Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-12-18
hrom Alabama.
ELYToN. Ala. Decent

hrom ALABAMA.
ELYToN, ALA. December IL.
Mr. EDITOR: Throughout the whole OF
East Mississippi the crop of cotton is
light, and more than half has been
shipped. Corn is abundant and is selling
in many places for forty cen ents per bushel.
At West Point there is fine grist mill,
where q superior quality of MEALS made.
The grain, by means of selves and fans,
is thoroughly cleaned of bits of cob, dirt
and silks, before it enters the mill. Now,
sir, although corn, wheat, pork and
chickens have been raised throughout
this whole country. yet the hotels and
boarding houses charge the traveller from
seventy-fve cents to one dollar for each
meal, and the same for bed. One place
on the railroad | sat down to the break
fast table to fried squirrel they appear
to know no ether way of preparing meat,
well sprinkled with hair and shot, biscuit
green with salaratus ard like putty in
consistency, and slop swsetened with
molasses-caled coffee. For this | was
charged the moderate sum of six bits,
and afterwards | was asked why l did
not return to the same house for dinner.
There is substrstum of limestone
rock, dipping to the south, and cropping
out in the higher regions, which underliss
the whole of this region. By artesian
boriDgs, as at Columbus and Aberdeen,
through this stratum of limestone, an
abundant supply of hard water. is OBJ
tanned. During the summer the inhabit.
ants have suffered from an unusual
amount of intermittent and remittent
forms of malarisl fever; sporadic cases
of an infrequent fever, called by the doc
tors swamp fever, attended by one par
oxysm of fever, followed by prostration,
yellowness of the skin, paucity of urine,
| hemorrhages from the mucous mem
branes, and death.
Ask gentleman in Mississippi what
is the political feeling" and he will
reply promptly, sob, we care but little
about politics. we are satisfied with the
! administration of Gen. Gillem." With
the exception of an occasional case of
lawlessuess-as the hanging of Riley, at
Okolona, and the shooting of negro, at
Tupelo-all is quiet That there IS
more demoraliz alton and drunkenness
than before the war all, who are candid,
must admit.
From Uniontown, Ala, to Tuscaloosa,
d a distance of sixty miles, one has to
travel by the old fashioned stage coach.
Who could think that in the nineteenth
century men would have the patience to
nut up with such an antiquated mode of
iocomotion The coach, with one other
passenger beside the writer, gentleman
Of color. left Newburn at 10 am, and
reached Tuscaloosa the next morning at
one, after a liberal application of the
wbip and much hallooing at the poor,
harmless mules. Tuscaloosa, with her
broad and shaded streets, which cross
each other at right-sngles, is beautifully
located on the south side OF the warrior,
just below the falls. This belle city had
numerous foundries and factories before
the war; but part of Wilson's raiders,
undor Crocker, applied the torch, az
usual, to them, and they now are so
many mournful monuments, which mark
the pathway of this relentless destroyer.
The buildings of the State University
were also destroyed by these incsudiaries
but. Phenix like, from the ashes has
arisen A beautiful structure, which, when
completed, will rival in physical proper.
lions its colossal neighbor, the Lunatic
ssylum. The design is for rectangular
building, measuring four hundred feet
on the exterior lines, and two hundred
and ffy on the interior, iuclcsing an
omen court. The hight for the most part
Is three stories, aud the center of the
front and rear lines, four. 1t is to be
supplied By hot aud cold water BY means
Of pipes, and heated throughout By
steam and ventilated by means OF Meig
revolving fan. Arches are sprung over
all the openings to receive superincnm,
bent weight, aud vide galleries extend
al sround the interior from the moor,
protected By wrought iron railing ano
supported by cast ircn columns Only
the rear line sf the buiiding Is con-
pIeted, and is nov ready fer the reeep'
ton, and can Accommodate comfortably
one hundred and eighty-eight youne
men with q suficient corps or professors