The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-06-21
Harry Lesesne Heard from Again.
iitor TEE TINES:

us L uSSNSN& SOLIClhiISo w OSSoPt 49,
mind l would scribble little for you.
The town that this is written from is
quite nice place tits the county
seat of Laurens county, and is situat-
ed on the Oconee river. According
to the last Census Dublin had eigh-
teen hundred people. but now the
population numbers about four thou
sand.
It's on the Wrightsville and len
nile and Macon and Dublin railroads,
about 10 miles southwest OF Au-
gusta. The town has spendld coun-
trv all around to back it, and the
growth is permanent. On account OF
good railroad facilities and also a
line of boats all the way to Savannah,
they have splendid freight rates, and
the place can boast OF several whole
sale houses, in addition to electric
lights, an immense water stand-pipe,
some hundred and fifty feet high, and
other improvements. l understand
that fifty thousand dollars is subscrib-
ed for cotton factory which is to be
built right away. In fact the people
all over this "wire grass" country are
wide awake and up-to date.
Right through here the timber in
teresIs amount to good deal as yet,
and there is much farming too, but
lower down towards the Florida line
there is little less than saw mills and
turpentine stills as money producers
Turpentine and lumber are both
bringing good prices uow. Spirits
turpentine has gone from twenty-four
to thirty eight and forty cents per
gallon, with rosin also strong, and
the mills cannot cut the orders for
lumber. For man with a little
money there are five to ten years OF
big money making in either turpen-
tine or lumber in Georgia aud South
Alabama, bat tue unfortunate part
with most OF US is hat we would like
to do and can't for the want of enough
to start with.
AS I said before, South Georgia is
full of mills and stills, and I will also
add alligator and srass-widows. The
days of the mills and stills and alhga-
.ors are limited, but under the pres
ant system OF laws in this State bear
ing upon the matrimonial question
the grass widows and widowers are
calculated to flourish until their name
shall be legion. l attended swell
wedding in church in q certain
CO, .1ty-seat one night about ten days
ago. It was large church but was
too crowded for me to set IN, so !
remained outside at the door and had
good look at the bride and groom
and train of attendants as they paus,
ed for several minutes to arrange to
march in. You ought to have heard
them iuquiring who had the ''license,
if it was in the preachers hands etc
The preacher is supposed to hold the
license in his hands when he ties up
couple over here. 1t was all very
amusing and I may almost say rldlcu-
lous to me.
You know wherever they issue
Licenses to marry they generally have
a dog license too, and sometimes
both the dog license Office and the
marriage license Office are in the same
building. It also sometimes happens
that where marriage isto take place
and the groom does not arrive in
time to take out the license that the
young lady applies for it 50 as to have
it ready. Then imagine the amuse-
ment of the officer, and the predica-
ment of a blushing prospective bride
who goes to apply for a marriage Ii
cense and goes to the wrong Office, and
when she finally takes handkerchief
from her blushing face and ventures
to tell the officer what she came for,
she is informed that that is not the
the place, and that she is in the dog
license Office. I am a typical South
Carolinian on the marriage question
and I always did think that marriage
was too solemn aud too high thing
to be put along with tobacco and
whiskey and dogs.
Divorces are also common overhere
ard divorce cases take upa good por-
ton of the county courts. [ under
stand that a license only costs one
dollar and eighty cents, one dollar
and half for the license itself, and !
guess thirty cents for recording. So
sometimes l think I'll just take out
one and carry it along in my grip
sack, in case I should strike streak
OF luck over here, but You bet your
sweet life here is one "bach" who
would step back across the Savannah
river to have the thing done up right.
l would hate to feel that l was all fix
ed up for "weal or for woe" for bet
ter or for worse" "until death you
two shall part etc, and then to know
that at the first county court that
came along I might lose my dollar
and eighty cents and then be turned
loose, and have all that big Job to do
over again. When that preacher
married that couple the other night
and told them that they were married
until death you two shall part" etc.
l think he said it wrong. He ought
to have closed it up by saying sac
cording to the Statutes in such case
made and provided. A certain
young man from the town OIL was
to have been married to young lady
in T. about ten days sgo. The
marriage was to have taken place on
Wednesday night, but when he got