Times-promoter. (Hernando, DeSoto County, Miss.) 1898-1970, 1908-09-25
FROM NORTH CAROLINA
Major Dockery Writes Interesting Letter
from Old North State.
Mt. Airy, N. c., Sept. 6, 1908

Mt. Airy, N. e., Sept. b, 1908.
I was surprised to find that we
were in tunnel soon after leaving
the depot in Washington and that
instead of going through the city, we
went under it and under the Potomac
river but such was the case and we
emerged on the old Virginia side of
the river. inquired for the long
bridge over which critics thought
Gen. Johnston ought to have crossed
and taken the city after the battle of
Bull Run, but it has been taken down
and others built across the river.
Soon after crossing the river was
on historic and bloody ground. Man.
assus, Orange and Culpepper court
houses, the Rapidan and other names
familiar to the brave soldiers of Lee
and Jackson, were soon passed and
no hostile soldier was seen. No drum
was heard calling to battle, but it
was a quiet and peaceful sabbath
morning. I was reminded of home
by the crowds of negroes saw at the
depots. I had seen but few in the
northern states and in Canada and
those few looked hungry and said
'times were hard.' Our negroes are
more cheerful and are happier than
those who went North.
I passed Montpelier, the fine old
home of James Madison, and saw the
old house where he and his wife,
Dolly, lived and dispensed lavish hos
pitality. 1t is large estate and now
belongs to the Du Pont family, the
powder makers. I passed Charlotts-
vile not far from where the author
of the declaration of independence
lived. He is gone but his works live.
The ground over which I was passing
was historic. Great men had lived
there. Washington at MouLt " ernon,
Lee at Arlington, Madison ut Mont
pelier, Jefferson at Monticello, Mar
shall, Randolph, Henry and SO many
others who helped to make old Vir-
ginia and our country's history glori-
GUS. The soil was reminder of the
blood shed in battles between bel
ligerents, each of them thinking he
was right and the other wrong. The
soil was as red as blood and has not
recovered it's prosperous look of the
old Virginia. The soil not only was
poor but the houses and fences and
stock looked shabby in comparison
with the nicely titled farms of the
lake region of New York and Penn
sylvania where with three horse
plows, disc cultivators, heavy iron
rollers and other good machinery, it
seems they have reduced farming to
a fine art, but I am told / passed
through the poorest part of the state
of Virginia that all the balance is
better land and better farmed. The
tobacco country around Lynchburg
and Danville and on to Greensboro,
N. c., was better than nearer Wash
ington and the people looked more
cheerful and not so God forsaken.
The country for fifty or seventy-five
miles out of Washington was fairly
level, but as approached Lynchburg,
the scene was changed and I was
among mountains. The town of
Lynchburg is among steep hills and
I am told the residences sometimes
span deep ravines from hill to hill.
I don't know about that but do
know / saw some houses way above
others on the same hill.
Well here we are at Greensboro in
the old North State, a historic section
too, for near here the battle of Gull
ford Court House was fought in the
revolutionary times. The railroad
passes through the battle ground and
the monuments marking the battle
field can be seen. There was not SO
much blood shed here as nearer Wash
ington, but the soil is red and con-
ditions look about the same. They
raise corn, wheat, tobacco and live
pretty comfortably. Now we are at
Winston-Salem, two towns with two
corporations, divided by q narrow
street. Salem is the home Of the old
Moravian school, which was estab-
lished more than a hundred years ago
and which has been ever since a
prominent female school in the south
and by prudent and wise manage
ment it has prospered through its
o,+;,.o ov;ctopon WinctoY, "a q liunIxr