USA > Georgia > Fulton County > Atlanta > History of Atlanta, Georgia : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32
In 1867 Mr. Hemphill came to Atlanta, and in a short time was made bus- iness manager of the Daily Constitution, a position which he still holds In this difficult field of work he brought into action business abilities of the high- est order. At that time it took patient industry, far-seeing enterprise, and shrewd financial management to build up a great daily in the South. The new business manager soon proved that he was lacking in none of these quali- fications, and in the course of a few years his prudent and wise line of conduct established the Constitution as the leading Southern newspaper.
Mr. Hemphill's rare financial ability, successful methods and strict integrity soon made him a power in business circles, and very few enterprises were started which he was not invited to join. At present, besides holding the re- sponsible position of business manager of the Constitution, he is president of the board of education, president of the Capital City Bank, a member of the . board of aldermen, superintendent of the Trinity Sunday-school, the largest in the State ; president of the Young Men's Library Association, and is promi- nently connected with various business and charitable institutions.
In 1871 he married Mrs. Emma Luckie, and has an interesting family, whose pleasant hospitality makes his elegant mansion on Peachtree street one of the most charming residences in the city. When it is said that Mr. Hemp- hill is devoted to Atlanta, her interests, and her people, it is only faintly ex- pressing in a brief sentence what this energetic citizen has for many years made apparent in the nature of the enterprises to which he has liberally con- tributed his time, labor and money. More than once he has declined political offices of honor and trust, but he has always found time to work for his party and his friends. The religious and benevolent institutions of his city have no stronger and more generous supporter, and in social, as well as business circles, he is one of the most popular of men.
Mr. Hemphill, while closely confined and kept busily engaged by his nu- merous business interests, is an enthusiastic lover of rural life and its sports and occupations. He is interested in progressive farming, and delights in fine Jer- sey cows, blooded horses, and dogs of the best breeds. He enjoys hunting, and is an excellent shot, and nothing suits him better than a brief vacation in the country, where he can recreate and amuse himself among the fields and forests.
61
BIOGRAPHICAL.
A man of Mr. Hemphill's prominence finds it necessary, frequently, to ap- pear in public as a speaker. Mr. Hemphill makes no pretentions to oratory, but his style of speaking is so earnest, clear and forcible, that it always com . mands attention. In a recent address, at the commencement of the Atlanta Boys' High School, he said :
YOUNG GENTLEMEN : We have listened with pride and pleasure to your efforts this even- ing. This night is an important epoch in your lives. It is the link that binds your school days and the great unknown future that lies before each one of you. Some of you will seek a higher education by attending colleges in this and other States. Our best wishes go with you. We know what to expect of you by what you have accomplished in our public schools here. Others of you will enter at once into the strife of life real and earnest. We do not want you to hesi- tate or falter. We want you each to have confidence in your ability, in your mental capacities and the strength of your own good right arm. We, as the board of education, have done all we could for you. It now depends on you to work out your own destiny. In my short talk to-night I want to give you a few thoughts on the business side of life. I believe that one who has made a success in a certain line has a right to speak to others on that line. I don't believe a man ought to tell .or to try and show me how to farm when he cannot farm himself, or about teaching unless he can teach himself ; or about business, unless he has succeeded on that line.
Some young men, when they are through school, are so anxious to do something, they ac- cept situations without any regard to suitability. If dire necessity compels them to do this, I do not blame them, but they must not lose sight of that profession or business which would suit them best. To succeed you must be in accord with your profession or business. I know of a business man in this city who took ten long weary years in which to make a success of his business. In all that time he was working day and night, never tiring, never faltering ; his one aim and object was success. On, on he went until he reached the goal of his ambition, and he is now enjoying the full fruition of all his fond hopes. The reason so many fail is that they are not in sympathy or love with the profession or business they have chosen.
It is also true that most failures among those who strive earnestly, come not from lack of gifts, but from not using the gifts they have. Thus, a young man with a gift for tools, at- tempts law and fails ; another, with a gift for teaching, ventures upon medicine, and slays his thousands ; another, without gifts, attempts preaching, and makes chaos of doctrine.
I do not speak to you to-night of impossibilities or difficult attainments-where only one or two of you can succeed. I speak to you of requirements that are in the reach of us all. I spoke to the normal class a few days ago and endeavored to impress upon them the thought that there is more in saving than in making. I say to you to-night, young gentlemen, cultivate this trait, which is one of the very best traits in a business man : save, save-don't spend all you make. I hope there is not one in this class who considers it a sign of dullness to have a little qualification for business. I have seen people who thought it dull or stupid to know anything about business. Never go in debt if you can possibly help it. Thousands of years ago it was recorded in holy writ that the borrower was a servant to the lender : that was true then, it is true now. If you want to be a slave, go in debt, and you are one in deed and in truth.
Don't try to do too much at first. Make up your mind what you are going to do, and make a start -- it may be a humble start, but let it be a good, honest start. The biggest busi- ness in this city was started in a back room, in a wash-bowl, and to-day it covers nearly the civ- ilized globe, and brings thousands of dollars into the pockets of its projectors and founders.
Make up your mind to accomplish something, that you will not be a drone in this world. Give me a boy that has grit. backbone and determination, one that has made up his mind and has a settled purpose to accomplish something definite. I could go on for an hour and talk to you about traits of character, but they have been impressed upon you time and again by your
62
HISTORY OF ATLANTA.
worthy teacher, and I will not weary your patience. If asked to give my opinion as to what was the best single qualification one could have. I would unhesitatingly say that punctuality- promptness-beats them all. Battles have been lost, thrones have been destroyed, honors have wasted away for the want of this qualification. Let me impress upon you to-night the great importance of your being prompt in all your transactions of life. If you promise to meet one at a certain place and hour, be there on time. A note is to be met, fail not to attend to it ; a case in court, be there and ready when it is called. I care not what the engagement is, of the time, or the manner, do not slight it, do not miss it. Come to time every time. The boy that does this is as sure to win success in this life as that I am here before you to-night. Suc- cess comes to the prompt man. I believe that Senator Brown owes his great success in life to the possession of this one qualification as much as to any other. No man is more prompt. No one is more scrupulous in meeting his engagements than he. When Senator Brown appointn an hour and a place, his carriage is there as prompt and certain as the morning sun will rise is the east to-morrow, This is as true as true can be, and all those who have had transactions with him know it.
I will not attempt to speak to you to-night upon moral qualifications, but there is one sub- ject on which I will touch. If you leave your parents' roof and go to another city -and right here I would include the young men in this audience whose parents are in other cities, and you have not the sacred influence of a home -let me beg you not to make your home in a room over a store or some isolated place. I have studied this question and watched young men closely, and I do not hesitate to say that a room over a store is often an annex to hell. More young men have been ruined, more have been dragged down, more have been eternally lost by this mode of living than any other. Never get away from the influence of your mother or sis- ter, or some other fellow's mother and sister. I have no fear of a boy who keeps always in the range of this influence,
Let me say in conclusion : The board of education looks with pride and gratification upon you to-night, young gentlemen. We have watched your course from the grammar school through the high school, and we are proud of the record you have made. We see before us talent and ability-young men capable of attaining the highest positions in whatever walk of life they choose to go. We are not aftaid for you to enter the arena of life. We commend you to God for His protecting care, and to this people for their loving favor. We send you back to the paternal roof, we believe, armed and equipped for the battle of life. You, from this night, are our representatives, and, as the mother of the Gracchi pointed to her sons as her jewels, we, with equal pride, point to you as our jewels.
On the following evening Mr. Hemphill addressed the graduates of the Girls' High School. In concluding his speech he spoke as follows :
YOUNG LADIES OF THE GRADUATING CLASS : Last night I directed the attention of the young gentlemen to the business side of life. I would direct yours, in a few words, to the practical and domestic side of life. No girl's education is complete unless that side has been cultivated, as well as the mental and physical. The young lady who neglects this side makes a sad mistake, which she will find out sooner or later. I want to assure you that there is no gentleman but who would be pleased to know that the girl he admires can make herself just as useful in the kitchen as she can appear elegant in the drawing-room. [ Applause. ] And it will not lower her in his opinion to know, also, that she can handle the keys of the type-writer as skillfully as those of the grand piano.
I would not lessen the importance of cultivating the mind, or the extreme value of the fine arts. but I would bring up into more importance and consideration the practical productive studies upon which so many of our fair ones, and through them their loved ones, will have to- depend for a support ; and in learning and practicing these, I do not believe it is at all neces- sary for any girl to lay aside her tenderness, her modesty, or her womanliness.
63
BIOGRAPHICAL.
If a girl is wealthy I would have her learn something practical. It makes her independent of her riches, should those riches take wings and fly away, and we cannot tell how soon the evil day may come.
I am glad that a resolution has been introduced in the board tor its consideration, that the girls in the public schools of Atlanta should be taught, if they desired it, telegraphy, book- keeping and short-hand. I shall advise every young lady to avail herself of the opportunity of learning one of these practical studies.
A distinguished orator said the other day : " Disguise it as we may, the time has come when every girl who has had the advantage of our public schools should determine to master thoroughly a productive education. Let it be painting on porcelain and glass, painting in water and oil colors, artistic feather-making, decorative designing, artistic embroidery for costumes, or furniture, wood or steel engravings, bookkeeping. the education of commerce, stenography and type-writing. Whatever may be the bent of her inclinations let her pursue it, and pursue it zealously with the purpose of accomplishing her own independence, and aiding those who have nurtured and supported her, thus adding to the general wealth of the community, to the happiness and comfort of her family, and to her own value as an individual."
Oh, what an infinite relief to many an anxious father and mother to know that the future of the daughter was assured. We fear for our sons for what they may be tempted to do. We fear for our daughters for what may happen to them.
How many thousand reflecting, sensitive, affectionate fathers of girls, themselves the recip- ients of small incomes, who dare not contemplate the future of their daughters in case his life should be taken ; and what an unspeakable relief it would be to that loving father to know his daughter, by her own exertions, whether she had the protecting care of a husband or not, was easily competent to earn her own livelihood and to occupy the station in life for which her gen- tle breeding fitted her.
Young ladies, your education is not finished. You have only laid the foundation. Don't stop now, thinking that your education is complete, that you are now on the carpet, and that there is nothing further in the way of learning for you to accomplish. Now is a good time for you to learn one of these practical studies about which I have been talking. You have a most excellent opportunity to make yourselves proficient in one or the other. The domestic and practical side of life should be attractive to each one of you, and a great deal of time should now be given to that side. Don't neglect these precious opportunities-improve them all and you will be the more attractive and lovely for it. I am glad these opportunities are being placed before our young women, and that it is becoming very popular to give these light em- ployments to the gentler sex, and that you are not looked upon now as a mere sewing machine, having to eke out an existence at the point of a needle. I hope the day is not far distant when the men will have to retire from all the places that can be filled by our girls.
And right here I want to say, if a girl can fill the place of a man I do not see the justice of her not receiving the pay of a man. Our people are waking up to this question. I tell you, young ladies, and I would include every one in this vast audience also, know your rights and dare maintain them.
Some of the happiest girls in this city to-night are those who are making an independent living by their own brains and skillful hands, and who are able to support and care for the dear ones who nurtured and supported them. I hope, young ladies, that you will give this impor- tant question the consideration it so eminently deserves, and that these practical, productive studies will receive favor from you all.
I am glad that nearly all of our teachers in the public schools are females. I would not have it otherwise. But all of our girls can not be teachers. There are not enough positions in the schools, and then teaching is not suitable to all. Don't make the mistake to assume that profession or occupation 'that does does not suit you. To succeed you must be enthused and enraptured with your vocation. I take it for granted that there is no girl here but who wants
64
HISTORY OF ATLANTA.
to make a success of whatever she undertakes. This is commendable, and should be the guid- ing star that leads you through life.
I want to say to you that the most failures among those who strive earneatly come not from lack of gifts, but from not using the gifts they have. " A young woman with a gift for teach- ing longs to excel in music, and torments the air with discords. Another has a gift for music, but affects painting, and dismays us with grotesque faces and impossible landscapes. An- other, whose gift is housekeeping, attempts literature and makes an utter failure. Not a few have gifts for heing noble women, but, grieving that they were not born to be men, attempt things unfit for them, live unhappy and die disappointed."
Ladies and gentlemen, we now return to you the beautiful bouquet that you delivered to us a few years ago. We have watched it well. We think you will find the flowers that form this bouquet more perfect, more symmetrical than when we received it. We have cultivated and trimmed it all that we can. We deliver it back to you knowing and feeling that you are per- fectly satisfied with our labor and that of these faithful teachers. {Applause.] This bouquet is dear to us and to these teachers-how dear will never be known. It would pain us sadly for one of these sweet flowers to be bruised or slighted. We would rather you would bruise or slight us. Treat them tenderly, lovingly and kindly, is the desire of the board of education, which I have the honor to represent.
These two speeches reflect the character, the aspirations and the methods of the speaker. They are characterized by the old-fashioned common sense of our fathers, and their admonitions concerning morality, industry and econ- omy cover the whole ground. When a man utters such sentiments and car- ries them into his daily life he is one of the most valuable citizens in a com- munity, but this has been said of Mr. Hemphill by his fellow-townsmen so often that-it is almost unnecessary to record it in these pages.
H TILL, SENATOR BENJAMIN H., 1 whose life, character and distin- guished services are the subject of this sketch, was born at Hillsborough, in Jasper county, Ga, on the 14th day of September, 1823. His father, Mr. John Hill, was a gentleman of limited means, without a liberal education. But he was a man of spotless character, of very strong common sense, and a great deal of will power, who always exerted an extensive influence in his neighbor- hood and section.
The mother of the distinguished statesman, whose maiden name was Par- ham, was a lady of very fine traits of character, whose precepts and example exerted a most salutary and powerful influence over her children. Mr. and Mrs. Hill were devoted and consistent members of the Methodist Church. They lived and died in the faith, and were eminently useful in their day and generation.
When the subject of this sketch was about ten years old, his father moved from Hillsborough to the neighborhood called Long Cane, in Troup county, Ga., which was his home until the day of his death. Mr. Hill not only trained his children to habits of morality and Christian virtue, but he caused them to
1 This sketch is mainly condensed from a speech delivered in the United States Senate, Jan- uary 25, 1883, by Senator Joseph E. Brown, on the life and character of Benjamin H. Hill.
.
65
BIOGRAPHICAL.
labor with their hands and earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. Being a sober, industrious, and persevering man, he accumulated, prior to his death, a considerable property, and was able to give to each of his nine children something quite respectable to start life with. His son Benjamin was obedient and faithful to his parents ; he labored hard to aid his father. While he was quite industrious, he was noted as a very bright and promising youth. When he reached the age of eighteen years he was very anxious to improve the edu- cation which he had been able to obtain in the country by going through a course in the University of Georgia. But as the family was large his father felt that he had not the means to spare, and do justice to the other children, which were necessary to complete the collegiate course of his son. After a family consultation, it was agreed by the mother and by a good and faithful aunt that they, out of the small means they had accumulated, would furnish one-half the amount, the father furnishing the other half. Under this arrange- ment the gifted son was enabled to enter the State university. Before he left home he promised his mother, if the means could be raised to enable him to complete his collegiate course, that he would take the first honor in his class.
In the university the young student was industrious, attentive and energetic. His progress was rapid, and his mental development very gratifying to his nu- merous friends in the university and elsewhere, who watched his progress and the development of his genius with great pride and gratification. When the commencement came, at the end of the senior year, the faculty unanimously awarded the first honor to young Hill. He also took all the honors of the lit- erary society to which he belonged. And in a familiar letter to a friend he said, within the last few years, that was the proudest day of his life, and that nothing ever afforded him more gratification than it did to write to his mother the news that filled his heart with so much joy.
Soon after the close of his collegiate career Mr. Hill was married to Miss Caroline Holt, of Athens, Ga., a young lady belonging to one of Georgia's old- est and most honored families; of good fortune, great amiability, beauty and accomplishments. The happy and brilliant young couple settled in La Grange, in Troup county, where Mr. Hill, who had already studied law and been ad- mitted to the bar, commenced the practice of his profession. From the very commencement, the tact, research and ability with which he conducted his earliest cases, gave bright promise of his future eminence. He grew rapidly at the bar, until he was soon employed in every important case in his county, and his professional fame spread into the adjoining counties of the State, and he became the center figure at the bar in the courts of his circuit.
In connection with his legal practice, Mr. Hill purchased a valuable planta- tion, and with the slaves that he obtained by his wife and by inheritance from his father, and purchased from time to time out of his incomes, he conducted the business of planting on an extensive and profitable scale.
9+
66
HISTORY OF ATLANTA.
Mr. Hill started life an ardent Whig; and it could not be expected that a young lawyer of his brilliant talents could long keep out of politics. In 1851 he was elected to the House of Representatives of the Legislature of Georgia, where he soon rose to the position of one of the ablest debaters and most in- fluential members of that body. After the Legislature adjourned he resumed the practice of his profession with great skill and energy.
The old Whig party having in the meantime been dissolved in Georgia, Mr. Hill, in 1855, became a member of what was known as the American party, and was nominated by that party as their candidate for Congress, in op- position to Hon. Hiram Warner, the Democratic nominee. The race was an exciting one. Judge Warner was one of the ablest and most profound men of the State, though not a distinguished orator. Mr. Hill canvassed the district, and usually had the advantage everywhere in the popular applause. He was defeated, however, Judge Warner securing a small majority.
In 1856 Mr. Hill was a candidate for elector for the State at large on the Fillmore ticket. He canvassed the State with great energy, ability, and elo- quence. From the day on which he made his first grand effort in support of his candidate must be dated his recognition as the leader of his party in Geor- gia. During the campaign he met the leading Democratic speakers at various points. He had an animated discussion with Mr. Stephens at Lexington, and with General Toombs at Washington, Ga. His most ardent admirers were en- tirely content with the ability he displayed in these contests with his distin- guished opponents. From that time forward his influence with his party was unbounded. They not only trusted and followed him, but he controlled them absolutely.
In 1857 Joseph E. Brown was nominated by the Democratic party of Georgia as their candidate for governor, and Mr. Hill was nominated by the American party for the same position. The contest was energetic and excit- . ing. Mr. Hill displayed great powers of eloquence in the debates, and was an exceedingly interesting and formidable competitor. The contest ended in the election of the Democratic candidate.
In 1859 he was elected by his party to the Senate of Georgia. He exhib- ited great power in the debates of the session, and was without a rival the leader of his party in the Legislature.
In 1860 he was again a candidate for presidential elector, and canvassed the State for Bell and Everett for president and vice-president. His speeches were exceedingly able and brilliant.
He was an avowed Union man, and in conjunction with Alexander H. Stephens, Herschell V. Johnson, Linton Stephens, and some others, leading men of Georgia, he opposed secession ably and earnestly until the final pas- sage of the resolution that it was the right and duty of Georgia to secede. When the ordinance was passed he signed it, taking position, as did the other
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.