Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-01-14
WASHINGTON LETTER.
A ReiOinder as to the Ladies
and Gentlemen Of Memphis.
The Fight Over District Attorney
for West Tennessee.
Something as TO ,Our Post.
Office, etc.


WASHINGTON, D. c., January9 8, 1882.
EDITOR EDGER:--"Alma Arleigh.'
That is the way she signed her name
in the Avalanche,
II did not know that there we're
no female Chinese in this country, |
would have bet that she was a Celes-
tial who had become ashamed Of
plain "Ah Lee, and adopted the yell
low back literature style of Ar
leigh"
Why does the tuck her skirts under
her belt, SHE her bonnet into thering,
sieze a pen and sling ink at me, poor
me?
Is it to announce the fact that she
has been as far as Washington and
spent some time here? There are two
thousand women here in the depart
ments who have done likewise, but
Alma is the only one that | have heard
Of who returned to the State They
are generally appointed from Tennes-
see, but when discharged return to
Maine, or some other sea port.
She informs us hat the people OF
Washington understand geography.
Never having witnessed an examina-
ton for a clerkship in the Interior
Department. | really cannot contra
dict the statement.
We are also reminded hat a brass
band escorted Casey Young and Colo.
mel Heating to a hotel to the tune of
"Hai to the Chief.n A query right
here: Which chief? Casey or Keating2
This is a grave omission. Arleigh
Alma certainly does not wish to prove
that Memphis is a rich, prosperous
city, full of pretty women, because
Sam Randall, Dave Key and Boss
Shepherd followed Casey, Heating and
the brass band to a banquet Why,
my dear madam or miss or Alma Ali
leigh, if you knew as we'll as |, the
capacity Of that trinity for a banquet
you would not be surprised if | were
to tell you that they could follow a
cart twice the distance.
But, / am going to prove by a his
torical fact that the Hon. Henry
Watterson, editor of the Courier
Journal, was honestly of the opinion
that Memphis was depopulated almost
and that it was a vast truck patch, and
that only one woman planted and cul-
tivated the truck" The Commits
sioner of Agriculture, the gentle LIE
Due, sent him, Watterson, five or six
large sacks of garden seed, enough for
the Louisville Congressional District.
About the time that he received the
seed; he received a letter from one Of
Memphis most charming and gifted
women, Mrs. Mr.. Ma. asking him
to send her seed for her garden. He
Immediately sent her the entire lot.
Now, would he have done this if he
had not believed that she was the only
woman in Memphis, and that her gar
den was four miles square? Pause,
contemplate and get Colonel Matt
Galloway to indite a philippe for
nenstN him!
Testing aside, l do not think that
Memphis ought to be advertised any
more in connection with the yellow
fever. Her friends should not appeal
for appropriations, immigration OF
capital on account Of her past mis-
fortunes, but rather because the in
vestment will be a good one. When
her citizens were begging a bill
through the Legislature of Tennessee
last winter to scale her debt to 35
cents, upon the plea of poverty, | fell
that they were injuring her material
prosperity far more than the amount
scaled would compensate. Instead o.
brass bands and banque:s to the noble
and self-sacri6cing Heating, who. in
my estimation, is a moral hero with
hardly a parallel, as he is a gentleman
without reproach; instead of yellow
fever "reminiscences, let her friend:
dwell upon the fact that she is des.
tined to become the most populous
wealthy and important city on the
Mississippi, saving and excepting only
New Orleans and st. Lonis. HeI
geographical position, railroads, river
and a thousand other advantages
destine her to be the central city o
the great valley She has been ter
ribly stained by the yellow fever. Tn,
policy Of too many of her citizens hat
been to faunt her hospital rag befor,
the world, instead Of bearing aloft anC
, upward the banner with Excelsior
inscribed thereon. | am sick and tiret
Of hearing illusions to the yellow ieve
in Memphis. Let the friends Of tn,
! thousands who have died hug thei
memories to their aching hearts, bea
5 their great cross in silence, but never
theless 60 on and do their part in full
filling the destiny of their city.
| know, and / want the world b
, know, that Memphis has as man
noble, Christian women as any place 0
its size in the world. As to thei
/ beauty and accomplishments, befor
9 the yellow fever" era they were pro
s verbal. Since the yellow fever err
Y the people continued to send a fade
{ old bachelor, who was impervious t
the charms of even the Almas and th
Arleighs, | confess that | was afrai
that the world would think that tn
beautiful women were all dead in tbs
section, and therefore wrote as | dit
The fight in regard to the Distrit
Attorneys Office for West Tennessee
Q, has just opened. Murray has foi
is warded a cart load of recommend
Ie tions. Judge Poston, of Brownsville
st or whereabouts, is on hand, and SIM
l. as lively as a lark. Judge Muse is.ri
norted to have declared his willingne
to accept. There is a gentlema.
whose name | have forgotten as
3 never heard of it before, from VOL
t. city, who has written on here that I