The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-05-23
ARP'S LETTER.
THE GEORGIA PHILOSOPHER V1SAIS
4 STEAMBOAT
Where He Finds II Number OF ""'"" i"'
Christ-He Interviews the Sap'"i"'
Other Incidents of His VISIT

Where He Finds IL Number of Moftoa 1or
Christie Interviews the Captain.
Other Incidents of His visit.
Nashville. Tenn, May 21.-Who is Can
tan Ryman? l have been ms guest loi
a day and a night. His beautiful nome -
on the heights. 1t is EMPOWERED IN sh;''ie
and surrounded by INCONSISTENCIES Will
out and flowers within-for at the beau'llui
table | found matrons and maldchs ana
school girls. all ready to give welcome 10
the stranger-the Georgia cracker as thcv
call me. 1t is a large family, and remladed
me of home, for as it is in all large 1alnl-
lies, there is more freedom, more compan-
ionship more talk, more music ana more
company.
Captain Ryman is waterman. lie .uns
the line of packets or steamboats, from
Nashville to Evansville, 800 mics. !Gcre
are eight boats and they average Il round
trip in week and so there is one 10 go
and one to come every day. There is moth
ing strange or peculiar about that. The
captains office is near the wharf and con
cudcd to visit the outgoing steamer ana see
her outfit. Everthing aboard was lively. /
noticed sign over the cabin door and got
ready to throw away my cigar, for l sup
posed the sign said SO, but it didn't 1t said:
Trust in the Lord and DO Good" On the
inside and over the same door, it said:
''The Heavens Declare the Glory of God"
and at the far end of the cabin was an
other line of scripture, and all about were
gentle reminders that Fin Him we live and
move and have our being
SIS this a missionary boat said l.
Yes said the captain, ''ours are all
missionary boats. We have no bars nor
| quick sands, no drinking pilots or deckhands,
| no swearing mcn-white or black, no gam
| ing tables we may carry tough some
| times but we don't know it and don't
throw anybody overheard. Yes, you may
! call them missionary boats if you choose,
lof they nave converted some sinners that
| know and have improved the morals of
"a boatmcn all along the line
l learned from others that the captain
t. used to run his boat like everybody
lp else, and whisky and cards and Il
good deal OF swearing We're considered part
IT. OF the furniture, but few years ago Sam
It. Jones came along here and in one of his
lt magnetic sermons shook the captain all I'D
and knocked out his props and put him to
r. thinking. lie has great big heart and is
W tull of sympathy for the poor and unfortu-
{ nate, and so he suddenly came to himself
q as the scriptures say of the prodga son.,
G and broke up his bar and forbade all gam
Il ing or drinking or swearing on his boat,
I and he mad all that scripture put over the
= doors and discharged every man who was
Il unwilling to work on the new schedule. 1T
i was hard on him for a while and hard on
" his boat, but after a while he whipped the
r. fight, and then he bought out some of the
: other boats and now he controls all the
81 boats on the river, and there is no liquor or
NJ, cuSs words on any of them, and 1T is said
:, that this is the only line of boats in the
4 wide world that is run by water and a
i Christian code of morality. You can tell
it from stem to stern from the pilo ito thu
fireman, from the walters to the deck hands
Everything is sober and everybody polite
and well hammered.
Captain Ryman then began to play mis-
sionary all over the town and started the
great tabernacle movement and got hell
II everywhere, and Sam Jones put i'll his
I sledge-hammer ticks and raised S22oD II
= one night, and all this is a union business
\ and takes in all denominations. and the
" great tabernacle is a Nashville institution
Nnd in it they have preachers and lecturers
~ zam all over the country, and its work il
and slfyat2s 9 an1 has s Sam 1n @isr
Y"Japtaln Ryman have founded all thi.
,y.%nd the captain has besides a mission ha |
OF his own down near the wharf for steam
Doat men, and there has been preach
. Ing or service there every night
I one mans power, or say two mems
power, for good i'll Il community ! confess
that l was amazed. Hundreds and perhaps
|
rum by 1t, and many Il mother and many
a wife made happy. They who have called
| many unto righteousness shall shine as The
| stars forever and ever
OF course 1 met my old friend Cunning
ham here He preiends to live here. but
| really lives eryWhere-evervwhere in the
south where he can find Il dollar for The
Confederate Veteran, which he publishes.
| or Tor the Jeff Davis monument fund He
knows more people, especially more lonely
women, in Tennessee than any other man
| and he always has their sympathy He is
| the universal friend and the
great southern. patriot, He travels
| on free passes from the Potomac to the
Rio Grande and makes an acquaintance on
| every tram and scatters sample copies of
| The veteran. 1t is a beautiful monthly,
and costs only 30 cents year, and he is
| making it Il success. Cunningham will die
! happy If Re lives 10 see the monument that
he is working for. | heard mutual friend
say that when Cunningham died and went
TO TO heavens gate he would shake hands with
tSt. Peter and say. I'm delighted to meet
| you, st. Peter. | knew your mother so
well. She was one of the noblest women
in the world and he would just walk right
| in and inquire for the young ladies.
| Nashville is, perhaps, the greatest educa-
| tlonal center in the south. Her great Van
| derbilt college and female semnarics and
| normal schools and public schools make a
| grand system. The popular lectures at pop
uIaF prices ut tnc great ldDernaclc nave be-
| come an established feature of popular ed
ucation. That building has already cost
| $4,000 and is not finished, but it will be if
| Captain Ryman lives a few years longer
Sam Jones comes here occasionally and
wakes everybody up, and the people s,lrren-
der whenever he comes, for Nashville is his
Mecca, his stronghold, and the entire com
munity are his friends. They point with
pride to his work and say, Look at that
tabernacle: look at that Young Mems Chris
tan Association building and its splendid
corps of Christian workers; look at that
mission church and that line Of temperance
steamboats, and look at the goo! morals of
years ago we had none Of these" In haste,