Thursday, September 4, 1924
Thomas Gray did some strong thinking along the line of country life. He was a teacher himself and owes his eminence to the writing of one poem, an elegy written in a country church yard. He wrote many other poems, none of which were very well received. For instance, his Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes, had no universal appeal. But the elegy will survive as long as the English language lives.
He does not glorify country life to the extent that it may be glorified today. He writes before America had become the light of the world and before such men as he came to the sun bright mountains to be monarchs of all they surveyed. He writes in a resigned and colorless way of the compensations of country life. That life that wise men now exalt above all other kinds of existence.
“Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learned to stray;
Along the cool sequestered vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.”
Not very enthusiastic is he? In this day and time, we can be thankful that our lot has been cast in country places. Not merely resigned, but rejoicing therein. Every day and in every way, it becomes more apparent that the best that is in life is in the country, where “peace comes dropping slow, dropping from the wings of the morning, till when the cricket sings.”
All the most ambitious can plan is to be born in the country, go to the city to make enough money to move back and live in the country.
TEACHERS INSTITUTE
Teachers met at this place last week and held the annual institute The meeting was held in the auditorium of the high school building. The audience numbered upwards of two hundred. It was a large and important assembly of professional, practicing teachers who draw in salaries nearly two hundred thousand dollars a year and who have the instruction of upwards of five thousand children of school age. The great majority of these teachers are natives of the county. This is highly important for the immense expenditure of the tax revenues for schools goes to county people and is not wholly lost to the community.
JUDGE McCLINTIC’S WAY IMPRESSES NEW YORK
The New York Times has the following sketch of Judge Geo. W. McClintic, of Charleston, who recently held a session of federal court in that city.
“Judge McClintic has not found the New York courtroom entirely to his liking. In West Virginia, said his attendant, he preserved the dignity of the court to the fullest. The first-time offen- der of that dignity he fines; the second he sends to jail. The other day, when a burst of mirth was occasioned by a bit of repartee of opposing counsel, Judge McClintic informed the crowd in the room:
“If that happens again, there will be no more exclusion from the courtroom. The persons offending will go to jail for 30 to 60 days. Exclusion is not my method…”
LOCAL MENTION
Greenbrier Presbytery is in session at Westminster Church on Knapps Creek. Marlinton church is represented by Elder S. L. Brown as principal and Elder T. S. McNeel as alternate.
Large congregations are attending the tent meeting being conducted on Court Street corner of Camden Avenue by Rev. C. C. Burton of the church of the Nazarene.
Mr. and Mrs. L. O. Simmons and sons, Paul and Eugene, and Earl Bryant, left last Friday morning for an automobile trip to Piedmont, Washington, Baltimore, Richmond and other points.
J. M. Ward, of Elkins, has a force of masons laying brick on Paul Overholt’s new storehouse on Main Street.
DIED
Jenny Lind Dilley, aged two years, little daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Early Dilley, died at her home in Marlinton August 30, 1924. For some weeks the little girl had been sick with whooping cough. Funeral service from the home, with burial at Mt. View Cemetery.
– – –
Mrs. H. A. Copenhaver died at her home near the Tannery August 29, 1924. For some months she had been sick with tuberculosis. Her age was 20 years. She is survived by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. T. S. Scott and her husband. A little child died some months ago. Graveside service at the Cloonan graveyard.
– – –
The venerable William H. Cackley died at his home in Ronceverte September 2, 1924. He was in the 84th year of his age. Mr. Cackley was a native of Pocahontas county, where he spent about half of his life. He was a merchant and served as Deputy Sheriff. He was a Confederate soldier in the 19th Virginia Cavalry.
