Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1871-12-08
FROM OUR TRAVELLING CORES
PONDENT.


DEAR JOURNAL Leaving the railroad
,onot in Marion, 8. c., we walked up into
,.the village" and entered what in Mexico
-,nI,l1 be called "the plaza" which is the
war in which the Court House stands,
III arour.I "; y the business part Of the
ai,ca !. 1a0s.lv -. We food on the cor
Pr nj the street thinking l,..Gr1 we had
hotter GO, y, hen ii 4 .td building quite across
40 sntIarc We thought we saw sign, Star
OAfre. so we strCNad over, and finding the
tev on the outsue Il the lock, pushed and
walked in. Before ls We saw our old &C.
onaintance, Major McKerrall, and we knew
We were i'll All editorial g sanctorUm " or
4" sanctum," or if you prefer, sanctum
sanctorum." Why our editors should call
tba Mace where everybody feels at liberty
~ 90. a sanctum, we could never learn
Perhaps our definition of the word is at
fault, Behold us, then, actually in the pres
enoe of the senior, who presides over the
JestinieS Of the Marion Star. We took
hasty glance at the room, gathering in our
mind the contents almost as quickly as
Uoudon, the magician, used to make in
vpntories OfroOms, or catalogues Of libraries.
let us see if memory serves. One old
y1Istv stove, no fire in it, two chairs, one
box set on end, serving the purpose Of
chair. three sticks of wood, pile of old ex-
changes, one window-half paper panes,
rest Of glass, one shoe brush, evidently the
nroperty of the junior. One desk, at which
in one of the chairs sat the senior. Suavity
is faint term for describing the pleasant
moss Of our reception. We sat and rolled
orr ewes over the labels of the pigeon holes
Of the desk, which told that the Major
sDent his hours of relaxation In the lighter
and more pleasant pursuits appertaining to
legal practice. There were labels of any
o11antity of hard named 1" writs and . sum-
monses," bonds and . notices." which
you'd be tedious to name, though no doubt
instructive to our readers, but We did not
come to see them, but to interview the edi-
tors. The Major looks like tolerably we'll
preserved man of thirty-three years old
The cut of his countenance is almost Gre
c;an in profile, but ia front nearly wide
enough to be Dutch, and but for his OLD
Scotch name We might have judged from
his evident tendency to e'7tbOnpOint his
square shoulders, and erect form that he
was of teutonic origin. His face and form
are those of man who could endure con-
siderable amount of labor without tagging,
and he has dreamy kind of way of shut
ting his eyes as if lie was looking at some
thing not visible to a bystander. Was 1t
that power of introspection which enables
men sometimes to think Of one thing whilst
talking Of another The Major is the heavy
artillery of the star. From his pen como
the leading political articles of paper which
exercises no small influence in the secti0l,
in which it is published, and what it fails to
say in print the Major is presumed to be
able to say on the stump, to which, we are
advised, he occasionally resorts when his
columns will not hold the matter
We had Just entered into conversation Wheel
the door flew open, and, with almost
bound, a young gentleman entered the
sanctum, talking over his shoulder to some
one behind him as he came, and We hau
the pleasure of meeting Mr. Steadman,
the Junior. Here is a man for the outdoor
work on paper. He sat down on the box
for five seconds, he got up and turned rounC
five seconds more, he walked three steps to-
wards the door and three steps back ten
seconds more, he caught up a paper anu
put it on the desk, five seconds more; ht
kicked the cold stove and stirred up the
three sticks of wood, he looked out the
window through all the glass panes Il few
seconds, and all the time he was telling US
how glad he was to see us and lnqulrlna
about absent friends. We replied, as rap
idly as possible, for we saw he was i'll great
hurry. and, after i few minutes converse
ton, he made few rapid remarks to the
Major, excused himself to us and hastily
left. We had an idea ct that moment that
some nOmentOus events were transplrlnS
in the village, which required hun in his
reportorial capacity to be present. Well
would like to know how the Junior looks.
He is hard to describe. He has SO mucl
animal and mental vitality i'll him that nc
photographer has ever been able to take his
picture-tO his satisfaction. This much
we can venture, ladies, he is fine looking
and unmarried. We think the star has
been materially improved since he came to
it. The zest, the life, the fun of the paper,
are all Of his getting up. The local items
Of
hears, written with a pen which yields word
for thought with amazing facility We
brought our pleasant interview to a close,
and went to see the Crescent. The editor
was out but on Sunday we visited the
Sunday School, and found him standing Ill
front Of about an hundred children, beating
time in the air with his hand and leading
the singing. He is a tail, sedate looking
man, with large whiskers, which are care
fully combed downward to protect his
throat-and preserve his singing powers, no
doubt-with deep set eye, which changes
in conversation, flashing from light blue al
most up to purple; and, while singing, his
manner is animated as if he felt the thrill Of
every chord on every nerve of his body.
When he closed the exercises and moved
cut of the church you would never have
thought that concord of sweet sounds
could make such difference in the man,
lie had subsidized in a grave, rather stern
looking representative of an elder in the
church, The Crescent is ably edited. Ii
strikes the vices of the rulers of South
Carolina with heavy blows. There is no
uncertain sound. Positions are well taken
and well discussed, and all feel sure the
editor means just what his editorials say,
and that he fully believes them all. Our
visi: to the Marion press was pleasant anu
agreeable to us, and we left wishing them
heartily all imaginable success, as We went
IN search Of other sanctums, being as ever
'IN TRANSIT"