ft (T(fli
VOL 2
JiOONK, WATAUGA ( OI JXTV, X. . TIIUKsDAY, MAHCTl 20. I8!K).
NO. 37.
A RIOGRAIMIYOFTIIE
KEY. IZ. 1 FAUTHIMi.
lYtltur of tin' Ih'mocnit :
ami 1 was pleased with .vmir
Uriel ediiorialjn wuieii you
recounted some of tin; many
virtues which he possessed
Yet I hail hoped, that either
yourseit or some oilier com -
potont'hnnd, wouM have at!
greater length portrayed not
only the many virtues that
adorned the life of the dead
preacher, hut that his learn
ing and his intellectual patts
would have been more fully
elaborated. lint nothing fur
ther appearing iir the.publie
print, so far as I have seen,
1 have from a seme of duty
that 1 owe to my dead fi iend,
concluded to write my opin
ion of the worth and merit of
brother Farthing.
I knew him when I was a
boy, and frequently heard
lrm preach long before I was
old enough to fully appreci
ate the breadth ol his intellec
tual power. There were, how
ever, two men about his age,
and by the way of a different
faith and order, who often
heard him preach and did
appreciate his wonderful the
ological efforts, and I often
heard them speak of the mas
terly manner with which he
handled the subject under con
Kideration. I know now, and
have long since known,- that
those men bv their educa
tion and extensive reading, j
were fully competent to sit
in judgonn nt ami pasuupou
the intellectual efforts of pub
lie speakers. , Later in life I
heard him only occasionally,
but enough to know that he
was a man of much more
than ordinary learning, and
tiTe possessor naturally of a
strong, incisive and brilliant
mind. His early education
Ya8 defective and only such
as the common schools of
the country of more than a
half a century ago afforded.
Yet I have been told that in
early life he evinced a strong
desire for the acquisition oi
knowledge, and after his ma
jority he began the study of
English grammar, and pros
ecuted it with such dilligence
and devotion that when 1
knew him he was one of the
very best grammarians I ev
er knew. Nor did he neglect
the cultivation of many of
the other sciences, such as phi
losophy, astronomy, rhetoric
and logic. lie could discourse
on all these sciences and ma
ny others as learnedly as
though he had been a college
proiessor all his life, nor yet
was his thirst for knowledge
satisfied. lie turned intohis
torie field, and acquainted
himself with therise, progress
and fall of the mighty em
pires of both ancient and mod
trn times. I remember to
have heard him preaching
years ago at the old Cove
Creek IJaptist Church, and
.while I have forgotten his
text, I remember some of his
allusions to Alexander the
Great, in his Asiatic cam
paigns in which he recounted
one batt le after another with
the a Kollin and with the fer
vor and brilliancv' of a Phil
lips. He impressed me on
Jailor ol t lie lh-mocnit : o-nk- m'n ltmnii .i.K-.mfn r ...... i . i i . .
. . tii iiiv educational .Mvantn-; tianf, i -are not whet nor a ( present m'-to t he iaih he inv
1 naw m your vain., ,1. pa- g-s were iiuiited.yet by study i man has had collate nd4hu of his learniml am ho
,ra owrkH!.,ti,a tiM.;;l()(lrls;ini!i(,l(i!m 11,.!v,nit:,,,,or !:(lti if n Ilslsjpmi,.Mc.flli, v:
jthut occasion a K ing a man
jofsuperior learning and n -
I'ilily. I have said lli.it his
hs it!,,ls ; tl(. Iilo,t (.Ujssil.
language. Mispronunciation j range of science."
was accurate; his languagojnomi'iafo him a
chaste, n'ldhis grammatical j at once saw and
eons! H,. -lions almost fault-
;j1s.
He was sometimes ae-
ewsed oi 1 cing a litt'ie ver
bose, and perhaps he was,
yet no one who knew, ever
said that the words selected,
though rather high-sounding,
were inaccurate, nor I hat
his sentences were wanting in
their proper grammatical
arrangements. Mr. Farthing
was not uniformly a great
preacher. Occasionally his
sermons' wore of the highest
order, and then again they
would fall below mediocrity.
This was ow ing to the fact .
that
lie was averse to the
preparation of his sermons.
I have no doubt that if he
had devoted the necessaiy
time to their preparation,
that he would have been a
great preacher. lie did not
however oppose it in others,
but he said he .could not do
it himself. Why he did not,'
was always a mystery to me,
when at the same time I
knew he was a close student
and on most quest ions a very
deep and accurate thinker.
His colloquial powers were
it-iost wonderful, and in the
s-oeia! circle he was seen to
the greatest advantage. I
never Knew any man on
the forum undertake to meas
are arms with him. Ail, as if
by mutual and common con
sent, listened to his wonder
u! fire-side lectures, and..the
only thing any one" would
dare to do, would hi? to ask
a question or suggest, a top
ic, and then away like the
Arab'aa couirer he would
plunge into the most intri
cate questions, and with the
most consummate skill would
discus.i them in alT'their va
rious pluses with the logical
preeission of an Aristotle.
I have said that he was a
man of more than ordinary
learning, and this may seem
strangeto many who knew
that his early educational
advantages were confined to
the common schools of the
country. Yet 1 assert, that
he was a very scholarly man
and was more deeply learned
than many who had had the
highest collegiate advanta
ges. I read when a boy the
lite of the nation's great idol,
Henry Clay, and soon there
after, met with my old friend
Robert Maxwell, a Scotch
man, and by the way, a man
of much varied information,
and in the course of the con
versation which followed I
remarked that Henry Clay
was not a scholar. 'Ah', said
he "you are mistaken." No
said 1, 1 am not, as his biogra
pher says that his mathemat
ical acquisition only extend
ed as far as practice in the
common school arithmetic,
and that he hud never stud
ied grammar at school atall.
He replied w ith emphasis and
in his Celtic dialect, and ex
claimed. "Did not Henry
Clay know everything?" and
i to
in ofj
-groat v. ssdoia. An! h von -
tlisn;- pertaining 1ot1
-e whole;
I then de -
; of com I was compel!-.'
'ndmit ! is it he wa a ma
the full forceof theartt:ient,so fni is I know an intima
a::.l h a ve never since thought ' tiou 'or suspie on touching
or suggested that Hr great 'Ids honesty or his moral
Kenttickian was not an ed-j character. If is sincerity and
ucated man. And judu,in j lofty jmrposes, no one, I pre
Mr. Farthings attainments !sume ever for a moment
from the same stand point, I
again assert, that he was in
the trui sense an educated
man. In futlierconfirination
of what I have said I desire
to relate an incident.
A few years ago !r Ander
son, of this place, (and by
the way, the Dr. himself is a
very sohojerly man,) and a
friend of his started on a
mountain tour, ami one day
about noon called at a house
on the banks of a beautiful
river and enquired of a very
aged man, who appeared in
answer to their cull, if they
could get feed for their horse,
they were answered in the a
h'irmative, and one of the
'party and a boy went to
feed the horse, and the other
nr.iained, and he and the
old man at one engaged in a
conversation, and very soon
the traveller was surprised to
know that he was 1:1 the jmt-s!
ence of a man po.vvsisg
wonderful conversational
power.-, am! wit ha! a man ol
very !;; -nor !e.u;,ii;. lit
met his friend who was ro
tm niug from the stable and
informed him ofhisngreeable
surprise. They- both ap
proached him and as the old
man of the mountains led off
in his inimitable style they
listened, and they wondered
and for an hour or more he
was the mast t of assemblies,
lie began by relating his
mental troubles, and done
with that, he launched out in
to other fields and discussed
each topic as it arose with
such wonderful skill and ac
curacy that they were soon
impressed with the idea that
their host was a man of
much more than ordinary
learning. On their return,
they related to me, in sub
stance, the foregoing incident,
and they often on my retun
from the mountains, ask me
ifl had seen old uncle Reuben.
I presume it is hardly necess
ary for me to state the the
old man referee! too was the
subject of this sketch. One
of these tourists, a year or
m i re a go of te r ha v i n g f o u g! 1 1
life's battles well and success
fully, laid aside his armor
and preceded this old moun
tain phenomenon, to the por
tals of the great beyond, and
let us hope that in the . far
off realms of the good, that
they may meet, not on the
banks of the beautiful Wa
tauga, but on the verdant
banks of that river whose
waters issue outofthetnrone
of God and the Lamb.
In this brief memoir I have
said but very little touching
the great moral worth and
high Christian character of
our departed brother, nor
need 1 elaborate these at any
giv.it S. n-i!i. My object in!
writimr this sketch is morel
Uwm i.dh- fm-the i.m-n.w,.
mora! wortli and hi-rh chris i
j tian character
as all who
scholar. Ijknewhini could attest
recognized ; his hm:r lif" there never
in
WilS
doubted, lie was indeed and
in truth a genuine, manly
man and we shall perhaps
never see his like again. I
have written this brief biog
raphical sketch of my dead
friend because I thought it
not meet that one who had
toiled long and arduously up
the rugged pathway, trodden
by so few of us mortals here
below, until he had reached
its giddy heights on whose
summit is blooming in im
mortal youth, the unfading
amaranth, should die and be
forgot ton and perish from
the memory of men. For
years before Ids death, owing
to physical and mental
trouble, he had partially re
tired from the public gaze
and most of his contempor
aries had precede. J him to
the spirit land mid especially
many of those who had
known and admired him
whoa he was in the full pos-
session oi in;
hia physical and
mental powers.
Ik
eai
.of
gone. i;c !k; .vi 'I las !i
-deal h at the ii n at. age
a
nd bout four score years
emoarked on that
ocean
wno.se waves
brought back
have never
i reluming
sail.
Strange to say, that this
extraordinary man has left
behind him no brilliant ser
mons to be remembered and
quoted, no books in which
the fruits of his learning and
wisdom were gathered and
preserved, and they who
knew him intimately are
passing away and owing to
his long retirement before his
death, his reputation as a
scholar and divine is apidly
becoming traditional. And
very glad shall 1 bo if by this
slight memorial I may for a
single moment arrest the
waies of time in their advan
cag flow - ver the sands in
which are written- his name
and the names of many 'oth
ers of our best and greatest.
II. Ring-ham.
Statesville N. C. March 11.
Wants To lake His Place.
There was much talk on
the streets yesterday about
the old colored man who of
fered to serve out the term of
Chas. E. Cross at the work
house. An old family ser
vant of Cross has arrived
here and went to see his
young master Sunday at the
work house. He said that if
an arra rig-men t ; could be made
to that effect that he would
serve out the seven years sen
tence in his stead. Of course
it is impossible that snch an
arrangement could be made,
as there is no such law in ex
istence in this State. Sows
and Observer.
WASHINGTON LETTER
f;Froa 0UT Helar . Correspondent
f i n
'"f. lt:
! M?rt,;ns
j been fully explained to your
correspondent by a promi
nent republican who is not
urn admirer of the boodle
', ... .....;, .!, J, f M
j . i in j '.i liii u ii n ii .n i . .u wi ii in
has pntemi upon to capture
the rebublican nomination in
'i)2. "Morton's object" said
this gentleman," in going to
Florida at this time is to
hold a private consultation
with Senator Quay, who isal
so down there, and to ascer
tain whether his support can
be purchased. He is prepai
ed to pay a big price, I am a
fraid he will succeed for Quay
has always had a weakness
for money, particularly when
in large sums, and no man
knows the value of money in
a political campaign better
than he.
There is an old fashioned
gamecalled" the devil among
the tailors" that reminds one
of Frank Ilatton and the
Civil Service commission. As
soon as 1 lie testimony in the
C( ) n gressi o n a 1 i n vest igat i o n
which has been anything else
but favorable to the present
brand of Civil Service reform
was all in, Ilatton threw an
other dynamite bomb into
reform-sham camp by charg
ing that certain letters writ
ten by one Y. I). Fooulke
and printed in the New York
Times find the St. Louis Rc
''ubUc which charged Mr.
Harrison and his cabinet
with having entered into a
conspiracy to break i'd own
the system of Civil Service
Commissioners. The two
Commissioners deny the
charge. Of course that was
to bexpected; it was either
deny, or hand in their resign
ations. Rut Ilatton will not
let the thing stop here, if he
can convince Mr. ilarrison of
the truthfulness of his charge
somebody will hear some
thing drop before long.
The democratic mcmbersof
the House are fretting no lit
tle because they lost a seat
in the House last week that
might just as well have been
kept.. The trouble, is that
certain democratic members
of the House refuse to sacri
fice either their pleasure or
theirprivate business to oc
cupy their seats and attend
to the duties that the- are e
leeted to perform. There are
several of these men who
have not voted in the House
three times this entire ses
sion. In this particular case
several republicans, disgust
ed with the report of the ma
jority of the Election Com
mittee intimated to demo
crats that while they would
not vote against the contes
tant they would make it a
point to absent themselves
without pairing when the
time came to take the final
vote so as to make it certain
that the democrats could de
feat the contestant. These
gentlemen kept their word,
and yet the contestant was
seated by a beggarly majori
ty of two votes all because
the chronic, absentees of the
democratic side were not on
hand to vote.
A minority report was sub
mitted by Mr. Oateswho it
will be reuiemWred engineer
ed the long dead-lock in shy
last Congress against the
same bill. No dead-lock can
prevent it from becoming a
law this time.
The House committee on
Pensions seems to have gone
daft. A majority of that
committee has practically a
greed to n port bills that
would, if they became laws,
require neatly 1700,000,000
to pay the pensions. These
reports are only bunkum, no
sane man has any idea that
more thun oneofthebills-the
dependant-will be passed,
and that is by no means cer
tain, as the rapidly lessening
Trea su ry su rpl us h as al rea dy
caused the republican leaders
to notify the chairman of
committees to curtail their
appropriations if they expec
ted the bills to get through.
The House will probably
take up the bills admiting
Wyoming and Idaho this
week. The democrats will
antagonize the bills with an
omnibus bill prepared by Mr.
Springer providing for the
admission of Wyoming, Ida
ho, New Mexico and Ari
zona. Itwos supposed that in
view of the faci and the law,
and also of the fact that the
votes were not specially need
ed that the Sen ate Committee
on elections could afford to
be fair in making a decision
in the Montana Senatorial
contest, but by a strict par
ty vote it has decided to re
port in favor of the republi
cans. A more outrageous
and unfair decision was nev
er made by any committee.
It is impossible to get a re
publican member of the
House Ways and Means
committee to say a word if it
ever is, nobodv seems willing
to even guess.
Out of the four contested e
lectioircases decided by the
House only one democrat has
been a Howe 1 to retain his
seat.
When the Senate Commit
tee that has been struggling
so hard to disover how the
proceedings of secret sessions
leaked out began to examine
the Senators the scales fell
from its eves. Now theCorn-
irittee , knows what every
body else has known all the
time.
Washington, D. C.
You v, ill have no use for spee-
tai 1 -8 if vou use Dr. J. H. Mc-
L an's Strengthening Eye balve,
it removes the film and bkum
which no,nmulat s on the eve balls
subdues iufiamation, cools and
soothes the irritated nerves, stm
gthens weak.and failing strength.
5 cent s a box.
Hon. Rob Vance, of N. C.
brother of Senator Vance, is
here on a visit. "Colonel Rob'
as lis is familiarly called, will
in all probabilities, be the
next Democratic Governor of
N. C, Some of his friends,
however, want him to make
the raco for Congress this
fall against II. G. Ewart, Re-,
publican. Colonel Vance ia
very popular in that State,
and he can certainly reclaim
the district now represented
by a Republican. National
Democrat.