The life of Joel Chandler Harris, from obscurity in boyhood to fame in early manhood

Front matter

mmm

Hll BIN

■1

Preface

Opportunity to contribute to the knowledge of Joel Chandler Harris came to the author, a native of Georgia, while he was living in the city of Atlanta. "The Sign of the Wren's Nest" was thrown open to him by Mrs. Harris just as she began setting things in order for the approaching occupancy of the home by the Uncle Remus Memorial Association. She generously laid before him Mr. Harris's boyhood scrapbooks, an invaluable file of The Countryman, letters, pertinent clippings, etc., and through leisurely conversation from day to day afforded such illumination on the life and character of her husband as could come from no other source. Further researches were made in Eatonton, Forsyth, Savannah, and Atlanta, in each of which places were still living those who had known Harris in his boyhood or young manhood previous to the publication of "Uncle Remus" and were glad to give facts that might be got only from their memories. Especial mention must be made of Mrs. George Starke, whose reminiscences were strengthened by letters that she has permitted to be used. The most valuable documentary sources of information were the files of The Countryman and the Atlanta Constitution, which were diligently searched page by page, the former exhaustively and the latter from the year of Harris's first association with the paper down to 1881.

The author is under particular obligation to Professor W. P. Trent, of Columbia University,' who read the manuscript of this work and gave scholarly advice. He is also indebted to Professor James Hinton, of Emory University, for kindly criticisms and suggestions. A portion of the work was submitted as a dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy at

(iii)

iv The Life of Joel Chandler Harris

the University of Virginia, where valuable assistance was received from Professor C. Alphonso Smith. The reproduction of "The Romance of Rockville" would have been impossible had not Miss Alice B. Wilson, of the Atlanta Constitution, personally made a typewritten copy from the carefully guarded file of the weekly Constitution. Permission for this to be done was generously granted by the editor, Mr. Clark Howell. The bibliography was prepared with comparative ease on account of the previous work of Misses Katherine Wooten and Tommie Dora Barker at the Carnegie Library of Atlanta. From the beginning to the close of his task extensive assistance, both in the mechanical work of preparing the manuscript and in literary criticism, has been given by the author's wife, Gertrude Holland, grateful acknowledgment of which is here made. The Index was prepared by the Book Editor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Dr. Frank M. Thomas. The volume is published in recognition of the value of Harris's contribution to our nation's literature. R. L. Wiggins. Birmingham, Ala.

Index 445

Introduction

THE fame and popularity of Joel Chandler Harris followed instantly upon the publication of his first book, in 1880, and have steadily grown and spread until he has attained a permanent place in the world's literature. His ability and talent are evident in all that he wrote as poet, editor, historian, novelist, and short-story writer; but his genius triumphs in his negro folk tales, and these are carrying his name around the world.

"Uncle Remus : His Songs and His Sayings" had been off the press only about two weeks when the publishers wrote :

Bear Mr. Harris: The firm are well pleased at the success of "Uncle Remus." We have sold two editions of fifteen hundred each, and the third edition of fifteen hundred more will be in on Friday. Of these, some five hundred are ordered. Mr. Charles A. Dana told me in my office last week as follows : "Derby, 'Uncle Remus' is a great book. It will not only have a large, but a permanent, an enduring sale."

Yours truly, J. C. Derby. 1

In 1915 the publishers reported fifty-two printings of this book. "Nights with Uncle Remus" has passed through six editions. "Uncle Remus and His Friends" has appeared in editions of 1892, 1900, 1913, and 1914.

In England "Uncle Remus" was published very soon after

*Mr. J. C. Derby, as representative of the publishers, went to Atlanta and assisted Mr. Harris in selecting from the files of the Atlanta Constitution those tales, sketches, songs, and proverbs that make up the volume.

it appeared in this country, and its popularity there has equaled its popularity here. Ten publishing houses in London have produced editions. Rudyard Kipling has expressed his admiration of Harris's work, acknowledging indebtedness to him from the age of fifteen, when "Uncle Remus" legends "ran like wildfire through an English public school." 1

On April 24, 1914, W. Francis Aitken wrote: "So far as I can gather from memory and from others who should know, the Uncle Remus series is as well known in England almost as the 'Fables' of ^Esop, but no one has written anything about him that stands out by reason of its intrinsic importance." Punch and Westminster Gazette have adapted the Uncle Remus idea to political caricature. A cablegram from London, published in the Atlanta Journal April 16, 1914, tells fully of " 'Brer Rabbit and Mr. Fox,' which was presented for the first time on any stage at the Aldwych Theater to a delighted and astonished audience." 2 The London Sunday Times of May 3, 19 14, indicates the equal success of the dramatization at the Little Theater. 3 The "Cambridge History of American Literature," now being published, allots a chapter to Harris.

In Germany, the culture ground of folklore study, we may presume that this author will be a growing figure. In 1910-11, as Roosevelt Professor in the University of Berlin, Dr. C. Alphonso Smith, presenting a survey of American literature, devoted two entire lectures out of thirty to "Joel

^rom a letter to Mr. Harris, dated Naulakha, Waite, Wendham Co., Vermont, December 6, 1895. Mr. Kipling inquired especially as to the source of "Miss Meadows and the Girls."

2 The Atlanta Journal, April 16, 1914.

3 The London Sunday Times, May 3, 1914; also Current Opinion, July, 1914, Vol. LVIL, page 30, "Brer Rabbit and Mr. Fox as Footlight Favorites in London."

Introduction 3

Chandler Harris, eine Abhandlung uber den Neger ah literarisches Objekt." And he pronounced "Uncle Remus" "the most important individual contribution to American literature since 1870." 1 Whereupon the German reviewers responded with especial notice of Harris. Then followed the first really acceptable history of American literature by a German, Dr. Leon Kellner, professor in the University of Czernowitz, who gives the "Tar Baby Story" in English and translates it into German, declares that Harris has shown the deepest insight into the soul of the American negro, and accords him major writer's space. 2

In France translation of the Uncle Remus stories has been included in a series known as "Les Livres Roses Pour La Jeunesse." 3 As stated in Smith's bibliography of Harris :

W. T. Stead (London Review of Reviews) began in 1896 a series known as "Books for the Bairns," of which "The Wonderful Adventure of Old Brer Rabbit" (July-September, 1896) was No. 6, "More Stories about Old Brer Rabbit" (January-March, 1898) No. 20, and "Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit" (January- June, 1901) No. 61. These three numbers included twenty-eight stories, fourteen [fifteen] from "Uncle Remus" and fourteen [thirteen] from "Nights with Uncle Remus." No. 6 was translated into French as "Les Merveilleuses Aventures du Vieux Frere Lapin," Paris, 1910; No. 20, as "Nouvelles Aventures du Vieux Frere La-

1 Die Amerikanische Literatur (Berlin, 1912), page 31: "Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings" (1880) (Seine Lieder und Auspruche) ist der wichstigste einzelne Beitrag zur amerikanischen Literatur seit 1870."

2 Geschichte der nordamerikanischen Literatur (Berlin and Leipsic, 1913). Vol. II., pages 75-82. "Den tiefsten Blick in die Seele des amerikanischen Negers hat Joel Chandler Harris." (Doubleday, Page & Co. brought this work out in America, translated from the German by Julia Franklin, May, 1915.)

'Librarie Larousse, Paris, 1910-11.

pin," Paris, 191 1; and No. 61, as "Frere Renard et Frere Lapin," Paris, 191 1. 1

In Australia the booksellers carry "Uncle Remus" in their regular stock. 2

In India during 19 17 a boys' magazine called Balak (the Bengali for boy), published at Calcutta, carried a series of the legends translated into Bengali by C. E. Prior, a missionary. 8

In Japan recently a guest in a Japanese home found "Uncle Remus" the only book in English.

Finally, in their Harris form the tales are going back to Africa. 4

In America, of course, "Uncle Remus" is a name through which the ends of the continent may enter at once into friendly acquaintance. Mr. Harris was loved by the little children and honored by the great men of his country. Contemporary authors paid highest tribute to him and sought association with him. President Roosevelt declared that Georgia had done no greater thing than giving Harris to American literature. 6 He afterwards prevailed upon the "most modest writer in America" to be his guest at the White House. 6 Andrew Carnegie visited Harris in 1906

Cambridge History of American Literature.

2 Report of National Secretary Young Women's Christian Association.

3 C. E. Prior, in a letter to Mr. Harris from Calcutta, November 8, 1916, published in the Atlanta Georgian, January 16, 1917.

4 Mrs. Myrta Lockett Avary. Introduction to the Visitors' Edition of "Uncle Remus and His Friends," 1914.

5 Banquet speech in Atlanta, 1905.

"Letters in possession of Mrs. Harris. Mr. Roosevelt, says Mrs. A. McD. Wilson, President Uncle Remus Memorial Association, made possible the Association's purchase of the Wren's Nest by donating to the purpose the proceeds of a lecture in Atlanta, about $S,ooo. Later Mr. Carnegie contributed a like amount.

Introduction 5

and later subscribed himself on a portrait presented to the Wren's Nest as "not only an admirer, but a loving friend, of that rare soul." Mark Twain, in letter after letter, entreated Harris to visit him. 1 Riley spent some time in genial and affectionate association with Mr. Harris and his family in Atlanta. He afterwards wrote the following letter:

Philadelphia, December 30, 1905.

Joel Chandler Harris, Esq.

Dear Friend: Your book of "New Stories of the Old Plantation" is here from your generous hand, and I am as tickled over it as old Brer Rabbit on the front cover. And I think it's the best of all Christmas books this year, just as last Christmas your "Tar Baby Rhymes" led all the list. La ! but I want to see you and talk with you, loaf with you, meander round with you, or set still, jes' a-tradin' laughs or shut clean to a-sayin' nothin' 'cause we don't haf to !

To-day I got off four books to your care (by express). Nothin' new but the pictures, which in spots at least I know'll please you. How in fancy I see us a-really a-meetin' up again, after these long years, and a-throwin' our heads back, a-sorto' teeterin' on one foot and a-hittin' the ground with the t'other, same lak a-peltin' a old dusty cyarpet with a wet umbrell !

And now, on the dawn of the new year, come to you the heartfelt greetings and praises and gratefulness of

Your fraternal, ever-loving old Hoosier friend,

James Whitcomb Riley.

P. S. — To your household all fervent best wishes and continuous. Do write to me! 2

Thomas Nelson Page wished Harris to join him on a lecture-reading tour 3 and declared : "No man who has ever written has known one-tenth part about the negro that Mr.

^Letters in possession of Mrs. Harris.

2 Letter in possession of Mrs. Harris.

8 Letter dated Richmond, Va., September 27, 1887.

Harris knows." 1 And George W. Cable is said to have "smiled at all Southern names except Uncle Remus." 2

The Uncle Remus Memorial Association, organized in Atlanta July 10, 1908 (one week after the great writer's death), purchased his home, "The Sign of the Wren's Nest," January 18, 1913, and has equipped it as a permanent memorial. During the first year 1,300 visitors registered; and from January to December, 1914, 2,523 registered, from forty-five States and seven foreign countries.

Notwithstanding the fact that he has made a permanent contribution to literature, is the most popularly read American author, and has been highly honored, no biography of Joel Chandler Harris has ever been written nor any adequate study of his career undertaken. Of the various interesting biographical sketches that have appeared, the most extensive was written by Mrs. Myrta Lockett Avary in 1913, published as a souvenir pamphlet by the Uncle Remus Memorial Association. Especially has the earlier half of the author's life been hastily passed over. The present volume, therefore, is based upon exhaustive researches, with particular reference to formative influences in his career, and covers Mr. Harris's life from obscurity in boyhood to fame in early manhood.

a As quoted by Baskervill in "Southern Writers." 2 New Orleans letter from Boston Post, Atlanta Constitution, August 5, 1881.

PART I

JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS was born in Eatonton, Putnam County, Georgia, December 9, 1848, and died at his home, "The Sign of the Wren's Nest," in Atlanta, about 8 p.m., July 3, 1908. 1

One hundred and fifteen years had afforded abundant time for descendants of the Oglethorpe colony, together with their immigrating neighbors from Virginia and North Carolina, to transform wild hunting grounds and small maize fields of the Creeks and Cherokees into great plantations and wealthy towns. During the final decade of slavery ease and leisure were promoting the advance of culture, especially in Middle Georgia, and herein lies the significance to-day of the phrase "one of the good old towns" that is applied to Eatonton.

Still a small place of about two thousand people, preserving much of its ante-bellum character, it is near the geographical center of the State. It is certainly significant that within a day's drive of this village were born, before and during the time of Harris, most of Georgia's outstanding leaders in religion, literature, government, and war. In the same county was born L. Q. C. Lamar; in the adjoining county of Jasper, Ben Hill ; to the north, about forty miles, Henry W. Grady and Atticus G. Hayggood ; to the northeast, less than fifty miles, Alexander Stephens, James O. Andrew, Robert Toombs, and, nearer by half, George F. Pierce; to the southwest, within fifty miles, John B. Gordon; to the south, less than forty miles, Sidney Lanier; and just across the Hancock line, Richard Malcolm Johnston. Then we

1 These dates are certified by the family.

io The Life of Joel Chandler Harris

are prepared to note further that this town was the center in Georgia about which were assembled the various educational institutions. Within the narrow circle (the radius of which might be traversed on foot between one's morning and evening meals) were planted by the State its university; by the Methodists, Emory College for boys and Wesleyan for girls; by the Baptists, Mercer University (Institute); by the Presbyterians, Oglethorpe University. Finally, the capital of the State, Milledgeville, was not twenty miles away.

Thus favorably located, Eatonton was a wealthy, cultured community ; and Joe Harris was its little poor boy, to whom in many ways much assistance was given. Authentic account of his life begins when he was living with his mother and grandmother in a little one-room house on the edge of town in the early fifties. His mother pluckily earned a living for the three with her needle. She was a woman of strong character and quick mind, but, conscious of her poverty, lived to herself, rarely leaving the work that confined her indoors, except to attend church. 1

A chum of boyhood and a friend throughout life gives the following account :

Our family moved to Eatonton about 1853, into a house not far from where Joe Harris was living with his mother and grandmother. It was very soon after our arrival that Joe appeared one morning at our woodpile, where we soon made acquaintance. In the days that followed we became fast friends for life. Joe didn't believe in work and always sat on the fence while my brother and I worked in the garden or elsewhere. Some years ago, when I read something about his "Snap Bean Farm," I laughed and said to myself, "Yes, I bet he ain't got two rows."

1 These facts are established by the testimony of John S. Reid and other aged citizens of Eatonton.

Biographical I 1

Well, he'd wait until we got through work, and then we'd be off up the branch hunting lizards or doing something else. Joe could run like a deer; and when we didn't want the company of my younger brother Jim [In the Savannah News Joe used to refer to him as Hon. James Nathan Leonard] , he would hold him until I got a good start, throw his hat away, and then run off from him. He could throw, too, like a bullet. I remember one day he spied, hanging right over my head, a wasp nest that I didn't see. With one rock he dropped that nest, full of wasps, square in my face as I looked up. Joe was gone like a flash, but my face was swollen so that I could hardly see for a week.

Mr. McDade's livery stable was a great place for us. Fine horses were often brought from Kentucky and Ohio, and the drovers would let us ride them to the blacksmith shop or for exercise. Collecting bird eggs was another great amusement, and we had many kinds that nobody but ourselves knew. But I suppose our biggest fun was in running rabbits. Mr. Harvey Dennis, who lived across the bottom and up on the hill from Joe's house, had some very fine fox hounds. We would get out and clap our hands and yell until those dogs would rush down and follow us. Pretty soon here would come Mr. Dennis after us ; but he would just say: "Well, boys, you've got my dogs running rabbits again !" He had good reason not to get mad, because Joe used to help him keep his dogs in training by dragging a fox hide around through the fields and woods for three or four miles and then sitting up in a tree till the dogs followed the trail and treed him.

Nearly every time we hunted over in the neighborhood of the graveyard we would see a rabbit run out through one same hole. Not far away lived a fortune teller, who, I remember, gave us a chase one day. It looked like the very same rabbit, of course, that ran through the graveyard each time, and Joe would declare it was that fortune teller turned into a rabbit. Sometimes the rabbit we were after would hop out in sight of us and appear to spit on his front paws. When Joe saw that, he would say : "He's gone now; we'll never get him." One day Joe and I came in from a long tramp very hungry. His mother fixed up some batter and told Joe he could cook the cakes. After he had turned them several times, he wheeled about and ran the blunt side of the flapper around my neck. It burned so that I thought my throat was cut, and I threw up my hands in horror. His mother was so amused that she laughed as if she couldn't stop. There was a blistered ring around my neck for several days.

For a year or two we went to a mixed school taught by a lady from the North, Miss Kate Davidson. Then we went to the male academy. Joe, Hut Adams, a boy older than either of us, and myself were boon friends, and we rarely mixed with others. I remember how, coming together from school north along Washington Street, one block from the town square, Hut would drop out at his house first, then at McDade's stable Joe would turn out Marion Street a hundred yards to his house, while my house was straight on out Washington Street about two hundred yards from Hut's. School seemed to be from sunup to sundown, with only a dinner recess. But on our way to and from school, on Saturdays, and sometimes on Sundays, we had great times at marbles, tops, pole-jumping, stealing watermelons 1 from Mr. Edmund Reid, and robbing Colonel Nicholson's and Aunt Betty Pike's orchards. Hut was the only man in the crowd that had a handkerchief, with which we used to seine for minnows. He had a gun, too. Joe and I would tramp all over the woods and fields with him, carrying the game, in order to have one shot apiece. Hut got us into a lot of deviltry, of course. But Joe got off many a good joke on him.

I remember once we were in Colonel Nicholson's orchard. Hut was high up in a tree. Joe saw the Colonel at a distance, walking with his stick, and called up to Hut : "Yonder comes Colonel Nicholson with his gun." Hut didn't stop to look, but let loose and fell to the ground. Then such a scramble he made ahead of us through the thick, high weeds! The best one of all, Joe pulled off one day when we were on our way back to school from dinner. Near the street were the remains of an old log barn, with

x See editorial page, Atlanta Constitution, August 17, 1884.

only the walls standing, some eight feet high, possibly. Joe had observed through the cracks that hogs had for a long time made their beds inside. So, while we were all jumping with our poles, he dared Hut to jump over one of the walls. Hut leaped and tumbled over. When he had recovered himself and come out, he began madly scratching his legs ; and in a moment we all saw his light-colored breeches simply peppered with giant hog fleas. Hut made for Joe ; but Joe was quick enough to get away home, where he stayed until the next day. Hut had to go home and change his clothes before he went back to school. 1

Leading from near Joe's house toward mine was a big gully, which, with its tributaries, was our favorite playground. We organized the "Gully Minstrels." Joe had a fiddle that he couldn't play, and he made a most ridiculous clown. Aunt Betsy Cuthbert, an old free negro, lived just above the gully toward the stable. We thought there was nobody like old Aunt Betsy, especially because she gave us such good ginger cakes and pies. 2

Those good times before the war passed swiftly. I shall never forget when Joe left us to begin work in the printing shop on Mr. Turner's plantation. When the negro drove by with his little trunk, I told Joe good-by as he got in the wagon and was driven away. 3

The attention of kindly friends in Eatonton was drawn to Joe Harris when, having learned to read at six years of age, he appeared at Sunday school, clean and neatly dressed, mentally alert and active. 4 His mother kindled in him the

1 On the afternoon of September 5, 1916, Mrs. Harris told the author of how Mr. Leonard and Mr. Harris recalled and laughed over this incident during one of Mr. Leonard's visits to his old friend in West End (Atlanta).

2 See editorial page, Atlanta Constitution, August 17, 1884.

"This account was given the author by Mr. Charles D. Leonard in Eatonton August 31-September 1, 1916.

*Mr. Harris often spoke of the Eatonton friends who were kind to him. He is quoted as to this in the Children's Visitor (Nashville, Tenn.), November 23, 1902.

intellectual and literary flame by reading aloud at least one book, Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield," until he held extensive passages in memory. 1 So it came about, says Mrs. B. W. Hunt, an intimate friend who sometimes studied from the same book with him, that, when a little private school for girls and boys was organized by a teacher from Connecticut, Joe was entered probably at the expense of some friend and kept in attendance for three or four years, until he was old enough to enter the private school for boys. 2 Capt. John S. Reid, now Ordinary of Putnam County, says that he taught Joe in this boys' school, where he was in attendance for about a year and a half, being charged nothing for his tuition. Captain Reid says, further, that he was the best composition writer in his grade. 3 According to Harris's own statement in later life, he had followed the reading of the "Vicar of Wakefield" with some attempts at writing after the fashion of that book. 4 He had become fond of reading, and from the libraries of cultured friends came to him very stimulative literature. Mrs. Hunt recalls his especial interest in Scott, Smollet, and Lamb.

Some way might have been found for this promising boy to continue his education had not the war come. However, it was to some purpose that the colleges were hard by. He may well have known that during the first six years of his life Emory College had as its president George F. Pierce, from just across the Oconee River, and during six years of his later life J. R. Thomas, from the adjoining county of

1 Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, April, 1886, "An Accidental Author," J. C. Harris.

2 Mrs. B. W. Hunt {nee Louise Prudden), of Eatonton, Ga. (Oral statement.)

3 Capt. John S. Reid, of Eatonton, Ga. (Oral statement.)

4 Ray Stannard Baker, "Joel Chandler Harris," Outlook, November 5, 1904, Vol. LXXVIII., pages 594-603.

Hancock. He may well have heard how Mercer had been founded by Rev. Jesse Mercer, the great Baptist preacher of the preceding generation, who had been famous for his long and powerful ministry in adjoining counties and who had organized and for six years been pastor of a Church in Eatonton. But the direct and certain influence fell upon him from Oglethorpe University, at Milledgeville. For when, in the alternating order of the village Church services, came Presbyterian Sunday at the little union church, there were often had from Oglethorpe eloquent preachers, notable among whom were the learned professor of science, afterwards president of the University of South Carolina, James Woodrow, uncle of Woodrow Wilson, and the president, S. K. Talmage, uncle of DeWitt Talmage. Doubtless Emory also, and possibly Mercer, furnished equally inspiring preachers for the Eatonton congregation. In "Sister Jane," written in the first person and partly autobiographical, 1 Mr. Harris, after drawing on his clear memory doubtless as much as imagination in describing a certain church, preacher, and sermon, records, in effect at least, a very important section of his own experience when he writes :

I found myself, therefore, with a good many other men, sitting in the pews usually reserved for the women. I was one pew behind that in which Sister Jane sat — on the very seat, as I suddenly discovered, that I had sometimes occupied when a boy, not willingly, but in deference to the commands of Sister Jane [his mother, probably], who, in those days long gone, made it a part of her duty to take me prisoner every Sunday morning and carry me to church, whether or no. 2

There is, of course, no possibility of determining just what good seeds were sown by some of these preachers in

1 So says Mrs. Harris. ? "$ister Jane."

i6 The Life of Joel Chandler Harris

the receptive mind and heart of this more or less recalcitrant young hearer, but we are probably apt to underestimate the influence. Religious touches in "Sister Jane" and in his writings elsewhere show that he was familiar with the Scriptures, evidently from his youth. And his vigorous mind must have reacted as, through the persons as well as through the words of these prominent men, secular interests and ambitions were gratuitously borne in upon him with matters of divine concern. For the thoughtful student of his life there is much left unsaid in this playful account of the hour at church after Sister Jane had gathered in the youngster :

I used to sit and wish for the end, until the oblivion of sleep lifted me beyond the four walls and out into the freedom of the woods and fields. Sometimes the preacher, anxious to impress some argument upon the minds of his hearers, would bring his fist down on the closed Bible with a bang that startled me out of dreamland.

Out of one dreamland he was doubtless swept by the eloquence of the orator into another, truly beyond the four walls out into the world of men and affairs. For that was still the regnant day of the orator, especially the preacher, when the pulpit reached farther than the press.

But the press too was moving upon his awakened mind and was the immediate agency that started him upon his career. He is recalled by Mrs. Hunt as "a shy little recluse," who seemed to find often a desirable retreat in the post office, where Mrs. Hunt's father, Mr. Prudden, was the kindly postmaster, who gave Joe access to various newspapers, particularly the "every Tuesday" Recorder and Federal Union, from the capital city of the State. A vivid description of the post office is made the starting point for Mr. Harris's narrative, most completely autobiographical, "On the Plantation." (In this book Mr. Harris presents himself under the name of Joe Maxwell.) Much in the same vein as he wrote of the long sermons, of these papers he writes :

What he found in those papers to interest him it would be hard to say. They were full of political essays that were popular in those days, and they had long reports of political conventions and meetings from all parts of the State. They were papers for grown people, and Joe Maxwell was only twelve years old and small for his age. 1