Iron County register., 1899-12-14
In the Old North State.

out and viewed the windings of the
Tennessee at Its base. Chattanooga
has grown beyond recognition, from a
mere village to pretentious city, but
its busy, hurrying scenes are the same,
aud | found the picture the eye had
snap-shotted upon memory's sometimes
uncertain negative was ID this instance
true to the reality.
Between Memphis and Chattanooga
L caught flying glimpses of Corinth,
Iuka, Tuscumbia, Stevenson and
Scottsboro, not to mention the White
sides crossing-a trestle work of dizzy
height spanning a narrow gorge be-
tween precipitous mountains. AS we
placidly roll over its momentary height
| cannot help reverting to that other
time when passed it on a box car
stealing stealthily across its then newly
placed supports, so slight in seeming
that airy nothingness appeared to have
succeeded to the secure and solid
mountains that based the rails at either
end. Corinth has changed greatly, of
course, but do declare upon my sol
emn "happy David" that the surround
ings of the station seemed as if 1 had
seen them but yesterday. Iuka l rec
ognized only by name. The lay of the
red clay land about Tuscumbia fully
justified my recollections of its pre-
cincts, but Stevenson and Scottsboro
were beyond me entirely. WOodville,
where we in 1864 lay encamped for
five months, and whose healthful eli
mate and pure water had brought tone
and vigor to our bodies enervated and
wasted by long detention in the mala
ria and swamps on the Mississippi
Woodville, am sorry to say, passed
before l was aware of it's vicinity and
while was engaged in satisfying the
inner man from the furnishings of the
buffet.
From Chattanooga to Asheville the
journey was made in pitch darkness
no moon and the lowering clouds
drenching the earth with their fulness.
At an early hour 1 retired, and soon
grew oblivious of all things earthly;
nor did the cares of this eXacting
world trouble me more until the un
welcome voice of the porter reused me
at 4:30 A. NJ. At o'clock we left the
train and | found welcome from the
same old colored porter of the Swanna
noa who had marshalled me to that
hostelry three years ago. Asheville
station Is full mile distant from the
town whose name it bears, and with
which it is connected by an electric
street railway. The convenient car
was at hand, and before the dawning
of the new day had made itself mani
fest to the eye, we were safely lodged
within the walls of the to me familiar
hotel.
Entering the hotel 1 duly registered
and then looked about me. The Office
had undergone some change but not
enough to drown the old in the new.
A huge fireplace, the mantel sur
mounted and guarded by moose's
head from every autler of which
oil 1ioh
pleasing innovations; and a recently
erected elevator adds to the comfort of
the wearylimbed guests. But the
reading room, wherein / had passed
many a pleasant hour with men whose
presence it shall never more know,
was inviting in its familiar semblance;
I think | even recognized the ink
stains upon the tables, and the walls
were graced by the old well-known
prints and eugravings, not forgetting
that well-studied map showing the
airiness and dryness of the region
round about Asheville. But the old
time guests-where were they? Gre
vler, Redmon, Mintzer. Kahn. Furber,
the Howells, and the host of genial
hearts that erstwhile enlivened its
friendly compass? Gone forever! un-
less, mayhap. like myself, enticed by
the glamor of fond recollection. lone
wandering spirit returns to sorrowfully
contemplate the gulf that lies impass-
able between the then and now.
/ traced the corridors, and, disdain-
ing the placed ''lift. mounted the
old stairway into the halls above: into
| the parlor where the closed piano no
longer gave response to the fair fingers
that had from its steel Intervals ex-
tracted the soul of music; where the
ladies used to assemble and by their
presence allure US from the card tables
below, and, blinded, to make US break
our shins over intervening chairs, or
to send us to ..Jerusalem;" and where
in story and song the retiring hour
raced with enjoyment and always won.