The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-09-21

Wharves and along the bey-ine
FIeecy Staple-The Draymen In Para
dise-Scenes ut the Cotton Presses-The
.Jobbers and the New Arrivais-W1n-
ming Ways OF the Drummers-Lffea anu
Bustle everywhere.
Yes. walk through the streets of Charleston
10. day: feel the pulse of the fall trade now
heating: see its healthy flush on the faces OF
our merchants; read the enterprise sparkling
in their eyes, and with Us, you will be con-
strained to exclaim, truly, "There's lite IN
the old land yet."
From all directions comes the cry for more
goods" Everywhere merchandise is moving.
The stagnation Of the summer months has
yielded to the stimulating influences OF Dusl-
ness which, though commenced much earlier
than usual, already measures its results by
hundreds of thousands Of dollars. Men who
a few weeks sgo sat torpidly in tteir counting
rooms, gloomy as tonbstones, and written all
over with what doubtless seemed to them an
obituary notice of dead hopes. are to-day the
incarnation of high-pressare steam engine,
working forty pounds to the square inch; safety
valves all open and piston rods in motion,
morning, noon and night. Dsconsoate as
pects and fretful tempers have given place to
unalloyed felicity; niehtmaresand COLLINS have
disappeared from tho imagination; faces that
had grown pale over "e1pense accounts" Oh
pointed in fondly contemplating every i've
cent piece before it slipped through the in-
gers. once more are lighted by the sunshine,
and. in the old.tme strains OF eloquence, the
merchant and his clerks do homage to custom
ers with devotion that is both adhesive and
irresistible. The "good time" prayed for has
come, and happy is that man who can vlslt
Charleston with plethoric pocketDook, ana,
in dispensing his greenbacks, enjoy the DELI
cious sensation of being made much OF as
paragon of excellence, and then go home to
his friends and neghbors with q carload OF
merchandise that has been assuredly purchas-
ed sat the lowest New York prices" Ii there's
any other happiness more supreme, to buyer
or seller, on this mundane sphere, we doRt
know it.
Does the reader ask-Why this sudden
change? The answer is in one word-Cor-
TON And well may we
"Thank Him who placed us here
Bepeath so kind asky-the very sun
Takes part with us; and on our errands run
All breezes Of the ocean, Dew and rain
Do noiseless battle for US; and the Year. y
And all the gentle daughters in her train,
March in our ranks. and in our service WELD
Long spears Of golden grain
! A yellow blossom as her fairy shield.
| June hngs her azure banner TO the wind
While in the order Of their birth
Her sisters pass; and many an ample neia h,,a
Grows white beneath their steps, till now, oeaoid
Its endless sheeis unfold
TIE SNOW OF SOUTHERN sUMhERs.'
Not since the beginning OF the war has the
South been blessed with a more prosperous
crop than in this A. D. 1869. The caterpillar
has this year caused good deal more alarm
than injury, and the great staple commands
prices which ought TO satisfy any reasonable
PLANTER that Providence is on his side, and
that Pope was telling the truth when he wrote,
"Whatever is, is right" The critical moment
has passed, and the business man already lore
sees the wealth about to pour through the
sluices Of trade into the remotest corners OF
the South. Importations have accordingly
been extensive; the shelves and counters OF
our merchants, nay the very Sidewalks groan
beneath their weight of merchandise, and the
early birds who desire to catch the worm, nave
begun to arrive in our city BY scores. Good
bargains and the pick Of On assortment are un'
ouestiouably to be had now. Take turn
with US
AROUND THE wHARvEs.
From Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York
the steamers all come deeply loaded. The
printed freight lists have suddenly grown from
two to six inches in length. There are
packages marked to almost every merchant IN
the city. The docks are piled with boxes, oar-
rels, crates, agricultural implements and ma
chinery, and the pursers report still more
awaiting transportation. The stevedores are
busy from morning until night, and the streets
leading to and from the wharves present q
panoramic array Of drays which oddly enough
remind you Of q procession Of ants, industri-
ously making their rounds. Here, among
these active scenes-on the dock, in the steam
ers' hold, among the clerks with their invoice
books, among the noisy mules and draymen-
you probably have fair criterion OF the
amount OF business being done In the city at
large.
THE BAY.
"The car rattles Ger the stony street" with
Jar incessant. Goods going up, cotton coming
down. Flour is piled on the sidewalk in pyra-
mids; while hogsheads Of molasses and sug r
await with sweet complacency their transfer 10
the cayernous depths of the storerooms. Port
ers, now ION their muscle are making all
possible arrangements ofmerchandise. through
which, in striving to reach the counting room,
Won turn and twist and circumambulate until
lost in labyrinth worse than map OF Boston.
Individuals, tufted with cotton, dart across
the street from the wharves, where they have
been "sampling" bales, to sample something
else, /. g., ice-water with some sugar aud a
spoon in it. Sturdy looking merchants from
the interior are pricing, buying, arguing, and
feeling the market.
The dray interest is in state OF mingled
confusion, excitement aud delight. There is
more cotton to go to the wharves and more
merchandise to go to the depots than anybody
can remember to have seen before, so early in
the season; and the mules are made aware Of
the fact with vigor and energy that might
afford q subject for the zeal Of any number
of societies for the suppression of cruelty to
animals. In short. from one end of the Bay
to the other, there is hustle, hustle, bustie-
the melody OF trade. Stop ut
THE COTTON PRESSES