The Lexington advertiser., 1909-05-14
OF a Local Nature.
~-asS
Trip Of County liesIh officer.
-exinigon AdYeriiser :

Thinking that it might interest some
Of your numerous readers, | have con-
cluded TO give you few observations
on my recent trip to Goodman and
PickenS inspecting schools. The trip
was made through the country by
buggy.
As the crops are usually OF interest
10 most people in our section, / will
state that the cotton looked little
sick, pale and delicate as suffering
from an attack of malarial fever. No
doubt due to the cool nights and morn
ings we have been having for several
days the ground, however, every
where appeared TO be well worked and
in good condition. Hoeing was gen
eral. Ctten noticed squads of from
five to dozen laborers chopping cotton
together, forcibly reminding me of
ante. bellum days, only then the force
was generally far more numerous, and
often the darkies accompanied their
work with song. Upon the whole
cotton is backward, but a few days of
hot sunshine with the work 1t is now
getting will make a wonderful i'm
plovement in it, The corn looked well !;
all that saw was chopped to stand
and we'll worked. AT this time, the
prospect for "a corn crop, in all the
route | passed over, is very fair The
cat crop was no where good, generally
too thin and small Saw none half as
good as MIR. Wilson's in the town of
Lexington.
The Goodman school, presided over
by Prof. Jones with two accomplished
lady assistants, is in all respect an
up. to date school. The building we'll
ventilated, lignted and heated, floors,
walls and desks neat and clean.
made the school an address upon prac.
tlcal hygiene, supplementing this with
short lecture upon the circulation of
the blood and how to apply first aid in
case of profuse hemorrhage from acct
dents. was followed by Prof. Smith,
superintendent of education, who de-
livered most interes ing and instruct
I'VE talk upon the necessity of having
healthy bodies if we would have
healthy minds capable of grasping and
solving the various problems of life as
we meet them
The road from Goodman to Pickens
runs parallel with the |. C railroad
and mostly on the east edge of the
valley of the Big Black River, Many
large tracts of land along the road,
formerly in cultivation, are now lying
out covered with grass, briers and
scrub bushes mostly species of dwarf
water oak and hack berries. This
growth indicates thin soil, usually
wet and of the character called ''craw-
| fish" land, still this land lies we'll for
absorbing fertilizers, and If properly
drained, fertilized and cultivated
could be maue to produce spendid crops
at much less cost than 1t takes 10
clear and bring INTO cultivation lands
in the delta. Many OF these aband'
oned.farms could be.made into splen-
did stock farms at comparatively
small outlay of capital
AT Pickens | was entertained at the
pleasant and home.like hotel of Mrs.
Webb, where everything, including
rooms and beds were neat, clean and
comfortable. And the meun most ex.
cellent in selection and cooking.
The next morning / inspected the
Pickens school, presided over by Prof
Gulledge, ably assisted by his excel
lent wife, wnere | also made an ad.
dress. The teachers and pupils are all
right. The school room was neat and
clean. The building is old and dila
pidated, tho furniture, some Of it, un-
comfortable, especially to the little
tots, whose legs are too short to reach
the floor. In fact, the building 10 not
such as an mp to.date town like Pick.
ems should furnish for the education
and training of its future men and
women. 1t is true that many of us
old people spent many OF our early
school DAYS in log cabin, with a
stick and mud chimney and long
open slit in side OF the house for a
window and split puncheon with
four wooden legs for seat, but this
was not from choice, it was the best
we could do. There were no saw mills
to saw lumber, nor brick machines to
make brick within reach. We with
these simple comforts were way ahead
of our ancestors, the cave dwellers
The people of Pickens should not re.
trograde. bat keep abreast of the civil
lization OF the times and give their
chilrden a school house that they may
be proud in after life to say that they
went to school in 1t.
The road from Lexington TO Good
man is IN fine condition. The first
four miles of that from Goodman to
Pickens is bad aud in sore need of the
road worker, one OF two places dan.
gerous from caving and washing ditch
es. The road from Pickens to Frank
lin is in splendid condition and pleas
ure TO drive over with good horse and
buggy. There is one defect in our
road system that would like TO call
to the attention of the board of super
visors viz, the abandonment of the
old custom of placing sign boards at
cross roads and large forks. | do not
mean mile boards, for it is immaterial
il one knows the distance to the place
he is making for or not. If he is GER
tain that he is on the right road he
will get there if he keeps going A
person unfamiliar with the roads comes
TO a point where the road divides, each
branch equally plain, nothing to show
him which LEADS to his destination,
no house near nor persons OF whom
to inquire your rote, you may or may
not take the right one, probably after
throwing up quarter, heads or tails,
if leaning towards superstition. Should
you after all take the wrong one and
find it out only after going mile or
more, on retracing this lost ground,
4 -. Il ss,f t.,N