A Letter from G.F.G.

A revisit to my old home [page torn here]
carries with it a dual sensation; but [torn page]
 in the end evens up matters and ave[page torn]
well.  The friendly hand clasp, the expression of pleasure is offset by the sad remembrances of lips silent, eyes forever closed that once was the might and light of my life years agone.  Counting those who at that time practically ruled Warsaw I find more than fifty in the list. It is almost impossible to imagine how the town could have prospered as it has with their personality removed.

Look at the list that has crossed the silent river since youthful ambition first drew me to her arms: Wm. and Robert Payne, D. P. Ginn, Wm. Glenn, Wm. Brett, J. J. Landrum, Wm. Taffe, John Carver, Daniel Dailey, Wm. Bailey, John D. Pulliam, Walter Brown, Sr., James H. McDanell, Sr., Robert Russell. Joseph Wilcher, John Gibson, H. T. Chambers, D. B. Allen, H. J. Abbett, Sr., and Jr., Pat White, W. Harve White, Bud Beall, Oliver Carver, Alfred Kemper, and Pat Greely.  I am just mentioning those in the Warsaw precinct who have died, that come within my remembrance, of the male gender.  John Tayulor, L. L. Tiller, Thomas Lineback, Pete Herrick, Nat Cromwell, Wm. Craig, James W. Craig, F. F. Nesbit, James Brown, John R. Brown, Lee S. Taffe, Thomas Taffe, Ed Marshall, Charlie Marshall, Thomas h. Kirby, Thomas Blackmore, and others, the names now escaping me.

The thought naturally comes to me: suppose all these had died in one year; the calamity would have been too great for the community to have withstood.  Providence makes these wise provisions that nothing is placed upon us over and what we can bear.  This is what makes a revisit to Warsaw somewhat a sad affair if not cheered by the gracious salutations of the survivors.

Again: Take from Warsaw the buildings erected since 1881 and the town would look like Ethridge but for the church spires.  East Warsaw is a village by itself.  When I first came here there was not a single residence above the John Cousins property save the residence of Robert Payne.  On the site of the old barn are two up-to-date cottages.  Montgomery avenue was then in cultivation; now it is coming to be a boulevard.  West there was not a single house below the old Chambers property; now it is a small town with businesses galore.  Out the Sparta turnpike there was not one residence leaving the Catholic church, save the Graves property; now some of the finest residences in the county dot either side of the roadway to the old toll gate. 

All honor to those who have contributed to this wonderful improvement.  God has prospered Warsaw through her sons and may He more abundantly do so in the years to come.  From the loins of her sturdy sons of decades ago have spring the young giants who, assisted by importing material, have made Warsaw blossom as the rose. May He more abundantly bless this classic village as the years go on. 

It may not be amiss to remark upon some of those who have made this progress possible.  And yet to do so would it would be necessary to leave out quite a number who contributed on account of the want of space.  D. B. Wallace came about a year before my effulgent glory flushed the horizon and startled the inhabitants.  He has done no little [blank] whatever the credit given him in the work.  He has gone on from conquering to conquest, in the front ranks of every public undertaking, until at this writing he has of his own efforts become one of the leading men of the county.  R. B. Brown and J. H. McDanell, while accumulating a fortune have so used their capital that numbers less fortunate have been greatly benefited by their living in the world.  In fact the general result is due to the combined efforts of her sons.

And so the world goes on, the work to be taken up by their sons when time will know them no more.  Robert Wood's name was left for the last, so that mention might be made of the very commendable way the Fiscal Court remembered this brilliant young man who died in the early flush of manhood.  The court appropriated one hundred dollars towards a monument for him.  The inscription is to be from the county, "He did his duty as he saw it," a fitting tribute to this earnest young statesman so unfortunately and prematurely taken off.  I loved him much.  G. F. G.

The above is a letter to the Warsaw Independent of April 9, 1904.  It's signed G.F.G., but there's no indication of who that might be.