H.G.A.'s page

[End Notes]

[Numbered Pages 44, 45, 46 and 64 in the Journal are blank.]
The un-numbered pages include:
front of ledger: "S. E. Ledger";
spine of ledger: 88 over 100 at the bottom.
back of ledger: design but no writing
inside front ledger binder cover: misc. notes (transcribed below)
inside back ledger binder cover: few misc. notes (transcribed below)
4 cover pages (the 2 blank pages--face & inside--adjacent to the binders front and back):
front face:...............various addresses, notes and a poem about "The Doctor." (see below)
front inside:.............1929 newspaper letter from Mr. James Scott about Magoffin Co. roads (below)
back inside:........... blank page
back face:............. newspaper article about Lark Howard, "Eastern Ky's Oldest Man." (below)

[unnumbered ledger pages: These are lined pages which were given alphabetical letters on edge but not numbered. There were five of these pages with ten writing sides front and back. The first of the pages has been torn out. These pages are designated A-E with front and back.]

Page "Af & Ab":..... previously torn out
Page "Bf":............. "Fond Recollections of Bygone Days" poem (included in 1929 section above)
Page "Bb":............ blank
Page "Cf":............. Lansing Ray Arnett 1933 debit/credit page (included in 1933 section above)
Page "Cb":............ blank
Page "Dfb":........... blank on both sides
Page "Efb":........... blank on both sides]

(inside front ledger binder cover)
I answered the Eugene Arnett letter 12-12-27
Cassady letter 12-14-27 [in H.G.A.'s handwriting]

Read to Page 57 Phoebe Higgins Page 67
[these two notes are not in H.G.A.'s handwriting]

(front face)
Mess. Chester Wireman Stove Co.
Louisville, Kentucky

Clarence Arnett, "Insurance"
821 East 143 rd St, Cleveland, Ohio
W.H. Becknell, Cleveland, Ohio, 1730 E. 27th Street

Daniel Barnett, North Fairfield, Ohio, Route 1

3-23-1927 12 months Interest paid
The above note paid in full 2-19-28 Money tendered
The above note tendered in full by F. E. A. 11-9-28
Erin's "Old" Heifer due Feb 28, 1929
Erin's Small Heifer July 28, 1929
Erin's black small Heifer due 3-15-29 A. C. Walters
Bob Tail Due June 25, 1929
$500.00 note due Decr. 1930 H.G. Arnett
$125.00 " " Oct 27, 1929 " "

[The Prohibition Era began with the ratification of the 18th Amendment on January 1919 and it became effective in 1920. The Volstead Act, passed in October 1919, established penalties for the violation of prohibition. In December 1933, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution repealed the 18th Amendment and ended national prohibition.]

[pasted on the bottom of the front face page is the following article:]

"A. Nuesch of Joplin, Mo writes.
Prohibition is one of the reasons that farmers are going 'in the hole.' Before the war and during the war the dry crowd promised that if prohibition became a law local taxes would be reduced, that crime would be curtailed, that the divorce rate would diminish, and that it would eliminate the bread line. Now as a matter of fact we find that local taxes, crime and the divorce rate have increased, and the bread line is with us again. If one tries to sell something, and if one should buy on the strength of his promises and claims, and after the deal is closed finds that the thing is not as represented, the buyer can have the deal made void. So, following the same rule, why should not prohibition be rejected? The prohibition crowd now says that in time the law will be enforced. This is the old game of promises, and as their former claims did not materialize why should we accept the new one? The dry crowd says that the money formerly spent for drink is now spent in legitimate businesses, but the fact is that the licensed saloon was legitimate before it was outlawed and the farmers received part of the money that was spent in the trade. Everything used to make beer or whiskey came from the farm. The farmers did not give away their grain. As for the moral side of prohibition. That can be discussed with a few questions. Did Jesus do wrong when he changed water into wine? Was the United States an immoral nation before prohibition? Are all the foreign nations which do not have prohibition immoral? The prohibitionists claim that the majority of the people are in favor of prohibition. If that is the case, why don't they give the people a chance to vote on the question?"

(front inside)

LETTER FROM JAMES A. SCOTT, HIGHWAY COMMISSIONER
[This letter from J.A. Scott to Mr. John H. Patrick or Salyersville states that if elected he will "immediately after April 1st, 1930, ..have a contract let for the construction of traffic bound macadam for the Salyersville to Royalton road and drain work continuing the same road to Hindman, Kentucky." H.G.'s name is not mentioned, and the inclusion of the article in his Journal indicates his interest in the affairs of the county.]

[There is also paper clipped to this page a poem entitled "The Doctor."]

"The Doctor

How sweet his fireside when the day is done
And cares have vanished with the setting sun!
Evening at last its hour of respite brings,
And on his couch his weary length he flings.
Soft be thy pillow, servant of mankind,
Lulled by an opiate, art could never find;
Sweet be thy slumber--thou hast earned it well--
pleasant thy dreams! Clang! goes the midnight bell
Darkness and storm! the home is far away
That waits his coming ere the break of day;
The snow-clad pines their wintry plumage toss--
Doubtful the frozen stream his road must cross;
Deep lie the drifts, the slanted heaps have shut
The hardy woodman in his mountain hut.
Why should thy softer frame the tempest brave?
Hast thou no life, no health, to lose or save?
Look, read the answer in his patient eyes--
For him no other voice when suffering cries;
Deaf to the gale that all around him blows,
A feeble whisper calls him, and he goes."

( inside back ledger binder cover)
Velours
D.G. Sublett, see pg 35
vocations in life = 65
page 80 - Harris G. Arnett, 11 =
" 60 - taxes
" 80 - photo
Phils age 77 = 66 C. Howard
Taxes Pa 60

(back face)

[On 19 Aug 1930, Larkin Howard died in Magoffin Co at the age of 98. (actually 94 --b. Aug 1836--according to the Howard genealogy, pg. 328.) He was the brother of Rebecca (Higgins) Arnett's mother, Phoebe Howard, and thus H.G. Arnett's uncle. According to the Howard genealogy, he was intelligent and an entertaining conversationalist. He had served in the Civil War and especially after his wife died in 1908 probably enjoyed conversations with H.G. Lark lived in Royalton. H.G. Arnett thought enough of him to paste a copy of his obituary on the back cover page of his Journal. The obituary is copied below:]

"EASTERN KENTUCKY'S OLDEST MAN DIES AT MAGOFFIN CO. HOME
Lark Howard Passes Away On Eve Of Ninety-Ninth Birthday

Lark Howard, ex-Confederate soldier and probably the oldest man in Eastern Kentucky, if not in the entire State, died at his home near Royalton Thursday evening after about four months illness caused by a fall. Interment was made in the family cemetery Wednesday, the 20th, his ninety-ninth birthday.

Mr. Howard was an ex-Confederate soldier, having served through out the Civil War as a Lieutenant under Captain Cox. Like all the members of the human race, Lark had some of the weaknesses of the flesh, but he lived a consistent life. Honesty was his watchword and manhood his slogan. At his home on Licking River hundreds have been fed and sheltered. it was said of him and his good wife who preceded him in death, that not even the raggedest beggar was turned from their door.

He lived a long life in a world of crime and wrong, and he was never in a courthouse on any charge and was never sworn as a witness in a court proceeding. He manifested his faith in a Supreme Being and evidenced his respect for religion. His standards of honesty, his loyalty to friends and his interest in the general welfare of his country made Lark Howard a figure that will long be remembered, and won for him hundreds of friends who will mourn his loss.

God preserved his life, let us believe, on account of his sterling qualities, to ripe old age. The closing days of his life were spent in obedience to the faith he professed and he awaited with confidence the last stroke of the clock of time.

He was married to Polly Salyer in 1859. He was a member of the United Baptist Church since 1911.

He was the father of eleven children, seven of whom survive him: Mrs. B.W. Higgins [wife of Rebecca Higgins' brother, Branch], Mrs. R. L. Arnett [Robert Lee was the son of Farrish and Eliza Howard Arnett] and Mrs. Fred Prater, of Salyersville, Mrs. G. H. Howard of Ivyton and Ben Howard, of Royalton."

[In a conversation Wendell recalled, "Branch was one of the Higgins. They were a big family. Virgil was the oldest, then Branch, Rebecca, Wise, Gene and about 8 or 10 in total. At one time Branch was the superintendent of the County Schools. He taught school, but in later life Branch was kind of a retired person. He built his house on Paintsville Street, and he was married to a woman named Howard. He was Grandma's brother. Her name was Rebecca Higgins. We called her Becky. She and Branch were very close. She was next to him in age. Then she had a sister and two or three others. She would ride in side-saddled to go see Branch." -- W.W. A. interview]

["Overcoming Obstacles" essay from page 65, and the "closing page."]

(65) "It will be found, in the history of most men who have achieved success, that this has been due to their overcoming of obstacles, and not to their having had no obstacles to overcome. In fact, obstacles are put before us as a challenge to our ability. Overcoming what is unpleasant or puts a difficulty in our way has a tendency to develop our faculties.

"We should not complain, therefore, when Nature or events put difficulties before us. We should hitch up our belt a notch tighter, and tackle them, for in so doing, we develop our strength, and make ourselves much fitter to meet future dangers.
"Life is just one obstacle after another, and to 'him that overcometh shall be given the crown of life.'

"This passage of Scripture is one that we should always keep in mind, for it is out overcoming ability that demonstrates the amount and quality of life in us. We are constantly running away from difficulties,. but, after all, it is these that bring out the best there is in us.

"The best player in life is not the one who has the cards dealt favorably to him, but the one who can best play a bad hand." [article pasted in H.G. A's journal probably by H.G. himself]

[William Jennings Bryan article from numbered page 66 - 1930]
(66)

"WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN"

"By his own eloquence. In answer to one of the leading unbelievers of his day, he gave to America the richest contribution to her inspiring literature, in which he said:

'An immortality! Who will estimate the peace which a belief in a future life has brought to the sorrowing hearts of the sons of me?

'If the Father deigns to touch with divine power the cold and pulseless heart of the buried acorn and to make it burst forth from its prison walls, will He leave neglected in the earth the soul of man, made in the image of his Creator? If he stoops to give the rose bush, whose withered blossoms float upon the autumn breeze, the sweet assurance of another springtime, will H refuse the words of hope to the sons of men when the frosts of winter come? I matter, mute and inanimate, though changed by the forces of nature into a multitude of forms, can never die, will the imperial spirit of man suffer annihilation when it has paid a brief visit like a royal guest to this tenement of clay? No; I am sure that he who, notwithstanding His apparent prodigality, created nothing without a purpose, and wasted not a single atom in all His creation, has made provision for a future life in which man's universal longing for immortality will find its realization. I am as sure that we live again as I am sure that we live to-day.

'In Cairo I secured a few grains of wheat that had slumbered for more than 30 centuries in an Egyptian tomb. As I looked at them this thought came into my mind: If one of those grains had been planted on the banks of the Nile the year after it grew and all its lineal descendants had been planted and replanted from that time until now, its progeny would to-day be sufficiently numerous to fee the teeming millions of the world. An unbroken chain of life connects the earliest grains of wheat with the grains that we sow and reap. There is in the grain of wheat an Invisible something which has power to' .... [no more of this article about William Jennings Bryan remains in the Journal.]"

[clippings from bottom of page 81 - 1931]

(81)
"Dead Sea.

Seven affluents, including the Jordan, pour into it a daily 6,500,000 tons of water and there is no outlet. Thirteen hundred feet below sea level it's just about the hottest and dreariest place in the world. But the experts figure that it holds potash to a value of upwards $70,000,000,000 to say nothing of sulphur [sic], magnesium and other valuable minerals.

And the idea is to collect the water in huge tanks and allow it to evaporate.

What have the Arabs to say to this scheme of desecration?"
[no author listed]

[untitled and no author listed]

"He is old and bent,
He is gray and spent
. . . . . . . .With the life of a pioneer.
He has done his part,
He has helped to start
. . . . . . . .The state on its career.
For years he has worked,
His duty ne'er shirked,
. . . . . . . .With wisdom tilled his soil.
Trouble ne'er fazed him,
But rather upraised him
. . . . . . . .To the object of his toil.
He farmed his land
With steady hand
. . . . . . . .Until his boys were grown.
He taught them how
To reap and plow,
. . . . . . . .And how the grains were sown.
He aimed to live,
He wanted to give,
. . . . . . . .For his God and his country his best.
And now this old man
Has done all he can,
. . . . . . . .And has come to deserve his "Great Rest."
He's great without fame,
But he's great just the same,
. . . . . . . .This good old man that I know.
But a tiller of sod,
He's a servant of God,
. . . . . . . .And as such he shines with a glow."

[untitled with no author listed]

"I Think of death as 'Change of Circumstance.'
Enraptured as a bird upon the wing,
The sick, raised up, will laugh and shout and sing;
The cripple, freed, will run and swim and dance;
And those who have been thwarted in life's chance
Shall see their hopes come to their blossoming.
Love shall be his who never knew love's glance.
Those who have fainted in the glare and heat
Shall lie at rest beside some cooling stream;
Those who through darkness groped their aching feet
Shall know the dawn-flush and the sun's warm beam.
Borne in a moment, at the heart's last beat,
To realms more perfect than they dared to dream."

_____________

"The cripple, freed, will run and swim and dance. . . ." We thank H. G. Arnett for taking the time to record his memories in the Journal and know that he is now "running, swimming and dancing."

Address any inquiries, corrections or additions to:

John W. Arnett
612 Emery Rd
Louisville, KY 40206
502-893-3398
jwarnett@aol.com

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