Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1877-09-22
LOUISIANA.

T Correspondence of the Courler-JOurnal.J
CLINTON, La, Aug. II. 1871 send
YOU a contribution from an obscure cor
| ner of the republic, SO remote from the
| highways of travel aud traffic that very
| little is known of its soil and people,
save through the pry;ng activity of pref
| udice and calumny, which have industri-
| ously assaulted the character of both.
invoke yolr proverlial attachment to
the spirit Of fair play to aid in the re-
moyai of Il false impeachment Of the fair
| fame of Il country and population where
no newspaper is held III warmer apprccia-
ton or has a larger circulation than the
COERIHl:-JouENAr. .... ..
The soil of the eight Florida par:
has always been unfairly desi suatcd as a
sterile, pucy woods region. CohiesslnS
IN part the stcrility and tho pine woods, l
still lemur to the elias siiication us unju
in the aggregate. The land is rich i'll
hill and valley, in rivers and running
brooks, in undulating forests and pas
lures. and in fertile, cultivated fields.
Rich. too, in every form of native beauty
that can delight the eye or gladden. the
heart of the weary wanderer III search OF
peaceful, agricultural and pastoral
home. Redundantly as have the bless
ings of soil and temperate elm ate been
la1ishcl upon this favored land, some
thing has yet been snperaddcd to her
claims to more favorable consideration
by her sturdy, hard headed and hard-tis-
ted sons. 1t is true that the genius of
commerce and manufactures has achiev-
ed no more notable triumphs in her midst
than one main trunk railroad penetra-
ting it's entire length from North to
South; one short road running from
East to West, connecting the city of
Clinton with the Mississippi river at
Port Hudson; and an occasional cotton
gin and saw mill. Although her artiti-
cial facilities for travel and Transporter
ton are so limited, yet nature has Lot
permitted her entire scclusiOn from COM
munication with the outside world, her
borders being washed, for their entire
length on the east by the Pearl-a stream
navigable at all seasons; on the west,
by the great Mississippi; and Cd the
south being penetrated for q considera-
BILE distance by Lakes Pontchartrain and
Maurepas, both navigable, and by the
Tchetrincta, the Iaugi pahoa, the Pont
chitoula, the Natalbany, the Tickfaw and
the Amite, all rivers cmptying into the
lakes. with deep navigation varying in
length fl ON fifty to twenty-five miles,
Destitute as we admittedly are of an y
thing deserving the name of railroad or
factory system, who can say reading by
the balcful light of recent occurrences
whether those systems have attained a
higher perfection ? that the absence of
those mcretIicious monuments of adj
vanced civilizations from our communi-
ties make them any the worse in IL moral
point Of view, or renders them Il less sure
asylum for regulated liberty9
II, however, the sturdy sons of the soil
NAV not plume themselves for rapid str d.
cs in the paths of commerce and manu-
features, they can point with natural
and Unsuitable pride to those more sub
stantial baskets of freedom and Chris
tan civilization, the numerous churches
and seats of learning which dot every
nook and corner of their favored land !;
and in this connection q pertinent inter
rogatory suggests itself: If the land is
sterile and unproductive as it is classified,
whence comes all thi S money to build
these school houses, colleges and church.
es The fact that they are here assum-
cs Il more honorable significance when
considered as the work of communities