The age-herald., 1901-11-05
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE
eovernor InIka and Ind canehrs

| which hc governs. Perhaps there Is no | agricultural region of this country more beautiful or more fertile than the Cane brake. In oiden days that land was pos sessed and occupied by representatives | of the best element of the old Southern | aristocracy, great slove-owners who | were princes of tho earth and lords of a noble hospitality.
 'The luxuries and leisure attending prosperous planting often filled the old homes with congenial company" says Joel Campbell DuBouA in his most admirable and praiseworthy Sketches of Alabama History, singularly fascinating vol tune just from the press and one which should be in every Alabama household.
 "Opulent families from the Carolinas, Virginia and Georgia, launching upon the tide of emigration, settled within few miles of some other neighbor who had preceded in purchase and settlement It thus happened that lifelong friends were reunited in associations and cemented more closely in sympathies and common interests These conditions naturally de- | veloped social intercourse Fine horses and carriages made delightfully."- exhilera- l ting the rides from home to home in the summer seasons, and often tempted neighbors to risk the 'bottomless roads in winter. A royal spirit brooded over everything. Hospitality was open and abundant. Courtesies were as delicate and sure as in the most chivalrous homes of the Old World. and were dispensed with grace as natural and spontaneous as ever guided lord or lady.
 ''The social spirit has descended from father to son and from mother to daugh- ter It lives today and reveals in man. ner and language the elevating infiu- ences of intelligence and careful rearing in homes of refinement and culture"
 Professor DuBose. in referring to the Black Belt generally. of which the Cane- brake was and Is the garden, says in his | book:
 ''The large plantations were filled with slaves, who made the region possibly the most celebrated in history for luxurious homes in the midst of plenty. Thus the | Black Belt became synonymous with in telligence. wealth and political power. It has largely dominated the political his- tory of the state. It has ever been the center of social life"
 Alas. "the or home ain't what 1t used to be-" in the words of the old planta- tion melody-that is to say, the Cane- brake is not as rich and prosperous as in the slavery days, and many of the old l family mansions are now occupied by renters" white or black, as the case may be. But still the Canebrake Is won- drous beautiful, remains marvelously fer tile, as Governor Jelks must have ob- served during what seems to have been his first visit to that favored section of the land he governs. There are still stout hearts there true men and beau tiful women, and a hospitality which for gentleness and grace is unequalled in any other part of the Union,
 Birmingham Man and His Brother.
 James c. Amm CTS of New Orleans and H. L. Ammers of Birmingham met each other In Mobile on Saturday for the first time in twelve years, the long-delayed meeting taking place in the Union rail. road passenger station. according to the Mobile Register. Though the brothers had been in communication with one an. other, they had not in a dozen years come together. They arrived in Mobile one at 1:30 o'clock D. m. and the other eight minutes later. and their meeting was witnessed by quite crowd of per. sons at the station" After reunion dinner, the brothers departed together for St. Louis.
 Towns Made and unmade by Railroad.
 In this place some weeks ago appeared several interesting stories relative to cer- tain historic old towns of Alabama which, in their former exclusiveness, act ually subscribed money to keep railroads away from their Arcadian limits. the plea of their residents being that the modern" railroad of fifty years age brought musquitos, tramps. and name I less evils. These towns fell flr behind in the march of progress, and some oi them have practically disappeared from the map Tuskegee, where Booker Wash. ington comes from, after refusing a rail. road long ago, repented and built little road of its own. Mooresville. in Limestone County, has never rallied. nor has any other town that would none of it. as tc railroads ''befo' de wah."
 'Railroad-made" towns are very nun. erous all over this country. most striking types being Birmingham and it's western rival, Chicago. But scattered about tht land are a few towns that railroaos have to a large extent unmade One oc thcs. is Eufaula.
 'Tn the heyday of Eufaula's prosperity the town was served by only the line be- tween Montgomery and Macon, Ga. ant the little branch line extending out t, Clayton, a distance of some twent, miles" said a former Eufaulian. "1'her Eufaula received about 500O0 bales O cotton a year. most of t being brough in by wagons. The wagon trade of Flu faula extended to sixty or seventy mile, away and was exceedingly v,luahle They used to say that one bale of cot ton brought in on wagon from any cor siderable distance by tho man who pro duced 1t was of more value to the trad, of the town than fifteen bales O shipped cotton, that was. cotton received by rail or water transportation. 'Wagoi trade made Eufaula rich.
 "Ten or a dozen years ago EufauIa Clayton line was extended to Ozark, ii the heart of one of the most trul, prosperous agricultural districts of tn, South. a region in which the people 1iv, at home and board at the same place.