Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1904-01-06

rhs Bosas-cack cenlfossrsy.
~ Newry, Deceraber 90 Editors Courier.
On the Western border Of Ocones, on the
line between Georgia and South Caro-,
lima, aves gentleman we'll known to
you, since you have devoted LOT Of
space from time to time to tho produc-
tion of his gifted pen and fertile brain.
That We might make It clear to the
readers Of The Courier as to who that
man is, we will say IL is j. A. Cook,
whose big heart overAows with love and
sympathy for the poor farmers--renters
land those that are so unfortunate, like
myself, as to be crowded into those "lit-,
tie old huts around tho cotton mills"
This man Cook has of late become SO
In love with the farmers renters and
working people that we would not
be surprised to hear of his building
splendid residences upon and down the
Tugaloo, such as would, for elegance and
grandeur, excel those on the Hudson, in
New York, or along the Rhine, in
France, and give the fertile acres to them
free of rent. Mr.. Cook, / will come
directly to your case--so please stand up.
Mr.. Cook, did you build, or have built.
the eight and tep-room houses you have
spoken aboutP II SO, did you build
them expressly for your renters, and do
you intend the house you have In course
Of erection to.be as good as the other
twop If so. you will have set an exam.
pie worthy of being followed by most
other land owners, and one that ought to
meet.with hearty. approval by renters.
Mr.. Cook, you mentioned the many
nice things you did for your renters, but
you did not say anything about what
they did for you, or how much rent they
paid. You also spoke about the barns
aud cribs you had built for them, but did
not mentions a thing about what was in
them except that the lofts in two barns
were full of feed--cow feed, guess. So,
Mr., Cook, If you will tell me that the
cribs are full of corn and stalls full of
horses and cattle, and Beveral pens full
Of hogs, and II the corn, horses, cattle
and hogs belong to the renters, and If
they are out of debt, then you can tell
them said for them to never leave j. A.
Cook to be crowded into the "little old
huts around the cotton mills" But II
they have no corn, horses, cattle or hogs
and are in debt, they had better come to
Newry and get a job in the mill, where,
If they will work, they can get out of
debt, have three square meals every day,
consisting of ham, beef steak, pork, cof-
fee, milk, butter, cheese, chicken, eggs,
preserves, etc., aud biscuits made from as
fine flour as was ever made. At the
same time we have good shoes and
clothes to wear, and good school that
runs about nine months in year, where
you can send the children without pay
ing tuition. The building, which is
m odern, is furnished by the company, at
a cost to them of over $1,000. 1t is
seated with modern desks, and in the
building is library of about 400 volumes
of various kinds of good books, all free
to the school and pupils of the village.
Besides, we will soon have nice church
with modern system of
heating and lighting, and with other
things that are necessary in making an
up to-date house of worship, at a cost to
the company, or mill men here, of over
$4,000. So you see, Mr.. Cook, this is a
very nice showing for the Oppressive
mill men," 1t is nearly as good part
as you do by your employees or tenants,
is it not? Now don't prevaricate o!
equivocate, but speak the honest convic-
tions of your mind.
This is not all that the Courtenay
Manufacturing Co. has done for their
They have built nice, neat
houses, some with Railways and all with
varandas, not those ''little huts," as you |
seem to think they are; but Moe houses
with from six to eight rooms, and from
one to two brick chimneys in each of
the houses. With few exceptions there
is fireplace to every room, except the
stove rooms ind they have nice brick
fues, and every house is we'll ceiled or
and kept nicely painted inside
and out
Now, Brother Cook, be honest, how |
do these houses compare with your
tenant houses Do they not come |
nearer to mansion than those eight and |
ten room houses of yoursp And can
you call them huts from the general &C
oepted application of the word hut, or
even from Webster's broad and full |
definition of the word hut ? For he in |
his unabridged dictionary says hut is
"a small house, hovel, mean lodge, or
dwelling, cottage" He further says
the word "hut'' is particularly applied
to log houses erected for troops in win
ter.
So you see, Mr.. Cook, you failed to
fully and correctly quote Mr.. Webster.
Besides, we don't think that you will |
deny the fact that when you called the
houses around the cotton mills "little |
old huts," that you did not speak con-
of them and reflected upon
those that dwell in them and the mill |
that provided them. Yes, Mr.. Cook,
you did this, whether you intended it or
not.
However, Mr.. Cook, suppose when we
were in your town some months since
and had the honor of meeting you at Mr.. |
Fricks's house, that we on our return |
to Newry had written an article for pub |
lication about what we had seen on our |
trip to Fort Madison, and had said the !