The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-10-08
For the CITIZEN.
A Retrospect.


PULASKI, Sept. 18th, 1874.
Mr.. EDITOR A few days ago board
ed the South-bound train, and peeping
anon, over the serted fields, and beyond
to the frowning cliffs girted with blue.
In my survey, thought of the Ply
mOthites, Fulton, Franklin & Norse, and
then of the early pioneers of this our
beloved Tennessee. Here's the Ply
mothites, thrifty company of English
emigrants landed in 1920 on Plymoth
Rock, and became the germ OF an en-
terprising, intelligent and prosperous
people. This occasion for 200 years the
constant subject of Orations and poems,
until millions have united to pay them
homage but little short of alteration,
giving their maxims and teachings an
obedience and reverence, equal to that
of inspiration. Drifting on down in the
channel OF thought and memory to the
momentous period of 1880, when our
ancestors began the dangerous and
heavy work of founding this western
home of ours.
Here in the then trackless wilderness,
being beyond the reach of human help,
beyond even the voice of human SYM
pathy, surrounded and assailed by tribes
of leFociOus foes, across whose war-path
they had defiantly set their blOck-houses,
and sowing the fields of industry, rear
ing the modest cabin, church and school
house, making the primeval forest re-
sound with divine praise, pressing back
gradually, step by step, the savage, and
building towns and villages till ere long
the wilderness smiled an eden.
Unlike the PlymOthites, no pean has
sounded their public panygeric; no i'm
agination chants in wild, poetic num-
bers the story OF their noble deeds.
Where are the evidences that we cherish
their examples; and cherish as we
should, their memory.
invoke the bold physical features of
the country to stand as an emblem of
the manly characteristics of the early
pioneer. For they are the men who
bore your eagles through the deep defiles
and ragged mountains of Mexico in
1867. They are the descendants who
smOte the savage on the Kanawha; who
climbed Kings Mountain in 1880, and
afterwards raised the battle-cry in the
dark glens of Kneckajack in 1894.
For 80 years they grappled single
handed with the dusky warrior, beating
the British legiOns at New Orleans,
shifting the false Spaniard at Pensacola
and rushing with Taylor into the breach
at Monterey, sharing the triumphal
march from Vera CruZe to Mexico.
Besides the illustrious dead of our
State, whose names adOTn the rolls of
peerless glory, she again enters the roll
of competition. Passing over the period
of our late internecine strife not hOwev-
er, without bowling in homage to her
chiyalry and unequaled patriotism-in
memory of our choicest sons, whose
bones lie bleaching on every hOtly-cOn-
tested battlefield. Let the harps of
heaven be flung to the anxious breeze to
wait in peans of praise in sweetest and
most sacred melody.
The shrill whistle aroused me from
my meditations and revery, and l found
myself in the midst of old friends and
acquaintance in the thriving and beau
tiful little village of Prospect, and there
the treadmin of business seemed to envy
in faint imitation, our city. But above
all attractions was the magnificent build
ing rising in majestic proportions on
east hill that l was informed was the
handiwork of Masons d Odd Fellows,
twin sister institutions for the ornamen-
tatiOn of man-bulwarks in the defence
of morality, civilization and religion.
There, l can't fOrbear to speak of the
overtures of my friend, DIR. Mason, who
in years hack made his hay while the sun
shOne, and has retired from the turmOils
and anxieties of an arduous profession
after cracking few jokes and reviewing
some of our early professional trials-I
left and enjoyed the kind hospitalities of
the interchangeable and skilled DIR. TheO.
WestmOreland. Being rendered his fine
white saddle-hOrse, mounting him l bid
adue for the present to the town of Pros
pect. With ease and comfort traversed
in rapid speed the region of country be-
tween Prospect and Bethel, being Missed
at by the bold peeping rocks that had
come forth on every side from their rich
alluvial beds where they had been sleep
ing for centuries. These had come forth
since | had Travelled this road many
years back in the past. The scenes OF
the country had been so changed by this
departure | hardly recognized its iden-
tity. Passing some beautiful residences
and fine farms, all indicating thrift,
arrived at the beautiful little village of
Bethel, renowned for its institutions of
learning. Bethel looked like a gem
placed in an enamel of green surrounded
by her romantic hills and scenery. Stop
ping for the night with my old friend
and professional brother, DR.. Meadows,
! hardly knew how to estimate his esti-
mable lady for her many kindnesses.
The Drss. mansion is one of modern
architecture, and from his pOrticO / tOek
a fun view of the surrounding country,
the most valuable section of lands in
the county, comprising those of the Ed
mundsOns', Gilberts', Smiths, COlemans'
Browns and others too tedious to men,
ton. Early the next morning l re-
turned to Prospect to be greeted by the
whistle of the up-train, and so l van
ished. PIzARA.
T-iI.nfa