The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-01-28
Sea-Coast Jottlngs.

readers to whom it may be new are In
vited to iaant over our Seaslie rail-
ltroad. Let us take the cars At Scranton.
just east Of the PascagoGia, and right
south Of Moss Point, the great manuiac-
tory of that peculiarly Southern pro-
duct, our yellow pine lumber. As our
| faces ere westward, the next stations Of
| note are the old watering-places, Ocean
| Springs and Biloxi, famous chiefly for
| their two centuries of antiquity and FOR
| Biloxi Bay, which, like the Bay of Pas
cagoula, is the seat of q. wonderful sub
marine music whose origin battles re-
search and is explained only BY an
Indian legend weIlknown hut dating
| from the night of time. Modern Biloxi
! is increasingly notable for its fisheries
and for its shrimp and oyster canneries
that are strewing our land with the
stores of the sea.
Two miles west of Biloxi is the Sea
Shore Camp Ground. q wellfrequented
religions resort. Then q little farther,
and we pilgrims reach that shrine of the
Southron, the Mecca
BEAUvoIR.
have noticed, though, that only
strangers ever conceive of Sir. and Mrs !
Jefferson Davis as show people. Their
neighbors very quietly esteem them for
his simple greatness and her simple |
goodness. That Mr.. and Mrs. Davis |
should warmly welcome any manifesto
ton of interest or affection from their |
own, it is easy to understand; but when |
the cold, the curious, the antl-Suuthern, |
come to criticise them in their home, |
we may at least remember that
Being observed
Where observation Is not sympathy,
Is just being tortured"
The residence, Beauyoir, is 4 typical /
Southern home, wearing on its face that /
free, CHEEKY, hospitable expression that
bids one to enter.
There is nothing that so marks the 1
| individuality of this seaside, as the |
character of its dwellings; the wide /
oxpanse of ward al lawn, the storm |
proof, single story cottage, the uniTer-
sal porch, the wharf and bath house, the
boat, the seine, the cast-net, are ali |
characteristics of the home. As we are
tributary to New Orleans. the better
residence is usually the summer seat oil
the city business man and or we'll kept
condition in striking contrast with the
irreparable shabbiness OF the abode OF
the citizen, for the wealth OF our Coast
is as yet in embryo, awaiting the dc.
veiopment Of our resources through the
establishment of glass factories, more
fisheries and canneries, and the utllIZa-
ton of our water power and shipping
facilities through mills for cotton AND
wool.
There are those who claim for this
fair Southern Seaboard great agricultu-
raj possibilities, but these remain TO be
proven. Others of us who love our
Coast, who praise it and glory in il, very
freely admit that its merits are OF the
air and nos OF the earth, its luXuriaut,
indigenous verdure being begotten oi
our sands by au exceptional climate,
two parents of which, the cereals and
grains, are not the natural offspring.
We have a rare heaithfulness, an lucOn-
parable climate, strangely individual
beauties of nature, and all the essentials
of the poetry of life;. but TO build up
soil here would be to develop without
germ, to make something out or Moth
ing; and if an imported soil more than
pays for its cost, why is it that IN all
the length of this old, old Coast there
has never been farm or an orchard to
stand the test of time?
OF society we have the flower and the
weed, to bless and to curse the same
moral atmosphere. Sunday laws and
liquor laws are violated openly,
because popular sentiment, practically /
through our courts, su5talns the breach,
and not the observance, of such laws.
We have piety, culture, gentiiity, but
the flower has not oyergrown the weed.
We arrive next at Mississippi City, just |
now the very centre of interest as the |
prospective terminus of the
GULF AND SHIP ISLAND RAILROAD.
There, half a centuary ago, was pro-
| jected city whose foundations were
sapped in their incipiency by great
| financial blast from whose results after /.
all these years the Ph9nix now quick
ems into the promise of a resurrection. |
Right in front of Mississippi City is
| Ship Island Harbor, which Mr.. r. T. /
Harrison has made it the purpose OF his
life to develop and utilize. He has
besieged legislatures, he has talked, |
written, prayed, what has he not dsne 10
show to Mississippi her bonanza in the
Ship Island Harbor? On the western
extremity of Snip Island stands Fort
Massachusetts,, as a clasp for the circlet
| Ol lSldDu AbdlhtAAih lAS1kAOocCc /
around the Mississippi Sound.
But away for SCOTS Station, just back
of old Rosalie and oh! look around you,
what wonderful woods! great pine reach
es, clumps Of live-oak, cedar, willow, bay,
magnolia, and always and everywhere
the brakes of palmetto; :. land OF ever
greens, and sloping to the south to be
wooded. embraced and fructihed into
| ti,a 90, on mo- ahprp thQf
smiled to the sun. Years, ago before
that iconoclast, the railroad, had quite
profaned the groves of the gods, visit
ed Rosalie, the midway paradise between
Mississippi City and Pass Christian. |
gathered its seaweed, Toasted on It's mul-
let and reveled in It's gloFies OF wood
and plain and sea and SKY. The sea-
weed was white and of ali coiors from
gray-green and the palest pink to
} browns and parples nearly black; and
the mullet might have been fried in
their own fat; but only an inspiration
could paint for you the veraHdah, the
: forest, the sea-Siews and o0iltudeS Of
Rosalie.
, Pass Christian is the seat of the Mex
r lean Gulf Hotel, and like Bay ST. Louis
t boasts perfection in its shell road. These
shell-roads are magnificent drives along
/. miles of handsome houses III semi-troplc
| gardens on one side, and Oh the other
the sea.
4 BAY st. Louis has also its two mile
0 bridge, the Ulmanviile cloth factory and
+ the Pearl River customhouse-and here
0 Messrs. Editors, let re close with q
0 moral by pointing your readers to the
5 rare example of public officer whose
e honorable, impartial and thorough us
a charge of his duties exalts men above
e party. This officer is the Hon. w. q.
3 Henu Collector OF Customs. Judge
e Henderson, as a Republican, has proven
r to all parties that politics can neither
e make nor unmake man or an officer
and in his case SO complete Is the
triumph of dignity, fidelity and efficien
cy over the prejudices of partisanships
that whatever IL ay be the dRimas OF the
incoming administration, or the choice
of our Collector himself, there are
. many of the staunchest of Democrat!
"a / IA a