Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-12-31
THE ROAD MEDAL.

shooting box on the French Broad and
George Vanderbilt's place. The exhibit
was about the consistency of mayonnaise
dressing or X. II. mustard and of yell
lowish red. You could see that the foot
of the mountain had been bathed in il
for centuries without changing the wa.
ter
Western North Carolina is very noun
famous and therefore n beautiful coun-
try, with the soft CLINE of the south, but
the bracing air of the mountains along
with it. The soil on the uplands is Of a
CHEEKY red, such rs ono secs on a cook
stove that has been exposed for couple
of years and go, tanned good deal.
These vermilion roads wrap their
long coils about the mountains of Bun
combe county and hang like auglcworms
over the precipicos. They are fcstoOncd
over the hrows of the Blue Ridge =
pour in venetian rc,l cascades over the
corrugated hog backs of Catawba county
Many of these roads liquefy and run
like n scared jack rabbit over the farms,
or slip down into the fields during L
shower and remain there while You
wait. 1 have two stray roads still on my
estate which lodged there after y long
wet spell.
speak thus freely OF, these roads be-
cause / see i'll the nigh futuro the dawn
of better day. Already 50 or 40 long
time convicts are working on the road
from Ashcvillo ont toward where George
and live We have the labd problem
reduced to science here. Our hlotto is:
Make the criminal classes ldo the
work and convict ~ many of the cClored
people rs possible.
This places the degrading process OF
labor where it belongs by birth and nat
ural selection. So the colorcd convict is
now at work on our roads
The methods of building and repair
ing the roads are to be changed. For.
merly the plan adopted along the banks
of Lake Victoria NyanZa, where the poo
pie live anonymously i'll trees, has been
adopted. When the roads We're too aquc
Gus, irregular stones. ranging in size
from that of Daniel Wcbster's head to
the peeweo egg, arr plunked into this
mud, where they disappear, yet they
may be discovered by riding over them
| as you hold on TO tho seat with one hand
| and your nose with the other, apologiZ-
| ing meantime to the buzZards for scar
| ing them away from their dejeuncr of
dead horse. / have even seen dead mules
| along these roads. though it Is said that
| the mule, the jackass and the office
| holder do not die.
Each year heretofore the adult males
have been called together by the road
master for tho purpose of sampling each
| others tobacco and making mud pies
along the highway ut 81 per day. The
bed of the road Is generally sunkcn sew
| eral feet below tho level of the sea and
then plowcd up and made mellow, like
| an onion bed.
Where il is desired to defect u stream
of rain across the roadbcd ON n side hill,
i instead of building = cuivcrt, the Tar
| Heel civil engineer and scientist con-
structs soft, wet diagonal ridge or cof-
| far dam of red mud. which resembles the
nowmadc grave Of postmaster; yet,
alas, it Is not!
Tho loss on rolling stock hero is east
" 33i9 per cent, for | have kept ~ &c
curate account of it for three years, dur
/ ing which time my wagons, etc, have
been entirely renewed.
Landaus and victorias are not used
much here. but hickory crotch like
an enlarged wishbonc is attacked to an
4 bLA - pair va vast
off wheels from the wreck of u -four
wheel wagon, which completes the trap
unless one should be high spirited and
want n box. in which case common
quail trap Is nailed ON the axle
Naturally the pathmaster here is con
tent with things rs he finds them-ol
as they find him. He does not murmul
or repine. especially during hot weather.
If you expect him to repinc, you will
have to administer stimulants.
| If wood tick or w. \. G. flea shoult
attack him, he would heavo sigh a,
the flea fled. Mayhap he would scratch
the place and say to the insect:
well, now l hope you're satisfied.
1t is the same with the roads. If {
chuckhole gets formed in the highway
and squirts gallon of yellow ocher intC
his whiskers, .he does not blaspheme
He sees that the mud matches his wills
kers, and then he lets it dry. The wine
does the rest.
The corduroy also originated here
After 200 years of corduroy road som'
of our physicians discovered that there
were no kidney diseases in this country
and so many have como here to recover
] from kidney troubles. but last year thu
post mortem OH several old settlers wh'
have used the corduroy roads gooC
deal showed that they have no kidneys
these features having disappeared afte
few generations.
But the material for making road
here is good. In fact, that is about al
it is good for. The stone is not fit TO
building purposes, and the soil is not ca
pable of even raising disturbance
Last year put $3.50 into seeds and s15'
into a gardener. l also hired the grount
plowed and engaged u night watchmal
to replace the ear muffs on the swee
I corn in the still watches of the night
when slumber's chain hath bound us
in case the July frost should come whel
: we VOTED not, and yet my flageole
beans cost me 81 per dozen, and the cos
of the accursed garden prevented m
sons matriculation at Johns Hopkins.
The roads are in sad state after
long rain. They look like n neglecte
. candy pull or o. mile mush and mil
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