Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-02-28

me- as thoroughly as the people
charm me, and / begin to like
ClarksVille amazingly well. Been
here only six hours and nobody
shot.
TAKING IN THE TOWN.
In the afternoon | drove out with
select party of Ku-Klux, with
whom / had just dined, and we
view the city from the usual pleas
ant, charitable, post-prandial stand
point. A town always looks better
after dinner. Foolish indeed is the
committee that takes the man out
to ''see the town" before dinner.
(And frequently after dinner, also.) J
In the door-yards the magnolia
trees, with their great, glossy
leaves, attract my attention. We
drive by the handsome Presbyterian
church, erected at cost of $4,000,
and the Episcopal, an imposing ed
ifice of stone, costing about $4,000
Here is the high school, there the
Southwestern Presbyterian Uni
versity, J. n. Waddel Chancellor,
and here is the city school for col
ored children, commodious brick
building, two stories, and cruciform
in shape. "We shoot 'em, you
KNOW" remarks the mildest Ku-
klux, ''but we build them good
school houses all the same" And
here we pass the Clarksville Female
Academy. Quite an intellectual
city, you see.
And of course we drive out past
tho oaDoaforxy hoau+ifnlIxy Iooata1
and dotted with monuments of
marble and granite. Here sleeps
Cave Johnson, Postmaster General
nnder President Polk, and here, too,
rests the first Governor of Tennes-
see, BlOunt. Descendants of these
families still live in Clarksville.
Clarksville has always maintained
a marked political ascendency in
this district. 1t has now one United
States Senator (Bailey), one MEM
ber of Congress and the Circuit and
Criminal Judges, and it has right
to feel proud of the title of ''the
Athens of Tennessee" that is ac-
corded it by common consent.
Montgomery county, of which it is
the capital, has noble financial
record, and has always declared
itself in unmistakable terms and
decided majorities, in favor of pay
ing the State debt, dollar for dollar.
We admire the new Court House,
which cost 100000, and we look up
at the stand-pipe, 102 feet high, that
gives the pressure to the water sup
ply of the city. We drive past inn
mense tobacco warehouses, for to-
bacco is staple here; this is the
home of the Tobacco Leaf. The
staple sales last year in this city
amounted to $4,000 hogsheads. In
the evening l have an opportunity
of seeing the new Tobacco Ex-
change, an elegant building, elab-
orately designed and elegantly fin
ished. The leap-year party dedi
Gates the building with more grace
and loveliness than will ever crowd
into it during business hours. Here
we pass the Gracey House, Shelby,
Hart & Co., said to be the largest
tobacco warehouse in the South.
THE FOOTPRINTS OF WAR.
Here we look at the homes of Col.
Robb and Col. Forbes; beautiful
homes; and as we stand looking at
them to-day, the SHOWS of the north
land lie around them in shadeless
purity, and the southern sunshine
glitters upon the snow and kisses it
into beauty, as though the shadows
of the war cloud had never drifted
over this scene of peaceful lowell
ness. But the dun clouds have
hovered over these homes and shut
out the sunlight, and the red bolts
that shot from them filed two
graves and quenched the fires upon
the hearthstones, and the COnfede-
rate COlOnels slept under the stars
and bars that now wave over no
foot of land under the sun.
AS we ride along, the boys tell
me that Major Henry once ran for
Governor of Tennessee against An
drew Johnson, on the Whig ticket.
"After Tyler's treason to the party"
said one of the boys, "ali the Wings
in Montgomery named their dogs
Tyler"
TWO FAMOUS COMPANIES.
we have an excellent view of the
country from one or two points in
land river sweeps around it, and
the hills are crowded with elegant
country homes. Here is the camp
ing ground of the famous Memphis
crack military companies, the
"Chickasaw Guards" who won the
grand prize at St. Louis, and the
"Bluff City Grays." They came
out here and camped during the
yellow fever siege, and they had
plenty of leisure to perfect them
selves in the manual and the school
of the company. But when l looked