Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1854-03-15
Fop THE ADVERTISER.
FVN TIVE NV IH IpEN'
II I1MR1A AND HAMRuRG RAIL ROAD


Mr.. EDITOR Your spicy and very excellent
Journal is read by large majority of the people
along one of the contemplated routes Of the Coum-
bin and Hamburg Rail Road. We desire, through
the medium Of your columns, to make few obser-
yatons in reference 10 that enterprise. judging of
the future by the past it may be safely averred that
railways arc the most promising offspring Of this
wondcr-working age. There is Il something grand
and almost supernatural about train Of huge cars
sweeping along ovtr hil and dale at speed that
would throw even the eagle or the tornado in the
rear Rail Roads are so largely endurd with the
spirit of progress that they nerer fail. They ere
ate, in u great measure, their own business by de-
veloring the resources Of the country, through
which they are built, and BY inducing men every
where to travel. They stimulate to habits Of great
or industry, and enable the farmer to follow his own
inclination in regard 10 the kind of crop he plants
because a market is brought to the very doors OF
the people. And is it nothing that people residing
near the line of Rail Road can take the wings of
the morning, as il were, and fly to the uttcrmost
parts of the earth as Affection interest or pleasure
may dctate2 Who has not at some period in his
life been strong,y-almost irrcsistibly- mpeed 10
tread those classic grounds and to see for himself
the rushing cataracts, the snow-capped mountains
and the Cities, So magnificent aud so beautiful
I" that we read about ~ In England, the nobility
never consider their education complete without
that exquisite polish, that expansion of idea and that
freedom from the baleful influence Of prejudice,
which travel mparis. And shall American Sorer-
eigns be satisfied with an education at all inferior to
shat Of the English Nobityl But how can every
body, aud his ,oe, extend the line of their obscr
vaton without some mode of conveyance cheaper,
easier aud specdier than that which is dependent
upon horse powerl Does any one wish to know
how much he loves his native land p" Let him
90 and gaze on the strange unfamiliar scenes Of dis
tant States The writer Of these crude suggestions
can never forget the emotions with Which, after
making tour of the Northern States, he approach
ed the Wharf at Charleston Of joy gushed
forth into his eyes, and he felt that lie could have
glued his lips to the very soil Of the good old Pal
metto State"
what singular emotions fill
Their bosoms who have been induced TO roam
With huttcring doubts if all be well or i'll
With love for many, and with fears for some" &C.
After taking peep at the great world, its roinps
and its vanes, it's Elusive glare and its fevcrish
unrcstn one returns TO the cottage in his native
Village, or the cabin in some secluded valley rs the
case may be, happier, wiser and more contcncd
man. He has his mind stored with I" food for re-
Aectionn he has got rid of some of his bigoted no.
tons, and lie begins to find out that there is no
place like home, ,"-even if tits is a log cabin
If then Rail Roads are that wonderful agent Of
transportation and inter-communication which ex-
pericnce has proved them to be; if Churches,
Schools, Towns, Villages and Manufactures spring
up in their wake, as If by magic; if energy, ami
nation and mighty intellectual travail cluster about
them as stars in the mlky-way if in short, they
mpart new glory to civilization itself, how inder-
ont to the verdict Of poserty, how deaf to the calls
Of duty, and how blind to their own interest must
those communities be, which hesitnte moment,
when the opportunity is offered to take hold Of such
enterprises with determined energy, and push them
on to completion.
Thus much for Rail Roads in genera, we in
tended to say something in particular about the
Columbia and Hamburg Road, and we trust that
wo are coming to the point We'll, we want to see
the iron horse carcering across the Understanding
plains of that beautiful section of country known as
the Ridge" in Edgc6eld District. It docs really
seem that nature had designed that very same
Ridge for Rail Road. And yet there are gentle
men living below this natural highway, OF no in
considerable sagacity and intelligence, who advocate
an air line--which by the way would save but a
few miles-from Columbia to Hamburg across q
thousand hills, with water courses enough to make
two or three rivers. Their zeal, however, in this
regard is both natural and commendable; Of course,
they Rould like TO have Rail Road Of so much