The Newtown bee., 1904-03-18

self if it is spot in which she would like to live She evidently has enough of the New England "grit' to succeed almost anywhere. Another interest ing member of our family during those days was woman of refinement and culture, who was returning from her childhood home in New Bedford, Mass, where she had been to accom- pany her aged mother, who had visited her in her own home in Berkeley, Cal. She had lived in Santa Barbara about 20 years, but had moved to Berkeley to-educate the family of six children. A company of men and women of good sense can spend great many pleasant hours during trip like ours.
 The Southern railway connecting Washington with New Orleans, for the greater part of the distance runs within 150 miles or so of the Atlantic coast, cuts across the northwest corner of Florida, and then along the coast of the Gulf states to New Orleans, 1870 miles distant by rail from New York. Saturday, our first day out from Wash ington, we ran as far as Atlanta, Ga., reaching there just as the electric lights were blazing forth. The coun- try through which we passed was quite uniform in texture and quality, but nothing like as productive as farther in the interior. When cropping had been done, corn and cotton ware the staple crops. Invariably the corn stalks of last years growth showed the custom to be-one kernel in place, two feet apart or more in the row, and the rows about three feet apart. Stalks were not saved, only the leaves and husks stripped off for fodder, the bare stalks to be burned in the spring. The cotton stalks left standing from the last years crop were too much dwarfed to have produced more than medium crop, and showed the leanness of an impoverished soil. But there was abundant evidence of a coming re- vival of better agriculture, in the many large and up-to-date cotton factories recently erected especially in both North and South Carolina. In many instances large villages had been laid out with great care and regularity, and hundreds of houses already built to accommodate busy population that is bound to develop around these new and great industries that are to do so much toward restoring that border south land to greater fertility and pro- ductiveness. Night closed in on us at Atlanta, and still we were speeding along as we were sleeping, while the sleepless eye of the engineer was peer ing through the darkness and his firm grip was on the throttle. Daylight found us in southern Georgia, where, passing through endless belts of pine timber, we saw steam saw-millS cut ting the timber for our Northern mar ket. As we crossed Mobile bay, the country grew more marshy and deeply lndented with bayous, and we peered our eyes hither and yon to get a glimpse of alligators, which some were sure they saw, while others declared it to be nothing but floating logs half out of water. We passed many large groves of pines that had been boxed, as it is called, to gather the gum for turpentine. One novel feature to those unaccustomed to travel along the Gulf coast, especially Mississippi, is the long hanging moss that covers the forest trees and dropping almost to the ground. We arrived at New Or leans about noon on Sunday, four or five hours behind time, when we had been assured.we were to have several hours for sightseeing, but which, be- cause of delays, we were deprived of, and our long train of vestibuled cars were run onto barge to be transferred across the Father of Waters.
 Redlands, Cal,
 March 8, 1904.
 When we it our home for our trip it was not our intention to be upon the road on Sunday, but delays in starting seemed to make it necessary, and Sun- day morning found us on the train nearing New Orleans. So much be- hind time were we that our conductor feared we would have to lie over until Monday, but our train was hurried on to the barge, and heavy tugs lowed us across the Mississippi, where mon- ster engine was coupled on, and we were soon whirling westward through tho cana and cotton fie1dS If r ,o,1iSiopo
 We run through fertile prairie coun- try, with black, deep soil seemingly under thorough cultivation, while along the edges of the track on one side the trees are draped in long sill very Spanish moss, forming drapery of singular gracefulness. As we near the western edge of the state we run into great pine forests. Three hundred and sixty-two miles west of New Or leans we arrive at Houston, one of the great commercial centers of the