The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-05-21

I 1fSo1pflet0rs.t
~ 6f four of these ren is perpet'
uated in the names of certain places IN
South Carolina, as it can be easily per
ceived. They resided most Of theil
time in England; and sent to Charles
ton their agents, under the titles o.
Proprietary Governors, whose duties
were to sell tracts of land to the settlers
securing their ownership to the same
by proper writings, and as the chief
executive officers to manage the affairs
of the new province. This state OF
things lasted about forty nine years,
when ''the Lords Proprietors relin-
quished their rights sand interest in the
government and soil of the province to
the king" This was in 1719, and the
King of England at that time was
George l. From this period to the be-
ginning of the Revolutionary War the
agents for continuing these business
transactions between the crown and
the rapidly accumulating settlers,-as
we'll as for governing the affairs of the
established citizens, were known as the
Royal Governors. AS far back as the
times Observation-Disclosures near
the close, however, of their administra-
tion.-the settlers had been demanding
supplies of cattle for the purpose OF
breeding. The Proprietors objected to
this,-having already expended slo,-
900 (nearly S90,00V for that purpose
and were desirous that the settlers
should begin to depend upon their own
exertions. They therefore gave as a
reason for refusing the demand, "that
they wished to encourage planters, but
not graziers."
The face of the country between the
Saluda and Broad River presented
originally very much the same appear
ance all the way through distance CT
about forty miles, beginning at the
line between Newberry County and
Laurens County. In O'Nealrs Annals,
the face of the country is most graphi-
cally described by one Samuel Kelly
who is remembered to have said n
1852 that, I'm the spring of the year it
was the most beautiful scene his eyes
ever beheld. The open woods presented
no obstruction to the view. The hills
and wales were covered with pea-vile
and maiden cane; the former in bloom
made it look like garden.'Y Suchnro-
ductions growing without cultivation
naturally directed the attention Of first
Msettlers to grazing. There are no longer
traces of the wild sweet pea "p-
even in patches, as is the case
spaiden cene," which can yet
in considerable extent,
Asiay up the hillsides.
4 * gt through such Itch
zage to raise. cattle would
sve retarded the develop
Re agricultural treasures hid
Gr the roots of the oaks, the
Es, and the poplars. 1t WAS
the middle of the reign of George
hen John Adam Summer selected
$his future homestead the spot al
LADY described,-located not far from
@the Saluda mountain. Nearly fifty
wears before his arrival, the settlers in
the lower part of the State had been re-
fused, as has been stated, the supplies
of cattle necessa.y to their pursuit of
the pastoral occupation to which the
luXuriant native grasses were SO invit-
ing; and under the impossibility of
being graziers and the alternative of
becoming farmers, the onslaught upon
the forests had begun in full vigor.
There can be no doubt that the set
tlement of Germans between the Saluda
and Broad River grew very fast. 1t
was not long after the current of immi-
grafton was started in that direction,
before one neighbor could visit another
along short foot-path, and the curling
smoke could be seen from cottage to
cottage. To procure meat was matter
of sport. Only few hours stroll, in
the way of amusement, was required
for supplying household with veni
son for week, and the deer's forehead
with his antlers attached was nailed
above every door; at the same time that
the buckskin breeches formed part of
the paternal Sunday suit. Bread,
however, was the great desideratum.
Therefore the soil must be laid bare for
tillage, and thus the blacksmith-the |
modern Tubal cain-became "a man of |
might"
"By the fierce red light Of his furnace bright, |
The strokes of his hammer rung;
And he lifted high his brawny hand
On the iron glowing clear
to shape the keen-edged axe. Now the
forests begin to ring with the strokes |
that fell their stoutest trees, whose
trunks the wooden maui and the iron |
wedge rend into rails for inclosng the
young clearing, while the air grows
dim with the smoke that rises from the
burning Of the cracking brush heaps;
and thus the first field in the Dutch |
Fork is established. The origin Of the
sweat in which man l., dst eat his bread |
is complex. 1t begins away back with |
the first wound the axe inhicts upon |
the oak; and passes through various
stages of toll from the planting to the |
harvest. Here now the field is ready