Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1898-05-27
A Peep into Farther Dixie.

1t Is a rathersudden transition from
a Tazewell May Snow storm to the
go-in-the- shade atmosphere of the
Palmetto State, and ones feelings
are very likely to be considerably
"hurt." However, ii is possible to
get used TO anything after you get
used to il.
The first thing of which noun
taineer from the blue grass region is
conscious when he opens his eyes
"way down South" is feeling of
pity for the people who live in such
a solemnly poor country, and this
is followed by sincere Thanksgiving
that his lines have been cast i'm
pleasanter places. 1t certainly looks
poor and the pines make 1t
solemn. The pines, the
swamps. the cane brakes and the
miserable little patches said to be
under cultivation, rival each other
i'm rendering the landscape dismal.
Heretofore he has always Judged a
country by its ability to
produce bluegrass, but after a
while he begins to doubt
these first impressions. He begins
TO realize in the first place that the
railroad runs through the very poor
est part of the country and after
wards that these little cultivated
patches are really part of the vast
acreage planted in cotton. Now and
then the train leaves the swamp or
the high poor ridge and dashes
through section of magnificent
farming land and countless cotton
rows stretch away across vast fields
where no fences mar the beauty OF
the landscape. After while your
destination is reached and you find
yourself surrounded with little
houses, multitude Of your "broth-
ers in black" and the pungen. odor
of guano. 1t isn't like home, but it
is interesting.
One Of the first things to attract
your attention is huge bundle
wrapped in coarse jute baggiug,
bound by iron bands and lying on
the station platform. Ii looks di-
tents showing plainly through the
ragged holes in the bagging. 1t Is a
disreputable looking affair, there is
no use in denying it; but you take
off your hat for you are in the pres
ence of King Cotton and in his own
peculiar domain. The sorry looking
object before you is only one of the
SOC. 900 just like it raised i'm the lit
tie State of South Carolina during
the past year. There is something
impressive i'm these figures ana your
interest is still further increased
when you are told that each one of
these bales are worth from $25 to
$50.
The factory near by claims your
attention and you eagerly follows
the many steps through which the
raw cotton passes until 1t leave
the hands of the six hundred men.
women, boys and girls as the finish-
ed cloth. You are told that tn ese
thousands of spindles and these long
rows Of looms use $4,000. bales per
year and that the big engine in the
ten years of its life has lost only six
teen minutes of its working time,
and your respect for the country
where all this is is dcne is vastly
increased.
South Carolina is State of mark
always had strong convictions on
dii BuDliC 4uCotlOiio anu uO OlC ctcT
questioned their ability or willing
ness to defend these convictions.
In the Revolution, during the long
discussion Of the slavery question, lin
the days of the great Civil war and
during the hardly less stormy period
of reconstruction. they have always
been in 1.-THE thick Of the fight"
I he Tilmanite night mare shows
that their ability to keep things
warm still survives. In one of the
larger towns of the : tate is to be
seen work Of art, or at least an ef-
fort i'm that direction, which deserves
to be remembered on account of its
conception although the execution
can hardly be said TO be above criti-
cism. Up above the typical and
universal pillars which adorn the
front Of the Court House, just be-
meath the apex of the roof Of the
porticO is the picture in question. 1t
represents huge eagle bearing off
in its beak a giant palmetto tree
which has been torn up by the roots
and on the tangled mass of roots
stands little game cock whose
whole attitude speaks of fight. Un-
like many other alleg orical pictures,
the meaning of this one is plain
Down at Colum bia, in front Of the
capitol, stands one of the mos
unique monuments in this country
1t was erected In the honor Of the
soldiers Of 1912. 1t is of cast iror
and is perfect reproduction of ,
Palmetto tree, every peculiar mark
ing of the trunk and every one o
the long. fan like frouds appearin,
as In the natural tree. The old cal