Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1877-11-03
Communicated
BAYv1Ew, Oct, Goth 1877.

Editor OF the 0l1cAtua SEN AANEH'
Dear Sir.-1 was pleased to notice from /
the tone of a late editorial in the Wood
vile Republican, disposition to do tardy |
Justice to our West Feliciana Railroad |
Company; against which q rather I'M
generous crusade, and spirit ofopposition
4. has been manifested, by our friends In
wilkinson county,. With the great COM
.moner Pitt, Bir. Editor, you must &C.
knowledge that youth has some disad- |
vantapes. You con remember nothing
Of the enthusiasm, with which the pas |
sage of the charter OF that road was
hailed; think either in "a or '35 Il have
no date before meg. The hand that drew
it M, has long since mouldered away land
his name will soon be forgotten. How
few of this generation, remember that the
charter of our poor little road is almost
rs old as any in existence. In ~. tho
Liverpool and Manchester {Eng) railway
was completed; in November '33, the rail
road connecting Albany with Buffalo, one
of the first in the United States, was only
in operation as far as Schenectady. In
significant as our road now appears OH
Railroad maps, while its name, If still to
to found ON the brokers' lists in Wall
street, is coupled with the ominous note
"no DIVIDEND it has claims on the graft
tude of the citizens of this Parish and
Wilkinson county. Corporations have
been termed soul-less, but there was some
thing almost chivalrous in the manage
ment Of the ". F. r. r Co., in its early
DAVIS. Tire following incident, almost
unique, in the annals of banking, will IL
lnstrate this trait The Bank of England
never corrects mistakes, even if made by
it's own officers. Our bank gave $lOO
bill. to gentleman, who declared that
he had lost one of that denomination,
when wrecked ON Charleston steamer,
believe the Pulaski. He was saved with
q fcw others on raft, and there was no
proof of his loss, but some circumstantial
evidence, and his parole dhonneur.
There are venerable danes now living,
house-keepers who remember the sore
straits to which they were reduced, while
their Oh: istmas stores reposed in wagons
close to the Louisiana line. $50 near,
and vet so far; )" oysters and ice both melt
ing away. There still live grandmothers,
the bellies of former generation, who
now relate with q smile, how they sighed
when told that the precious but fraiI
band-boxes from Madame Weynouths', or
Scanlan's were in the wagons "stafled
below Laurel Hill," but would probably
arrive the day after the feast" AS to
broken glass, and MANNED furniture, peo-
ple we're used to that; and there was not
always responsible Company, to mulct
in damages. They can tell too, OF the
rejoicing when the road was completed as
far as Laurel Hill, and excursions from
either terminus, went part OF the way IN
carriages, to the picnics in Wilkinson,
or reunions at the once famous Douces
There were merry nights in Woodvllle,
in the saloons of the railroad hotel, when
arms were twined in the may dance,
though Mazourkas and German were I'M
heard Of; and brighter days, when A. b.
and C. endorsed each others notes on
Tuesdays at the Planters Bank and re-
peated the pleasant operation Oh Fridays,
at the Railroad Bank as was presumed,
to the advantage of all parties. "Mais
nous arons changi tout cela." The exemp-
ton of our road from fatal accidents, has
become almost proverbial. Before the
rails were fixed to T make, heads (ex-
tinct, like the Dodo). occasionally entered
the cars; but they transfxed flour bar
rels, smashed looking looking glass, or
tore up the flooring and the backs of
seats, without injuring any person. Fes-
tina lente is not such bad motto alter
all, however distasteful in this fast age.
If nos ansis, the federal commanders, had
carried out their intention of entirely de-
stroying the road-perhaps, it would not
have been easily rebuilt, and we might
now be enjoying the primitive modes OF
conveyance, and low tariffs of former
days. A hack from Bayou Sara to Wood
Vile cost about $40, but then it is true,
you could ride all day.
A would-be critic remarked, the other
day, that Bayview was mtsnomer, since
no water salt or fresh was in sight. He
had forgotten that Bay is the popular
name for our beautiful Magnolia grandi-
flora, which attains perfection in this
neighborhood, and that the name was
perhaps as appropriate as those of Fon-
tainebleau, Ben Lomnod or Monclova Of
Wilkinson Co. 1t Is certainly in better
taste than Rome, Palmyra, Athens, Mem
phis or Versailles applied to little towns
or villages, many of whose inhabitants
never heard OF Augustus, zenobia, Pericles
Memnon, or Louis lie Grand, while they
allow our beautiful and significant Indian
names to sink with that doomed race
into oblivion.
SEXAGENARIAN