs early in the season. My barred Rocks are almost perfect In color. All orders filled from now until February 1 at |1 for 13; after then >1.60. Order now, will ship when you want them. W. A. tILKS, Prop., Wake, field, N. C. ime PAGE THREE