Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-01-07
Correspondence of The Spy.l
LETTER FROM THE SOUTH.
MAcoN. Ga, Dec. SOtl

After journey of just three days and nights
from your city, Preached this enterprising city
of Macon, at nine O'Clock, this morning. The
trip has been pleasant and successful, thus far,
with no accident to cause delay, and no con-
nections missed to breed annoyance and vex-
alton. Until now, l have not stopped half
hour, and you may imagine, that, after con-
tinuous sitting, of seventy-two hours, with
every position of the body exhausted with
every bone aching, from the strain which has
been upon it, few hours rest is accepta-
bic, above all things.
The transition, which one experiences, in
travelling from the North to the South, at this
season of the year, from the snow capped hills,
the ice-bound rivulets and. ponds, and the fros-
ty atmosphere of New England December,
to the vernal fields, the rivulets sparkling in
the summer sun, and the balmy atmosphere
OF Georgian cline, is so gradual, yet so rapid,
that it bewilders the Senses and enchants the
mind. To the novelty seeker, it is full of
novelty to the romantic, it is full of romance
to the thoughtful, it is full of suggestions to
the imaginative, it is replete with fancies To
all, it may seem to have its charms. To
many, eternal spring may seem beautiful and
delightful. Yet its beauty soon fades its
charms are soon lost. One desires again the
SHOWS, the ffosts and the winter sports of the
North. 1t is pleasant to have known the
Southern winter once, but not to know itagan
Its beauties are overrated and exaggerated, like
everything else in the distance. A near ap.
proach destroys the enchantment,. The native
of I'LL. 4. 1.
deprived of it for time, longs for nothing
else more than to see the earth wrapped in
robe of purity, the fountains of the earth bound
In sparkling chrystal, the trees hung with gilt
tering diamonds, and the happy social circle
assembled before the cheerfully blazing fire.
He who does not enjoy these, must acknowl-
edge defects in his moral and intellectual ma
ture, of which he should be ashamed
But no words of mine are needed to
make New Englander contented with the
annual visitation of the Winters snow, for few
of New Englands sons would exchange it for
all the delicacies of a tropical cline.
A few words as to the route from the North
to the South, or rather from New York to New
Orleans, may save many a dollar, and prevent
much annoyance and discomfort OF all the
various routes, | am inclined to say that
for pleasure, the route by rail to st. Louis or
Louisville, and by steamboat down the Missis-
sippi River, Tor by steamer to Charleston, S.
O., Norfolk or Savannah, thence by rail to
Montgomery, and thence by steamboat to Mo-
bile and New Orleans,) is the pleasantest. |
shall speak now of what is called the rail road
route, viz: from New York to Montgomery,
all by rail, thence by steamer to New Orleans.
1t matters not how you get to Washington. If
you buy through ticket and fail to specify
how you desire to go from Washington to Rich
mond, they now send you by the Alexandria
and Orange rail road. BY all means call for
ticket by Aqua Creek By this route you go
in a steamer from Washington, sixty miles
from the Potomac to Aquai Creek, thence by
rail to Richmond. On the boat you have am
pie time to breakfast and arrange you, as well
as rest a little from rail road travelling. By
the other route you go sixty miles further, by
b line, i. e. a line nearly corresponding to the
curves of the letter B, all the way by rail. By
the Aqua Creek route you have some time in
Richmond. But, on arriving by this line you
are greeted with the words, Passengers for
the South must make haste" BY all means
take the Aqua Creek route. From Richmond
again you may take two routes,-one by the
way of Weldon, Wilmington, Kingsville,
Augusta and Macon; the other by the Virgin
Ia and Tennessee road, through Western Vir-
glnia, Eastern Tennessee and Northern Geor-
gia, by the way OF Atlanta and Knoxville The
merous and very inconvenient changes. The
latter is the best and cheapest route 1t is no.
ticeable that in these changes which you have
to make, you not only change cars, but change
depots, being obliged to ride two or three miles
in an omnibus, in each place. By all means
buy tickets by Aqua Creek and the Virginia
and Tennessee rail road.
In passing from the free into the slave
States, my companion in travel, a distinguish
ed young lawyer of your city, remarked the
great difference in the appearance of the coun-
try. This he attributed to the existence of
slavery. So do many of the inhabitants of the
North, who see no other cause for this appear
ance of things.
wish to suggest here, that there are so
many people who are much quicker to see the
faults, than the virtues of their neighbors, and
who find it very easy to think themselves
right,and others wrong and who can see nothing
and speak nothing but evil, of their neighbors,
always emitting to allude to anything good;
and in fact there is so much slandering back
biting, vilifying and classifying among neigh
bors, especially between the North and South,
that shall, in whatever | may say, that do
this from the most patriotic and Christian mo-
tives, for | know you will call me a slave dri-
yer, Union saver, terrible denunciationD
Apologist, Anthropologist, and all sorts of
gists.
But l was speaking of the attribution of the
different aspects of things in the North and
South to the existence of slavery. In leaving
the North we pass from a community strictly
commercial and manufacturing, into a COM
munity strictly agricultural. Should we pass
into an agricultural district at the North, we
would notice the same change. In commune
ties of the first description the population is
necessarily dense, and landholders cultivate
their land, leach a small portion) to please the
eye and raise products for home consumption.
In communities of the latter description,
where all make their living by agriculture, the
land must be subjected to the plough and har-
row in order to bring forth large crops for for
eign consumption. The country there instead of
looking like a cultivated garden, must have
the appearance of titled field with sparse
population.
No agricultural country in the world can
boast of such magnificent farms and elegant
mansions, as Eastern Virginia.
The residences of the Virginia planters are
more like the castles of the Feudal barons,
than like the homes of simple American far
mers. You see them dotting the hills and
valleys, here and there, surrounded by
the neat and comfortable white cottages
of the servants. Passing further South, into
North Carolina, the most barren State of the
section, we no longer see tobacco and cotton
plantations, but smoking turpentine distiller
les and turpentine groves. The trees, for the
space Of eight or ten feet from the ground, are
stripped of their bark, and in the night time
appear like so many ghosts, darting hither and
| thither through the forests. Still further
| South, we come to the rice plantations Of
| South Carolina, which differ little from a cot