Legends and Memories of St John's Chapel -
Addressed to R. A. Riddick
by Major John W. Moore 

Part XI - published in the Windsor Ledger Aug 31, 1899

Neighbor Robert well can I
Now remember that glad day,
Where I left behind me,
After a prolonged stay
With the tutors and professors
And hours of fret and fume
Working at the knotty problems
Of a long curriculum
But the last "pons asinorum"
Was passed; and we didn't deplore 'em.

Ahoskie Ridge in that day
Use to be great renown
For the beauty of its maids,
Far abroad their fame had gone,
And of all that beauteous bevy
There where some most rare to see
When with them we watched the glory
Of the moon and sleeping sea;
Alas that winter e'er should blight
The flowers a'bloom on such a night.

Then it was Baldy Capehart
And Jack Waddill so benign,
With two Wynnes, Wise and Peebles
Like a galaxy did shine
Then rarest fellows, every one
Full of gentlest courtesy;
All so fresh in manly beauty
But sad to tell, only three
Remain of all that stalwart band
Who on life's threshold then did stand.

Poor Waddill went to Florida,
But he came back to his home
Only to fall a victim
In those early hours of gloom
Where he and hosts of other men
Getting ready for the fray,
Could not withstand the life in camp
And thus saw not that sad day,
When that world of preparation
Should lead to our exterpation.

E're this another soldier
Down at stormy Haterass
Was forcing too our foeman,
In his youthful prime and grace,
He died like him who of the Greeks
Was fore doomed e'er fatal Troy
Was reached and fell like Loo damiaos lord
Brave John Wheeler is the joy
Of his sweet youth without a taint
Thus died a hero and a saint.

We had another crony
My lost brother Jim and I,
Whose antique cut and figure
Never fell upon your eye;
For old Riddick Griffin, neighbor,
Came to death so long ago
That you were barely born, before
The old place he use to know
As his, had passed to other hands
And he had ended all his plans.

He was a lonely stranger,
Born in other baliwick,
With no kith or kin around
But a sister fair and meek,
"Old Tough" was even ready
For such jaunts as I and Jim
By persistent agitation
Used, to well nigh force on him;
And we three would take our journey
At the expense of his old pony.

But Riddick had a boy
Who was also prized by us,
Not his son; for never a wife
Come along to share his crust.
And this Harvey, when poor Riddick
Had departed, became mine,
And no servant e'er a master
Found more faithful or benigh,
Though a free man long ago
Still I his merit love to show.

Through long years of peace and war
He was with me, night and day,
And I found him always faithful
To each trust that on him lay.
In his charge were  barn and cattle
Yet his ward was close and true
I ever found his words were truthful
And he did, as I said do,
And when in war the day was spent
He used to sleep in my own tent.

I have never known a man
Who was not of my own blood
Who showed me by word and act
The whole depth and amplitude
Of his affection unto me;
And all despite his servitude
Gave me every proof in reason
For me to know how we stood;
I though master was his friend
And so it was unto the end.

In all those years of battle
He was ever by my side
And between me and my horses
His attention would divide;
And it was a doubtful problem
As to which was better served;
For not even when in danger
Could we see that Harvey swerved
This noble man of nature true
Who did the things he ought to do.

I sent him with two horses
And with money quite a store
From down below Wilmington
"Way up" to Murfreesboro;
This was in eighteen sixty five
And he marched there all alone
With nothing but a written pass
To help him in getting on;
I told therein how he was sent
And prayed that aid to him be lent.

He got way up in Duplin
With his horse safe and sound
When lo! he and his purpose
Seemed at once to run aground,
For he found the yankees raiding
And the roads were full of them
Which ever way he safety sought
That, the for would surely hem,
So deep within a wood he stayed
Until our troops drove back the raid.

For five long days he lay there
All secure but famished,
He would for provisions go
That his helpless charge be fed
But he only had to meet them
The raiding foe, to be free
With two horses to recommend him
And some thousands in money;
But he promised me to go
To my good wife, and he did so.

I tell this simple tale 
To show how noble and true
Were some of our colored friends,
And it is no more than due
That now when many things occur
To stir up feelings against them
That we should call to memory
And not allow to grow dim
The tale of how they served us well
In spite of wrongs that on them fell.

You know it is our duty
To be kindly unto those
Who hate and would defame us
and e'er treat us but as foes,
But this beautiful and holy
Disposition of our Lord
Is the hardest thing to mortals
To be found in all the "word,"
So mortal man can love his foe
Like some dear friend, or treat him so.

But noble is forgiveness:
Nothing in our human frame
So lifts us unto glory
Or the sooner brings to shame
The man who seeks to bring us harm
If he be but half a man,
None other but a demon true
Will persistently withstand
The sweet low voice and gentle eye
Deploring his low enmities.

Life is too short for hatred
But Love immortal strives
The one degrades our nature
As the other safely binds
Our soul to things that bless mankind
And lift us above evil
To Paradise fair love leads on
Hatred down to the Devil,
And oh my friend with life so short
Be sure to choose the one we ought.