Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1895-11-07
WAY DOWN SOUTH IN DIXIE.

spent several days in that city ENJOY
ing the great exposition held there.
The editors met in Washington the first
of the week, their transportation to
that city being over the B. & 0. Rail-
road, of which Mr.. G. 0. Scull is the
popular general passenger agent. They
put up at the Ebbitt House, one of the
best hotels in the city, and the sump-
tuous fare they enjoyed there will
long be a pleasant memory to the coun-
try quill-drivers whose usual proven
der is hog and hominy. A day or
two was spent in seeing the sights OF
Washington and in visiting the points
of interest near by. On Wednesday
the party left for Atlanta by the South
ern Railway. Mr.. L. S. Brown, the
general passenger agent and most
clever gentleman, extended the cour-
tesies of the road to the editors and
members of their families.
The distance from Washington to
Atlanta is GAS miles. The Southern
Railway has the most direct line be-
tween those points and certainly the
most efficient service. 1t runs three
fast express trains each way daily,
which cover the distance in from Is to
q hours. The trains are first-class in
every respect, with handsome day
coaches and fine Pullman sleeping and
buffet cars. Meals are served in the
dining cars and at eating stations at
Danville, Mt. Airy and Charlotte.
Talk about southern hospitality At
Charlotte and Mt. Airy-we speak
from experience of these places-dell-
cious repasts were provided, the cook
ing being of the good, old-fashioned
kind that you read about. The wait
ers would implore the guests to eat
more, and the proprietor himself would
scurry around insisting that they try
this dish or that and urging them to
"eat hearty" 1t was certainly a novel
experience to find such hospitality at
public place. The Southern Rail
way runs through an historic country
Manassas, Charlottesville, Lynch
burg, Spartanburs, GAINESVILLE and 9TH
er wsll-known places being on the line.
1t cuts straight through Virginia,
North Carolina, South Carolina and
into the heart of Georgia The section
of country through which it passes is
very much alike all the way. The
land is rolling and the soil is a red
clay. There is tremendous amount
of unproductive land, covered sparsely
with small cedars and second-growth
oak, hickory and other timber. The
occasional farms that are well cultlva-
ted and thrifty managed show con-
spicuously in their loneliness in that
land where so much is uncultivated.
Through Virginia and part Of North
Carolina tobacco is the principal crop,
with some corn and wheat. Further
south the tobacco gives way to King
Cotton, with here and there a stunted
field ofcorn. 1t would be good for the
farmer of Jefferson county to see a
few of those corn fields. 1t would
make him thankful that he lives in the
Shenandoah Valley. The fields we
saw would produce from two to twelve
bushels an acre. The corn had not
been cut off, but was topped and blad-
ed, and the ,ickly stalk, stood few and
far apart.
Those who live in the middle and
northern States are naturally most in
terested in seeing the cotton fields Of
the South. We have all heard and
read of that happy land "way down
South in the land of cotton, and a
poetic imagination is the result. The
writer was impatiently anxious to get
the first glimpse of cotton field. He
had pictured to himself level or gen.
tly rolling plain covered with tall,
imposing plants almost as high as
mans head, with great balls Of spot
less whiteness bursting from the living
green-a sea of foliage white-capped
with pillows of cotton-in which could
be seen picturesque groups Of happy
darkies gathering the snowy crop as
they sung their joyous songs. Yes,
that's what we thought we would see.
But there was drop in our anticipa-
ton. Awaking in the morning We
looked out Of the window of Pullman
through drilling rain upon a dull
and lifeless landscape. Here and there,
as the train flew along, was small
field or patch of unsnclosed ground
covered with an unfamiliar weed. 1t
was two or three feet high, brown and
dead, with occasional specks of white
| II Il