The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1885-04-01
Flash Sights upon the Past.

Last week we spoke Of DIR. Columbus
Mills lost home at Poplar Tent. To-day
we note the death Of Rev. Dr.. l. r. Nc
Aboy, aged II, 10 the Old mansion OF the
Mills family.
Forty years ago, the Mills family were
a power in the cis-montane country:
Polk, Rutherford, Mcdowell, Burke, and
Beyond. Their descendants are still
strong: but the times Which TRY n ems
souls arg apt to multiply dogs and mig
gers while lesseuing the strain of noble
blood.
Polk was cut off from Rutherford, and
in gratitude called her county seat Col
umbus. One Of the handsOmcst court
hou ses in the State was erected: though
the county vote falls less than a Raleigh
ward, or a Wake county township. Iii
thus with a dozen counties in North Car
DINA. They ''cuss' Raleigh: but in
time Of State Conventions and Leeisla-
lures they come up to the Capital-big
as Bullyphants.
W%ell,--ln the old days, DIR. Mills had
an old fashioned, 20 roomed, 40-bedded
mansion: and from his veTandahs you
could look along 10000 acres OF green
river bottoms, averaging 30 bushels Of
| corn per acre, and cora worth a dollar a
bushel. As for "niggers, lots OF them.
The good old Doctor never had a slave
| unless he felt that way when he wondered
how the deuce he should feed and clothe
his uiggers.
Now, when John Brown came with
his bloody pixies and shot-guns, and when
he was etherealized into a Martyr" and
when half the bells of lankeedom were
set to tolliUg sorrowtully at the hour
when the old reprobate paid the penalty
of midnight assassination, you can con-
ceive that DR. Columbus OF Columbus was
shoulder to shoulder with Southern men,
whose fathers had framed the Union, and
who knew that half the Southern Slaves
had reached the South 10 Yankee ships.
by the purchase of Yankee money, and
under the folds Of the 1ankoe flag
So the old Doctor went with the de-
cent white men ofall his land. Whether
he approved of the war, | don't know.
Very likely be did not; for few of US did.
But he felt as all OF us felt that when the
Yankee accepted the Union with the mig
ger, and sold us his niggers in order to
put the niger on our shoulders at small
cost to himself, he ought either to leave
the Union or shut his mouth about his
bad bargain. He had no right to forget
that Southern Statesmen made the
Union: and that Southern troops, under
a Southern General, broke the fethers
which an handful OF British troops put
upon New England by a couple of silly
skirmushes at Concord, Lexington, and
Bunker Hill
Any way, DR.. Mills welt with his
State; and soon had to go from home;
for the Mountains became filled with de-
serters from both armies; and as his home
was at the foot of Tryon Mountain there
were continual raids upon him. Iryonl i
the rather isolated and %protruding end
of a short range; and is SO shaped that al a
distance it resembles the Washington
CAPITOL: having a large central dome, afi
smaller ones on each side of it. The
mountain is famed for being the centre
of the now we'll known Thermal Belt, ,
where little if any frost ever falls: due
either to sub-terranean warmth which
neutraliZes the frost ere 1t reaches vegl-
tation, or else to a confguration of sur
rounding mountains which creates wind
currents that carry away the frosty effect
ere it congeals on the plant.
The father of the editor Of this paper
took a great deal Of interest in this phe
nomena; and shortly after the war made
an effort to settle a colony in the vicinity.
He wrote to his old college-mate, Rev.
DR., McAboy of Allegheny City, and ar
ranged, for the purchase OF DR.. Minis
large estate. McAboy came down to
view the ground; but the ku kIux war
had broken out. End pr. Shotweli could
no longer devote to public interests the
time e~ngrossed by care for his outraged
and imprisoned sons. So, Dir. McAboy
went ahead; established the village Of
Tryon planted the mountain slopes with
vineyards. and peach orchards: brought
down Yankee notions: lived to see them
fail one after another: fell into Southern
ways, and died successful and prosperous.
The S~partanburg and Asheville r. r
came through his village in 1877: and
now there are hundreds of wealthy
Northern people who spend the summer
amid the delightful scenery, formerly
/ given up to Red Strings, tories, and
illicit distillerS.
, We trace this sketch by way Of show.
) ing how our mountains have advanced
within a brief dozen years.