The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1890-03-06
BILL ARP.
atlanta Constitution.

BILL ARP.
atlanta Constitution.
I wish that could take trip round
the world and see something, and find out
how other people live. I don't mean q
trip of seventy two days, like Nelly Bly,,
but a slow journey Of two OF three years,
and chance to learn something. Nelly
don't know any more about the world now
than the yankees know about US when
they slide through to Florida in sleeper
and slide back again. They come to
Atlanta, or New Orleans, or Memphis, or
Birmingham, on an excursion, and stay a
day or two. and eat big dinner, and
hear few speeches, and 60 back home as
ignorant as they came. Some of them
came down to the exposition, and looked
at the big ears Of corn, and said they did.
ent believe it was raised in the State, for
they looked out of the cars all the way
from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and never
SAW any land that would produce such
corn. This reminds me of a northern
woman who had never seen any pine for
ests, and after she had passed Macon and
got we'll into the piny woods, became
rapturous in her admiration of those tall
evergreeps, that she said would be per-
fectly beautiful if they had not been
trimmed so high. She knew as little of
picnics as I did about Guinea pigs. One
of my smart chaps told me the other day
that if Guinea pig was held up by the
tail its eyes would drop out. Of course
I didn't believe it until he told me the
Guinea pig had no tail, and then I give
it up. I wish that I was young enough
to travel and learn the truth about
people, and manners and customs. Tt is
astonishing how little We know. I've been
thinking for. fifty years that Cinnamon
eat rats, and now it turns out they don't.
The first geography we ever studied had
picture Of Chinaman going around
with pole across bis shoulders and the
pole was full of rats. 1t is astonishing
how little we know of the people of our
own county-the people of another State
that is only q days journey distant
received letter the other day from
Virginian who thinks of moving south,
and he wanted to know how long it would
take him and his family to become accli
mated, and what was the safest time of
the year to make the change. If he had
ever been south he would not have asked
such questions. Most of the northern
people associate the south with malaria,
and bad, sickly weather. They look on
the map and see The parallels Of latitude,
and SO form their opinions. Well, there
is some malarial country away down
south somewhere, but up here in Georgia
We talk about going to Florida to spend
the winter, just like the northern people
do. The only difference between Georgia
and Virginia is that our winters are
shorter and milder, and our summers are
longer and cooler. The climate isjust IS
vigorous and bracing.
Now, it is. fact that the southern
people know great deal more about the
north than their people know about us.
The tendency of travel is northward,
and has always been 30. A hundred
travellers would go north to where one
came south. Business and pleasure called
them there. Until the great army of
drummers came into existence, The south.
ern merchants went north twice year to
buy their goods, their spring stock and
their fall stock, and they became we'll
acquainted with the people and their
manners and customs aud politics and
religion. For seven years I was mer-
chant and mingled with them from Bos-
ton to Philadelphia, but none of them
came South to mingle with me. Before
the war We sent hundreds of our boys to
northern colleges, but they never send
any to ours. We have taken their news
papers and magazines, but they have
never taken ours. Thousands of our
wealthy people vifit their watering places
and their great cities every summer, but
they never visited ours, and so they are
still unacquainted with us. In recent
years good many of their pabobs and
invalids take straight shoot for Florida
every winter, but they 60 in Pullman
sleepers with the curtains down, and
when they get there they huddle together
in a fine hotel at FIVE dollars Gay and
don't get acquainted with the natives and
don't want to. They come chock-full of
the prejudice ola century, prejudices that
are part of their religion and they don't
want to lose them. You might as well
try 10 get Baptist or Methodist or Jew
to change his religion. There is but one
channel open to a removal of prejudice
and that is through the pocket. The only
hope of promoting peace is in getting
acquainted, and the only hope of getting
acquainted is through business channels.
Russell Harrison came down to Atlanta
to banquet and he behaved like gen.
tleman, and 1 expect he is gentleman,
but he has gone back believing that our
people are killing and persecuting the
negroes and robbing republican postmas-
ters as a general kind Of amusement.
But our climate and our mineral treasures
are drawing their good people down here
pretty fast. They are investing their
money and they stay to watch it, and the
longer they stay the better they like us.
Their deep concern about the negro soon
passes away and the race problem bugbear
vanishes into myth. The truth is, there
are too many alarmists about the negro,
even in our own section. There is plenty