The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1881-06-15
LETTERS OF A TOYAGER.
ON MATTERS AND THINGS as
THEY COME
LETTER III.
"ON THE RoosT," June 10, 1881.

that | would probably "talle in"
Knoxville before | wrote to you
again. Well, Knoxville has been on
big boom" for a week past.
When you shake up an odd fogy"
and get him on tear" he can do
more /" collarrapin" Gas our old friend
Bailie Peyton used to say,) than one
of the freshest and youngest colts
in the barnyard or pasture. Did
you think of that? Start a fifty
year-old wldower-with, say ten
months discharge from the under
taker-among flock of girls, and
be will put to flight whole brigade
of "unsOphisticated' rivals. Awak
en- an old sinner at a campmeeting
and he will get all the religion on
the ground and still call for more
straw" Enlarge the thought Put
lever under old fogyism shove
it into the Highland occasionally
it becomes heroic with new enthu-
siasm. So with this, our dear old
town, John. We have often mourn
ed over it's blindness and stupidity.
We have sighed that people Ofsuch
opportunities did not reach forth to
embrace them-that the vital inter
ests of a grand community were en-
crusted with a moss grown antiquity
that paralyzed progress and forbore
development.
NEW DEPARTURE.
But, my dear sir, the Knoxville
that you and | once knew is not the
Knoxville OF o-day-much more,
not the Knoxville offve years hence.
In SOME sense, the old place is al
ready beginning to realize what is
to be, and the decree is gone forth
that the days of fossil ascendancy
are numbered. There has already
been healthy infusion of fre-h vi
tality in nearly every department of
business, and when the lines are
opened, North and South, while
some localmonopolies may be Squeez-
ed even to the point of squealing,
the whole tone Of trade will be pro-
ftably changed more liberal ideas
will prevail, and the new Knoxville
will assert itself What the general
results are to be can be more easily |
foreseen than the effects upon |
industrial interests As to this lat |
ter matter, those who have flourish
ed under the old dyndStic regime |
would do we'll to prepare at once to |
change with the times. Knoxville !!
will soon have an influx of new peo-
pie and new capital and these will |
ere long lift her from the status of
wayside, puritanical village, strug |
Cling with the matter of nine o.
clock saloon law" or the still more
stupendous question of shutting off
the sale of ice and bread and closing
of barber shops on Sunday, to the
dignity and bearing of free heart
ed, wide-awake commercial city.
But, as | was sitting out to say,
when interrupted by a aggressive
thought, for week or more past
this old burg" has had on its Sun
day clothes and been On.its best be-
havior.
UNIVERSITY EXERCISES.
The closing annual exercises of
the University of Tennessee passed
off with accustomed ecIat The Fa-
Guilty have wisely adopted the now
well-approved policy of restricting
the speeches of the graduating class
to but five or six in number OF all
the I" bores" that ever perforated
this mortal flesh, deliver me from
eighteen or twenty college fedglings,
all in a flock; disporting themselves,
for painful hours, on the literary
rostrum. Thank the Lord, that is
one ".relic of barbarism" that has
been eliminated from the custom of
this University.
THE GRAND BANQUET LADIES IN
DUSTRIAL HOME.
But the educational sensation was
but a common circumstance in com
parisOn with the splendid and long
sustained ovation given by the peo-
pie of Knoxville to the Grand Com
mandery of Knights Tetuplar. l
have seen Boston all aglow on Bunk
er Hill day." | have seen New York
decorated from the Battery to the
EXTREMIST northern limit ] have
witnessed the best displays of Phil
adelphia's good taste and hospitali-
ty. Nor should / fail to include
Cincinnati, Louisville, st. Louis and
Memphis all of which places have
seen on " dress parade. But no
where have | ever witnessed a more
generous, well-ordered, tasteful and
display of whole peo-
Piles lberality and hospitality than
was exhibited by Knoxville on last E
and Friday. But, pshaw a
didn't | see you here, friend Helms? !
And shall / undertake to supersede s
the Office of your facile pencil? Can :
you not devote a whole round para
graph, at least, to the " Ladies In !
1ustrial Home" of Knoxville? They q
t was who arranged and furnished r
hat magnificent banquet in the OPP t
era House on Friday night. They !
ire noble organization of philan- Z
,hropic ladies, doing more good and e
service, according to
heir means, than any organization
With which we are acquainted.
But this is already too,long. In S
ny next / may have something to T
ay more special in regard to this Y
municipality and its grave F
md reverend fathers" Y
VoYAaER. Il