The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-11-07
BILL APPS LETTER.;
Arp at q Fair.
atlanta Constitution.

Arp at Fair.
atlanta Constitution.
If man would escape all this hurly-
burly Of politics let him take an over
land trip to some quiet country settle
ment where there is camp meeting
or fair going on. found place
last week that surprised and pleased
me. There is territory about ten
miles square down in the corner Of
Troup, Heard and Coweta counties
that seems to loom up little higher
and is good deal richer than the
average land of either county. The
old original surveyor who laid off these
boundaries would not put all this fine
land in single county, but tried to
tote fair with all. He gave Heard
the largest share because it needed it.
About the center of this territory is
little village called Corintb. Some
old Bible reader gave it that name, I
reckon, in honor of Paul, who lived
and preached in the ancient city and
planted churches there and turned
them over to Apollos to be watered.
This Corinth has no Paul nor Apollos,
but it used to have reputation for
it's school. Just as Beman and Fouche
and Isham and Dick Johnston made
reputation SO did a man by the name
of Carbett acquire renown as teacher
at Corinth. LaGrange boys and New
nan boys we're sent there, especially
those who were hard to manage at
home. Ben Hill got his rudiments
there. Rudiments in those days in
cluded the use of persuaders as we'll
as books, and the persuaders were gen
orally from three to four feet long.
But the boys are so much better now
adays that the persuaders have been
discarded. One of our teachers whip
ped boy the other day and has been
arrested for it and big rumpus raised
over it. That boy is in danger Of the
state reformatory just as soon as they
build one. Imean what [ say. [ have
noticed these boys whose parents raise
row when they are whipped at school
and they turn out bad. Dick John
ston' s rule was good one-''beg par
don, take whipping or quit school"
Corinth is Ugh and dry, kind Of
plateau of red chocolate land that
grows cotton and bermuda grass to
perfection and corn and oats in abun-
dance. It ia only sixty miles south
of Gainesville, and yet there has been
no killing frost. The cotton leaves
and potato vines and late corn are still
green and the cape jessamines take
the winter out Of doors. Bermuda
grass can be seen all along the roads
and streets and when grown for hay
makes three crops year.
Corinth has just closed her fifth
annual fair-a settlement fair that
draws the farmers and their families
together like camp meeting. It does
not pretend to be thing, but it costs
nothing hardly and the people like it.
They brought the best products OF
their farms, some corn stalks eighteen
feet eight inches high and twelve feet
to the ear. Wheat and oats and hay,
hams and leaf lard and butter, cane
syrup and sorghum, potatoes and
pumpkins and many kinds of garden
seed. A fine display Of fowls, some
hogs and Jersey cattle. In the wo-
mans department there were some Of
the same old coyerlets and counter
panes and patchwork quilts that we
have seen. ever since we were boys,
and there was some beautiful embroid-
cry work that we didn't see in the
long ago. There were all sorts of pre-
servers and jellies and pickles and [
counted six kinds of homemade. wine,
among them was some maypop wine
that the judges said was delicious, but
they never offered me any. Some of
the old veterans brought their guns
and swords and canteens. There was
an old battered tin canteen that was
in all the war and had I been such a
poet as my friend Lucien Knight I
would have written an apostrophe to
it in verse
Hail old canteen, the Southern Soldiers
friend,
While on the march his country to defend.
Close by his side thy shining form was
And none stuck closer than his old can
teen,
or words to that effect. And the Ital-
ians were there with monster perform
ing bears. These wandering songs of
Italy were 5000 miles from their home
ministering to the pleasure of our
children for mere pittance, but
where the bears came from I know not.
They danced and pranced to music.
They marched and countermarched
and made bows and sat in chairs and
wrestled with their keepers and did
many funny and fantastic things that
amused and entertained US all. The
men and the bears sleep together in
some clubhouse. They eat together
and share a common fortune. The
chief difference is that God clothes
one and man the other.
When dinner time came the matrons
and maidens spread their table cloths
upon the ground under the shade of
the trees and filled them with good
things for the multitude. Everybody
was invited everywhere and all were
pressed to eat and drink, for spring
water and coffee were abundant. l
eat chicken and sausage until didn't
know whether tc crow or to grunt, and
so I did neither.
Next came the races-horse races,
upon mile track that was in the
shape of the figure eight. It was in
close sheared meadow of bermuda
grass. This racing business seems to
be quite orthodox with the people, for
the stock is all homemade, and there
was no jockeying or betting that [ dis
covered. There was some good stock,
but none that were kept for the turf.
They pulled the plow or the wagon
and made the crop. Nobody seemed
to time them, and the only question
was, which beat? Maude S. was not
there nor Nancy Hanks. think
there must have been 300 or 400 bug
gies around that track, and in most Of
them we're young men and maidens.