Birmingham age-herald., 1895-03-10
SOUTHERN SURPRISES.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "PREsToN PApERs,o
 NEW YORK CITY.
 To the Age Herald: ..s.s.ll, First among the s'surprises'' againsta which have stubbed my. toes, is the won- derful gastronomie capacity of the people,. !. and the ways in which this is catered toss Three tsquare" meals day are enough to; frighteu New Yorker into dyspepsia--or into "going thou and do likewise D ss Then came the general care and courtesy extended by the men to womankindsl slz ''Southern chivalry' is not a dream nof the exaggerated fancy of a rolnancer 8 bran-as 1 had always thought-but a 'truly" and all-pervading sentiment which finds expression in the most kindly protectorate- for which any woman could ask, and which the most thoroughly ossi-s fled could not fail 10 appreciate. si The domestic arrangements were the next thorough surprise. Few of the serv.;s ants are ''quarlered' in the house of their employers, and not many more ''on the- lott (until month ago had never heard that expression), while in our part of the country house servants who sleep away from their places of service are the excep- tion, so that the condition was entirely new to me. E The weather has been constant 5ourcs of exclamation points. l had thought of this as the "suuny south, o and so left my fur coat at home after having worn it since
 
 times I've wished 1 had 1t here to protecu me from the biting blasts of the atmos- phere; and have really thought the old time-worn appellation, ssolid south, was as appropriate as in days lang syne. although for a different reasonl Theres were several days during the "blizzard' = when had to break the solid ice in my pitcher or thaw it out before 1 could make , my toilet.
 One night had been writing, and when l ruif a 1 .20 n the rnprpinU cat tha ink stand on the mantel to prevent 1t from freezing, there then being good fire in ; the grate below, but when got up the next morning the ink was as solid as the stand that held it, although just over hot ire.-~ s Then there is the title ''Miss" applied to my sex indiscriminately, regardless of age or marriage. l see through this, however, as relic of the beautiful long ago, when every child had her attendant, to whom she was always and for aye "Miss Csrrieo or Miss Grace,'' regardless of the flight of time or change of circumstances, and 1t has been with real pleasure that have heard myself called familiarly Miss Lucy," for 1 like the kindness which it breathes. Then l think l never did see the darkey in his ipristine glory before. Those who come north are different specimens of the genus Africano, and had not imagined proach to it having been in my trips to-. Washington, Baltimore and Cincinnatl.e z the latter city being Gas now know) quito . "southern;" but ''Dixie" takes the palm for being the real paradise for the black race. F The youth (and good looks D of the average s'man of affairs' has also aston ished me not little; for in our part of thee world men-or their apologies-are so plentiful that there is a continual scramble for office and place, and by the time man gets what he wants in this lie he has lost his fresh ness, some of his teeth perhaps and combs his hair with a towel. Of course my work leads me out more into educa-s tional work and among educational aud literary people than others; and in my, work among southern magazines and pa pers, and in my correspondence with southern ''scbool'' men I had mentally pictured them as I have found them else- where-and have been most wonderfully "taken back' when presented to those who were so different from fancy's pic-&s ture. However, l've survived the shock. S Just now Pm beginning to look for ''the~ unexpected' and 10 wonder what it will be. Suppose it should turn out -l s
 l.. A. Y.