that he has held without interruption over forty years; ever faithful, ever at his post. Mr. Hill was born in Surry County, on Dan River, in 1773, we believe; his father was a Baptist, and was first recommended to consideration by a letter (now in the Secretary's office) from Mark Hardin to Glasgow. Amid all the changes of political strife, the contention, ascendency and overthrow of parties in the State, and the consequent scrambling for office, the finger of proscription has never been applied to our now venerable citizen and faithful public servant. In glancing at the order in which he has the books and papers pertaining to his office arranged, while paying him a visit in June last, we were struck with the order, precision and methodical arrangement of everything belonging to this important public office. After years of labor, he has just completed the arrangement of every book and paper in his office in alphabetical order. He begins with the counties commencing at A and going through, then he takes up the names in the same order; then in the file of his papers, he takes up the years beginning with the first records at 1694. The counties are arranged from 1735, and State papers from 1776. A reference may be now had by him to anything pertaining to the history of the State and the Colony that has been preserved, in a moment's time, for the last 150 years, now shrouded in the gloom of by-gone days, and many and singular and woeful are the musty records that are now imprisoned and speechless upon his shelves. The first grants given by the State of North Carolina were dated in 1777. Mr. Hill is now in a green old age, and little to hope from the pleasures of this fleeting world more than that consciousness, which is of more value than gold, of having honestly and faithfully performed his part upon the stage of human action, with an eye single to truth, honesty and the glory of his God.
"His probation upon the confines of this earth is fast approaching that point 'where the good man meets his fate, and evinces to the world the excellence of religion and the blissful reward of a virtuous and consistent course of conduct. Such men are a blessing to the world in life, glorify their Creator in death, and leave the world the better for having lived in it, and their friends 'not without hope.' Mr. Hill has long been a faithful attendant, a sincere worshiper and a consistent member of the Methodist Church. Long may he live to adorn her communion, and spread abroad in society the sweet influences of virtue, honor and religion, and when he dies may his exit be calm, triumphant and peaceful, for--
'Death is the crown of life;
Were death denied, poor man would live in vain.
Death wounds to cure; we fall, we rise, we reign,
Spring from our fetters, hasten to the skies,
Where blooming Eden withers from our sight.
The King of Terrors is the Prince of Peace.' "
His son, Dr. William G. Hill, was long a resident in Raleigh, and much respected as a generous and kind friend and skillful physician. He died a few years since universally esteemed. His son, Theophilus H. Hill, is named among "the Living Writers of the South," by James Wood Davidson, A. M., 1869. He is also a native of the vicinity of Raleigh, born 1836. He is a lawyer by profession, and at one time edited the Spirit of the Age. He wrote verses early in life, always under impulse or inspiration, without system or object. A small volume of Mr. Hill's production appeared in 1861, entitled "Hesper and other Poems," full of fire, irregular, hasty and crude. His later poems, Narcissus, A Gangese Dream, The Pit and the Pendulum and Sunset, give proof of the poetic genius he possesses, when regulated by study and system. Rev. Dr. Craven, the President of Trinity College, pronounces The Song of the Butterfly one of the finest of this kind of poetry in the English language. Much may be hoped in the future of Mr. Hill. The critic in "The Living Writers of the South," on Mr. Hill's productions, says that he has been too careless of the gift he possesses, trusting too much to the inspiration of genius, rather than to reflection and study; that there is something of the moody style of Poe and not enough of cheerful romance is his poems.
Mrs. Betty M. Zimmerman was a native of North Carolina, the daughter of Rev. Thomas Meredith, an eminent divine of the Baptist denomination, and who resided near Raleigh, editor of the Baptist Recorder. Some years ago she married R. P. Zimmerman, of Georgia. For several years she resided in Augusta, but the shadow of death there fell upon her life and clouded its brightness, for there sleeps her boy, to whom she alludes in the beautiful poems, Three Years in Heaven and Christmas Tears. Since the war she has lived in Atlanta. Her writings display genius and taste, and with study and application she would rank among the best of "The Female Writers of the South."
Andrew Johnson, born 1808, died 1875, was a native of Raleigh. He presents a notable instance of a man rising from the humblest ranks
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