The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1886-08-05
TIE RURAL SOUTH.
Improved Condition Consequent Upon She
iIntc Wnr.

Improved Condition Consequent UroD She
| Late War.
Correspondence of the Sacramento Record -Unicn.)
L watched the change through the ter
rible time Of Reconstruction and carpet
bag rule, or misrulc. None Of the
changes that have since taken place com
menced until about lS78-S0. Since that
time business has improved in all its
branches; immigrants have bee wei
coined, and in q number Of cities North
ern men and capital have been invited.
The old burned districts III the South
ern cities and towns have been rebuilt,
railroads improved, water power sites
utilized, and many changes made that to
those who have only just witnessed these
changes (returning there since the war;
seem little short Of miraculous.
This change is not confined to the city
alone. The country and its people have
also felt the result Of that great struggle,
even to a greater extent than tho city
people. Frame houses now occupy the
place of the old polo houses. \ new
pole house i'll the South i'll most sections
would seem like Il relapse to an age long
past. Lamps have taken tho place Of
pine spinters, used for light so long.
|
fill the place of the old homemade "bc-
fore-the-war truck" Rural magazines
and agricultural papers can be seen in
their homes, and children now read and
lntelligcntly discuss the news of the day
for and to parents who never cnjoycd
the privilege of reading for themselves.
There is also more general desire to
diversity the crops and to plant gardens
and fruit trees. The churches Q}aDtist
or MethodisD arc of frame, and Chairs
or caSy-backCu wooden benches now
take the place once occupied bya couple
OF short blocks with pole on top t0 sit
upon. Ut seems that to get religion in
one of those old bnckwoods churches
| should cntltlc one to rank as Il saint in
the calendar of the churches. To sit for
hours on such seats, to knccl on tho un-
even floor, and, when the religion was n
certainty, to be taken out i'll the woods
and baptized in pond almost alive with
young alligatorS and water moccasins,
was pressing endurance to the very furth-
er edge. Some of these nCw churches
are painted, and [ say this, with all cau-
ton, that L have heard Of one on Big
Hell Hole Swamp that has an organ.
True, no one there can play it, but il
got there all the same.
Less than three Years ago, while in
conversation with Il man of thiS class. an
old ovcrsccr and very Woodworking
man, l said to him: "AIr S., what did
you fight for, any way?" He hcsitatcd
a moment, then looked round ut his gar
den and his house, and his girls on the
porch, reading and sewing, and, doubt
less, comparing thcir lot with his and
their mothers when young, he replied:
81 did not know ut the time, hut / have
often thought" and touching his new
house with his hand and nUdding, hu
concludci. 'It must lave been for this,
after all. Within ten yards from where
We were standing was his old home, Il
pole house, with al carthcn floor CON
tanning one room, in size about Is bv II
teet, and in which he and his wife and
five girls had lived until after the war
The comparison between the old shanty
and the new house of five rooms, n nice
garden, and everything lovely and
smiling, struck even him, and spoke
volumes of the old past, that happily for
the white, as well as the black man,
could never return again.
Land that could be purchased ten
years ago for fifty cents an acre, to be
pad for at almost any time, is now hard
to get tor 50 or S6 per acre cash, for the
lumber alone upon it is worth that much.
Upon recent visit / was shocked to
find sawmill in full blast, run by an
| eX-Confcdcrate Major and Ynnk, upon
the site of many happy days deer and
turkey hunt that L have enjoyed. \
large number of the people know Of and
appreciate these changes III their cOndi-
tlon, and very often acknowledge the
obligation they consider themselves un-
der to the war for havlns. brought this
change about.
Ihe life and Sincw Of the South do not
thlnk OF the war or its consequences any
more, only to cherish the memory of
those they fought by the side Of and to
realize that it left them in position
where they had to ''gct up and dust. 5"
How well they have done 50 the i'm
proved condition of the most illitcratc
State III the Union testifcs to-day. TO
n large number of the Southern people
the war was an IlnmiXcd evil, to a great
many 1t was great blessing in disguise,
and large number know and speak of
1t as such. And if it was now left to a
popular vote an overwhelming majority
would declare against resumption OF
the old order of things
10 most of them JEFF. Davis is like an
Old battle flag-hc represents all they
once held dCtr; he recalls old names, old
faces, hopes and aspirations; so when he
rc9@ppears among them they yell them
selves hoarsc, for he brings back to them
all memories they consider sacred
memories they would not part with for
the world, and, also, memories that most
OF them would not live over again for
worlds. Matters cannot help being this
way, Let them have their past glorics.
Let them cheer their old leaders. They
realize, even better than we do, that this
IS all that is left of the cause they cs-
pouscd.
Elsh living o. m IIIn M Il, 4