, 1886-03-20
THE SOUTH OF THE sou1HsRNeas.


.
h obiiEing subtle
Fasoinstion-Naturs's L~ovsiiness-
y But there Is another south. the south
Of the southern people, not SO easily
reached, but well worth reaching. One
needs to have plenty Of time and plenty
OF patience to travel in this south. And
no will be happier If ho carry with him
certain simple stores besides the articles
l rave Northumberland M tea, coffee,
lump sugar, potted meats and preserves.
A portable bath-tub md his own soap
and towels will make a vast difference in
his comfort. Certain things he must not
expect 70 find here either. Southern
trains nave little regard for their time
tables, and he had better carry a supply
OF paper novels for odd hours at stations
in what are most appropriately named
waiting-rooms. But, as a compensation.
southern railway officials on local roads
are the most affable and obliging Of men.
They return for you II you are too late;
they wait for you to cat your dinners;
they stop anywhere in the woods to let a
man get off. Never you mind, ma'am,
says the obliging conductor, you take
your time with the dinner; the train
amt going off without you"
One time I remember a train which
waited a half-hour for the passengers 10
get dinner before they started. Wewere
altogether three hours behind time. l
asked the man at the station If this train
did not meet another. Yes, ma'am,
said he; but, you see, we meet at,
and whichever train gets there first waits
for the other, so there amt a bit OF
trouble Somewhere at the end of the
line a boat waited for the train with the
anne engaging politeness. The south
ern conductors are always kind TO women
and children, and Hospitality polite to
strangers, and the station-masters seem
rather to like answering questions. One
has to expect a certain absence Of the
virtue next to godliness south, and he
can not look for honesty among the
blacks; but what are trunks made with
locks for2
At first the untidy ways will jar on his
sense OF order; he will very likely be an
noyed by the languid fashion in which
life moves on; it will irritate and dismay
him to see the absolute lack Of compre-
hension Of the meaning OF comfort. But
very soon he will feel a subtle, reluctant
fascination; he will be soothed by the alb
sence of hurry and hustle; he will appre-
ciate the gentle courtesy which seems to
be the southerners' birthright; he will
be touched by their pathetic hospitality;
he will learn to admire their bravery,
gayety, and that energy which often
turks beneath their Incidence.
And nature will have her word. Those
weird cypress forests, those solemn pine
woods among the red clay hills, those
tropical s%plendors Of plant and flower
and sky, that softer loneliness of the
southern homes-stately old mansions
which ruin makes but the more
picturesque, set amid their gardens on
shady streets or overlooking fields of
cotton, or rice, or cane-all these and u
hundred sights as fair come to capture
his heart and haunt his memory. IL
the traveller have a friend with a planta-
ton, In that case he will have all the
poetry without the discomfort. In any
case, the real south (which, by-the-way,
is by far the cheaper south) is the one
which is sure to repay the traveller for
his outlay Of time and money. My
friends who are going to the real south,
you who are about TO enjoy-I congratu-
late you.-Cor. Harper's Bazaar.