USA > West Virginia > Webster County > Moccasin tracks and other imprints > Part 14
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It was reserved for our immediate ancestors to estab- lish a government by the people in which they were interested, and in which all power emanated from them, and in which government depends entirely upon them for support.
In ancient times it did not enter into the minds of the rulers to perpetuate their names by noble deeds and generous actions toward their subjects, but during their reigns vast armies of laborers were employed in building pyramids or other structures to perpetuate their names and achievements. They were remembered in stone, in brick, in marble, and in bronze, which are silent reminders of departed glory. The name of Cheops, the Egyptian Pharaoh, the builder of the greatest of the pyramids, on the banks of the Nile, would have passed into oblivion had not a workman in an idle moment written the name of the builder on one of the inner walls. The same may be said of Mauso- lus, king of Cairo, had not an affectionate wife erected a magnificent tomb, called the Mausoleum, to his memory. This structure became one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. In the course of time every vestige of these works of art will have crumbled to dust, and the names of the builders will linger only in the minds of the antiquarian, the historian and the student of archeology.
But this is not true in regard to the American pa-
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triots who founded this nation and made it possible for us to enjoy entire political and religious freedom. Wil- liam Penn, Roger Williams, Lord Baltimore, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, to- gether with a host of other patriotic men, did not write their names on tables of stone or bronze, but by un- selfish devotion to the cause of humanity, engraved them on the table of men's hearts. Their names will be revered by all liberty-loving peoples in all countries and in all ages. The Declaration of Independence is a monument to those who signed it as enduring as the eternal stars of heaven.
They gave us a government founded upon the prin- ciple of the equality of all persons before the law; upon the principle that all governments are instituted for the good of the governed and not for the personal aggran- dizement of the rulers; upon the principle that all au- thority of government emanates directly from the peo- ple ; upon justice and the teachings of the Bible.
Having these principles of government in mind, we should remember that the greatness of a nation does not depend upon the extent of its territory, but upon the individual worth of the people composing the na- tion. This government, made possible by the Declara- tion of Independence, which was sustained by the con- tinental army under the leadership of the immortal Washington, ably assisted by his noble generals, is a rich heritage left us of the twentieth century.
It is not my purpose to-day to speak of the virtues and the achievements of the men who established this republic. Their deeds are recorded in the pages of American history and are known to every one; but it
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is rather my purpose to give a word of friendly counsel in regard to the present and future conditions of so- ciety in this country. This heritage of which I spoke is ours to enjoy, but we do not hold it in fee, but in trust-it must be neither bought nor sold. It must be passed on to the succeeding generations, by us unsul- lied and untarnished. We owe this obligation to the men who have given so freely of their treasure and their blood-yea, of life itself, to make this a free na- tion ; we owe it to future generations yet unborn; we owe it to ourselves because each of us is responsible for the manner in which the government is administered.
Of what does this heritage consist? It consists of the very principles that have been in contention on every great battlefield of the world from the time in which the Persian cohorts invaded Greece to the battles of our own American Revolution. It consists of the right to be free and unmolested as long as our actions - do not come in conflict with the rights of others. It recognizes man's position in society, and gives him the right to the fruits of his honest toil. It recognizes no class or condition in society, and the son of the hum- blest citizen may hope to occupy the highest position in the gift of the people if he has but prepared himself for this honorable office. It gives us the right of free speech, and the right of a free press as long as we do not use these privileges to harm others. It gives us the right to be secure in our persons and in our prop- erty from unlawful search and seizure. It gives us the right to be free from military tyranny-all the rights, in fact, that makes man free and independent. answer-
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able only to law when he has transgressed upon the rules which he assisted in making.
But each of these rights is coupled with a duty, and if we are to fully enjoy these rights, and leave them unsullied to our successors, these duties or obligations must be fulfilled. What are some of the duties of an American citizen? I would answer that one of his first duties is to vote. While this is one of the highest privileges or rights under a free government it is no less a duty. If the conscientious citizen fail to cast his vote, unprincipled men will usurp the powers of government, and its benefits will pass beyond the con- trol of those who have the best interests of the state and nation at heart. Political parties are essential in all free governments to carry into effect the desires of the majority of the people, but partisan politics as ma- nipulated to-day is the bane of society. The man who votes a political ticket in local affairs simply because the persons for whom he votes are of the same political faith as himself, without any regard to their fitness for these positions, is an enemy to good government. What shall I say of the man who sells his vote? He not only sells his own political birthright and those who live contemporaneously with him, but he sells the political birthright of future generations. Two of the greatest enemies of free government have been military tyranny and a corrupt electorate. I have no hesitancy in say- ing that the man who sells his vote should be disfran- chised. All public officials should be diligent in the enforcement of the law against vote selling. The of- ficers whose duty is to enforce this law should have the hearty cooperation of all law-abiding citizens. The
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very life blood of the nation is being sapped by this pernicious and contemptible practice.
It is the duty of all persons to pay their taxes. Good citizens will not try to evade this plain, bounden duty. It is the means by which the wheels of government are kept in motion. It is the duty of all citizens to obey the laws under which they live, to see that all laws are faithfully executed, and to assist the officers in enforc- ing them. If an unjust law be placed in our statutes, the best means to adopt with reference to its repeal is to rigidly enforce it. It is the duty of a citizen to pro- tect public property. All public buildings cost money which is collected from the people by means of taxation, and all public-spirited citizens will see that property is not defaced, and that it be given the proper care for its preservation.
It is the duty of all citizens to defend their country. It does not fall to the young men of each generation to fight the battles of their country under the inspiring colors of the Stars and Stripes, but when this oppor- tunity has come there has been such response that the nations of Europe were greatly surprised. The young men of this generation are no less patriotic than former ones. How may one defend his country besides fight- ing her battles? By voting without fear or favor for men whom he thinks will act from principle and will administer the laws to the best interests of all the peo- ple. To pay his taxes; to obey the laws, and to assist in enforcing them; to protect public property and to be public spirited. If each of these duties be honestly performed. one becomes a real defender of his country.
This is a glorious country in which we live. It is
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good to be an American citizen. It was said in the first century of our era that it was a greater honor to be a Roman citizen than to be king of any other country. If this could be said of Roman citizens, what can be said of the honor of being a free American citizen in' this, the twentieth century ?
One hundred years ago, it was thought that the United States could not expand beyond the Mississippi river. The distance was so great that the powers of government would neither be felt nor recognized. But by the invention of the steamboat, the telegraph, the telephone, and the building of railroads the conditions have changed, and the United States has expanded be- yond the American continent. There are three ways by which messages may be sent in a very short space of time from New York to San Francisco: telegraph, telephone, or tell a woman. Now, Mr. Chairman, as I am a bachelor, and as an apology to the Richwood girls, I will say that this thought is not original with me, but I heard a Methodist preacher use it at Cowen not long since.
May the United States continue to grow and prosper ; may she be a leader and a guide for all the civilized nations of the world. May the state of West Virginia continue to be one of the brightest stars in the Ameri- can constellation of states. May Richwood grow until she becomes the chief city of the state, and may she be a leader in patriotic devotion to the Stars and Stripes, and in morals, education, and religion.
SCHOOL ROOM SMILES.
But few, if any, of the so-called school room jokes published in the comic papers had their origin in the 'school room. They were written by a penny-a-liner and seldom have the marks of probability. Many ludi- crous mistakes do occur in all schools. Many such have occurred during the thirty-three years I have spent in teaching. No notes were taken at the time and many can not be recalled at this time.
In a school taught in Nicholas county many years ago, a little girl was reading the "Lord's Prayer" writ- ten in verse. When she came to the couplet, "O give to us daily our portion of bread, It 'is from thy bounty that all must be fed," she read with great deliberation, "O give to us daily our pone of bread, It is from thy bounty that all must be fed."
A boy of seven years was reading the lesson about bees in the Second Reader. One paragraph speaks about bees being very busy little creatures. His version was, "Bees are very buzzy little creatures." This mis- take is pardonable when it is remembered that bees are both buzzy and busy.
In another school the pupils had been taught to di- vide a word into as many syllables as there are vocal sounds contained in it. The plan worked very well until a boy in the fourth grade was reading "The No- blest Revenge." He came to the word Stephen, which was a new one to him and he proceeded to apply the rule. It did not work very well in this instance for he pronounced it "Step-hen." The teacher came to the
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conclusion that the rule needed revision along certain lines.
A Webster county girl of six, who had been taught to read by the word and sentence method, made most excellent progress in the First Reader. She came to the lesson about the dog Fido sitting in a chair with a hat on his head. The lesson was read by the teacher and the new words pointed out. When called upon to recite, the lesson was read correctly until the last sen- tence was reached. It was at that point that the trou- ble occurred. The sentence is, "When school is out I will try to teach him some other tricks." This is the way the little girl read it: "When school is out I will try to teach him some sense." It is needless to say that the mistake was not pointed out that day.
Here is a joke on the teacher in which he, for ob- vious reasons, did not join in the inevitable smile. It occurred in a Training School at Haynes (now called Dyer) twenty-four years ago. A class of young men and women were reading "It Snows," a selection found in the Fifth Reader. After several members had read, the teacher said that each stanza should be read in a different manner in order to express the feelings of each character referred to in the poem. "Now, listen," said he, "while I read." He selected the stanza that ex- pressed the feelings of the society girl when she saw the snowflakes falling. He entered fully into the spirit of the scene. When he came to the verse, "From her mirror to see the flakes fall," he read, "From her mir- ror to see the snakes fall." Is it any wonder that the teacher did not join in the laugh that followed such a ludicrous blunder ? That particular lesson has not been
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assigned to a class in a Training School since that time. It would be quite an interesting phenomenon to see snakes falling from the sky in winter.
Will and Tom were twins, but by a difference of a few hours in their births, their birthdays were not cele- brated on the same day. The teacher, who was person- ally acquainted with the father and mother, and know- ing the peculiar circumstances under which they were born, asked Will how old he was. "I am seven years old," said he. "Tom, how old are you?" asked the teacher. Tom replied, "I am six years old." "Tom, are you and Will twins?" questioned the teacher. "Yes," said Tom, "but Will is one year older than I am." His age was recorded as seven.
Henry was reading the lesson in the First Reader about the nest of young birds found by Willie and Rose. The little girl looked at the birds in great won- der and exclaimed, "What big mouths and no feath- ers." A smile was the result of this reading: "What big mothers and no fathers." This is one of the jokes found in comic papers that did occur in the school room.
In reading the story of "The Fish I Didn't Catch," a little girl unconsciously gave an attribute to a fish that has often been given by the Angler when he failed on several occasions to land one after it was hooked. The boy. as spoken of in the lesson, when he hooked a fish cried out in great glee to his uncle that he had a fish. At that instant it fell into the water and "the arrowy gleam of a scared fish was seen darting into the middle of the stream." The pupil said that a "sacred" fish was seen darting into the middle of the stream.
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These school-room smiles are links in a lengthening chain that bind the teacher with the past. Each of the little folks who made these childish mistakes have long since arrived at the estate of manhood and womanhood. Some of them became teachers themselves and have often smiled at the mistakes of their pupils. Others have engaged in other vocations and are endeavoring to fill the position in society to which their education and talents entitle them."
The teacher after a third of a century spent in his chosen profession, still treasures in his memory the smiles that occurred in the schools that he attended. But the frowns and the unkind words spoken in anger are not forgotten, but they have long ago lost their sharpness and their sting. It is his frowns, his un- kind words and his thoughtless actions toward teachers and schoolmates that still haunt him. A smile in the schoolroom, as well as in the home, is always better than a frown. If you can do an act that may lighten the burden of any one, do it to-day. Do not wait for to-morrow. It may be too late. Smiles are flowers that brighten the pathway of life. They are good for. both the giver and the recipient.
HALLEY'S COMET-A BURLESQUE.
As other writers of high and low degree have had an inning at Halley's comet, I hope to be pardoned for taking a fling at it and casting a stone, so to speak, in the already troubled waters of astronomical discussion.
Many direful happenings have been prophesied in regard to the visit of this mysterious stranger to our part of the solar system. All manner of evil is to hap- pen to us poor earth mortals when this mundane sphere passes through the tail of this leviathan of empyrean regions. These forebodings need alarm no one, because this is not the first time that this grand old world of ours, which astronomers call a planet, has had the caudal appendage of a comet flaunted in its face. But it has gone on still doing business in the same old way and at the same old stand as it has been doing since the Creator spoke it into existence by His all-powerful com- mands.
We are somewhat comforted by the assurance of those who know something of astronomy in general, and of comets in particular, that on the day when the crisis is expected there will be a distance of about twelve millions of miles between the earth and the comet. Yet, this is but a small consideration at most when measured by the yard-stick of the sky, which is the dis- tance between the sun and the earth.
Now, as to what the result of this meeting will be is only problematical or the merest conjecture. Should our globe come in contact with this mysterious visitor bearing the name of one of England's most illustrious astronomers, there will be "something doing down the
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pike." I am always loyal to my own country and I think the result would be just like that of the little Jersey bull that charged the engine of a "Fast Flying Virginian" below Clifton Forge not long since.
The astronomers say that the greatest danger to the people who have a temporary abode on this terrestial ball is from the comet's tail. This is just the reverse of the danger from the animal referred to above.
The Associated Press sent a message last week from Paris, the French capital that sets the fashions for the rest of the world, stating that the astronomical solons of that distinguished city had discovered a very poison- ous gas in the wanderer's tail that will kill rats, cats, dogs, and other representatives of rodent, feline, and canine species of small animals. I am frank in saying that I cannot see my way clear as to which class man, the being called the lord of all creation, belongs, but I hope he is not included in the list named above.
If the men who are said to have discovered this deleterious gas to all animal life on the earth, had as many wheels in their heads as the men and women who designed the spring fashion plates for ladies' costumes, no attention need be paid the before-men- tioned dispatch.
I must admit that I have no knowledge whatever as to the meaning of the word used in the telegram des- ignating the poison. Modesty forbids any attempt even in trying to write the word used by the learned Par- isians.
As far back as last August, and in some isolated cases in the preceding April, certain activities among
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the old bachelors were noticeable in Webster and ad- joining counties. Upon investigation it was found that the same conditions existed throughout the United States and New Jersey. This activity was the more pronounced when the bachelors were in the presence of widows, spinsters, and even girls who are sometimes called sweet sixteens. This action on the part of men who had steeled their hearts against the bewitching in- fluence of the fair sex was something more than a nine days' wonder. It remained for an astrologer unknown to fame in a remote Oriental country to solve this great mystery. He in some mystical way connected this ac- tivity of the bachelors with the tail of Halley's comet. By searching said comet's caudal appendage with a two inch telescope, he discovered certain gases resembling ultra violet rays known to exist in the atmosphere of the earth. It was easy for him to connect violet rays with spring time and the blue, white, and yellow vio- lets sometimes called Johnny-jump-ups. The problem was then solved. The comet is therefore responsible for the courtship and marriage of many heretofore hopeless bachelors. This same astrologer predicts in his horoscope that all marriages contracted under this condition will be especially happy. The wife will be dutiful and will not scold when the husband comes in late at night from lodge, or when he has had a time with the boys. The husband will be loving and indul- gent and will cheerfully pay the bill for the latest style of the Easter or Merry Widow hat. Should his so- called better half come in late from a mothers' meeting, he will not scold, but will tell her that baby cried but
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once during her six hours' absence. The astrologer further states that on the next appearance of the above- mentioned comet, after an absence of seventy-five years, in which it has traveled more than one hundred bil- lions of miles, with no other seeming purpose in view than to frighten the inhabitants of the different worlds of the solar system, the grand-children of these bachelors, widows, spinsters, and sweet sixteens, will rise up and call the comet blessed because of its having had such benign influence upon their great forbears as Robert Burns would say. I will now give you a few concrete examples of the wonderful activity among eligible bach- elors. The Doctor who has made a reputation in his profession that is synonymous with success had been no more suspected of a softening of the heart than of hav- ing paresis, which is a technical term for softening of the brain. But just before the comet's nearest approach to the sun he led a blushing bride to the altar of Hymen. Had the comet been at one of the remote points in the solar system the good Doctor might now be living the life of single blessedness.
The Editor, who has been noted for the past five years for his manifested indifference to all the females of the species, has of late been seen in the company of one of Upshur county's fairest daughters. Only last week he was seen on the train at Burnsville. When questioned as to his destination he said that he was go- ing to Weston on business, but he afterwards admitted that he would visit Buckhannon friends before his re- turn to Webster Springs.
The Angler was on the same train. This devotee of
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piscatorial pursuits has lived unmolested by the girls for many years but he told the Editor in the greatest confidence that he was just returning from a trip to a town down the line. He said that the name of the town means peace and harmony.
The genial Clerk, who has but lately invaded the ranks of bachelorhood, left the Springs on the train with the Editor for the realms of bliss. The Clerk was thought to be on his way to Braxton county to visit a little town called Caress. This is or should be a most desirable town for all bachelors to visit.
The good natured Lawyer has again been seen in Lover's Lane. It is to be hoped that the new board walk will not break down under his ponderous weight as the old one did some months ago. He then solemnly vowed that he would never again visit the Lane, but under the influence of the violet rays he can most readily be pardoned for departing from the road marked out for himself.
It is unnecessary to adduce additional evidence as to the effect of the comet on bachelors.
The ministers are already talking of the great in- crease in their matrimonial revenues, and it seems as if all the eligibles will be married before the comet's final disappearance from the vicinity of the earth.
THE BACHELOR.
The month of May spent on a trout stream among the mountains of West Virginia is an unfailing source of pleasure to those who can get close to nature and her teachings. All natural objects, both animate and in- animate, seem to revel in the bright sunshine. The cold winds from the icy north have been succeeded by the warm, life-giving winds from the south. A pro- The fusion of wild flowers deck the hills and valleys. deciduous trees are donning their summer clothes. The spruce and the hemlock are now putting forth pale, green leaves in pleasing contrast with their winter garments. The trout, the monarch of the mountain stream, now grown lusty and strong after his long win- ter's inactivity, is on the alert watching for the unwary fly, moth, or bug, that drops near his lair. In his eagerness for his prey, he falls an easy victim to the angler's lure. The birds are in full song and in their singing there is a suggestion of the orange and the palmetto from which they so lately sang during their sojourn in the sunny south. It is in a camp on the banks of a swift, babbling stream amid the surround- ings just described that the lover of nature drinks to his full from the magical fountain of health sought in vain by Ponce de Leon, the old Spanish Cavalier.
A party of five anglers pitched their tent near the mouth of Big Beechy on the Williams last May. Trout were in abundance and bear "sign" was just plentiful enough to make a meeting with bruin among the possi- bilities. In the party was an attorney well versed in the legal lore of Chitty and Blackstone; a theologian
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