Year: 1871

citizen Of Stark county and now and for
some time a. resident of Alabama 1t is
proper to say he served in the Union ar
my. 80 -.
16aE HUNTsvnLE, ALA May 21,5T1


Jos, L. kssla- my DEAR SIR


AS to the Ku-Klux I know. nothing
personally, as have never seen one. That
there are local societies for mutual pro
lection l believe but that there is any
such thing as a political secret society
spread over the South combining the prin-
eiples and practices attributed to it by
northern radicalism utterly disbelieVe.


That all right minded whites would take
al honorable means TO shield themselves
from negro rule IS but manifest destiny
Though man may have been one of
the straightest abolition radicals in the
North, and have voted for all the nigger
brother amendments to the constitution,
yet let that. same man come South and
Settle permanently amidst negroes and he
will soon become az strong and heartfelt
an opponent of the principle of practical
equality between races as the oldest and
best dyed IN the wool Democrat extant.


l think that if God had added onother
plague to the Egyptians and more horri-
bic and unbearable than the former ten
combined, the only thing within human
ken, combining the dreadful requirements
would have been to oYerrun the land with
such a set of lazy, lying, thieving, lecher-
Gus vagabonds as nine-tenths Of the ne
groes of the south are this day


Send South your most devoted disciple
Of negro equality in Stark county for a
permanent resident, and remove all hopes
Of place and pelf, let him be tried in the
fiery furnace of negro contamination, and
the scales will fall from his eyes and he
will see and understand the hollowness
and deceptive illusion of the main plank
in the Republican platform, and turn
therefrom IN loathing and disgust, recon
.structed and as firmly Democratic as the
solid mountains around Huntsville.


As to fruit, Strawberries arenearly past.
Raspberries and plums are Just beginning
to ripen Early apples have been in use
two weeks. Potatoes two weeks or longer,
have some early rose between three and
four inches long and two inches thick
Lettice nearly too old to use. Cabbage
beginning to head. Peaches are going to
be wonderfully plenty.


Monday Eve-Here 1 was interrupted
in my writing last evening and do not
know what ! had started to say in the
last sentence


Last evening 1t commenced raining and
has been showery this forenoon, the wealth
er is very growing, a little too wet for
cotton but nearly every thing promises
an abundant yield.


A large amount of the cleared land is
not yet fenced and brought into cul-
tivation; the planters complain woefully
about the unreliability of labor and it will
be many years before the right kind of
| lobr til ha knr1
and rice growing portions of the South.
Apples are not very plenty IA some por-
tions, as the trees were DESTROYED during
the war and in other districts they do not
appear to thrive, nobody caring for them
sufficiently to cultivate orchards as is nee
essary to render them healthy and prdue-
tive. --


AS to how l like the South, my answer
is first rate, better than Participated in
nearly all respects. The niggers are an
pnmitigated curse but they are not in my
way much, as have not got to hire them
or have much to do with them in any
manner .ei' t- '~-


Politically Alabama is Democratic, so is
Northern Alabama and Madison County.
Carpet -baggers, scalawags and niggers are
not favorite Office holders hereabouts, but
any northern man who comes here for
good is welcomed, and it makes no differ
ence if he be capitalist or laborer. Instead
of being ostracised, good Northern men
or women are at premium, are much
sought after IN nearly every department
of labor. / think my prospects are much
better here than they would have been had
I staid IN the North, still do not like all
things as they are here. Niggers and the
southern mode of living and farming and
loinr, thin In oYa bIa ~
northern men. Here in Huntsville are
splendid day schools, churches, Sunday
schools, stores, Groceries and society.


The climate is all that can be desired,
water good as any where, and no place
can be healthier. There is abundance Of
northern society IN and around town
have had many good chances to 90 to the
country but like town best, and calculate
to stay, but a good many of my friends
get the country fever badly every now and
then, when some good offer is made them.
feel very much inclined to close q bar
gain with Mrs. - and her husband
They pay me for fixing up everything,
furnish land, stock, implements, horses,
every thing ready to start, then each bears
half Of the expenses and gets half the IN
come. managing every thing, as he is not
for business, though his house ground and
situation is one Of the very best in Ala
bania. can garden as much as l like,
raise as many flowers, raise chickens, keep
COWS. for dairy, farm as 1 like, &c. Get
half of the fruit, and theirs is one of the
best peach orchards around Huntsville
half of the grapes, berries, flowers; box,
hedge plants, &C., run as many or as few
things as want, in fact their offer is only
for a northern man and they are deter
mined to have one. 1 think can make
more money there and easier than can
here and still be inside the corporate linn
ITS OF the Spring City NortherneT. m I.
agreements, and if she will sign what


want 1 think / will move there this fal
and prepare for next year. In the NEAR
time remain yours with many thanks


j. II. SPEAKMAE.'