The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1884-06-14
THE OLD TINES.
THE OLD HOSPITALITY AND THE
OLD DECANTER.
A Glimpse at the Good Folks and Good
Wavs Down in LenOir County,.
Farming Sure Enough.

WavS Down In LenOtr COunly...
Farming Sure Enough.
Special Correspondence Of ne CYroaiele.
La GRANGE, n. c.. June. 1ss4.-It is
an old truth, often preached, and perhaps
now become stale. that the people of
North Carolina do not know one another
Yet 1t is very true. Up in the highlands
you have the notion (many people, at
least, have that everything in the East
Is asleep; at any rate that the mass of
Negroes give a dark tinge to the civiliza-
ton and hinders all progress.
50 multltudinous a presence of the Negro
does, indeed. add new kind of difficulty
to the problems of these people; but they
are so prosperous and progressive in spite
OF this, that they deserve the more raise
Neither have they had the adyantag, of
the moving i'll of other people or of out
side money, as many places in the West
have had; and there has been 2 constant
loss to the population here of people who
have gone to other counties.
In spite of these things, what smiling
country it is The most of the men who
were the owners of large tracts of land
and of armies of slaves, are yet Cor their
descendants are) in good circumstances
are, indeed, in their old place as leaders
of the prosperous. Yet the men who
were formerly too poor to own land have
as rule used their opportunities well to
become thrifty.
Any agricultural community under the
sun might envy Lenoir county. And if
you wish to see farming with its ancient
dignity and vastness-you can see it here
And the peculiar civilization that has this
life for its basis has never passed away
and may it never If you have the good
fortune to become the guest of one of
these gentlemen, the whole vast old cOun-
try house and all that is about it at once
by the magic of his manner seems to have
been created solely for your entertainment
and pleasure. Servants and horses are
ever ready-nOt at your command, for
they really command you. The most fa-
nous whskey in the world presents itself
mysteriously at frequent intervals, along
With spoons and glasses and sugar; and,
for the life of you, you can't tell how it
managed to be drunk by you when you
had no such intention, for the conversa-
ton with the parson has not ceased at
ALL You would swear that the ancient
political heroes-Calhoun, Clay, Dobbin,
Henry W. Miller, and the rest-lived and
spoke but yesterday, SO gently do remi-
niscenses of them blend with talk of to-
day, while the venerable clock, robbed by
the years Of the striker, silently glides
past midnight.
Yet out of this dream-by Jupiter it
seems like a dream to a man who is fidgity
and busy and manages to make no time for
the real enjoyment of life, which all wise
men know is talking-out Of this dream you
may awaken at sunrise, if you cali, and find
that the labor of the plantation has begun
with system and prOmptness; and that
here, too, time and sunshine are money
If you have hobby of progressive farm
ing, and imagine you know something
about it, you will find out when the final
result is measured, that these folks not
only know what agriculture means, but
know better than anybody else you ever
saw.
They believe in all kinds of progress that
is real, and not of the fashionable assumed
kind which consists in blowing. Their
schools tell the whole story. If a man
wishes to love the soil with a personal
love-, and to touch the old life that un-
derlies all that is best and most durable
in his thought and character, he can find
such satisfaction nowhere else more surely
than by a visit to the hospitable and pros
porous people of Lenoir.
Kings Mountain High School.
The Commencement exercises of Kings
Mountain High School took place June
18th. The programme was as follows
Commencement Address by Hon. John S.
Long
SOCIETY REPRESENTATIVES
alpha Orators-Max Wagner, of New
York; John H. Mcdowell, of North Caro-
lima Declaimers-W. A. Barber, of
South Carolina; w. 7. r. Bell, Jr., of
North Carolina.
Delta: Orators-J. P. Fearrington, of
North Carolina; w. D. McKinlay, OF
South Carolina. Declaimers- A. Perry,
of South Carolina; J. H. Quinn, of North
Carolina.
Third anniversary of the Alumni Asso-
citation, Thursday evening June 12th.
Orator, Prof. E. w. Hall, of Kings Noun
tain.