The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1892-09-15
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
The Philosopher Has Yet More to Say
Of wonderful Texas
Notes and Observations Of His Travels
Through the State.

I UO-I IiJO .
/ worth and Rio Grande railroad is new one,
and ia recent completion has brought all that
| plentiful country within the limits OF new
civiiz,tion. II il a splendid road, and its ON
GERS and its management are In general favor
with the people Gov Hogg is tald TO De
| prosecutor and prosecutor OF raiiroaus, aui
! his has rendered him very unpopular with rail-
road towns that are building up all along me
1ines ~ the new roads believe that 1t Is with
in the mower of any rail- Dad company TO ma
fliends of the people. This road IS an exam
nile Il has no enen mics, and here are no heavy
damage suits and no OUT feous Verdlcts'
Everybody speaks well OF Mr. HornsDy, the gen
oral manager. | went to Coleman, which u
tbirty-fve miles west of Brentwood on the road
IN San Angelo. The names Of towns and couII-
tics in this ereaf country are peculiar ana I'M
,reosive The saints, and the angels and tn
boly land (Pales incl are all represented Inc
heroes of the Texas republic are al Delole 9ou
ON he map sam Houston, Crockett, Travis
Bowie. Fannin and Lamar and many other
have counties named for them, and there
ora Tom Green and Deaf Smith coun-
ties. They were pioneers who lett a
name and record. Deaf smith Is tue
man who burnt the bridge behind them at San
JAG nto These Texans 90 the whole ho8 on
names for hev have jeff DAVIS county, aiu
il is pretty well settled that they VIII go inc
whole Hogg in a governor. Since the war they
have hon red the Confederate heroes without
fear for they have ma Q some new count es ana
caIIed them Stonewal Lee, Jackson, Bee, HOOD
ond Toe Johnston snd they boast that they
have plenty Of unnamed rritory that they are
saw g for the heroes of I'll, next war.
Coleman is a brand new town OF Z'ooo People
these sev nty-tive-thousand' dollar courthouSee
that are so common i'll Texas
"Wnat makes your people build such mag
,ifcent and costly courthouses?" said to
friend.
"Anchors" said he; 'they are anchors to hold
down the county seat
They are building so many new railroads
across this country, and so many towns spriuG
mn along the line o. at their intersection that
sometimes they move the county sea by ma
iority Y, le and that leaves the Old town out III
the cold But they can't afford to sacrlhce sew
entv-fve-thou and-dollar courthouse Ii Is just
an anchor-that's all. / saw that prov a,
Stephenvlle which is the county seat OF
Frath 1t has but one railroad but Dublin III
the same county ha- Two, and Dublin is ogres-
siye and ambitious and has street cars and wa er
works and wanted the courth. use. 1t was an old
fashioned common one, and they thought they
con move il to Dub in. There was great e1-
ci ement and money was spent on the elecuoh,
but Dublin lost and now they have JUST purch-
ased seventy-tiv' thousand dol ar courthouse
at Stephenville, which they say will anchor the
county tie down.
Coleman is full OF Georgians. hey Il lcked
around me there and l was told half of my
audience WIS from the good old state. he
truth L. | don't Sc how we have so many PEG
Pile # i'll Georgia, for they are all over this
country | found seven men on the train that
[ took for Brownwool seven from Murray
and Cobb and Viii field countIes-all gong
to Comanche to buy land. | am told that
every tr ,in takes as many or more from Geer-
gia They al know me and L know some
of their fathers. Georgaps come to
the train to meet me at every station. They
want to say 'howdy' and welcome me to Texas.
was so sorry for old Judge Mobley at Coleman,
who had Just heard of the death of his noble
son who taught school in our town OF Carriers
Vile He was Il good son and one of the most
Ia ented and exemplary young men that ever
knew of. His untimely death was great loss
and it grieved me when | hear OF 1t. l met
nv venerable friend. Judge Marlborough, at
Comanche. He was my fathers friend and the
friend Of my young manhood. After the war he
emigl ated away out into this unsettled wilder
ness TO get away from the free negroes and here
he has lived until a railroad has come to his
town and now, in his eighty ourth year he be-
gins to realize that railr ad is not such bad
thing after ALL for almost every day it brings to
him somebody that ha us d to know and he Is
comforted How tenderly he inquiries of evry
visitor ''Are you from Georgia 2" When | left
~
said, Cant you come back i'll the morning be-
fore you take the train? 1t will do me o much
good" OF course | went back. His COOL wife
is still well preserved, and we talked lovingly
about Rome and her people. especially those
who have crossed the river. Comanche boasts
that there is not negro in the county, except
one-just one who runs on the railroad and is
allow to pass through. He is a democrat,
they said, AID behaves himself. l found an ed
ucat6d negro over here by the namt of Bailey,
who publishes democratic newsp per. He Is
from Rome Ga he said, aud he made speech
the other day at q anbury-a Cleveland speech
l did NOT hear it, but they say he speaks well
and handles he peoples party without gloves
H. is. however, WORKING forrevt nue. only and he
gets it from his white friends.
Some OF these immigrant get homeslck very
soon after they get here. They never took Il
journey before and it ems like they have come
so far they can never get back again. 1t Is Ike
burning the br dge behind them. One Of the
seven that found on the train was 10 king very
.oivnnl 1t the immense unsettled plain hat
we're swiftly Iassng by and nudGed his COM
RAMON with his elbow and said Jim yon-
der's a eully--don't you want to see it?" One
thing that strikes all newcomers is the bigness
of the Countrywide long distance to the no.
rzOn. A boy would hardly undertake TO 80 TO
the end Of the rainbow here TO find the Ills oric
bag OF money. But he sky does not EN- any
HlrHtT NOT lHe moon any bIlhlltr, anu L see the
bug dpper every night just AZ l did at home, and
suplose that Texas is just as near TO Heaven
as it is in Georgia. Indeed, it NAV b. nearer,
Ior Ihaye not seen bu one intoxicated m N in
the State. and he was Georgian. Politics is
pretty hot, but nobody gets mad but the edi
tots.
This is a grand country, and it impr ssos Won
with awe aud wonder The bonndIess ext mt of
t as You go miles and miles aud see tn vast area
of beautiful aud fertile plains and not a tenth
of it occupied by anybody. 1t IL only around
the towns that 1t is set led up. There are mil
lions of acres here that can be had from So to
81 that will produce more grain and cotton than
the hest valley lands in Georgia and with less
labor OF cultivation. | saw one farm of 9. COO
nc es near Brownwood that was all in cultiya
ton and had II 200 pecan II ees on it. They are
three years old and are forty feet apart and will
ut in iuli bearing ten years from row. Thew
showed their tops just above the cotton
all over the vast area OF course it was not an
American who owned this farm and planted
these trees. 1t was an Englishman An Amer
lean won't wait ten years for ANYTHING Butthe
Englishman plants for posterity. He figures
now for hls children that in ten years he will
have II 900 trees that will average at least five
bushels to the tree, and the pecans are Of the
haat riatv h. will br;o AZ