The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1892-09-07
young men to go to Texas, but I am con-
strained TO sav that there ara many

young men to go to Texas, but I am con.
strained to say that there are many
young men who are no account at home
who would do something away off where
there were no kindred to lean upon.
The bridge would be burned behind them
and they would 60 to work. There is
another class who are willing to work,
but can't find work to do. They ought
to go somewhere. Every town in Geor-
gia has its overflow. Eighteen young
men of Cartersville have gone to Atlanta
and are just scratching along for enough
to pay for board and clothes. There
will. be eighteen more next year. If they
were to get out to some new town like
Coleman or Dublin or Brownwood or
San Angelo they could 60 to work. The
work might not please them, but if they
meant business they would soon find
something that would. When the
Wright brothers left Rome few years
ago they were not much account, but
they got to Ft. Worth and burned the
bridge behind them and have succeeded
and at last they have got the old folks
there and their married sister aud they
are happy: Colonel J. I. Wright, their
father, our old solicitor, looks. like he
had taken on new lease of life. He
has built him comfortable house within
easy reach of his children and all he
lacks now is few shade trees. I wish
that l could give him one or two of mine.
There are sixty -four in my lawn and if I
had Aladdin's lamp could move them
and sell them for $500 apiece in Ft.
Worth. But then they have the gentle
Texas breeze that is ever blowing, not
blowing either, but breathing on you by
day and tanning you by night. I found
it everywhere and it is 80 universal that
they don't think about it nor talk about
it. The water problem seems to have
been solved pretty generally over the
state, for they sink artesian wells at
small cost. They bring up pure water
near the surface and the pump or the
windmill does the rest. Everywhere you
go you will see the wind wheels turning.
| found no running streams such. az ne
have here, but every farm. has sink
somewhere that holds water like jug,
or it has bayou that winds along for
miles and furnishes supply for many
farmers and washholes for their boys.
Around Waco for radius of 100 miles
is called the rich mans country, for
poor man can't buy nor rent and ii takes
three or four horses to pull the plows.
He can hire out, though, for good wages.
Farther west, in the Brownwood region,
is called the poor mans country, where
the soil is easier aud one horse or mule
is tolerated, though you generally see
two to plow. They are turning land
now all over Texas. I got an idea of the
immigration at Stephensville when I sat
in the Office of Mr.. Lee Young and saw
him make out seven deeds or leases in
about an hour for that number of settlers.
He represented large tract of land and
! was selling on three years time for
eighty-acre farms. The purchaser risked
| nothing but his Improvements in case he
concluded TO change his base. There
were no trees to cut down, no grubbing,
no new ground, no barns to build
nobody builds barns. The climate is SO
mild that the stock stays out of doors
and eats grass all winter. The corn is
stacked until ready to be shucked end
shelled for market. The hay is baled in
the fields; even the mowers and reapers
take the weather. When / was boy I
went to school with OVerton Young, but
he went west when be was about twenty
and I lost sight Of him. Forty.6ve
years have passed since then, and the
other day while I was in Dublin man
called to see me and said he was the son
of an old friend of mine, who went to
school with me for many years. I looked
ct him hard and thoughtfully and said !:
"You look like Overton Young" "I am
his son." he said. What curious mys-
l
terry is memory. How strange that those
lineaments have been resting asleep for
years and years and so suddenly come to
life in the face of his son. The father
long since dead and here are his children
at home in Texas and married and are
respected and prosperous. He accom-.
panied me to StephensVille, where l
domiciled under his roof and several
times caught myself calling him Overton
but his name is Lee--Bob Lee, of
course.
On my return I came from Dallas to
Texarkana and when I reached the tin-
ber I saw signs of Georgians all along
the route. 1 saw goober patches and tall
corn with the fodder pulled and old
fields grown up in pine thickets and here
and there a gully. Texarkana is the
gateway for Tennessee and North Caro-
lima and North Georgia. There I took
the Iron Mountain route for Memphis, a
route had never travelled, and liked
it. The chair cars recline and are as
good us sleeper and you wake up in
Memphis with an hour to spare for the
next train homeward. The Memphis
aud Charleston has greatly improved
since was over it last. 1t has better
cars and makes better time, but the old
Western and Atlantic always makes me
happy when I board it at Chattanooga
homeward bound. Farewell, Texas, till
I come again. We are banking on the
Lone Star as refuge for our numerous
offspring, but am not going to move
no, not as long as Randall stays.
! RJII. Arp. :.