Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-21
The Attractions of Savannah During
an Open Winter.
A CITY OF SHRIMPS AND CAMELLIAS
A Mammoth Cargo Of Cotton
Shipped Direct to Europe.
NATIONAL GUARD SUCCESSES
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

ga A&<AS<AI1p 1d~, JdHudTy 49, 1880
Savannah, besides other things, Is IA
nous for its military organizations, its
public parks and at this season of the
year its shrubs and camellias. There is
reason for this fame. Its military organ
tzattons are numerous and wealthy, as is
evidenced by their handsome armories,
which Is but another name for elegantly
equipped club rooms, and for the compo-
sition of the various companies. While
ttey may not be strictly called exclusive,
there Is no room in them for Short hairs
or otherwise Objectionable persons, young
or old. Today there was a military parade
in honor Of the birthday of the confederate
chieftain. Gen. Robert E. Lee, and it goes
without saying that there is nothing lack
ing in the way of numbers and enthusiasm.
This public holiday in the south is to be re-
garded as specially military day, when the
sojer boys have everything in their own
hands. That they will fully appreciate and
observe 1t have no doubt, al least for some
years to come. The boy is growing up, how
every who will see it fade away, for Washing
tons birthday is only short time off, and
it will be found that in the SOUTH as well
as the north, that day will be good enough
for military parades and public celebra-
ticns, at this season of the year.
The birthday of Jefferson Davis. June 3,
will be, under a recent law, celebrated as
public holiday the first time next June.
This day, 1t is expected by some, will dim
the glory of the glorious Fourth of July
but think there is not much danger about
It, though it does seem to crowd the Fourth
OF July, as Lees birthday crowds the I'D
of February.
Snvannall's Parks.
The public parks of Savannah are numer-
Gus. and now that the camellias are in full
bloom, are wonderfully attractive. This
&c,
lection. 1t ranges all the way from the
purest white to the darkest red. many of
them consisting of a varegation of pinks
and white, some of the flowers presenting
the appearance of pure white from one
standpoint and combination of red or
pink from another. Time was when the
cameliia was en- extremely fashionable
flower in Washington and the south. The
superintendent of the botanical gardens
once told ME that he regarded the camellias
as the greatest of all of his floral attrac-
tons OF CO lrse, he had to grow them
under glass, but they were as perfect as
these which grow in the open air in the
south, both as 10 size and COLOR or tints of
color.
Old residents of Washington will also re-
me mber the collection of cameilias grown in
the Douglass green house at the corner of
18th and G streets. These cameliias proved
to be the best paying productions of the
Douglass green house, the ownership of the
plants, as many will remember, being for
many years a matter of contest before the
&C urts. Besides the parks proper, there is
u series of parked places, along several of
the principal streets, the beauty of which is
seriously marred by the direct walks
through them, cutting the places into eight
and twelve distinct parks-public traffic
and straight paths being regarded as more
Importance than beauty in arrangement
Right angles have never yet been arranged
as lines of beauty, and there is no excep-
ton IL this case. 1t takes more time, of
course, to get to certain place where the
pain IS arranged as 1t should be, but there
is a recompense after ali in the doing of it,
One realizes this more when observing how
the parks are cut up into square places OF
varying size than he could otherwise. 1t
Will cause him to appreciate the seemingly,
to some, tlresome winding walks through
your Lafayette, Franklin and other parks
and 1t demonstrates the walks arranged of
any proportions of circle are recreative
rather than otherwise. Though the parks
proper are well provided with seats, the
parked places, which are situated in the
central portions of the city, the public
parks at the outer edges of the main part
of the city, are not.
For Nurses and Children.
"The latter, strange as it may appear,
are the resorts of nurses and children, and
1T Is peculiar sight to see the nurses wend-
ing their way to the parked places with
camp chairs or other seats packed on the
baby carriages or carried on the arm of
the nurses. With the exception of a few
rainy days, there has been no day so far
during the present winter when the babies
and their nurses have not been seen camp
ed In the park places. Indeed with the eX-
eeption OF possibly three days, there has
been no winter here. Last week it was un-
bearaby warm, and young ladies and girls
with white waists were to be seen on the
street at all times. whirling along on their
bicycles, for Savannah is the proud posssxssor
O halt tod ctr
therefore par excellence the bicycle city of
the south, with fully organized bicycle
mounted police corps thrown in as an at
traction or otherwise. The asphalt streets
are kept clean, not with white WINGS as in
Washington. but in similar way with
hand labor. The other streets are roads
through sand, horses and wagons sinking
twelve inches deep into them, in this re-
spect being more like the sand streets of
Atlantic City than anything l can compare
them to.
The Place for Shrimps.
savannah is the city for shrimps, and
though many of them are shipped away
packed in Ice, the local consumption of
them Is enormous. They are the piece de
resistance at all tables, and, being plenty
are correspCndingly inexpensive. In the
markets a bucket holding three or four
quarts can be purchased for % cents. There
is no special skill in cooking them, simply
like crabs. and the thing is done They are
served in mary ways, but in majority of
cases. as the chefs say, au natural. AS
a food they are in constituency a combina-
ton of the oyster and the crab, with a
certain delicacy Of taste that neither have.
and having none Of the, to some objection
able features that goes with the oyster or
crab There is no tough part in shrimp
and none Of the shell that covers the crab.
They are eaten entire, the head and tail,
OF course. being removed. AS a nourish-
ment they are regarded superior to the
oyster, and rarely have the after effects
of crabs.
A Big Load of Cotton.
Savannah IS just now enjoying two sem
sations, the sailing Of the British tramp
steamship RAMA, with the largest cargo OF
cotton ever shipped from any Atlantic port,
and the Carter court-martial. The Ranza,
an immense modern monarch of the sea,
carried away 1920 bales Of cotton to Bre-
men, weighing s,963 ,S55 pounds, and valued