The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1898-01-08
BILL ARP IN MISSISSIPPI
THE GEORGIA PHILOSOPHER STRIKES A
MODEL TOWN,
ne is Lavish in His Praises...Draws Con.
trast In tho Disposition and Number OF
Convicts In Georgia and those in the
Great Lone Star State.

D Az - SAO"An6 AAV'A0 ivy
away down in Mississippi on the road
that leads from Meridian to New Or.
leans. It is in the piny woods and
derives large revenue from lumber and
turpentine. It is the market for many
thousand bales of cotton, but business
does not seem to be depressed on &C.
account Of the price. There are large
stocks Of goods and the stores are
thronged with customers, and the
hotels thronged with travelling sales
men, for where the carcass is the
eagles will be gathered together.
know there is money there, for it is a
sure sign of prosperity when over 400
good people turn out to lecture and
pay 80 cents apiece for it. I was
called there by the Lamar Literary
Society, which is another sign not
only of prosperity, but of culture and
refinement. A dead or declining town
cannot keep up such society. The
public school is blessed with one of
the most earnest and capable men I
have met with, and he is as handsome
as he is jealous in his work.
Professor Phillips made an i'm
preston upon me. The population
OF this growing city is remarkable
for its high moral standard. There is
not saloon there nor did the jug
business seem to be carried on. The
community is against it, and the
young men are deeply interested in
improving their minds and preserving
their morals. Another railroad is
rapidly working its way there from
Mobile, and everybody is looking up
instead of down. It is a model town.
Ellisville is farther north and is
another thriving town. It is an old
town with new clothes on and has a
large trade. You would hardly be-
lieve it, but there are more goods in
one store there than in all the stores
of Gainesville, and there are several
stores Of that kind. They are double
stores and the goods are piled high
up stairs and down. Large sawmills
are at work in the neighborhood, and
hundreds of men employed, and at
every station hundreds Of barrels of
turpentine are awaiting shipment
The railroad and the people along the
line seem to work in harmony and
have no conflict or litigation. It is a
fine road and keeps time like clock.
| found there some old friends
from Barlow county who are en-
gagged in the lumber business. In
fact, l never fail to find Georgians in
my travels and it pleases me to meet
them and it pleases them to meet
me, and we get clannish as we talk
about the good old state. I met an
old negro here at Crockett-old Uncle
Jake-who came in several miles to
see me. He used to work for Bill
Rainey Of Rome, away back in the
tifties, and came out here with his
folks just after the war. Rainey kept
the livery stable there for fifty years
and everybody respected him. He had
good, gentle old horse that timid
lady could drive and he was known BY
them as Old Jake, and did service for
thirty ears. That horse was named
for this old negro-for he had the care
OF him for many years. Old Jake is
Democrat, the only true, unfinching
colored Democrat in this county. Po
called on me at the hotel and it was
pathetic to hear him ask me about
his old friends in Rome. AS he asked
about one and another all could
say was: "Why, Uncle Jake, he is
dead long ago. They are all dead.
Almost everybody is dead but you and
l." He asked about Hardin and
Waters and Tom Price and Wallis
Warren and Colonel Shorter and Cohen
and the Berrys, and seemed surprised
that they were all dead. After be left
me [ went across town to see friend
and had not been there long when
Jake called in. He wanted to ak
about Sam Stewart, who has been
dead for forty years. Afterwhile 1
went to see another friend and the old
man followed me there and stayed un-
til he was called for and had to 20
bone. He is nothing but an old ne
gro, but he is as true and faithful as a
good old dog. DR.. Beasley, of La
Grange, Ga, is leading physician of
Crockett, and it did him good to meet
me and talk about Ben Hill and the
Ferrells and Ridleys and Morgans and
Walkers and Bacons and others. The
doctor is scientist in his way and
showed me an Indians skull that ,
was taken from a mound nearby,
and he called my attention to !
the fact that the skull had no !
seams or sutures in it. These seams :
Ire very marked in q white mans :
skull, but there are mono in the In !.
lian's. They are very smooth all over :
md very thin. I had never heard of ,
ibis difference before. Crockett is . :
very thriving and pleasant town of :
1000 people and has, they say, the }
inest negro college in the state. It .
IT about $50. 900 and was hnilt with