The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-07-23
Writes of Methodist Preach
ers, Waterme|ons, Crops
and Politics.
DELIGHTFUL HOSPITALITY
rHE HOMES AND HEARTS OF 81.
NARY PEOPLE OPEN TO ALL.
DR., swlNDELLS ADDRESS ON MISSIONS
A, Estimate of Rev. Or. Yeats as Preacher
The Attendance is Large and the
Interest Growing.


Carriers. n. c., July 22.-(Ed!torlal
Extraordinarily good people Oh THIS
village and community have been look
ing forward since the dedication OF thelr
neat and comfortable new METHODIST
church to the coming of the district con-
florence which convened here yesterday
They have thrown open their homes ana
the preachers, delegates and visitors are
aniov;ng a delightful open hospitality.
Those hosts who do not reside IN the VII
lace come in the morning, provided Wl1h
old fashioned dinners of the old fashion
cd generous size, and at the dinner hour
entertain their guests IN picnic lashion
under the spreading oaks with the green
.rass as a carpet. And such generous
dinners as they do serve! The city Wis
itors feel that they have come TO tnat
land that flowed with milk and honey,
and. better than either, with watermei-
ons. This place is noted for ats hns
vatermelons. Many housekeepers III
Raleigh will not buy watermelon IroIh
a wagon until assured that 1T was rals-
Cd in the Gamers section. Ihere Is
something about the soil here that gives
the melon the delicious flavor that the
Craven county melon has, and something
also that lets them grow TO the mammotn
nroportions of the Eastern Carolina
melon. AS l write, Mr.. Bagwell is load
ing a car with as Fl e ones as are grown
anywhere to ship to Durham to supply
the Saturday demand in the Bull crty.
He tells me that there are tve hundreu
which average fifty pounds each IN this
carload. / envy the Durhamites who are
10 be the lucky purchasers. MIR. BagWelI
has become famous as melon ana COT
ton raiser, almost always taking the prize
an the State Fair for the finest cotton
and supplying Raleigh, Durham and 9TH
er cities with watermelons as luscious as
shose DR.. Sanderlin used to tell about In
his campaign speeches.
Speaking of melons, makes 1T proper
to say word about the crops. MI.
Kitchener says that every indication is
that the crops this year in every way
will equal the famous crop Of 1880, and
that if the prices are good the farmers
will be in better condition than for very
many wears. Mr.. Kitchener is not quite
certain whether fine crops will advance
the interest of the Democratic party and
the Methodist church, which he regards
a. twin agents for making men better
in this world and the world to come, but
he will run the risk in order to harvest
a big crop-and so will the balance of
L.
rightly that no man with grain of sense
will credit Mckinley with any hand in
it if the Almighty sends good seasons
and the people in the sweat of their face
make good cotton crops. This is an ideal
cotton country, having the two things
necessary to make that crop-suitable
land and negro labor. Wherever there is
negro labor in abundance, if the land is
adapted to its cultivation, cotton always
has been and always will be the leading
money crop, particularly if, as here, the
watermelons grow at the end or each
cotton row, as big as bushel measure,
and the negro can regale himself with a
melon as he hoes out his row. AS long
as fine cotton and big watermelOns grow
IN such close juxtaposition as about
Gamers, the prospectors may discover
as much gold as they will at that un-
qronounceable place in Alaska, but il
will not tempt the Garner negro, and it
ought not to tempt the Garner white
man whose lot has indeed fallen in pleas
amt places.
There is lots of indignation here among
the Populists over the appointment of
negro school committeeman, and there
are grounds to believe that the best class
has got a bigger dose of negro control
and tendency to civil rights than they
can stand. They believe in schools, but
they don't believe that a negro ought to
have any voice in the selection Of teach
ers for white schools. They draw the line
at that.
But I came to Gamers to look in on
the Methodist conference in session, and
have, without intending it, slipped q
cog and put the pen running on crops
and politics. You don't hear any politi
cal talk here among the preachers
though one of them did tell me that the
Populist movement in some sections had
exerted an injurious effect upon some
churches. sometimes almost splitting
them in two. That preacher is no politi
clan. He believes there are many honest
Populists who were driven out of the
Democratic party" because of Cleveland's
gold-bug and mugwump views, and there
was excuse for them. But he speaks Of
it purely as a matter relating to church
work. 1t is undoubtedly fact that sew
eral churches in Wake county mot tc
go further from home) were injured per
manently because of feuds that sprung
up about the time of the organization OF
the Populist party. "The Baptists suf
fered more than the Methodists from thi:
bad feeling" said my preacher friend
I replied that this was apparent in Wake
county perhaps because there were more
Baptists here than Methodists, though