Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1852-04-24
How they Live in The South.

We take the following graphic pictures Of
Southern Life from late letter written by
"OstegO" to the Cleveland Herald:
There is not between Wilmington and
Washington single depot-house nt the ter
minus of the railway lines, nor n single sta
ton house on the road. At Richmond you
are landed in the street, drawn in omnibus
rs one mile and dropped in the street; and
at Petcrsburgh the same thing; the distance
between the two roads being about n mile.
At Petersburgh the mails and baggage ARE
drawn from one road to the other hy con-
tract, aud the day came along two negroes
with spike team" were just ono hutI aud
hily minutes in doing the job, while the
passengers were patiently waiting. II was Il
cold, rainy day, aud all the passengers were
orrHmed into II old dilapidatcd two horse ON
nlbus aud hauled along at II slow walk. This
was the express mail line, and 20 see two mig
gers taking their own time to transport the
mails and trunks, none OF the conductors or
railway employees offering to "leud Il hand"
or expedite the work, was II iceiie veXalous
to a man OF Yankee habits and notions.
Well, We reach Weldon, near the northern
Iluc of North Carolina, aud here you find Two
tayerns aud five or six huis. At the taycrns
you get good ham aud green's, hoe cake, shGd,
tat oysters, and enough that is good TO eat
and drink. From Weldon to Wilmington
II62 nliles) there is II good L railway, on
which YOU average about twenty-five miles
an hour, hut the entire distance, with scarce
ly solitary exception, is one eutire, contin-
nous, barren waslc-yes, "pitch pine barren
waste" | had heard and read Of this "tur-
pcntine and tar" region, but to Justly nppre-
u II hn i 100 Iup
traverscd pitch pine section, two hundred
miles in extent-ior the yellow pine lands
commence before you reach Wcldon--und
along this whole distance, not solitary wa
ter-snw or stenm-suw mill is 10 be seen, while
the tall and straight yellow pines line each
side of the road, the entire distance, as
thickly ms do the naples in any sugar or
chnrd grove in the Northern States. For
two hundred miles, Il very few dwellings are
to he seen, and these few are made of heicn
pine logs, resting upon blocks of timber two
or three feet from the ground, nflording
shelter for hogs, hens and other unclenn
lhings-the chimneys are invariably made of
clay and sticks-nnd the people that burrow
in these hubitntions look-very unlike hui
man beings. The land is too poor To raise
"whilc beans or buckwheat," aud shows no
attempt even, at this lowest effort of the az
ricullurist, The labor aud enterprise of the
people along this extended region of two
hundred miles, ure devoted to tho getting of
turpcntine and the making of tar aud rosin.
The tall straight pines, averaging about
eighteen inches through, for miles aud miles
stand within few feet of each other The
bark is removed from the entire body of the
trees, save II narrow strip of three or four
inches, and some six or eight feet from the
roots-the turpeutine oozes out upon this
barkless surface aud is scraped of, boiled
and made into spirits of turpentine, rosin,
Sc. The STAT" pine knots are burned, yield
ing a rich amount of tar. The pine trees,
thus nearly girdled, live five or six years,
Yielding turpentine from the same sold sore"
each year, aud then are replaced by second
crop of pines, of equal size and numbers,
in about ten years. This is the main husi-
ness Of the people of this portion of North
Carolina. There are no roads, carriages,
stage coaches, or vehicle of any sort, save u
few ricketly horse carts of domestic manu-
iaclurc. The few horses and cattle to be
seen are sorry looking quadrupeds, and the
hogs are so thin that two would hardly make
shadow. In all my wanderngs over
earIlI's suriace, ! have nowhere seen such
apparently comiortless, wretched, and dirty
looking "God iorsaken" people, who claim
to be civilized.
Between Weldon and Wilmington, the
only places that indicate the presence of
civilized humanity were HaliinX and Colds
horo-only one passenger was received the
whole dlstance-no engine or station houses
no lamps at the turn outs and water tanks,
but big niggers upholding "blazing pine
knots"
Wilmington is pretty town of some
10000 nhubitanis-ihere are many very cl-
egant residences, churches, stores, steam
saw-inllls, turpentine and r0sin manuluclO-
rles, two taverns, and rich rice plantations
upon the Cape Fear River 1t is n town of
the largest business in the State. The mar
ket is fair index of the surrounding coun-
try and the people thereof aud would that
you had been with me last Thursday morn
ing in the market of the commercial capitol
of The old North State. Here were gauni,
raw-boned men and women who had come
IN from the country twenty, thirty, and forty
miles, with one-hose carts, mostly ,ntired,
and all made with dull axe. The horses
small and TOO poor for turkey buzzards-the
harnesses made of bits of straps and ropes,
aud horse collars made of two crooked
sticks with moss and rags tied round with
strings. These carts are covered with
sheet or blanket, contain chickens, turkeys,