The Osceola times., 1880-01-10

10 the Brownsville (Tenn.) State
fully explains itself:
OscE'LA, ARK, Nov. "a, 1879
, EDlroH STATES : In your issue o.
the Z0th Instant, mentioning the
fact that DR.. DuBose had been invi
ted to preach series Of sermons IL
tins p ace, it Is remarked that Os-
ceola being II stronghold of infdcl.
lty and Pog"a1s@, 1t Is hoped the DR.
will accept"
lnasmuch as we Arkansians OF
this portion of the State have many
trIends and acquaintlnces in the
various counties OF West Tennessee
whore the >tIhs cIrculales, and are
unwilling that they should enter
tain any erroneous notions about
the sia'e of society here. | UNDER
take to correct the impression like
ly 10 preyajl in the minds Of your
readers after reading the above
quotation.
la the first place, allow mo to say
that | am perhaps the innocent
source from which came your in.
Iform2tion on which the remark was
hased. However, =! only said that
s<eptie SIN had been holding n
strong hand here, or words to that
effect, and 1t was certainly putting
the case II little too strongly to add
pagaulsm, since the latter term
loaE, IN no ordinary acceptation, be
taken as synonymous with the for
mer. Men may even be religious,
devoutly religious, aud still be inf
del sat least, such is my understand.
ing of the meaning OF the word, and
so Tar as there being anything like
paganism in and around Osceols,
it is a fact. that, Notwithstanding
the existence of infidelity in our
midst, there is not more orderly,
aw-abld,ng, moral, church.g going
community anywhere in Tennessee.
| have recently travelled all over
your State, iliclqflng u delightful
VISIT at several days IN Brownsville,
and know whereof | speak.
O,c, ola is situated on the Missis
supp river eighty miles above
Memphis, IS the county seat of Mis-
sissippi county, aud has a popula-
lion of some tour hundred.
We have daily mail communica.
uon with the outside world and do
II fine sh hpping business. We have
two church buildings, Catholic and
Uuion, and another in course OF
erection. The OSceola High School
opened its tall session ~ "a bcauti.
ful, new, two story building, with
one hundred and forty pupils, un-
der corps OF competent teachers
We have about twenty good bust.
ness houses, and our mcrrilAts are
unusually prosperous, being sup
ported by one of the finest i,rmlns
countries in the south.
Money Is plentiful among the
farmers, and they are, as II rule,
very httle in debt.
The Osrcola Literary and Ora
matte Association Is one OF The fca-
lures OF the town. They own n
Hall, equal, il not sqpcrlor in Al
respects to Lee Hall, with stage
and auditorium in real theatrical
sty lc. In addition they have their
reading rooms, where the tsLlce
n covered with II great abundance
of the choicest literature of the day,
including the leading dailies, peri
od!cals aud magazines.
We have no court house, but use
Il rented building tor that purpose,
and have very little use for jail.
Our people want to lplld with
their own money, and aye waiting
to get out OF debt. The county
owes about IS 600, and her scrip is
worth fifty cents on the dollar.
We have no poor house, no pau
per tax, and no deiaulting officials,
y fine tree schoo! system, SUFFICIENT, !
to maintain good schools tan
months in the year, and climate
as healthy AS East Tennessee.
The State owns ore hundred and
fifty thousand acres OF as fine land
as the world contains, i'll Mssissip-
pi county, which is being donated
to actual settlers IN tracts of one
hundred and sixty acres, tor . iee
OF tive dollars. Think OF that !! then
they can be bought by persons in
capable Of donating Tor fifty cents
per acre.
Immigration that has SO long
streaRed wildly to Texas Is begin
ming to papse ~ passing through
the RICH, fertile fields of Arkansas,
aud ere long, our wild lands will
all be taken up, aud our population
doubled. $4,000 acres have beca
so taken in this county IN tour
months, and still there is room, and
sull they come. Excuse the length
of this letter. Let DR.. DuBose
come, and then as, him about our
NERlTAs.
We beg to say that We did not
use the word Paganism in an of.
lenslve sense, but simply TO convey
the idea that there was II large eie
ment of literal unbelievers in Osce-
olq. Paganism, when correctly de-
fined, means \ belief IN false Gods.
1t does not IMPLY a lack OF either
culture OF honesty, For our part,