Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1883-08-08
From the "SatraqaU South"


people so recently out of slavery, should be in
such condition, so gave myself to q search af-
ter the reasons for it. I have good deal laid
away, in regard to these twenty years of free.
dom, which hope some time to write you. Now
/ will only speak OF the part taken by the Moses
Brothers in bringing about this good state Of
things. About fifteen years ago it seemed almost
impossible for colored man to get home in
the city. All around were splendid tracts of I'M
occupied land but it constituted parts of large
estates owned by old families and they would
not sell, except in lots of many 1t vas at
this point that the Moses Brothers conceived the
idea of buying up this land with the view of
dividing it up into small lots and of giving the
homeless colored people a chance to secure
homes for themselves. Sales at once began.
Sometimes the colored man could pay only S.
down and then had no house on his lot. In
many instances Moses Brothers would build
house for the poor man, put his family in it and
! take mortgage on The whole property, at per
cent, payments to be made, sometimes weekly
ana sometimes monthly. That work has gone
on for fifteen years and now some of the most
beautiful and healthful portions in the city
owned entirely by colore6 people. Lots which
they bought then, for $500 are worth now $500
and some, have no doubt, would bring $1,000.
The more prosperous families have already torn
down the first house built and put in its place
a larger and more comfortable one. One of
these settlements is called Centennial Hill, be-
cause the finest ground was broke upon it in
the centennial year. 1t is about mile from the
post-Ofice and on one of the most elevated of the
hills about the city. In &c it was alive with old
forts and breast works and, before any building
could be done, the entire hill had to undergo
leveing process. Now the whole Of it is laid
, out IN squares and thickly covered with houses
Trees were early planted and various kinds of
mulberry and now, as | look out of my window
my eye rests upon scene as beautiful and home
like as l ever witnessed anywhere. The Moses
Brothers have sold hundreds OF acres in this
way to colored families. Some of them
, over ten years in paying tor their lot but MIR.
Moses tells me they were never obliged to take
one back and that, in all these transactions they
never lost nickel. They are still buying up
land and selling it out in the same way. They
have lately opened q savings bank in which six
per cent interest payable quarterly, is given and
l am glad to notice that many colored, as well
white people, avail themselves Of this opportu-
nifty to save q little. But few cities can boast of
two firms equal to Pollak d Co. and Moses
Brothers. On Sunday dispatch was received
here announcing that Mr.. Pollak had been
drowned while surf bathing, that day, at Long
Branch. The initials were not given, and we all
took it for granted that it was the Montgomery
brother There was deep sorrow everywhere.
In our own family, although Mr.. POllak had
never lbeen i'll our house and was almost q
stranger to US, we felt as if we had lost broth
er. On Monday word came that it was the New
York brother that was drowned. We are now
on the last day day of July. Last night we at
tended pleasant party in honor of Miss Patti
Malone one of the Jubilee Singers, and we
could not help but speak continually Of the cool
ness of the evening, and now, this morning at
$50, the mercury is only 81 1t will probably go
to 90 by12 O'Clock. Miss Malone sang in our
church on Sunday. She remembers very well
town, about two years ago and tells me they
expect to visit your city some time during the
coming fall orwinter. The impression has gen
orally prevailed that it would not do to come
south in the summer time but people are gradu-
ally learning the truth in the matter and l even
go so far to say that the time is not far distant
when the South will be recognized the NEST
pleasant and popular of all American summer
resorts. The South is famous for her beautiful
and abundant springs, some of them have even
more than a national reputation. Then her ex-
n
summer days and nights than any one de-
scribe. The complete change of air and scenery
are also very important elements in a summer
resort. These are remarkable at the South. TO
one coming from the north, his stay for many
weeks is a series of constant and charming sur
prises. The revolution in diets another consid-
Grafton. We seem now TO be living in some land
ofthe Orient Besides all the ordinary varieties
of grapes we have the classic Scupernong. as
large as plum, and said to have originated on
the banks of the Apheus, in Greece, and the
spicy Muscadine with many other kinds, whose
names / have not been able to find out, but
wholly different from anything ever saw at the
north. This is, by no means, a good year for
grapes but have before me bunch of Con
cords picked at q venture, that measures eleven
inches in length, of solid grapes, and seven
inches in circumference. Ourfavorlte breakfast
diets cantalenps and figs and they delici-
Gus enough these summer mornings. The earli-
est Of the figs ripe about the 1st of July and
they continue coming until the middle of Octo-
Der. Those of your readers who are familiar
with botany understand the nature of the fig
subject for study. 1t is said that by careful
pruning as many as eight crops per year may be
produced from the fig tree. Last spring spent
good deal oftime looking for the blossoms of
the fig tree. Some said 1t never bloSSomed.
This could hardly believe and so kept up my
search, more or less till one morning was Wis
iting at of the cOlOred schools of the city and
listening to the recitation OF class in botany,
when l learned from one of the scholars that the
fig tree is more prolific in blossoms than almost
any other tree, but that they are out of sight and
+I+,,+, ,+Sr1 n Of
the fig is ripe tits then in full blossom and has
within it as many distinct flowers as seeds, so
that when we eat our figs for breakfast we are,
literally, making q meal of blossoms. We have
a variety of peach here called the nectsrine. 1t
is about the size of the ordinary peach, has a
smooth, thin rind and is very luscious. We buy
peaches now for so cents per buShel. The flow
of melons still continues. AS many as 30 car
loads go northWard in single day from this
city. AS if in anticipation of the time when the
South Is to be q summer resort as well as winter
resort the railroad officials say that never in the
history Of the roads, was there so much travel
southwark in the summer time as during the
present summer.
want to put an item in this letter for my
good friend, Mr. Basford. A year ago this sum-
mer l was his pupil in the art of bee culture
became so much interested in the subject that
on coming South, among the first things | did
was to buy q swarm of bees That one swarm
has given me two sWarms of bees and 6S pounds
of most beautiful comb honey. The first swarm
from the old hive has also given me two swarms,
making in all, from one swarm, thus early in
the season, four additional sWarms with the IS
pounds of honey already mentioned.
In my last letter / told you we were getting
ready to attend genuine southern barbecue, to
be given the next day. We were the guests of a
company of colored friends and were given TO
understand that our whole business was to enjoy
ourselves. The barbecue at the south is much
more of an institution than the picnic at the
north, in fact tits a southern picnic. So numer-
Gus are these barbecues throughout the summer
that there are scores of men who do nothing all
summer long but cook on such occasion. The
chief cook with his assistants goes out to the
camp often the night beforehand digs his pit,
makes his charcoal fire and by3 o'clock in the
morning has his carcasses on the spits. Here
they slowly cook and at frequent intervals are
"mopped" with a sauce, composed of almost
numberless Ingredients till about p. m. when
they are considered done and it is dinner time.
in addition to the bodies of the animals there is
prepared what is called a camp stew 1t is
made in large kettle of the head tail, feet liY-
er, heart, tongue, &c, ofthe animals, in addition
to this there is a chicken fricasse. These two
dishes are served before the barbecue proper
and are considered sort of first course, then
comes what is best of all, the white sWeetmeat
of the barbecue. And I tell you it 10 good!
Cooked in the open air and properly seasoned
everybody is very fond of it and eats it without
any thought of injury from taking too much.
After all this comes ice cream lemonade, apples,
figs, grapes, cantalemps, melons, peaches and
pears. Delicate as we all are we actually partook
of all these things and suffered no inconvenience
except in our Wristbands More charming ovan