The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1903-10-07

south before the war. there is moth
ing thought of seeing four or five
vehickles, as many horses and more
people. There is just such abund-
ance at these homes that it does
not set them back bit to feed
horses and entertain people These
sights in Gwinnett explode the
thought that it was slavery that
gave suoh an appearance of both
hospitality aud abundance. There
has always been-a notion in my
head that the negro cost fully as
much in slavery as he does now.
When we strike d section where
there is not SO much to invite leav-
ing the farms and where the labor
will be directed by these samples
that / have named and negro dad
dies and mammies cooperate with
this intelligence in hadling their
children, there viii be seen the
same abundance and pretty nearly
everything else just as before the
war. A number of splendid old
plantations were observed upon
our trip. and man who had never
known these places in old times
would have a different feeling in
looking upon them. A peculiar
preservation IF these old farm
houses seem to pertain more in
Gwinnett than in any county north
from there, and if brainy mem
men like the old southerners-will
turn their capital and energy to
the farms instead of speculation,
Georgia would outstrip it's present
status to suoh an extent that it
would be a surprise as we'll as a
blessing. Our war ended with
everything demoralized and the
old men broke down in energy and
went away from the old plantations
and the homes left there went to
decay. Those grand old country
homes are better preserved in
Gwinnett. What is wanted ON the
farms is capital. There has got to
be so many public works that you
must all the time keep petting farm
labor to keep them there and when
you have to pet people into work
there is nothing to do but fail.
Ny own county of DeKalb was
settled from Gwinnett. Before my
county was opened to the whites
many settlers moved in from Gwin-
nett. The government sent troops
under General jackson and evioted
these settlers. Only a few escaped
the vengeance of the law from hav-
ing moved into an Indian territory.
General jackson seems to have
been unmeroiful to these settlers.
He had their growing crops de-
stroyed. killed their cattle and
burnt all their homes, pretty much
as Sherman did some sections that
he visited. The story of all this
destruction can be learned better
in Gwinnett than here in DeKalb.
like the preservation of other
things, they have preserved this
memory of Jackson's visit better
than we have here. In coming
back we travelled over the very
country where these settlers had
made themselves homes and found
that very little was preserved of
the story of the eviction. There
has been an old cannon preserved
here in Decatur, which we have
learned is relic of Jackson's visit.
When DeKalb county was event
ually opened to the whites this old
cannon was found over near the
Gwinnett line and brought here to
Decatur and it lay for years longer
than the memory age of any now
living goeth back. In recent years
this old cannon has been put out
of sight, but we learn that it is
still here, and is only kept in CON-
cealment to prevent the boys from
using it on Christmas and the 4th
of July occasions.
In the town of Lawrenceyille we
had pointed out the spot where
Major Smith Bill Arp) sold goods
as boy. 1t was told to me that
Bill Arp's father built the first
brick house of the town, and there
young Bill clerked when he was
not tall enough to reach the coun-
ter without standing on a box
The people all over Gwinnett coun-
ty hold the memory of Bill Arp as
a very precious thing. They think
that he belonged to them and love
him because of this to a greater
extent than anywhere else. / am
-lnl oE