Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1861-02-02
&C MM 4 'MG0ATCg MS.
FOR TIE KEoWEE COURIER.
Sketches of Life in South Carolina.
NUMBER SEVEN.


We cannot say much about Fort johnson,
as it was Il mere ruin when we were mt james
Island but there was Martca Tower not
far off, which was i'm object of curiosity, being
a Tower of brick, with no window or loop hole
to be seen, that we remember But Fort
Nlou'tric was different; although then not
fully garrisoncd, it was in repair, and every
part of it was scrupulously neat and clean
A walk on the parapct early in the morning,
and in the Afternoon during brilliant South
ern sunset, the !larbor, and Islands, and the
grand and beautiful Ocean being in full view,
Is pleasure quit1 "uniquc in its way. We
could never see the huge cannon on the ram
parts, and the large cannon. balls piled in such
regular order, without feeling of sadness, ms
well rs of awe, to think that these were made
for the express purpose of destroying the
limbs OF our fcilow-mcn. How much would
the feeling have docpcncd could we have
forrsccn the grent probability now existing,
that the lives destroyed, the limbs torn, will
be those of thousands of our fellow citizens?
M those of men, the nearest and dearest to
us--Our fathers, brothers and sons But the
body shuddcrs. the blood runs cold, the mind
turns dark with horror, at the imagination of
such scenes. Let us turn from them to others
less terrible with the earnest hope and prayer
that the God whom we serve may in mercy
avert from us the bloody alternative of war
And if it must come, who will go into the bat
tie aud face these dangers with more stern
determination, and cool, unfnltcring resolve,
than the sous Of our beloved little Palmetto
State?
1t was on tho beach at Sulivan's Island
that one morning n very singular sight was
seen bya crowd of people. There had been
a great storm the night before, during which,
the water had almost inund tied the Island,
and rctreating had washed away the sand con
sideraby, leaving exposed the edges of four
teen collins. The lids must have been much
broken and dec ed, enough So to have been
washed off, with the sand hcapcd over them;
but there in full view, were the fourteen ske-
etons, packed in tightly by the sand Opin-
ions differed grcn!y as to who were the orig
inal owners of those poor dry bones which
there lay low before US. Some said that they
remembered hearing that certain persons who
had died of the smallpox had been buried
there others slid that those collins were those
of some of the brave men killed at the battle
of Fort Moultrie. Ia either case there were
evidences of great haste, in the graves being
80 shallow, and the cofiins so closely put TO-
gcther, that the sand had drftcd in, and kept
the bones as compactly in their places as an
anatomist could have arranged them. The
houses at the Island" or properly speaking.
Moultrieville, Ga very unfamiliar name TO
Charlcstonians) are generally mere frame
houses, with the rooms barely separated by
thin partitions of wood. Anything said can
be heard all over the house. They invariably
have the broad Carolina piazza, shaded either
by Venetian blinds or Palmetto trees, and the
Pride of India. Tho novelty to young per-
Sons from the city-in the bare walls. the old
furniture, the mattresses on the hoor-only
makes the trip more delightful. Then the
ever restless ocean, with its waves crested with
fo1m5 raising themselves on high, like long
wall, only TO break beating on the beach, with
n dull, heavy roar. And what can be more
delightful to everybody people as we'll
as young oneS-tban ride or drive on that
hard, firm and glittcring beach? so level, too,
and of very good width at low tide. The
old people in a carriage, more or less open
the young taking 1t by turns to drive "a great
treat for city folks) in n common wood cart,
with mattress thrown in the bottom to break
the iolts a little. Or better still, ride on
horscback---a party of some Ave or six young
men and women. or boys aud girls, making
the air ring with tho echo of their horses
heofs on the hard, firm beach, accompanied
by the merry laugh and the ready joke. Some
times they would walk their Horses the whole