Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-11-07
MRsFEuTONS TALKS
CONDUCTED BY !
reas WIZ. FELTON,
413neer Cltlzeu OF Atlanta Passes

113GeGr C1tizen OF Atlanta Passes
The death of Mrs. Withers, at the
age Of seventy-eight, and the story
of her birth in Atlanta, which was
only a chinquepin ridge when Mrs.
Withers was born in 1912, appeals
to me with interesting remembrance
of what I can tell also.
1 was not born on the site of
the present Atlanta, but I was
born in DeKalb county, from which
Fulton county was taken, in the year
1885. Nothing like Atlanta was
dreamed Of, and I saw the naked site
of the city, about the time that NJ
Withers was a little tot, of tF5U or
three years of age.
There was not building, that [
recall, except the widely-construct
depot or station house, when the
Western and Atlantic railroad laid
down rails as far as Marietta, TWEEN
ty miles distant, going north.
A crowd of tourists gathered in
Decatur. and were royalty entertain
ed at Thompson's hotel for dinner.
Then a drive of six or seven miles
to MarthasvilIe, the name of the
new railroad station before mention
ed. My father and mother were in
vited guests and I went along.
We started to Marietta in the ear
ly afternoon and arrived there some
time before dark. There was a big
ball and hotel supper that night.
was enchanted. I had ridden on the
new railroad, and saw all the sights
connected with the enterprise. I was
put to sleep in a room where capes
and shawls and bonnets were already
a foot deep on the bed. There were
no cloaks for women as I now re-
member, and every woman a girl, no
matter what the age, wore bonnets-
only men wore hats.
I thought I had been awake all
night. because the fiddles and dane
ing went on continuously. The fig
ures in the dances were called out
loudly. " great many of the excur-
sionists got their first wink of sleep
when the train started back to Mar
thasville.
It was a sleepy-looking crowd as I
thought. The next time I saw At
lanta I was over nine years old.
There were some cheap houses
scattered about but the principal at
traction was A horse-Saw mill. Some
body named Norcross, built the mill.
There was great flat-coVered wheel
on which a horse walked all the time
and yet remained in the same place,
as the wheel went around under him
and thus furnished the motive power.
After that time the Georgia railroad,
starting from Augusta, was finished
and connected with the western and
Atlantic railroad at Marthasville and
made a continuous travel route to
Chattanooga, Tenn. About that time
Atlanta was called Termina, but At
lanta was the final choice.
We lived in Decatur. 1t was said
that the Decatur town authorities
refused permission to the Georgia
railroad to stop there on it's way
north It is a lively tradition that
they spent some money to paint their
dwellings, white and they thought
car smoke would spoil their looks
and CRIME the houses with car
smoke. The CRIME came along but
it wasn't railroad SCOT that did the
work. Atlanta was a youngster that
never stopped growing and directly
all the trade and all the folks went
to Atlanta.
A friend OF ours was to be mar
riad in the winter of 1851. | was
youngster myself, but I was in
vited to be an attendant and I was
a guest in the home Of the dear folks
for several days with wedding fes-
tivities.
Bishop George F. Pierce, then DR..
Pierce, married the couple. The
~, oil amt her
big party at the Lloyd hotel l was
a. college girl then and as brimful
Of life and excitement as they are
commonly made.
I once went to a church in At
lanta In the primitive days, when
there was no heat, no stove, no moth
ing, except cracks in the floor and
nv heels took on a frostbite and
that was the only Methodist church
at that time in the great big metro
politan city of the Empire State OF
the South How time flies!
And L am privileged to tell this
personal story to my dear Semi
Weekly readers.
Island Red chickens, for [ did not
neglect a single thing on my farm.
I made a grand success from them,
for they had all the fresh water and
buttermill1 they wanted, also grain.
I had rape and oats patch planted
for them every fall, and this gave
them all the greer feed that they
needed in winter. To watch my
chickens grow was a pleasure. ]
also raised pigs, kept the Duroc, and
several fall and winters I have sold
as high as $4,000 worth of pokers,
besides putting up let's Of meat and
lard to be sold il the store and sup
plying my boarders with nice, fresh
country hams and bacon. 1 am Only
telling you just what can be done
and L did. I love the farm, and If
more people would put their minds
on trying to make home happier, try
ing to keep down waste, and trying
to put everything to a good use, this
country would be happier, and the
money more evenly distributed.
Good wishes to all of you.
MRS. 3. RUSSELL.
Selma, Ala.