American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-08-16
Texas Correspondence.



MIR. EDITOR: compliance
with my promise to your kind re-
quest, l write this, aud at the ear.
Hest date possible.
l came here by way of New Or
leans and Galveston. The fare to
New Ofleans was ten dollars; from
New Orleans to Galveston, cigth-
teen dollars. This includes excel
lent meals ard Stateroom on the
steamer from Brashcar City to Gal
weston, where you are at sea for
twenty hours. II you will give
Turner Graves, your kind baggage
master, II days notice, he will
check yo,Ir baggage through to
Galveston, and save you great ex.
pense and trouble. EmigrantS
seem afraid of Galveston, on &C
count OF its yellow fever and the ter
rible drau@ht on the lungs which
its wet, changeablc climate indu-
ccs: but it is gong to be Il great
city, aud that SooI.. From Calves
ton you can go to any part of Tex
as on the railroads, and the charges
are about the same as in Missis-
sippi.
By reference to the map. You will
see that this county is in the mid
die and northern portion of the
State; that is!to say, am about four
hundred miles west of Canton, and
one hundred and twenty south
! This is the richest county in the
S ate. 1t has eleven thOusandlwhites
and thirteen thousand negroes;
and though the area is only about
half that OF Madison county, the
taxable property is much greater.
This is because the lands are IA ed
much higher. Thu~vote is about
even, but the white people seem to
have everything their own way
They all complain of mean negro la
Dor, as You do, but they do not
know anything abont Il first-clasS
free negro, such as is abroad in
your land.
AS we always form our ideas by
comparisons, l would say, in descib-
ing Your county, that it lies in I'M
dulating plains and hills; that the
soil is fertile, light, yellow clay;
that yOur water courses are slug
gish, muddy creeks; that your
woods are of tall, majestic oaks,
hickory and gum, and that half the
county is lying waste; scanned and
torn with gulIies, and brown with
fenceless fields of sedge grass and
old hills. Here it is quite different.
The land is a black loan, rolling
and billy, and clothed to the top Of
the hills with rich vendure. The
soil is very rich. and underlaid
with tough clay and coarse sand
The streams are swift and black
with mud, half tie time dry, and so
accustomed to swelling out of all
bounds, that few bridges are placed
over them. Their bottoms are
sound, and yOu must wait for them
to go down when yOuswant to cross.
The woods are of scrubby oak, ash,
hack berry, elm, boX-elder and ce
dar, and not more than half as tall
as your woods are. The fields are
all fenced with cedar rails, and
fenced mostly after the "Stone pat
ent." There are few waste fields,
and they do not glare at you, bald
with rcd hills, and SCARED with
disheartening gulies. 7 he land is
worth from twenty to fifty dollars
per acre, in gold. The prices of mer-
chandise here are at the figures in
Canton, but those figures mean
gold, and when You present green
backs they discount it at twelve
and fifteen cents. In Brenham, L
saw the clerks, on the first day of
the month, as is their custom, 60 |
ing from store to store, settling up |
with each other, each one carrying |
in his hand Il shot-bag mot full of
gold. At charging the full worth
of ware, and in the general manipu-
lation of his business, the genuine
Texas merchant is no slouch, and |
should you stalk ont here among I
hem, proposing to teach them in
game they do not understand, You
would be wOefully mistaken. But |
your ieweler, I. G.. Seide, could /
show them Il trick or two, as | will
explain i'll another letter.
How are newcomers, Ilch and
poor, met and treated here! just
exactly as they are IN Madison
You will not find the people here
ready to jump at you, kiss you, and
scream about how glad they are to
see you come to their country, as
the canting Yank thinks all South
FL ners should do. But, on the 9th
nr hand, you are not eyed suspi-
nor annoyed with questions.
You are quietly let alone to act as
,ou please, and to do 1t in your
own good time, until You are Pleas
ID to do wrong; then L don't know
low they treat you.
The people here remind me some
hing of your people, but of your
,eop!e relieved of debt and OrpreS-
sion. The men are intelligent, free
md off handed in their manner; the
women, like all our southern wO-
men. are modest, discreet and hos
1jtab!e They seem to enjoy sue
.ess without vani Y or oStentation,
md to receive misfortune with mod
ration and dignity. The faces of
he people are as the faces of peo-
de who do not carry about them a
weight of troubie and care. Church
IS and school houses abound here,
md there is no quIeter country in