The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-06-16
CLARION CoKREsPoxDEScE
NOTES OF Tk1
Letter from Tennessee.
By REV. W. r. SINS

Boarding the V & NJ train at Jackson,
| bnnd the usual people on the cars OuI
frnnd, the old lady with the plaid dress, the
I ca,pet sack and the gingham bonnet, Was
on board going out to her son Johns, to see
/ he- Relatives, 50 she told the conductor
The same man l have seen so often, came il
lust as he always does, and took seat neal
the rear end Of the car. He still wears the
same tall stiff hat, gold-headed cane, side
whiskers, watch-seal aud smile. Other old
acquaintances. too numerous to mention
made Us feel quite at home. A crowd o.
twenty-odd delegates (printer viii please moi
omit the hyphen after twenty 10 the Pres
lbrteran Assembly at Stanton, lent quite
religious turn to the general talk. Pass
! ing down the car to get some water, We
heard young Blank (and l shall not deny,
/ in regard to the same. what that name
might imply, y accusing the Bible Of being
inconsistent. immoral and contra lict0ry.
I"On. all, !" replied NJ, a law graduate Of
Washington and Lee University, "or course
YOU can take two isolItel sentences and
make them contradict each other; but you
must read the whole chapter and examine
me Pretext >.
( Speaking of preachers reminds me of a
little occurrence that observed GU the steps
Of the Edwards House few moments before
I that courtly son of Southern chivalry,
was standing near the front colonnade
of the hotel, coversing with very youthful
aud somewhat boyish looking clergyman
when Col. -, prominent member Of the
I bar, resuming a conversation which had
I been broken od'a moment before, exclaimed,
stepping forward, General, I'll b.. id i'll
believe he will be able to put that thing
through" With Chesterieldian suavity the
General turned to the speaker and said with
pointed emphasis, cool, allow me To intro
duce to you the Rer. Mr. s Seldom have
we ever seen such sharp, effective rebuke
under the graceful form of gentlemanIy and
dignifed courtesy. One observer at least
will never forget the impressive tabeau Of
that moment. The portly, commanding
form of Gen. L-y, the eloquent wave of his
arm, the peculiar firm compression Of his
mouth, the clear, bright light that flashed
from his eye-all stamped themselves upon
my mind, and together with the attitudes of
his two frinds, provided picture that will
endure for me as one Of memory's immortal
photographs.
At Meridian, bright. but shrinking
timid little girl got on our train. After we
were fairly started and the conductor
had passed by on his rounds, l found that
her name was Una Eppes, and that she was
going home from school. She certainly was
a diminutive boarding-schooI girl, and | was
just wondering how her mother could have
taken her from the nursery to send her to a
distant schoOl-room, when she showed me
that she was abundantly able to take care
of herself We stopped at gloomy wood
land tank, with not house in sight. The
conductor came by, and putting on a terri
BILE frown, paused at Una's side, and said,
Little girl, come with me your father is
in the other car, and has told me to put
you off here" CHANGING up with roguish
smile, and a merry twinkle in her eye, she
coolly said, Tell my papa to buy me an
orange" The conductor, who was withal a
t1re man, moved off toward to baggage car
muttering ''check." Una stayed on board
and, at Eppes' Station, her mother met her
at the train. Witnessing her joy, | forgot
the miserable dust and oppressive heat, and
was ready to sing with John G. Sake
BLESS me this as pleasant,
Riding on rai1!'
On we speed, past the level fields of Ala
bama, till the lofty spurs of the mountains
begin to rise up around Us, with Lookout
Mountain In the distance, now shooting
past some perpendicular everhaneipey
cliff, now burrowing through some dark
tunnel, past the tall smake-stacks of Br-
mingham, the Pittsburg of the South, past
the hotels of Blount Springs, past the |.
classic fields of Tennessee, past thousand /
wayside sights that can be num-
bered only with the flying mile
boards and telegraph poles, till at last /
through green gap in the hilltop, /
end far, far away across a glittering stretch /
of the Cumberland, and beyond the flash
ing emerald carpet and curtain of valley .
and hill side, high up against bright blue |
sky, something glitters in the rising sun, !
like the the helmet of soldier set on the /
bald summit Of the peak from which it rises /
What is it? A hundred heads are thrust out
of the car windows, hundred voices exclaim,
'the Capitol. And then we lose sight of it
j uoU rs we 90 III llle panorama Wnen the .
old man, who grinds out the scenery, pushes
out scene just far enough on the stage for
us to catch sight OF some tantalizng object,
and then, finding hitch in his machinery,
draws 1t back but suddenly it bursts upon
up in full view-and so does Nashville
A passenger straight through from Jack
son to Nashville, is struck at once with the
contrast between the Capital of Mississippi
and the Capital of Tennessee; and to a Mis-
sissippian, like your correspondent, the con-
trast is in some respects humilating. | t.
was prepared to be delighted with almost
any place that would permit me 10 stop and
get out of the hot, dusty coach in which l
had been cooped almost continuously for for
ty hours. While occasionally the great iron
horse had pulled me through pleasant fields,
grassy meadows green groves and charming
hamlets, my total conception of my journey
was about summed up in the witty Hiber-
mans verdict concerning his railway ride
IN the New York Central; that all the hull
-hounce he had nivver seen nahttring bar
ring two long hay ricks, and faith, they wuz
yoin' the other way