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The eight children left by C. H. Haynes when he died at the age of 35 were in the order of their ages: Letitia, now Mrs. Carpenter of Rutherfordton; Eva, now dead, who married Holloway Wall of Rutherford County; Cordova, now living, who married Gaither Kennedy, a farmer now at Ferry; Raleigh Rutherford; Wayne, who farms at Ferry; John who died 19 years ago; Perry, who died about eight or nine years ago; Jennie, who is dead, the wife of Robert Kennedy, who lived near Charlotte.
“Here then was Raleigh Haynes, just eight, the oldest boy among eight children, his father just dead. The great struggle of his life was now begun. He had to change from boy to man overnight.”
Here then was Raleigh Haynes, just eight, the oldest boy among eight children, his father just dead. The great struggle of his life was now begun. He had to change from boy to man overnight. The same mysterious hand that had stilled the heart of the breadwinner of the bairns had, however, with a single sweep strengthened the heart of the lad, Raleigh, towards the unguessed achievements, of his own making, that were before him.
This is what might have been called the second period of his career—that period that rarely comes until after manhood.
Now let S. Collis Padgett speak. Mr. Padgett lives in a simple farmhouse two miles from Cliffside, his wife lately dead, with an unmarried daughter to care for him. He is a man of simplicity and kindness, which breaks into tenderness when he speaks of his friend “Raleigh,” as he still calls him. About 70 years of age, he has known Mr. Haynes since their childhood.
“When his father died,” said Mr. Padgett, “Raleigh was about eight years old, and he didn't even know how to lay out a corn row, but he learned.” The old man stopped, overcome for the moment by his emotion. “I'm timid,” he said resuming. “I'm tender-hearted. I can't talk like I want to—I wish I could.” Then his voice broke again and his eyes filled with tears. “Yes, I remember as how Raleigh took charge of things at the farm then, and looked out for the rest of the children until he got nearly grown. Then he went to Union County, South Carolina, to farm cotton. I remember he went first to Cleveland County to buy a mule colt to take with him, and he bought him 'on time.' He stayed down there two years before he came back to Ferry and saved up some money. He took one of his brothers with him. When he got back, he started a store at Ferry and a saw mill and farmed and his son, Walter, is running it yet.”
In the afternoon shadows
Last Summer Mr. Haynes was taken to Rutherfordton Hospital, dangerously ill. He returned to Cliffside in the Fall still weak. “Last Fall,” continued Mr. Padgett, “I went up to see him: he came to the door and handed me in. He said 'Collis, do you feel stout?' I said, 'Yes.' 'Well, then,' he said, 'pick up that back log and those two other pieces and start up the fire.' Now he said, 'we can talk.'” His feelings overcame him again. “Then Raleigh said to me, 'Collis, if you had just asked how I was I would have appreciated it, but your coming to see me was a grand thing.'” Then, turning to me, he said, “you can take down such as that if you want to.”
Copyright © 2008 The Cliffside Historical Society
