The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-20
A souTHERNER ON THE SOUTH.
Chivnlry and Romance He Thinks
Died With Slavery.

| C'rou, the New: York Commercial Advertiser.)
| eyes. / imagine you would call mine
| Bohemian sort Of life. But have lived it
a long time. 1 like it better here than i'll
| New Orleans, better than in Richmond.
| bstter than anywhere in the South My
enc ambition now is to see. There is flesh
! and blood here, and life. l left the South
| because the South had loved in my boy
| hood had disappeared. Most Of the South
/ erners who gave the tone and the color to
| Dixie have drifted away, while the nav
| South apes the Northerners who have
| bought it,
These were not the words OF a cynic:
| they carried with them a longing and
| lament. and expressed sentiment that
| was dominant at recent semi Bohemian
reception given by number OF New York
| Southerners to a few brother workers
| The speaker was representative of a type
| that is conspicuous in New York today.
| Personally. the mans career is full of the
| flavor of romance and adventure; philo-
| sophicaliy, he is only type.
| This mans father belonged to the old
school of the South. which was too sensi-
| tive to be forced into the surrender OF
beloved traditions. and not sensitive
enough to be nodded by persuasion. Nor
| bid and restless at the close of the
civil war, he summarily departed for Cali
fornia. invested the remnant of his capital
in a wheat farm, lost it, and after thirteen
years returned to Alabama to die OF pow
erty and broken spirit in sight OF the
srot where he had once lived in splendor.
The pathetic moroseness of the father. had
! been refracted in the son. and in the diff
ference a keen observer could compare the
old South with the new. listener, VINO
had become interested, asked this ques-
ton:
What is the lack of tone and color
which you have mentioned due to. and Is
the romanticism and chivalry of the South
disappearing altogether
The Southerner smiled. Il sometimes
wocder" he answered, what l would De
now if you Northerners had allowed his
tory to make itself. instead OF making his
tory I would be bending all my energies
in a worthy endeavor to pass away the
time AS it is I am a worker. The
whole South is working. The idea OF work
and the idea of romantcism are more or
less divorced.
when slaves were taken from US he
continued you took away what made US
distinctive You took away our chivairy
and our romance. Slaves gave US power.
II YVES our power and the lives We led
that surrounded US with a halo OF mys-
tIcism. Our hospitality is still left. We
have also an appetite for corrbread. ana
we sometimes forget to pronounce our
RS We cannot always get cornbreau.
and our little sin OF omission, ~ dint OF
prayer and practice. is being overcome.
The idea that Southerners were once lot
of swashbuckling brigands who fought
duels at every turn was sort Oh AZ
thurian legend that did Us no good, out
am glad we are coming to understand eaeh
other. We were almost annihilated, and
are retaliating by fast become amalga-
mated
s.If YOU would get glimpse OF gentle
man Of the old Southern school. a gentle
courteous Roger de Coveriey type whien
is passing away. or if you care for Whit
Of sunny. genial. warm hospitality, seek
them only in the Oldest towns. Only in few
antiouated section are Uncle Remus and
his ole Massa' what they used to be. Go
tn Mobile and New Orleans and study the
old Spanish architecture. the ante-bellum
bouses with the massive pillars and wide
verandas and the sandy streets. AT Mo-
lille drive through the forests OF magnolias
that skirt the bay along the famous shell
road. Here are the finest relics. Famous
F. f. VS. will make you welcome. New
Orleans is more cosmopolitan and dirtier.
| The best of Southern society goes there
for the Mardi Gras festivals. when South
ern beauty and hospitality are at their
| best. Atlanta represents the New South
| more than any other city below Mason
| and Dixon's line. Farther up in Tennessee
| centenarian darby stands at the portal
of Andrew Jackson's old homestead, the
Hermitage. and talks by the hour of his
| masters duels and love affairs and per-
sonal achievements. Sam Houstons and
Dayy Crockett's ghosts stalk the hills Of
the Volunteer State. and just across the
border Daniel Boone killed his first Indian.
To things like these the South clings with
passionate devotion. for with the inva-
sion of progressiveness and mercenary
greed they are gradually set aside"