The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-09-19
The City of Natchez.

public Improvement, than any other To-
cality Of its population in the United
States Situated on the banks of the
great river at a convenient distance from
New Orleans, but not near enough to be
overshadowed by it, and contiguous to
the richest agricultural region on the
globe, it attracted a wealthy and refined
population who spared no expense and
exhausted every resource of cultivated
taste to make it what it emphaticaIly be-
came, the pride of her own people and
the cynosure of the outside world.
Planters who counted their acres by the
| thousands and their slaves by the hun
dreds, built and beautiied their home
steads here in order to enjoy the pleas
ures Of society and the advantages of
church and school. 1t was the first seat
of government for the State of Mississippi
and not far from the corporation limits
sleep the remains of Governor Sargant.
her first chief magistrate La quiet and
| secluded spot, beneath a plain marble
tomb, they repose, bearing the inscrip-
! ton 'born in 1753-ded in 1920" The
same enclosure contains all that is left
| OF the easket that encased the fiery spirit
of that wonderful genius, which flashed
like meteor upon the world, but unlike
| a meteor will blaze as the sun through all
time-Sargent S. Prentiss. An unorna-
mented. marble head-bcard marks his
resting place, and as the beholder, with
mute wonder contemplates the scene and
is overwhelmed by the reflections that
irresistably crowd upon him, he will learn
by the inscription that the man whose
like as an orator the world had not known
before, was born in Portland, Maine,
in 1903, and died near Natchez (within
a few hundred yards of where he was
buried) in 1850, at the early age of ~
years. Hard by is the old homestead
Of Adam L. Bingaman, a name famous
in the annals of the State 1t is in ruins
and he has no descendants to perpetuate
his name. In the immediate vicinity is
the palatial residence of Major Shields,
still the seat of the generous hospitality
so literally dispensed by the lord of the |
manor. 1t bears the marks of rough |
usage in the war, when the Major him |
self was consigned to prison, subjected |
to indignities and threatened with the |
halter as penalty for refusing to pur-
chase his life for money from the free
hooters. He deied their malice, how
ever, and still lives to realize that the
storm has expended its fury, and a
brighter day has dawned upon his coun-
ry. Not far from the residence of Mai.
Shields is Monmouth, the old home of
Gen. Quitman, the hero of Chapultepee,
and a name not born = die.
But if any one believes that the people
of Natchez, though proud of her great
men of other and brighter times and her
historic associations, are living in the
past he will soon unlearn his mistake by
among and conversing with her
citizens. They are fully imbued with
the progressive spirit Of the times, and
are looking forward to the day when
she will spring into new life from
the ashes of her former prosperity.
On touching the wharf, the first
thing Of which the visitor is reminded
by the irrepressible newsboy is that she
rejoices in first-class daily paper, the
Democrat, every department of which
shows that is in able and trusty hands. }
Messrs. Botto and Lambert are full of l
and their journal has been a l
guiding Pharos to the people of Natchez,
cheering them, and lighting their way S
out OF the darkness of dependency in
the gloomiest days, and they can nov re-
dice that their labors have not been in =
vain. Mr.. Botto is ably assisted in the
editorial department by Maj. Thomas :.
Grafton, who is well to numerous =
readers of THE CLARION in Kinds
county. He was one of the Repreen =
atives of Adams county, in the memo
able Legislature of 1851, when yery
7oung man, and though he, with the
est of us, has lived through a century
# ordinary events since that day, time n
las dealt gently with him and left but n
ew of its traces on his brow. Another ~
'aper is published in the city-the Tele- p
'hone-a weekly Journal, recently es A
ablished by Capt. Francis Marschalk, of T
he Fayette Standard. 1t is conducted n
n all its departments, mechanical and Ia
ditorial, by members of his immediate
amily his father who is welLknown in
Mississippi by reason of his long identity Ii
18th the press of the State, and by his &C
rother, Mr.. w. a. Marschalk. Tie IN
imposition work is performed by two of M
Is elegant and refined sisters. After nc
lying this much it is not necessary to tn
Id that the typographical appearance of 10
he Telephone is fauitless. It's matter
excellent. 1t is orthodox politically,
ii its success may be considered Is y
red. ye
DIR
Then. ]. Il G. Railroad enterprise which 80
as projected by Gen. w. T. Martin, -
ID has been pushed forward under al
e difficulties of the times by his energy
d skill, is after all, the magic wand to F.
lich the ancient city is indebted for its ma
W hope and life and its prospect of be- LIE
ming the seat of aourishing CONNER
i and manufacturing industries.
Tenty-six miles of the road are CON- TN
ted and in good running order-pay