The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1900-09-29

liner o and cotton in upper Georgia.
The women, matrons and maidens we're
all well and neatly dressed and were
good looking, good size and healthy.
They could handle their skirts as grace
fully as a city lady and as my old friend
Bill Rainey used to say: sMaior, these
women are well coupled and stand up
square on their paster joints" Rainey
had dealt in horses for so years and
talked horsetalk about women and
everything else. He was a genuine
David Harum. I have most pleasing
recolIections of Longpond and its peo-
pie.
MY next call was to Hagan-Claxton,
a double town only three miles apart,
but whose people work in harmony and
have a very fine high school and school
building called the Hagan-C1axton in
s%titute, that is just midway between
them and is sustained by both. The
teachers convention was in session
there-about a hundred teachers from
TattnaI and other counties-and 1
say truthfully 1 never looked upon a
more thoughtful, intelligent and earn
est body of teachers, both men and
women. By request I made some IA
therly remarks to them and then had
to stand up and receive a hearty hand-
shake from everyone. That night /
gave my lecture, Behind the Scenes"
in the beautiful large hall where 450
good people from the twin towns and
adjacent country had gathered. How
easy it is for a lecturer or a preacher to
please and magnetic a large audience
when they are packed close together.
The standard of teaching is rising high
er in this region. The county school
commissioners are good scholars, grad
yates of our colleges, and they are *
acting in their examinations. Nine
teen applicants were rejected recently
in one county. This is an interesting
region and farming is easy and pros
porous. The long staple cotton is
grown here. I did not know until now
that the bloom was first yellow-a
bright canary-Rnd her turned red.
The seed are black and are rolled out
instead of being ginned out. 1t is hard
er to pick this cotton from the bolls and
rs pounds is a good days work. 1t is
now 20 cents a pound. Sugar cane
abounds here andis the most luxuriant
crop I know of. But it is the turpentine
and lumber business that scatters
money so freely in all this region. I
visited the Perkins mills. They are up
to date in all respects and cut and kiln,
dry and dress $4,000 feet in a day, and
give employment to several hundred
hands. Pine lands are now bringing
3 IoSrLA 20 ION 1H11orr on oDrn FOR 4hn
timber and the owner keeps the land
after the pines are cut away. 1t is
right sad to see all these beautiful for
ests passing away, but this is destiny.
While %sojourning here / was the guest
Of Judge Williams. felt very much at
home, for his lovely wife and 12 chill
. dren adorn the large, inviting home.
These children are from two to 20
, years and are well behaved, obedient
! and kept their faces clean. The two
younger ones began to call me grand
pa as soon as I arrived. Beautiful fruit
: abounds and 1 get as much of it as I
= wish andit keeps me in good health.
: Yesterday 1 visited McRae-Helena,
. the twin city. McRae is the boy and
. Helena the girl, and they get along
: in harmony like Winston-Salem in
: North Carolina. There is but n col
! lege and n of the newspapers is the
: Twin City News, published by two OF
u these same Observation-Disclosures and
u McRae. This is a new, lively and pro
! gressive town adorned with pleasant
{ homes and cultured people. 1t is high,
dry and gently rolling, and quite a re
sort for sick and tired people. I for.
got to mention that Hagan-Claxton
/ the other twin towns, have no corpora
n ton and don't want any. No mayor
q or aldermen, no marshal or police. II
g is like Pelzer, in South Carolina. Judge
n Williams said why should the good
IS people Of a town require these official!
e any more than the good people in th'
-e country. If they behave they are moi
IS needed and they do behave here. I'vt
been living here six years and have no
yet heard Of a fight or even a quarrel
Gland if blind tiger or one that WASH
T blind should come here We would straI
ot him over a log and run him off in TIVE
n hours. This Scotch blooded stock ha
-e ramified all over this region and maxi
P, laws for themselves when necessary.
. met new MAJ walker OF MChae=1SIeud
u to-day and he told me he had27 McRae
m in his church book and half the othe
be names began with Nc.
to Tattnall county was named for JIG
It siah Tattnall, who was governor jus
le 100 years ago. His SON Josiah was il
the United States navy and command
lg ed the Grampus, a man-of~war, in 1885,
Is, while England was fighting China
us Tattnall was ordered there to watc.
and protect American interests, but t
preserve a strict neutrality. His YES
" sci got stranded on a rock in the Chin
On seas and he was in distress until a
ed English man-of-war came to his r,
in lief and helped him off. Soon after thi
the Chinese were getting the best {
it. the fight and Tattnau pitched in an
he helped the English to whip them. Fo
ar this he was court-martialed when b
ID. came home and when asked why b
of did it answered: at was gratitude I
49, Trs,I-oT n1rTTIwgA ha9w - &c