The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1893-11-10
GhfDemurrat-S Star
'D0WN on NJ SuWiNEE RlBgrR..
Sir Edwin Arnold Beholds the Famous
Stream in GEORGIA,

Sir Edwin Arnold Beholds the Famous
Stream in Georgia.
But in that part of the long Journey
when we were passing through Ge0r.
gia, and at the moment when the ted.
lum was worst, the train approached
a long hollow in the hills where one
OF those pleasant surprises occurred
which 90 to prove how song may con
sccrate a locality. a river, not very
broad or deep, but with a certain
special grace and character of its own,
lay in front Of our track. We had a
good view Of IL as we came near the
wooden trcstle bridge by which the
line was carried acruss-structures
which, until you become acclimated
to American travel, always make you
wonder whether they will carry the
train this time safely oyer. The riv-
er ran down the Georgian hills in Il
lively current. broken sometimes into
rapids and little Cataracts where the
red and black rocks lay across its
channel, and then widening out into
picturesque reaches bordCred by thick
cts Of dark green foliage and clumpS
of cypress and willow. In the clear
ingS here and there between the
woods which bOrdered it, stood isolat-
ed negro cottages around which you
could see little black children at play,
and the |invarial lie pig, which is the
house guest Of the negro as well as of
the freshman. A punt was gliding
along on the quiet part Of the stream
with a negro on board dragging a fish
ing line, and the black buz2ards cir
cled over the maize fields. 1t was not
Il very striking scene. but beautiful in
its way, gilded as it WAS by the rays
Of a magnificent sunset Yet | should
have forgotten it in few minutes, as
had forgot the hundreds Of other
rivers which the rushing train had
trarerscd, had it not been that | hap
pencd to ask the conductor what was
the name Of this particular water.
Quite careles.iy he answered.
THAT'S the Suwance river, Mister"
Suwanec river. In a moment the
stream had for me Il new and extra
ordinary charm. | had not even
known that there was such a river in
geographical reality, or that it n1we |
through Georgia; aud yet, here it
was-real, authentic, aliye-lcaping
down through the southern forests.
past the maisc fields and the cotton
flats, to pour itself into the Gulf Of
. Mexico. In an instant, everything
around appeared to be full Of the
song that all the world knows and
sings. Way Down Upon de Suwanee
Rubber. The live oaks seemed to
wave it in the air; the stream seemed
to sing it as it hustled over the rocks
the birds IN the thickctS had it in the
soft musical notes wecaught. and the
crickets and katydids beginning their
sunset chirrup joined in the half
heard chorus. The journey was no
longer monotonouS. 70 be way
down upon the Suvancc ribber" was
to have come to Il corner of America
dedicated to that deep emotion of our
common humanity-thc love Of hOmc.
is there anybody who has not felt the
charm of the simple negro melody =
When | was playin' wild my bruddcr
Happy was |,
D, take me to my kind old muddcr,
Oar let me lib and die.
All de world am sad and drcary
Everywhere roam,
o, %darkicS, how my heart grows weary,
Far from the old folks at home.
There, indeed, were the old folks at
home a Whitc-haircd darkcy sitting
ON a log by the cottage door stripping
maize cobS, and stumbling about
among the pigs and poultry, old Di-
ma, with Il yellow bandana on her sill
yer locks, grooming scmc song, which
might, p rhaps, be the song of the
river. So after all, it was real, and
there was a Suwanec river, and the
sunny peace and beauty Of 1t were lust
what fitted well with the sentiment
of that touching and tcndcrair which
had gone all through the world be-
cause it holds in its unaffected music
the secret Of the pathetic rctrospeets
Of lire. Just the spot it was to (which
Il tired man, be he niger or otherwise
might look back to with attachment
and affection. We travellers coming
suddenly upon it and leaving it at 50
miles an hour had, of course, nothing
but the most fitting concern with ode
Suwance ribber.' But one could i'm
agine how dear it might be to Il ma
tive born, and how sincere the origi-
nal emotion was Of the song-writer, or
else of some darkey from whom he
borrowed it, to write and set to such
soft and sympathetic music 'Dar's
where my heart is turning ever"
Hcnccforth for me that Georgia
stream with the dark groves ~fringing
it, and the red crags, and the quite
reaches of silver water gildcd by the
setting sun, has a place in thought
among the famous rivers Of the globe,
and ] never hear the melancholy mu-
sic Of the popular Niger lament with
out a new feeling Of what song can do
far beyond history and important ey-
cnts, to consccrate a spot in nature
forever, and to l~ocalize a universal