The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1903-05-15

that they have the best and fastest
service of any line east Of the Missis.
sippi river over which the writer has
ever ridden. Tune seemed to fly as
fast as the train and We were seon at
Greenwood, where We stopped for a
few moments, and TO the writer's
great surprise and pleasure one Of
his old friends boarded the train ia. I
to tell him goodbye. This was Will
Chaney, of Sedalix aud The writer
appreciates his friendship the more
for the trouble Ie put himself to at
this time, besides he being tho last
to greet him from his Old. home.
Soon we were at tho State line and
had scarcely crossed il until the
clouds enveloped the train, and in a
few moments rain began u fall and
continued very gentle eli the way
until We had reached Chattanooga,
there we had to change cars to the
Southern. Wcwent around tbe foot
Of seme mountains and through 1
tunnel, bu. the night Was 90 dark
that nothing could be seen except
the shape Of the mountainf; Jks fasn
got heavier during the night md
at Daylight next morning We were in
~ north. west corner Of Alsbamx.
Snd the laadwas sstting ye1a tesSa,
in fact Il was moro thu l6vcl,
it was what they. call the Ass nod
Of Northern Mlsissippi and So thern'
Tennessee. Then the train ren over.
into Tennessee and thenN Nback into
! Mississippi, this e did for SsvsralI
times. As I Have just. said, tAia nat.
woods Mas,mors than level, it Ss1s!
very ast SoRmiles and miles shst Nc.
Hster could not. run nc al and tits
rain had caused great ponds Out
shsy boxed like kss AZ efcr The
|sc6santry:: come place. iberi W h1nr''
drcds Of acres of FIRMS fsI UnderI
Wstsr from few ihches ID = ~ o.
|tWo deep. In som pssees o. u
6aS up under the hc5 5Sscs ( 81 TX
ysheres ara sSerY faw5 .rcl| -
boxing q il ( M
State IN the county as most ofst6is
land is owned by wealthy pc ,ple who
live in towns. 1t is very difficult to
find place high enough to be out
of the water when there are heavy
rains, and in some places they scrape
the dirt up into a little mound and
then build the house on top of the
mound, and when there is a heavy
rain the house looks like it was in
lake. Nearly all the roads were
covered with water; the reason of
this was that the leaves chokcd the
water and there was not so many
bitches as there were in the farms.
This land has fine colour and might
be fertile, though the crop appear
ances were very scanty and the fact
that there are SO little improvements
would indicate that something was
radically wrong. The timber is very
small, hardly any of it over forty
feet high or more than 18 inches in
diameter at the ground, nearly all a
kind of post oak and water oak, no
pine at all in this fat land. The
shanties are built of these little poles
and have few rough boards inside
to fill the space between the poles,
though in many places snakes can
crawl through at pleasure, and they
say they tear the boards off in the
summer SO that the air can pass
through, as there is very seldom any
windows to them. There arc no
rocks on this fat land, so they mix
mud with long grass and then roll
the grass aud rlud around a very
small stick the length they want the
width Of the chimney, and they build
the chimney of these sticks with mud
and grass, and after it is all up they
sprinkle it with water and one fellow
gets inside and one outside and rub
the mud and grass downward until
all the points of the grass are point
ing downward, then the rain will fol-
low the grass and drip off of the
chimney; these chimneys will last for
many years. Some Of the fire places
are made of rock, which have been
shipped in, some are of brick and
some are made of burnt mud mide
tby the farmers.
Continued next week.
ShNTItc SpApkS