The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1889-11-30
CATHARINE COLES LETTER.
PEoPLEAND PLACES IN MISSISSIPPI.
Pike County and the Pleasant Town Of
Magnolia
st.fI eorrespondence n m pl.n.nn.

on the line of the Illinois Central railroad \
is the struggling little hillside town of
Magnolia If Magnolia were distant two
hours and half from Chicago, st. Louis, I
or New York, it would have fifteen or
twenty thousand people, electric lights, /
water works, an opera house, a public Ii I
brary, woolen mills, cotton mills, wooden /
mills, and a dozen minor industries But
Magnolia is at present only beautifully /
situated and alluring little village in one
of the finest, frcest and most moral conn
ties in the state, where land is cheap and
the poorest laborer can set lis children 10
play on a lawn that a Vanderbilt might
envy. Pike county, of which this is the
county seat has 720 square miles of good,
arabic, rolling land, excellent for general
farming and superb for stock raising. On
this vast cXpanse of land are dotted many
small homes, bnt the population Of the
entire county is less than 5000. This
gives the people more than room enough.
They are few enough to he lonely, to need
neighbors, and IN time the delightful eli
mate, the health-giving properties ofthesc
sweet-scented pine hills, the easy bencfi
ceuce Of nature to those who seek here o
make living viii become widely known
New, wholesome desirable people will
come in and Magnolia, set upon her bill
lowy hills, claspcd about ~ the brown
Indian-princcss arm of the lovely Tangi-
pahoa, braided by streams bathed in the
/ purest atmospheric, repos"inl ia its rustic
calm, win become in every satisfying
sense n suburb ofNew Orleans. There are
people born and raised in New Orleans
who go to Magnolia on sweet Sundays du-
ring the summer, gathering daisies and
| golden rod ON her soft, green hills, who
do not realize that this little town, the
prctticst sort Of an Introduction card to
the whole state of Mississippi, lies nearly
500 feet above tide level. They breathe
in the hearty oxygen of her pure pine for
ests, and while they are refreshed do not
know that this is a town that never, since
its first flag of smoke from home roof
was set floating, has known case Of
yellow fever. Little children are brought
here on pillows and grow straight and
sturdy as young pines; sick men, with
Michigan malaria fastened on them like
an octopus, come here to cast off the old
enemy and become free; immoral men,
victims to drink, come here and recover
per force their old integrity and manly so
briefly. County, county seat, and every
town and village has its own efficient pro
hibitory laws. There are good schools At
frequent intervals and when the immi
| 4.
climate, educational facilities and goot
lands, can fairly hope to be satisfied il
this locality.
The town on tnc brow of a gentle hil
looks down on n lovely wooded countr!
, that rolls away on the east to the river
where Il busy cotton gin and grist mill i
7 located, and on the west to narrow peb
, bly, creek beyond whose banks are com
! Portable farm houses. The broad streets
each one 20 or so feet wide intersect oac
other at regular intervals, and arc line,
by pretty and commodious southern home
On the main street are several large gen
. eral stores, and country wagons congre
: gate here in great numbers. In 1898 til
cotton shipments up to date amounted t
; 1888 bales. For the same period in 1888
I the shipments are 4S06 bales, being an eS
Y cess of 220S bales. The aggregate valu
q of cotton shipments since Sept amonnt
. to over 100000. This increase is due t
5 better methods Of farming, to the use {
q fertilizers and more intelligent handlin
. of the lands. There are no great cotto
plantations in Pike county. The secrc
: of success here rs everywhere, is intensiy
farming and small farms. Magnolia
Z also the market town for the wool produc
: of Pike, Amite and Marion counties an
n the Louisiana parishes of st. Helena an
II Washington. Near the town are half
y dozen saw mills and the lumber shipment
aggregate $4,000 per annum. One of I'll
> largest general stores in the state is thu
Of the Atkinson and hampton Compan
of Magnolia. They have fine brick stoi
and carry a stock of indefinite diversit
and valued at $50 900 or s6O,OOO 9th,
q leadiag merchants and cotton shipper
G are Ford Bros, Williams & Elliott an
e George c. Briley. The excellent week.
G newspaper and job Office, and where, Il
4 the way, the best printers are ladies,
a owned by Air. D. NJ. Huff, cultured y0un
gentleman, whose paper deserves TO /
I read by every farmer in the county.
The chiefbid that Magnolia makes ft
Z outside patronage and for additional cit
e zens is the Magnolia High School. TIL
e schoolhouse, an elegant and commodior
e building large enough for 500 pupil
stands on the hill at the edge of the tow
:. in a fine grove Of trees. II is grade
i school Of the best qualifications and ranl
as one of the best in the state. Prof I
=. Moore, a scholarly gentleman who Il;
distinguished name as an educator,
/ principal, with Miss Lizzie Jourdan, Pro
n W. d. Nixon and Miss Carrie yaught +,
o assistants Miss Mabel Craven IS profe
It sor Of musie in the school, and for her nj
: the public spirited trustees Of the seho
have built beautiful music-room, d
tached from the main building and
suffic lent size 10 accommodate three nra