Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1856-12-24
Corrosno,aa,.s Of the Spectator.


rs left Savannah at o'clock last evening, ana
had pleasant trip to this place. Two OF the
Catholic priests to whom | alluded in my letter
of Yesterday, were on board the cars, and we
found them centlemanly in their deportment ana
;nte,l;,ent and agreeable in conversation.
The country around Augusta presents Il lnuc'
more pleasing appearance than any have seen
since leaving Virginia We here see extensive
fields of wheat, and citizen of the place INFORM
ed us that the yield per acre was as large ana
the quality of the grain as good Us IN any part Oh
the country. What the South Carolinians, along
the Railroad lines, at least, live upon, cannot
imagine The country appears absolutely bar
rem. But must return to Savannah
After all the talk about the necessity OF dlrec'
trade between our Southern ports ana Europe
one would imagine that the South had no trade
Of this kind. Yet at this time there are more
than eighty vessels at Savannah, between twen-
ty and thirty of which are engaged IN the Tor
eirn trade. was on board an English ship, on
Tuesday morning which was unloading cargo
of salt. The Captain, a good-natured English
man, informed me that he had made thirty voy-
ages to Savannah.
The cost of living at Savannah is enormous.
A young gentleman from Virginia, who IS spend
ing the winter there on account OF his health,
has to pay Sl5 week for board, exclusive OF
washing and lights. Many of the weathiest
citizens are natives of Northern States and spend
IA large part of every year away from home
Nearly all their household supplies are purchas
ed at the NortlG where money accumulated III
Savannah is invested. The city thus experiences
all the evils of 'absenteeism," of which Ireland
complains so grevousy. When the merchants
wish to recommend any article, they label it,
From the North" and at the Hotels we find
New York Beef" on the bills oftare. The city
market is very poorly supplied with meats and
vegetables.
The negroes of Savannah are very interest
ing part of the population. 1t is said that the
most eloquent preacher in the city is venerable
colored man called Rev. Andrew Marshall, but
styled by his colored Pensioners Doctor Mar
shall He is now on visit to the North, soil
citing aid for the erection of a church, so that
we did not heard or see him*
All the fire-eompanies of the city are compos-
cd of negroes The members are paid for their
services, and it is unnecessary to say that they
find much pleasure in the employment An a.
| larm of fire never fails to bring out the entire
black population; whatever the servants are
doing, even waiting at the table, they abandon
everything and run for the "merchine," and the
whites turn out with guns to watch them. In
reference to some matters we found the negroes
much more knowing than the white people at
the Hotels. The latter could tell us nothing a.
bout the churches, for instance but the walters
readily gave US the desired information. In ap-
pearance, dress and manners the negroes are in
no respect different from our Virginia darkies.
/ 1t would not do for me to pass over unnoticed
the brilliant entertainment of the Virginia dele
gates by Mr. Green, on Tuesday night This
gentleman is wealthy Englishman, and his
wife q native of the Old Dominion. He has a.
massed a large fortune in the cotton trade, and
spends it magnifcenty. "Cotton is King" in Sa-
vannah.
Mr.. Green's residence attracted the attention
of all the strangers in the city. We were told
that the bulldog alone cost 100000. In their
walks through the city, the delegates would
pause before the house to admire the shrubbery,
the architecture, and the establishment generally,
which presents an appearance of oriental ele-
ganee happened to over-hear one gentleman
of note from Virginia ask another, after prying
round the premises, if he would not like to have
that mans kitchen to live in. A third member
of the party vowed that he'd be inside of the
house before he left the city. This was regard
ed at the time as idle talk, but in the course of
a few hours the entire delegation was invited to
reception" that evening.
At meeting of the Yirginians it was resol-
we'd that as they were invited ca maSse, they
would 90 in procession! This determination
greatly shocked some of the fashionable gentle
men of the delegation, and they tried hard to
have q more decorous arrangement adopted !;
but the majority struck to the plan, and in pro-
cession they went. The distinguished Chairman
of the delegation, I. S. Gholson, Esq, of Peters
burg, headed the column, and introduced the
members in succession to the proprietor of the
house All of the spacious apartments were fill
ed with guests, and it appeared that the whole
Convention and many citizens, including ladies,
were invited. The interior of the mansion cor
responded in magnifcence with the outside.
The party passed off like all other parties, but
one incident must notice particularly-it was
related to me by gentleman from North Caro-
| lima, who said he witnessed tho occurrence
There was very large mirror in the hall,
and a guest, observing the crowd, himself
included, reflected from the polished surface,
supposed he was looking into another room, and
proceeded to enter it. He Immediately observed
gentleman approaching, and stepped aside to
let him pass The stranger stepped aside also,
and rot directly in his way. He retraced his
steps, but there was the strange man confront
ing him again; and it was not till the puzzled
guest had crossed the hall several times that he
discovered he was endeavoring to avoid his own
image.
The great ball at the Railroad Depot came off
last night, but of course ] was not there and
cannot describe it.
Owing to the detention here shall have the
pleasure of travelling by daylight through all
the region which we traversed during the night
when we came on. l am particularly anxious
to see the town of Goldsborough, North Carroll
ma. 1t was very lively place when we passed
it in the night of Thursday last. We arrived
there after midnight and it was pitch dark but
Judging from the noise we supposed that all the