The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1963-05-31
BY HELEN W. MASON

The first glimpse we had Of
The General at CreWe. look
us back to our childhood. to the
little trains in Ponce De Leon
Park at Atlanta, Willow Grove
Park at Philadelphia and other
cities where they had h $ c
immature trains on which the
children Ike to ride. The Gen
eral" is not that small. but in
comparison with modern d a Y
engines, its a toy.
After a short wait the con
ductor took the rope away
across the steps and We all pill
ed aboard, men, women, and
children.
To some, the inside present
ed an old story We mad seen
similar cars before: a pot -belled
stove, oil lamps suspended in
bracket frames from the ceiling.
dark red plush seats. and under
a canvas runner IN the aisle to
keep it clean. a red carpet.
There was one spot of local
color m on & the passengers.
Dave Stone, Of Farmville. was
wearing a long Wlne-colored vel
Vet dress of the 1865 belonging
to Mrs R. D. Wilson'S grand
mother.
OF course for all of us it was
a first ride on The General"
but for one little girl it was her
first ride on a train. She had
prepared herself for it TOO. She
had taken a "scasick" pill.
Another touch of color v :
adAed after we got aboard. our
Mayor. William F. Watkins. Jr..
was presented with a tall silk
hat. somewhat Ike the one seem
in pictures Of Abraham Lincoln.
to wear while he Was on the
train. I'd Ike to take it home
with me. i he laughed. but I'm
afraid l wouldn't set very far.
he added.
"Toot-toot said the whistle.
chug achug-c hug. steam floated
by. We were Off A parade Of
cars kept pace with lis until the
road turned away out Of sight.
they were on their way back to
Farmville the modern way.
We took a look at the museum
part of the passenger coach
which was IN the center Of the
car Down one side were shown
models OF The Generals" his
toric chase in the War Between
the States. pictures Of some Of
the men taking part in the raid
medals won by them. Also. pc
lures OF some of the famous men
of the time and maps of the
chase and surrounding areas.
On the opposite side were PIC
lures and models of the mod
crn railroad and improvements
made.
As usual. most of the mac
compancd men congrcgated iii
the front section Of the coach.
the men and women with chill
dren. in the rear section. Some
of the men stayed on the rear
platform until they got wet when
il started to rain.
Il wouldn't take a million dol
lars for being on this train. :"
was comment Of q lady over
heard on the trip. People stood
along the right Of way when the
road came near the tracks. gIlnS
on their faces.
One incident reminded us Of
the westerns on TN. a touch Of
the old West A truck was stand
ing on the road and between it
and the train stood a figure III
working clothes a colored ban
dana folded in a triangular shape
covered the face below the eyes.
gun in his hand Was some
one taking a picture Of him and
the train in conjunction? We
couldn t tell While We could still
see him the train travelled no
faster than 20 miles an houri
he Ierked the bandana off and
hoped INTO the truck.
We had sneaking suspicion
there were some Yankees on that
train. again One lady told an
other her grandson had asked
his teacher if he could belong to
the Children Of the Confederacy
She replied YES. if YOU have
an ancestor who fought for the
Confederacv When he question
ed his grandmother about It. her
reply dashed his hopes. HIS an
cestor had fought on the other