Birmingham state herald., 1896-04-26


 George c. Ball, Nineteenth street, between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, South High- lands. Telephone sSS)
 It has long been the habit to speak of Montgomery as a beautiful city. This has been the case since 1t became the capital of the state, and was only quaint, typical, picturesque town, with broad streets and many handsome spec linens of colonial architecture crowning the hills or occupying great lots in the center of the city. It was then a pretty town. but it was unfinished and irregular looking, with empty, unoccupied squares, and small, unsightly buildings in imme- diate contrast with elegant homes. But now even the most indifferent visitor to this Capital City, which crowns the bluffs of the Alabama river, must pro- nOunce the Montgomery Of today peau- tiful town-so beautiful, so attractive, that those of us who have loved it longest and best are overwhelmed with surprise at it's growth and progress. Perhaps there is no other city in this section of the far south that can be compared with it, save Atlanta and New Orleans. There are no longer vacant lots, that reproach the enterprise of the people; there are no longer unsightly novels. impertinently edging themselves close to elegant homes; no longer any appearance of de- cay and quiescent acceptance of an un- fortunate fate. The streets generally are the same, to be sure, only the grand trees are trying to embrace each other from either side, so large have they grown in the passing years. The bus mess streets are spendidly paved and the entire town is Illuminated with count less electric lights. In every direction lovely homes peep out from behind the trees and the flowers, and whether you a in the 6a1r old pitV have opened your eyes first amidst it's fragrance and beauty you neve< cease to wonder at the growth and magnifi- cence of it's present conditiOn
 The business houses are large, attrac- tive, and are apparently prosperous. Dex- ter avenue, Court street and Commerce street are lined with a succession of handsome stores wholesale and retail, and on adjacent streets are great ware houses, where thousands of bales of cot ton are stored. Of course there is CO., ton mill now doing finely under excel lent management, and soon another will be whirrlng and spinning and making some enterprising Alabamians rich. There Is the same old wharf to be sure, where the pretty river steamers take on and discharge valuable cargoes. but there is no longer the calliope whose dulcet @ strains formerly aWoke the echoes be- tween Montgomery and Mobile, and were borne far across the broad corn and cot ton fields into the negro cabins there to be answered by old plantation songs.
 Street car lines run In all directions about Montgomery. and comfortable cars bear you from the center of the town into the remote suburbs. Most of the princi- pal residence streets have car lines run ming through them, while Dexter avenue and Commerce street have double tracks. On the suburbs of Montgomery there are pretty settlements, bearing such euphoni- ous names as Highland Park, Cloyerdale, Riverside Park, etc, where new, artistic homes are in touch with some of the lovely ante-bellum residences, which have been painted and carefully kept all these years. In the city proper, on hill- top and valley, there are such residences as would do credit to any city in this broad land.
 There are the grand old homes, many of which were built long before the war, yet are handsomer than any modern dwelling that stands in neighborly asso- citation. Many of these ante-bellum homes have great Corinthlan pillars that reach from the floor to the main roof, and wide windows that tell of old time southern hospitality and good cheer. Inside these houses are splendid halls and rooms, which have been filled in an age gone by with the brilliant men and women of our country. There the
 
 seems to hold in the many recesses his- tories and tales of another time when the eyes of the nation were upon Alaba- mas capital. If you are fortunate enough to be entertained at one of the beautiful Montgomery homes you will proba bly, sit at wide mahogany tables, heavy and black with years, al which once sat such men as Stephen A. Doug las William l.. Yancey, Edward Ever ett, Henry w. Hilliard and hundreds of other brilliant orators and statesmen of whom the world has heard. And inter- mingling with the bright converse of this present day, there will seem to come the ripple of laughter and the faint echo of witty speech, which bring memories of such magnetic fascinating women as Mrs. George Fitzpatrick, Mrs. stephen A. Douglas, Mrs c. c. Clay and hosts of others, who contributed to their hus- bands political success by their personal charm and their power to arouse enthu- siasm. In one of these glorious old homes there came back to me many of the sweetest memories of a long past childhood. and about and around 1t clus- tered traditions as fragrant as the odor of the honey suckle which clambered high up on its stately stone walls. There the same roses blossom that made glad the eyes of two little girls in the long ago. and the same old trees cast tender shadows over busy women who once played Tn childish TfeeuOm beneath ttelf sheltering limbs in another and a far away time.
 In all parts of Montgomery there are lovely new residences, as I said, which represent the best forms of modern ar- chitecture Many of these have been built by a younger generation of Mont gomerians and many by new citizens, who have brought to the city fresh en- ergy and enterprise, which have con- tributed much to the rehabilitation Of the town Court and Perry streets. Madi- son avenue and many other streets pre- sent a succession of splendid houses, all well kept and we'll appointed The churches in the main are large and hand some, although nearly all of them ante~ date the war. The Methodists are build ing on Dexter avenue a new and splendid church of red brick and stone, which will prove great ornament to the city and a monument to the devotion and enter prise of the congregation.
 No native Montgomerian, no one who has ever lived In the dear old town, can revisit it without growing sentimental and reminescent. In all the hooks and