The leader., 1901-05-22
BRooKHAvEg THEN AND NOW
AcLTMAx IN EVOLUTION.


pencil 10 hand, with paper before us
lying, looking through the exchanges
to see IL we can find anything worth
copying as an editorial, but finding
nothing that we can endorse" we will
Just write few things about Brookha-
ven, as we can think of nothing greater
just now
Brookhaven was the first railroad
town that we ever discovered. 1t was
here, forty five years ago, that we saw
our first steam car. 1t is bit anus
ing now to think about our first i'm
preston of the great iron horse. But
it was a mustang pony then in compar-
ison with those being run today. Our
father then lived away out some thirty
miles in the interior, but we heard no
little talk about the railroad, and one
always imagines how thing looks be-
fore he sees it. Having never seen any
kind OF a rail except fence rail, it
was easy for us to imagine that rail
road was made OF fence rails, because,
that was the only kind OF rail then
i'm existence. We could hear of many
of our fathers neighbors hiring their
negroes out to help build the railroad,
and we could imagine those darkies
telling the timber and with their mauls
and wedges shelling out the rails with
which to build the railroad.
On one occasion, father allowed our
older brother, Tom, to take us to see
the railroad, and we will never forget
it. Now. Tom had been several trips
previous to our going, and we had
heard him tell whole lot about the
concern: but there were just few
facts about which he had not familiar
lied his little brother. We had heard
him tell how the merchants had their
store things hauled up on the railroad
and how one or two men had been run
over and killed. Before we ever saw
a steam car we got the impression that
they were not safe thing to fool
with. AS we we're nearing Brookha-
ven Tom told us to stay with him or
the cars might run over US, and this
caused US to enter the town with fear
and trembling. On our arrival we
were informed that there would be no
! train in several hours. This kind o
stopped the "kawow- kawow" noise
which had been going on in our ears
| for some time. But the thought oc
CURED to our mind that the people
might be mistaken as to the time of
the train coming. How did they know
when train would come when we
knew full we'll that they were liable to
come at any time? Hence we began
casting about for place OF safety in
the event the cars came dashing in at
an unguarded moment. for the last
words mother said to Tom on leaving
| home were, Take care of Allen and
| don't let the cars run over him. Our
| impression was that if the forthcom-
ing train brought whole lot of store
things for the many stores about four
in NUMBER it would be running all
over town unloading the goods at the
different houses and no living mortal
would be safe anywhere. Mr.. Frank
Larkin, who kept store somewhere
near where Dick Scherck's store now
stands, told US that the engineer would
whistle in plenty of time to get out of
the way. Then we could, in our imag-
ination, see the engineer sitting on top
of the car whistling; and we kept a
sharp lookout for this sort of thing.
Finally, the rumbling of wheels was
heard in a southerly direction, and in
charge of brother Tom, we ran down
the road mo streets them near pond
lying in front Of where Alex McNair's
law office now stands. The train pull
ed in, and we had taken our position
between the pond and the railroad, at
what we thought was a respectable
distance. We were on the alert for
the engineer on top Of the Car when
the locomotive gave a loud, shrill blast,
and set everything going about the en-
gine capable Of making a noise, and
the reason we didn't fly was because
we had no wings. We split right
through that pond with our other
pants on. We didn't know the depth
of the pond, neither did we care, for we
felt that we had as soon die one way as
another, and little rather. The by
ISLANDERS all laughed but we thought
if that engineer had been in his place
and whistled as Mr. Larkin said he
would, that terrible accident would
not have happened.
The first steam mill whistle we ever
heard was blown by Mr. Whitworth,
who built the first saw mill in these
parts. Mr.. Whitworth was the pioneer
saw mill man in this section, and Whit
worth College was named in his honor.
This popular institution of learning
today owes its existence to the efforts
of this grand old pioneer of the forest,
who has long since passed to his re-
ward, but his works do follow him.
Contrast the little steam saw mill
owned and operated by Mr.. Sam Whit
worth forty-fve years ago with the
Pearl River Lumber Co.'S mammoth
plant, in which there is nearly a mil
lion invested. Contrast the little 81 ore
in which John McGrath & Sons first
began to do business with their huge
two-story brick building, presenting a
plate glass front which would do credit
to any city. Contrast the little village
of the forest of fortyfive years ago.
where the track of the wild deer and
furEay uara plainlv to ha saan and