There is one hour for dinner, and I scanned closely those who left the mill at the noon hour. They did not hurry and contentment and good health marked them all, of all ages. One could not help in contemplating the sociological result at Cliffside but refer constantly in a mental way to some first, common cause that had brought it all about. This would be so, were one altogether unacquainted with the history of the place or the identity of its founder.
“He was named Raleigh Rutherford for his State and county and he had brought honor to both.”
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As stated above, Mr. Haynes seems to have lived his inner life alone. There was the “Inmost Me,” which was undivulged. For the person of seeking out some of the springs of his life, I had the privilege of looking myself through his Bible. I wanted to see what held him most in its pages--by its markings. His outward acts were results of that unknown inner life. Then there were other extracts from various sources and original observations. For example here is one:
“There are few misunderstandings that would survive a meeting and a heart-to-heart talk.”
With this truth firmly fixed in his heart, he kept himself attuned to the various annoyances or misunderstandings that might arise where this or that interest might conflict.
“Life is too short for misunderstandings.”
Neither he nor anyone about him was idle. Everyone is busy at something. That is a result. Now read this observation among his private papers:
“Lost wealth may be replaced by industry; lost knowledge by study; lost health by medicine; and lost time is gone forever.”
Here is a notation made in his Bible, in his own hand, September 23, 1903, Sunday, from Jeremiah, chapter XXII, 13th verse:
“Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbors service without wages and giveth him not for his work.”
When the high cost of living began to be felt at Cliffside, Mr. Haynes was determined that his people should not suffer from its excess, and put prices in the Company Store below cost to save the operatives from extortion. No doubt his mind went back to that notation he had made from Jeremiah.
Moreover, during the first days of Cliffside, when his lifelong friend, R.L. Watkins, was attending to much of his land purchases, Mr. Watkins stated to me that he would ask Mr. Haynes for directions before going out to look at a tract of land. “The answer,” said Mr. Watkins, “was always in these words, 'Do right.'”
St. John seemed to be his favorite book [of the Bible]. Here is a marked passage:
“If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
Here's a verse from the 103rd Psalm marked, “specially:”
“Who forgiveth all thy iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases!”
Copyright © 2012 The Cliffside Historical Society