Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-01-05
TOLD FOR THE TRUTH
WILL HUBBARD HERMAN MEETS A
YOUNG MlSsiSsIPP,AN.
Facts and Perhaps . Few Tanciea-vicks-
burg as It Was and Is-Saved by . Dream
Impress Of the Heavy Hand Of Time.
The vicksburG of Today.

burg Is 1t Was and Is-Saved by . Dream.
impress Of the Heavy Hand Of Time.
The vicksburG of Today.
Especial Correspondence
vIcKsBuRG, Miss, Jan. 1.-The scenery
of the Mississippi river between Cairo snd
the gulf is nothing but a monotonous wal
of green, save where it is relieved by ths
spires and housetops Of u city, town or vii
lage.
1t is nearly 20 years since first sailed
down its turbid waters on my way to thi'
city. l had made the acquaintance of
typical young Mississippian on the boat
and found him very agreeable companion
When within half dozen miles of here b,
pointed to a bit of land that jutted ou
from the main shore on the right and Ne
marked:
"See that little peninsula yonder, with it:
three expresses intertwined with Spanish
moss."
"Yes"
"Well. never see that spur of land with
out thinking of the time when saw it first
A cousin of mine and were on our way t,
New Orleans. We were mere schoolboys
! neither of us over Il. and were on on a va
cation frolc. We were out on deck TO
gether as the boat went drifting by tina
spur, when suddenly-though the day wa
very sultry-both my cousin and began Z
SILVER, and / cried out, oh, how d.athls
cold | ann
$50 am T. said my cousin, dropping int
seat with face as white as snowflake
1t was singular feeling that possessed us
but it soon passed away.
We'll our vacation in New Orleans drew
to close, and we prepared to return home
"'When does the boat leave, HalF .
queried of my cousin.
"'We are not going home by the boat,
he replied.
"'But we have return tickets said.
"'No NATTER he answered. well G.
bacsa ay rail-
"I WON'T replied testify. i have rive
passage and purpose using it, at the sam
time opening my wallet to look ut my ticket
at was missing. and, wha: was worse,
hadn't money enough to pay my way home
Hal saw my dilemma. III tell you wha
| I'll do, Dick he said. If you'll return witt
me by rail, I'll pay your way was com
PEELED perforce to surrender, and by rail W
| returned.
"Well, the next day the papers recorde'
a terrible steamboat explosion on the Mis-
sissippi at the very place where Hal and
had felt so strangely, and it was the yer
boat on which we were to have take;
passage! Hardly a passenger escaped dealt
| in its most dreadful form.
II handed the paper to Hal. I knew
would happen he said. i dreamed it
all its details, and knowing you wonl,
only laugh at me if told you my dream
crept out of bed and stole your ticket Will
you slept Here it is and he handed M
| the ticket"
! As my friend concluded his story GU
| boat touched the Vicksburg wharf and W
| walked up the steep street to the mai
| thoroughfare. Nearly 20 years have file
| by since then, but the city is no larger no,
| than it was in that far day, and its appear
ance has undergone no perceptible change
| In the meantime cities have sprung int
| existence all over the north and south
| hamlets have put on metropolitan frills
| and hardly u town between the two see
| boards that hasn felt the touch of progress
| Why, then, has Niclsburg stood still
| through all these years. l think the reasol
| can be traced to the fact that its shippin,
| facilities have been in u large measur
| ruined by the recession Of the river. One
| it had one of the best ports on the Fathe
| of Waters. Today it has no port at all TO
steamboats, of heavy draft mean nom
within distance of less than three miles.
Vicksburg is IA lovely if not u lively city
| however. 1t is uncovered in semitropi,
| foliage--the matchless magnolia being con
| spicuous by reason of its glossy leaves ant
| its great sweet, radiant blossoms Flower
| are everywherc-in the garden plots of tn
| Door, in the lawns of the rich. trailing dow
from terraces and reaching, up TO the chin.
ney tops of almost every homie. And. oh
such fowersl
The most salient feature of Vicksburg il
| point of architecture is its courthouse. I,
is large, strikingly elegant edifice ant
stands many feet above the sidewalk on I
| plateau that occupies u square. 1t seems
| to defy the destructive touch of time, for il
stood there when the thunder guns of thu
Federals were bombarding the city, and
marks of the flying bombs can be seen in
| places upon it's walls, but it is as substan
tial building today as it was in the yeai
that it was built and bids fair to grace the
green plateau for "a century to come
| strolled ont toward the Federal GENE
terry The road for a part Of the way wount
between high banks of earth, and in thes,
| banks were the caves which the people OF
| Vicksburg dug during the red, terrific sieg,
| of their city way back in 1853, and in whc
they resided, maintaining life the while by
feeding on mule meat. These caves are thu
haunts of tramps today and are Uttered
| with whisky bottles. sardine cans and othei
emblens of trampbood.
| l said that the Vicksburg OF 90 years age
| is the Nicksburg of today, that it has
known no change in the sweep forward Of
the years, but. alasi it has known the uni
| versal change that comes to every commu
nifty on our swinging star. for the young
men met in that far time are men of mid
die years today, AMI many Of the elderly
people who welcomed me with kindl,
handclasp then have passed beyond til,
uncontinented sea into the unknown ant
unknowable sphere.
have met many representative citizen,
while here, lawyers, journalists, poets ant
others, and am rather staggered to fine
| that many of them are pronounced Thcus
| ophists. hardly looked for any mem Der,
| of that mystic cult in community bearinl
| the staid. conservative. orthodox reputation
| of Vicksburg, but here they are, and they
represent much Of the brains, scholarship
| and worth Of the city.
The Vicksburgers are a very hospitabl,