The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-28
'~nHrrrrrTY GIRLS GATHER
 PEACHES ON ELLIOTT FARM

working nine hours day in the can
 nery and camping out at the farm just
 for a lark.
 we are having the time of our
 lives" said one who wore gingham
 apron tied about her neck milkmaid
 fashion. .'sPeelin' peaches is just love-
 ly.' she added, land Captain Elliott
 needed us so much. He pays us. too When young women go into thIs sort
 of thing 1t is conventional for the newspapers to say they are pretty.
 This bevy of Gadsden bellies at the fruit farm are sure enough pretty. The mountain air and life at the fruit farm, or something has given them come Illness that would attract in a throng of people.
 Miss Nina Elliott, niece of the peach-farmer. and a young woman accustomed more to the ball room and the golf links than to the farm or fac- tory. was the promoter of the lark. Tn tho first few days of the peach harvest ing when 1t was necessary to rush the fruit away from the orchards the lads and lassies of the countryside who gathered by scores to do the work ent- cred into a conspiracy.
 We must have more money or we are going to quit said the spokes-
 man to Captain Elliott
 Here was a thing to which this cap tain. of industry of the mineral dis trict was accustomed. and he met it as he had met such things before. The 1 fruit crop was ripenine and must be moved quickly He must reckon with minutes instead of hours or weeks. If he thought of these things he did not take much time at thinking. This is what he said in reply to the leader of the country boys and girls. T know what this business is able to pay you. A .f.t n1n o,aA hox added on fraction more than 1t is ablc to pay because I am not here to make money out of It. If you do not
 want to work for what I am paying you, there is the big road. Get off my place and get off quickly"
 The leader left. With him went three other boys and two girls. Captain Elliott decided as he would
 have isciJed f millions had been at stake. and maybe 1t worried him more. The labor trouble meant that he might not have any one to play with hin the nextSday And so he came to his great city home-one of the show, places of cadsden--that night with a heavy heart. His trouble was men tioned at his home and vivacious Miss Nina Elliott set 3bout to help her wor- ried uncle. The next afternoon twen- ty-two sunbonneted girls rode in a big country wagon to the fruit farm. They | had two ciaperones and they were pre-. pared to stay as long as their presence
 was needed. The fact iS the girls were
 not needed at all, but the girls stayed
 because 1t was jolly fun. There is s2 and $3 a day to be made at the farm
 picking, packing and canning peaches and the boys and girls who threatened to strike had little notion of going away and leaving the opportunity of
 making some real money so easily. There wasn't very comfortable ac- ecmmodations at the fruit farm for the society girls but Captain Elliott is not the kind of man to fret over obstacles He had twenty-five can-
 vass tents rushed to the farm in witch to house the girls. Then some of the timid girls were afraid to sleep in the tents Then Captain Elliott employed trusted men to patrol the grounds 1 all night and the girls slept without 1 fear The girls are still at the farm and the watchmen are still patrolling and guarding their fair charges at night
 But the most interesting part ! of l this story Is to come. It Is the loca- tion of this fruit farm and the meth | od of harvesting the fruit that makes the place unique The t03,000 peach trees are growing on twin mountains and the peaches are delivered to the packing sheds and cannery below in l the valley by a cable, or trolley sys- tenn. Captain Elliott says this deliv- cry system Is his own invention and so far as he knows 1t is not employ ed by any other fruit farm in the I world.
 l The original little farm" of Cap l tain Elliott was near the top of a 1cone-shaped mountain on the Ashvilie | road where he cleared away the | growth of oaks and planted peaches. I As he became more interested he | bought more of the mountain and planted more peach trees. e1e finally ! had all of the cone-shaped mountain cleared of oak trees and filled with regular rows of peach trees from the