Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-08-06
NASHVILLE AS SEEN BY n
NEW YORKER.
The Athens OF the SOutIl-Ets Musi-
cal CuIture-Its Beautiful WO-
men-Its Love of the Fine Arts.

cal CuIture-ItS Beautiful NO-
men-Its Love of the Fine Arts.
Correspondence of the Union and American.
NEW York, Aug. l, 1S70.-Inspired
with a desire to visit the South, from
thrilling recollection of the historical
memories which have made her immortal,
we left New York on the morning train of
the Erie Railroad for Nashville. On this
train we found one of ''the Drawing
Room Coaches, (which are without doubt
the most luxurious affairs ever Offered TO
the public in the way of travelling palaces.
The boudOirs of the most aristocralic Ia
dies, or the gorgeous saloons o
the finest Mississippi steamers, do
not surpass these magnificent coaches.
At night we were transferred to
a superb sleeping coach, where, amid the
rich curtains and clean linen, we passed
the night in blissful dreams. In Cincin-
natl we had pleasant ride over the Sus-
pension Bridge, and in few minutes
were on the Louisville and Cincinnati
Short Line Railroad, bound for the Falls
City. This road is supplied with large
and airy coaches, has always on hand
supply of ice water, and offers to the
travelling public speed, comfort and safety.
Arriving at Louisville, we are soon on the
Louisville and Nashville road, flying at
the rate of twenty-three miles an hour,
over the rugged hills and picturesque val
leys of Kentucky. Near Nashville we
passed the Federal metropolis, where
thousands lie buried. Many of them
started out with the idea of securing a
home in the South, and they found it.
A few moments of swift travel through
a splendid valley, dotted with handsome
villas, and 10 before US rises in majestic
beauty the capital of the state of Tennes-
see. If the Neapolitan could be so enam-
CURED of his lazarOni- covered sheds and
unsightly temples as to be willing to ''see
Naples and die" we think Tennesseean,
reared amid her natural beauties and in
spired by the memories which cluster
around her national history, might we'll
and truly say, 'See Nashville and die"
Perhaps no city in the South is more fire.
quently spoken of by citizens of the
North than Nashville. Why is this
Certainly not because of its great COM
mercial importance, nor its manufacturing
interests, nor its great wealth, for it has
not had time, since the besOm of war
scoWged it, to have recuperated its ma
terial interests. There are reasons which
address themselves to the higher wants of
our age and civilization why Nashville
has so good a reputation abroad.
Athens did not control the commerce
of Greece, yet it was called the eye of
that classic land. Its devotion to letters
and the fine arts, its cultivation of music,
and development of the asthetic element
of its people made it the noblest city of
all Greece. These same causes in a high
degree, have won for your city of the
Cumberland the appellation of "The
Athens of the South" For period of
quarter of a century before the war the
daughters of the far South assembled by
hundreds at the Old Academy to drink
from the founts of learning. The war
converted these halls and groves, so long
dedicated to female culture, into a Freed
mems Bureau, and no enchantment has
ever been able to lure the spirit of learn
ing back to these dcsecrated halls. Per
secuted as learning was by this sacrile-
gious appropriation of her courts, yet she
fled not her devoted city, ass is abundantly
! proven by the Unparalleled success of