Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1895-12-13
Mliserllanrous Rtadina.
THE SHOW IN ATLANTA.
One of the York County Visitors Gives His
Impression Of 1t.

Written for the Yorkville Enquirer.
Previous to visiting the Atlanta ex
position, I frequently interviewed my
friends who had just returned, in the
hope of obtaining, if possible, an ac
count Of what they had seen. III
every instance, however, l was doom
ed to disappointment. The usual an
swers to my anxious inquiries were
something like this : "It'sa big show.
"It's dandy" etc.
Since my return from Atlanta,
can very well understand why it was
that the answers to my questions were
so vague and unsatisfactory. No one
no matter how gifted he may be in de-
scriptive talents-can give anything
like q full account of the numerous
and wonderful things to be seen in the
short space of two or three days
There is so much to see that there is
no time to ask questions, or TO obtain
satisfactory data with regard to things
In attempting to describe what one
has seen, the mind becomes over.
whelmed and bewildered, and we
don't know where to begin or where to
end. Yet it seems to me that if differ.
ent individuals who have visited the
exposition would write out short &C.
count of their observations-each from
a different point of view, and describe
the thing that impressed him most,
that it would prove of interest, espe.
cially to those who have not visited
the exposition.
My brother and myself boarded the
C. & l.. train at Yorkville, November
25th, at 4 o'clock p. m. With the
passengers holding their breath in an
ticipation of a violent death by being
pitched over some awful precipice, OF
of being precipitated into some yawn'
ing chasm, our wild train rushed mad
ly on at the rate of s or 10 miles pei
hour. Strange to say, we reached
Chester without injury at 6 o'clock
All drew deep sigh of relief.
We remained in Chester until Il
o'clock, when, in company with a
number of relatives, friends and school
mates of our early happy days, we
boarded the G., G. & N. train for At.
lanta. Our train consisted of or 10
cars, just filled to overAowing. As
passed through the cars and scanned
the faces of those on board, could not
help contrasting the past and the
present-a scene of 1861 and the
present scene of 1895.
Then, on every Southern railroad
we beheld large trains, densely packed
with soldiers en- route for the field
and later, "forming in the ranks OF
war" Next, four long years Of self
denial, of hardships, of exposure to
the scorching sun Of summer, and the
piercing icy blasts and SHOWS of win
Ter, thinly clad and rations scarce,
away from home and loved ones, upon
the tented fields. Again we see these
gallant, heroic men, outnumbered from
8 to S to one, successfully resisting,
upon many a bloody field, the splen-
didly equipped armies of the East, the
North, and the Northwest, combined
with a large foreign element, "fghting
an army while all the world wonder
ed :" an army commanded by the
ablest generals and possessing almost
unlimited resources until utterly over
whelmed by numbers, they gave up
the unequal struggle at Appomattox,
and returned to their once beautiful
Southland, now in sackcloth and
ashes, with happy homes destroyed,
property gone, and the ignorant Ne
gro suddenly elevated into promi'
nence and power. And yet we find
them forgetting, for the time, the
things which were behind, forgetting
the humiliation of defeat, the decimat'
ed homes, the absence Of fathers,
brothers and loved ones, with "heav'
en-erected face" and brave hearts and
indomitable courage commence anew
the struggle for life. And now, after
80 wears, what has been the result ?
Peace e-white-winged peace reigns
supreme. Our people prosperous and
happy. All eyes turned to our beauti-
full and beloved Southland as the Ca
uaan of America! Now these same
gallant soldiers-all that is left o1
them-are on their way in order tc
accomplish the peaceful conquest OF
Atlanta.
We reached Atlanta at $50 next
morning. We went at once to good
hotel, and secured board and lodging
during our stay. In this connection,
| will state that good board and lodg
ing can be obtained in Atlanta at
very moderate rates. My fellow coun
try-cracker, don't have any fear of hav'
ing to tent out. With % mammoth
hotels and less pretentious ones by the
score, with numerous private boarding
houses on every hand, you need have
no fear on the score of hospitality
Representatives from each of these
places, with smiling faces and suavity
of manner and extended hand beseech
YOU to 20 home with them.
Owing to the cold, chilly weather on
Tuesday, we did not visit the exposi-
ton grounds ; but instead we decided
to take glimpse at the "Gate City" OF
the ''Empire State of the South" We
cannot stop to describe in detail the
"Magic City" with an area of 10! miles,
with her population of 1OS,644, her
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