Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1903-01-04
BEDFORD SATISFIED,

RETROSPECT OF, THE PAST YEAR
IS VERY PLEASING TO HER.
WHAT THE TOWN NOW NEEDS.
Sales Of Tabacco Amounted To s.
100000 Pounds, And Broke All
Records-The Week In Society,"
Nrs- E. D. Gregory Charming
Hostess.
BEDFORD CITY, January 3-fSpeciar)
Inc iuli that usually succeeds the ac-
| tivity and excitement of Christmas has
| now set IN, and everything is dull and
quiet The merchants are busy taking
inventories and many. of them find that
I the Christmas trade was the largest in
! TINS history. especially dealers in bric-
| a-brac and fancy goods. The number of
presents made was unusually large and
| notable. On the whole, the past year has
| heen one of marked prosperity and in
| creased business expansion in Bedford.
| especially for the farmers and producers
| or products essential for domestic con-
sumption.
| BIG SALES OF TOBACCO.
Bedford City has now become a to-
| bacco center Of considerable interest and
importance IMP the sales from January 1,
1917. up to December Goth being $500, 600
| pounds, exceeding all past records, The
figures obtained, except for a fall of a
! few days from a glutted market, have
rufsd hlgh and the planters are much
| encouraged, and in the main the county
! is more prosperous than at any time
! since the civil war The increase in
| freight receipts has assumed such large
proportions that the depot which once
| upon time was adequate for all the
demands of passenger travel as we'll as
| freight and express, with room to spare,
cannot now accommodate the freight
| alone. TO meet this demand additions are
being made to the freight depot that will
add to it's appearance and convenience.
The most notable advance of the year
has been in the postoffice and the ever
! increasing business transacted there
| The establishment of the six rural de-
! livery routes will add greatly to the bust
ness of this the central and distributing
office. Postmaster w. H. Mosby has Wis
| ions OF a large, handsome government Mt
| building in the near future.
| The reflection of increasing prosperity
| may be noted in the prosperous showing
of the two banks. the Peoples, q local
institution, established in May. 1901, has
quite a phenomenal exhibit of its status
and its business is steadily increasing.
WHAT is NOW NEEDED.
| While many new buildings have been
! erected, the fact remains that not house
can be rented in the town. The new
houses are built as homes for their own
ers, and strangers who would like to
-eside here are forced 10 leave for lack
| of accommodations. The crying needs of
! Bedford are a flrst-class. modern hotel,
where families may board, more dwelling
| houses for rent, a large, comfortable pun
| lie hall to supercede the inconvenient,
| unattractive room styled the 'opera
house, and the passenger station, re-
| turned to the confines Of the town from
! its inconvenient location in the country.
The cold weather of the Christmas Sea-
son afforded the opportunity for filling
ice houses, and the young people enjoyed
| a carnival Of skating.
| The holiday tide has been marked by
| numerous card parties among the ladies';
none of them very large, but all occasions
| of sociability and good cheer.
| SOME OF THE ENTERTAINMENT
A german was danced at the Windsor
| Hotel Monday evening by a number Of
young ladies and gentlemen and enjoyed
! with the zest thatha dance always in.
| spires.
! Wednesday evening Miss Mary Ewart
| gave delightful Christmas party to her
| young friends.
'rhree Otters," the splendid old house
| Of the fair young hostess, about a mile
and a half distant, was built for her
great-grandfather, a B. Nichols, many
years, and has always been regarded as
| the handsonlest home of Bedford. Its
spacious rooms and halls, which We're
deliberately decked with evergreens, holly
and the mystic mistletce, were brilliant
with light and fair forms of young peo-
pie radiant with youth and happiness.
The entertainment was given in honor
of Misses Eliza Mcdaniel and Del Ham
| ncr, Of Lynchburg. who assisted the
young hostess in receiving the guests.
| The guests were masked. and great fun
was enjoyed in trying to guess their
identity. Miss Evelyn Sitwell was most
successful and received the pretty award.
| Dancing was the chief pastime, and 1t IS
| needless to tell that 1T was enjoyed WIN
| the happy abandon of youth. An elegant
! supper was the chmaA OIL lhc JoSou'
evening. ,r,r
| MRS. %. D. GREGORY AS HOSTESS.
! Friday afternoon the members Of the
| Thursday Club and number or inElteu
guests were entertained by Mrs. f. ID.
Gregory. the president of the club, at her
| home on north Bridge street The parlor
was adorned with draperies or Navajo
blankets Of rich and varied t1nts. ana
rare collection of bead work ana other
| Indian curios, the property of Mrs. mary
| Hamilton Caskie, who is spending the
winter in the home of the hostess. AMID
these beautiful Indian curlositles were
disposed many handsome growing plants.
After the guests had all assembled Grow
Foot a young Indian brave. in all the
| ma "a nhernalia of a chief, from the nat OF
| waving feathers to the beaded moccaslns,
! in me person of Master Jacquelin Anlo-
! 1e, Casllie entered the room and began
| the distribution of papers containing
| twenty-three questions, the answers 70
which were the names Of Indian tribes OF
America. The hostess explained that the
raners we're quite harmless, as the ques-
! lions were of her own manufacture ana
o,,itc easy of solution. Perhaps the read
| ers of the Dispatch might ike 70 use
! their knowledge of American INDIANS oS
irving the questions
AMERICAN INDIANS
| Here they are:
game and Bedford pride.
q A variety of sweet potato
| 2 fruit and an instrument for las