West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1882-05-05
Letter from AIaban,n.
NJ NTeoMERr ALA April

=" NrSoMEkr ALA Aprif 25.
To the Eiitor of the ARGUS
Thinking a l,tter ffom this part Of the
country would interest the people of Pres
ton | viii give yon few items sbou,
matters and things in general.
This city of Montgomery is beautiful
place situated ob@the Gust bank of the
Alabama river 12 miles below the iupc-
ton OF the Coosa and Tallspoosa rivers.
watch form The Alsbama. The soil Is
sandy, but very rich and fertile. Veeeta-
b'es and farm products of ali kinde arr
grown here. Strawberries have been fra
market here since the first of Febrpsrv
sod are suli plenty a, 10 cents per quart
| De- berries are plentiful al 90 cents ner
gallon New potatoes plenty aud good st
/ % Gems per peck, aud all other kinds are
Ia market too Numerous TO mention
| The prospect for heavy peach cron il
very promising. Figs and grapes ara
looking well and large crop may be ex-
pected. Cotton is the chief article of
commerce here. not that it pays the hest
but 1t is the same as money and slwaxs
| commands is.
! Politics is something l have not heard
here except by the negroes, and thew are
great on en- argument, either on poIit,cs
or religion. They outnumber the white,
here two TO one. and, taking them as n
general rule, are a lazy, trifling set. Mos,
OF them live from ''hand TO month - and
IL theV can get enough 10 keep soul and
body together are conteut and they don,,
care how that ''little' comes so they dom,
have to work very hard fos il. They
wont work unless they get big wages, and
II they can't get their price will do moth
ing n preference. II seems almost I'm
! possible to get colcred woman In do
general house work. 3 good cook gets
! 80 r month and her board. and sbe
manages TO smuggle enough home to keep
Aef family. and will not do anything else
/ but cook. Wood is used mere almost alto
/ ge'her Tor cooking purposes and is cheap
'r th"n coal. You can get good wood at
! from $3.50 TO $3.50 per cord. Goa, cos,s
! 81, per ton delivered ia coal house. Both
wood and coal are cheaper in Summer
than in winter, which believe ia the
same every place.
| we have number Of railroads center
ing 10 here. The Louisville and Nash
vile have through line from St. J,ouI.
and from Cincinnati to New Orleans. with
branches To numeroue points. The West
f"lnt @nd Atlantis, connecting with the
PIEDMONT air line via. Richmond and ths
hehesAw route VIA. Lynchburg, giving
'ne traVelor choice Of two routes 10
washington, ID. c., and the Montgomery
ana Edtauia, the direct route to ] sckeop.
Vi'le Florida. s. RE traveller can get in
a Pullman car at Cincinnati ami 40 via
'he louisville and Nashville Railroad 10
Jacksonville without change OF cars.
The system Of railroadDg is quite differ
ent from the Baltimore ana Ohio and the
slang was quite amusing to me when [
first lanGed here. nave heard a condpc--
tor say that he ''carrigi car" from her.
TO Pensacola Junction, and some I have
even heard say that they carried train +,
and they were not as large as l ain.
we had big fire here last week. or
rather We thought we had. The fire beIls
rang an the citizens rushed to the north
Side OF The city, where The flames were
seen shooting up In the sky, and after
getting out in the suburbs, we found The
ire was still farther north. In fact IL wac
the aurora boreais We retraced our
siepl some what wiser than when W.
started cur, aud, although we were so
badly sold, did not hear hard word
SAID against the North, which leads n.e TO
think, that the onimosity against the
North is last dying cut IN this part Of
the country.
the weather for the past week has been
qulte cool at night and slight frosts have
been seen. but not enough 10 do aay dam
age to the fruit crop so for as heard from.
Hoping that this will fluid place in
your columns, | will close and write
again shortly. JFP