The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-06-13

! dlce Is passing away. | confess that
had it, but | am cautious nowadays and
made no fuss about it. Somehow T don't
favor thugs that can't do myself. 1
| don like to be left behind One Of orr
school board refused to vote for our
superintendent. Il believe he is the best
man of ALL" he said, but he rides a
bicycle" | was in South Carolina last
week and found them everywhere. There
were eighty-seven of them registered in
the town of Blackvile and nearly half
Of them were used by girls and matrons.
1t IS beautiful town, as level as a floor
and the streets look like they have been
fore planed and sand-papered. The light.
sandy surface is not much in the way of
the wheels and the pretty girls wheel to
schooI and to the pOstoffice and the stores
ana go visiting and take their evening
excursions. They ride with grace and
modeSty and nobody objects or is sur
prlsed There is a first-class repair shop
there. where every broken or damaged
part is mended and even plating in silver
and brass is done From this skilled
mechanic | learned that it cost n man
about 50 year to keep his wheel in or
DER ana cost woman about $50.
You see," said he, 1.-THE young men
take more risks aud ride over the cross
ties en- the railroad track, but the girls
are more prudent and careful. Oh. no. it
does Tot cost one-tenth as much to keen
wheel in order as it does to feed n
horse. With careful usage a good wheel
ought to last ten years, but the improve
ments come so quick and fast that the
old style soon becomes a secondhand
| and is sold for half price and a new one
bought. Like the sewing machines. the
| price will soon come down as the patents
! run cut and then a good wheel can be
bought for $50 or $40"
My next stop was mt Bamberg. n 1.-Two
! town on the South Carolina road. and
the first thing that greeted me was a BIZ
/ cycle dress parade and then a tourpa-
| meht Riders and wheels were all deco
| rated. Some of the men were in fantastic
array; the wheels We're adorned withsgay
colors of ribbon and fancy paper.& The
company was forty strong ami had it's
! officers, who gave command Fright
| wheel, forward roll, evolute. speed well.
round the bend, wheeiSgahOy. slow up.
dlSmount, salute youT queen" etc. There
| were some young 9;ries in the procession
ana some men. in female earb. but it took
| no Soomon4to divine their SEX Bamberg
/ Is an old town made over. renewed and
/ lnVI7orated by the wheels and spindksS
/ and looms that hum day and night in Il
/ large cotton mill near bv This mill has
tt"f0uGiiF good Scu0uFS ana drCpSTyTTF TNYpiTS
and new hotels and churches and many
| beautiful new residences 4 cotton mill
/ does as much or more for a town as Il
| pension agency. The latter pours free
| money INTO community, and free mon
! ey goes as easy as it comes, but mill
| dis pfb uto =. 7
more mills at Orangeburg and that city
is on boom. More mills are being built
| built from the dividends of the first
mills The town is stretching out and
| putting ON city airs. | wish it would
| stretch to that Coast Line depot. for it
Is an awful long mile for man of my
age To walk and carry valise | was
! told that a hack would come for me at
! half-paSt five O'Clock but as it did not
I come, | walked for fear of being left 1t
! was little after daybreak by that east
| ern time and | had hardly got rested in
! the depot before the street car came
/ rolling down without passenger. What
| an idiot | was, but nobody told me how
| to do and | wouldn't have been left for
| so. But just think of it. | left at 6
o'clock and reached Atlanta at l. o'clock
--26l miles III six hours, forty-three miles
an hour, including stopages. This was
| the fastest travelling | ever did in my
life. | visited another town that is just
taking on its second growth. St George
is a lovely little village that has recently
been made county seat and the people
are proud, very proud. They are pre-
! pairing to build q courthouse and expect
that factories and street cars and water
works and gas lights will soon follow.
But right now" said my friend 1--WE
have a town full of the prettiest girls in
! the State" Yes. His wife is in Europe
and every girl looks sweet to him. learn
ed that the town was named for clever
old settler by the name of George, but
how he came to be canonized into saint
did not learn. / met Howell there
a cousin Of Evan. He is editor, postmas-
ter and general factotum and Il rebel to
the core. Our own ID. B. Foreman, of
Gainesville, another editor has proved
his claim to the youngest soldier of the
Confederacy, but Howell pushes him very
! close, for he ran away when he was
fifteen years old and fought at Vicks-
burg and Chickamauga and then got
| into a hospital at Rome and DIR. Miller
took pity on the beardless sick boy and
cared for him two months at his own
nome ana then sent him home to his
mother.
But Barnwell, old time-honored Barn
well, quiet, peaceful Barnwell, gave me
the most royal welcome. These good
people are not in a hurry about any
thing except once a year, and that is on
the race track. They trot around that
and talk politics and discuss Tillmanism
and the dispensary ON the way. What
fine old gentlemen / met. A ripper scholar
than Colonel Simons, son of William
Gilmer Simons, can hardly be found. A
handsome man and pleasant and earn
est talker. Then there was Ex-Governor
Haygood-General Haygood, the hero of
Petersburg. His solid, massive, benev-
client face made an impression on me
that will endure as long as / endure. But
who would have thought of finding there
brother of Mrs. Lincoln-Dr Todd, a
| leading physician and surgeon, a friend
Z To bf1 h. e.