Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1884-12-15

DltioH beSvHu IUUu anu SllllpltSl clOlning
and with these are satisfied, is the happi- |
est mortal on earth, and the most useless.
The magician who found this portion Of
Alabama good for something besides
goat pasture, was he who dug beneath the
surface and discovered limitless coal
fields; iron ore sufficient to supply the
world; tin, zinc and other minerals. You
will see the shutes where coal is loaded
from the mines; you will see the houses
where the miners are fed and lodged but,
thank God, your hearts will not be made
heavy by a sight of the men who, in their
penitentiary garb. shovel up wealth for
the contractors to whom the state, for
pittance, leases them. The convict-labor
system of the South is a relic of barbar-
ism. Birmingham had no existence sew
enteen years ago, less than that, perhaps.
Now it has twenty-five thousand people,
and the capital of some of its firms is
counted by millions. Farms which were
dear at a dollar an acre before iron was
known to exist on them, now are worth
a thousand dollars an acre and not for
sale. You will see the long, low lines of
fires at the coke furnaces, the tall Chin
neys at the smithing works, with flames
leaping up as if in effort to meet the red
sky, which is all that remains of the glo-
riouS sunset, steel arms which reach out
to the four points of the compass, for
ID
towns are building all around it. Once
my train halted at OXmoor, six miles
south of Birmingham and the conductor
kindly escorted me through one of the
immense blast furnaces. It was very
dark night, and as we returned TO the
cars, | turned to watch the flames pour IN
from the great mouth of the chimney
Standing close to the edge, the flames
seeming to fairly embrace him, was the
figure of "a man, his arms appraised as if
about to throw himself forward to feed
the fire. 1t was realistic illustration of
| Dante's Inferno one with vivid magma
| ton would not often care to see.
| Montgomery, the capital OF Ala, you
see little of, even by daylight, for the road
skirts the rim of the town. 1t is pretty
city, and is beginning to become pros
| porous one. You pass no other cities of
Importance for the next one hundred and
seventy-five miles, although much Of the
country is rich cotton land. Then follows
the turpentine country, where men meas
ure their farms by miles, have no neigh.
bors nearer than the next ''orchard,' and
educate their dauS hters thoroughly, but
at home, employing a governess. thinl
I wrote the MONITOR of my visit to one
of these homes.
Mobile is an old, quiet city, but to me
wonderfully home like and attractive
Level, sandy, embowered in live oak trees
with old-fashioned, large roomed houses
in which old-time hospitality is dispensed
its broad streets reaching outward from
the bay up which Farragut sailed.
Glimpses of water greet the eye oftel
as the train moves on. BY and by til
conductor will call Beauvoir OFF to tn
left, not far away, Jefferson Davis lives
: with his family. You are in Mississippi
now, and the trees with thick, dark gree
foliage are orange trees. Perhaps the
| will be wearing their bright badges an
need no introduction. After you leav
Ocean Springs and are on the tridg
(of which Vermonter was engineer
look back at the pretty curve of the lane
> and the cosy homes with grounds reacl
ing to the waters edge.
wish you might halt at Pass Chri
u tian, (three syllables please, Chris THAN
From the cars one sees only pine tree
:, and sand, but a short walk brings one
- the edge of the Bay st. Louis, and stretc
: ing along its front for a distance of s.
+" miles is shell road as smooth as
hardwood floor. Back from the stree
~ in yards where the roses blossom twel
months in year, are the homeS-son
queer, low, broad houses, which remil
70 one of an immense hawk trying to GOV
u as much ground as possible with
~ outstretched wings; others modern a
~ elaborate in design and decoration;
90 all homelike, comfortable and invitir
III with the gulf breezes from the south tie
~ pered by the balmy breath of the pin
'" woods, furnishing daily tonic free for a
- No place in the south offers more
W lightful resting place than this sa
10 Pass. The Mexican Gulf Hotel is
%. charge of a lice man who knows his b
oo mess and attends to it, The house |
''o ample and first class accommodate
- and to those who, weary from sights
49, ing, need rest and a more invigorat
'u' atmosphere, commend the Pass.
It, Some day all the coast from the Pass
,'0 Ocean Springs will be a continuous
'h0 lage, and as popular as is Florida.
~" advantage of having New Orleans onl
7i' short ride distant is very great. Gre
'"i ing an arm of the bay the train halts
'ei the quaint little town of Bay st. Lou
nv The pretty plans are not standing all
the track, waiting to be looked at. [
~ most things worth seeing they must
hunted for.
On You will begin to think you have res
''n' ed the end of dry land, so much of
iu' time is the track laid over water. If
ivy keep sharp lookout you may disco
'Ne some alligators lazily summing themsel
At Rigolettes you will notice Il Ii
'he house; a customs officer is also on {
n'O here, for up from the Gulf of Me,
tile
and they would go on Into Lake Ponc
train which lies northwest of New
en-
~ leans, and so reach the city through
canal, leaving the officers to whistle
aha their game were they not waite
r is Boats plying between Mobile and
i've, Orleans pass out through this char
A round through the gulf and up M
Tn Bay. While the Louisville & Nash
: is- road was constructing these long brio
vino New Orleans people had to come by
,le,- lake to the terminus of the road--a
sem Gus starting.
,nno You cross long stretches of marsh
,bicb covered with thick, coarse grass fiji
hoes nothing under heaven but to bask in
Just sunllShG ana coqneG Win the oreezes
x,bla Soon the suburbs of New Orleans
&c of reached-rows Of one STORY houses,
dis of them dirty, rcpellng in appear
Of if and some with roses clambering to