The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-06-15
For The MESSENGER.

~ IAt NiiA4uSloA AessSLEer, J |
briefly adyerted to the changes spoken
of in the old Fayetteville market house
n TO the proposition Of Mr.. NJ. Fob, |
a merchant On Person street. to rent
the building for a ter moi years at
$1,000 a year, guaranteeing TO pu- at
leas. $4,000 in Improvement on the
property. This last proposition Is so
remarkable as to deserve a more ex-
tended notice-being nothing more nor
less than a proposal to convert the
city's only public building into a
store.
Mr.. FOLDS plan is to take cut the
meat, fruit aud vege:a; it stalls from
the ground floor. substituting iron for
brick fronts, adjoining the arches with
plate glass, and using the city hall ~
the second floor for a tirins and retir-
ing room for the women customers. I
do Tot blame Mr.. Folb for his effclt
TO realize the original idea which he
has taken into his head. He is strict
~ a business man, alert, energetic
and progressive; a mOney-maker ana
a shrewd man of affairs" He az
CUES that here may De iii opportunity
for a striking departure from the or
binary methods of selling goods in he
ordinary style Of mercantile building
Certainly, could Mr.. Folb obtain from
the public works commission an &C
ceDtaBce Of the contract hich he of
ferS, he would be the best ADVERTISED
merchant in the whole country. Moth
ing like it has ever come within my
knowledge or observation. The near
est approach to it was the "Arcade'
in Philadelphia, which stood for many
years before the civil war, perhaps
during the war and for a year later,
but which has long since gone the
way Of many other quaint and old
Fashioned things in the Quaker City,
regarded as stumbling blocks t mod
ern progress.
Mr.. Folb, with his goods, and his
clerks, n his business Office, would
be quartered i'll a structure set in the
very centre of the city, from which
radiate the foul main business streets,
surmounted by a lofty cupola, it's four
sides set to the cardinal points of the
compass, on each of which is the face
of an immense clock, with broad open
air balcoRies-all invested with an al
most classic dignity from the unique
but elegant architecture of the build
ing.
1t is hardly probable that Mr.. Folb
will succeed in his remarkable enter
prise, though the vandal public eye
has long been set On the market
house. The impatient foot of prog
resS treads it's outer pavements and
it's inner corridors, while the stalWart
arm of the new industrial age would
fain shove it from the path, like a
worthless old man who has "outlive'l
his usefulness" or deck it in new
garb, or change its form in the Pro-
crustean bed of material improvement.
But ~old age is honorable" and this
ancient edifice, with it's broad, sloomy
archways and resounding corridors.
recalling the architecture of Granada,
and the delicate columns of it's culoIa,
fashioned after Corinthian Or Ionic
elegance, has been making history
within it's walls for we'll nigh three
quarters Of a century. Here have 1nets
in the tens and scores of years that
have gone by, the "city fathers" and
the influential to consider the public
meal; here vas the place of assembly
of the stockholders Of the old West
ern Coal Fields railroad, ever battling
stoutly to get "out of the woods" and
lay the iron on to the Blue Ridge and
the transmountain country, here gath
cred the people, looking northward
with startled eyes as the cloud OF war
arose and jeepened, while fiery seces-
sion doctrine was preached-and never
afterwards practised (by the oratorsl
the masses listening in silence, and
then going home to take the mueke.,
and march to the front.
Sometimes its bell tolled m~ournfuiIy,
for a great man had fallen il Israel,
and the people Ct the dear old Cape
Fear town expressed their sympathy
in the subdued. quiet tones CT men
who grieved. Then again the bell
changed in the quick peal of alarm
and warning, while flames devourei
buildings, and volumes CT lurid smoke
wrapped in dread embrace the aDodes
of peace and places Of business. C1ca
or twice during the great Confederate
struggle there was a ring in It's iron
tongue like the rattle of tie ".on9
roli' in camp. VIXEN couriers clatt rel
over the streets Of tie town wi h the
news hat the enemy were enhancing
to destroy the a,s3nal. On he 10th
vi &hds " 1oits sSaAS, tA(IC Aoc DCtA
a'mCst a requiem in its solemn tones,
mineling with the church bells, to ga
lutte bands Of fair children, lad q with
flowers. fling over the plaza bepe tn:
piatoons of so.diery With glittfrtns
arms marching TO the march # n T
tial muic; and a thin Line Ct Cd sol
diers who had lai1 by their g ms. but
not their patriotism ard valo--all on
the wav to haa Cross Geek GEM
etery to deck the graves of the honor
ed and heroic dead. One terrible, tragic
day in 1866 the bells toneue was ST.
lent: but, through the a~rchways below,
men throbbing with excitement hur-
ried to or fro. TO gathered in little
knots in heated talk. while out on the
plaza angry eyes flashed up at the
windows of the city hall on the sec
ond floor, where a solemn trial was
revealing beyond the shadow OF rea-
SOnahle doubt the guilt of An arfemnt