Newspapers / The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, … / May 31, 1908, edition 2 / Page 2
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in w - A Jaunt Through Eastern North Carolina fifth letter. Tbiv last letter In the series telling the story of the April tour through the greet Nerta cerouna eouuua uu along the vut stretch of beech which forms the outer boundary ef the State and through the quaintest oi tne teems, ended with the visit to Roan oke Island end . thet vicinity. While w. wera et the island the Wright tirMhrn made their appearance at 1 Kr'a Hnil. eo secretly that very few people knew it. and went to work to arrange for trlala of their flying ma chines, wnicn are neavier man- ir. ana . not- 01 wi unww such . as Beachey used o , successfully at the Jamestown Exposl , tloa arounda last summer. The Wris-hts are from Dayton. Ohio, and there are two of them, very daring (allows. Anybody can make a balloon which will float, of course, and some . which will steer pretty well, and a hoy out West barely 1 years old. has a. combination of a balloon, bicycle, rudder and propeller, with which he makes fine ascensions, but the Wrights want the real thing, the true flying ship. They built a Dig rouga nwuau, about SO feet wid end 100 feet long, venr near life saving station No. SI. They could not have found a lone lier place In North Carolina, partleu- larly at this season of the year. They naw." to tha e-reat delight of the life- saving people, who are patrons of the gentle art of flying and who .fully coi . cur with Editor Caldwell, of The Charlotte Observer, that the flying machine Is a near thing and Is apt to - come along with the cheap automo bile The Wright brothers went ten miles out to sea. rame baok and man aged their machine, high or low, with consummate rasa. They'are profound ly suspicious of everybody who goes near their place. A lawyer had a talk with them and they wanted to know , at once who he was, whether he was a newspaper man. ate. They have a big secret for which the world Is searching. All foreign governments are going to give your Uncle 8am the first chance, and they are right. It was Tennyson who foretold the air ship fighting In the "airy blue," grap pling, dropping bombs, etc., but he , was merely playing along with Jules Verne, that- delightful French story teller, and both of them thought they were only romancing. Everything . verno said nas coma true ana wymn ' more and now Tennyson Is about to - tarn out to be a prophet, for It Is gravely said that France and Oermany are geiiing reaay to guara ineir iron tiers by means of flyers In the air. The run up to Elisabeth City, through the muddy waters of Albe marle sound, was marked by high winds and a roiling sea, and the Hat tie Creef. which Is as strange a craft as piles In any waters, took us along under gasoline and sail. John H. Small Is man mighty well liked In eastern North Carolina and he ought to be, as the "Father of the Inland Water-r - way" scheme, which means so much for everybody. Anyway a good slsed steamer named for him has been ply Ing between Roanoke Island and Elis abeth City, but It did not have enough bualnees to justify its use, eo It lies Idle at Manteo and Its forty home power engine has been installed In the Creef. The trip, up to Elisabeth City wis uneventful, except that when sail was hoisted the ropes or "sheets," ss the sailors call them, smashed to pieces most of the windows on the port side, and made us skip about In very lively fashion In the cabin dodg ing broken glass. Rain began to fall and our friends on the island were thinking that we were making rough weather of It. Elisabeth City 1 a beautiful place, but a cold rain dampened It some what The writer went first of all to call on that venerable and much be loved man. Col. Richard B. Creecy, the oldest editor in these United estates. now (4 yesrs of sge and kept at home, but sprightly of mind If not of body. He can say some very dry things Indeed. He is the oldest living student of the University of North Carolina and says he had a letter from a friend who occupies sec ond place on that list, suggesting that he hurry up and die so that his friend could be at the top. Colonel Creecy declines to do any such thing Just now but is holding on very bravely. He looks very suspiciously at persons who claim to be over 90 years of age and says he has only known three over thet age. by official record, to die In bis part of the State. His own rec ord is straight and is In the family Bible. His recollections go a great way back. For example he told me about being tsken up the country once by his parents and stopping at the then noted home of th great Willie Jones, nesr Halifax, snd of seeing Mr. Jones, the revolutionary patriot and patron of John Paul Jones, who was the first United States admiral. At that time Mr. Jones' mind wax weak, and he was pottering sround In the yard In front" of his home, sweeping It with a bit of a broom. Colonel Creecy writes a little for the papers now and then, but he keeps in touch with the world through his daughters, whose devotion to him is beautiful. He has large family. He gave me the ad dress of a nian who l to give me a block of the tree under which the first Assembly met In North Carolina. The1 tree was destroyed a few years ago but some of tne wood was preserved and a piece of It Is to be placed In the Hall of History. . We left Elisabeth City on "Betsy," as Colonel Creecy lovingly terms It, for Norfolk, running throuxh a very fertile country, and presently struck tfhe section where so much truck Is pro duced. The Norfolk & Southern road, like the Atlantic Coast I.lne, Is a great developer, as the people along both lines know very well, and It has done much for the Elisabeth City section. We were in Virginia without knowing It. no boundary stone being In view, though to be sure these run along the Use. The writer recalled a very amus ing remark made many years ago by a boy. now a well-known young law yer. who was making his first visit to Norfolk In tha. writer's charge. He said to me: "I can tell the minute we strike Virginia," When he was asked bow be would know this he replied, artlessly, "My geography tells me, for It says Virginia is red." The little fel low meant that In his geography Vir ginia was marked In red and be thought the color of the land was uch. It was really cruel to unde ceive him. This Is only a samel of nm iaeas cnuaren get set in their minds. We rolled Into Norfolk and at tho new station of the Norfolk ' Southern there was In view some of the big construction work of the Tide.j Z??l llut wBarful system? whleh H. H-Rogers, multl-mllllonalre and the friend of Mark Twain, is build-' tng from tha West to Norfolk, and which means a great deal for a city which already has such vast advent, area, so manr rillwivi wiim snd such splendid Steamship connec tions. It must be said in passing that rcorfoi is very largely a North Caro Lsft town. North CaroUs pugh ftni North Carolina trade have half ereat ed It, and If a roll of Its chief business men. Including bank presidents, were called, the odds are that at least half would say they were from this State. The Norfolk people are very partial to North Carolinians, though they gently ridicule them and call them "flown- homers." It must be borne in rolod that North Carollnlana never forget their Bute. Tou may put one into Timbuctoo and even make him king there, but you may be very sure that, though loaded with Jewels and with a big harem, etc., his thoughts would revert more than often to- the dear Old North State, and to casual visit ors who hall from hereabouts he would speak lovingly of "Down Home." So it is very natural to meet plenty of North Carolinians on the streets at Norfolk. - The very first place to which I took my friends wss to the roof of the Bank of Commerce Building and cer tainly no finer view can be had of any place than that which this lofty point affords. The late Dr. Thomas Hogg, ef Raleigh, an observant man, always said Norfolk would be one of the great cities of the country and when you look at it and its waterways from this roof It will be seen that the place has very remarkable advantages. Norfolk ta a gay town, expensive, ana witn a pleasure-loving people, and has al ways been that sort of a place, uuen of it Is old and Quaint and much of it is new. A good deal of building Is going on and while of course the panic has blighted the place somewhat, as it has done pretty nearly every other place n the country, yet the check Is only temporary, in otner woras me South has come out of the panic wtth less hardship than the . middle West and the North. Agricultural sections have suffered far lessjthaa Industrial ones We took a trolley car and went to Ocean View and thence by steam fer ry across to Old Point Comfort, to the southward of us, viewed from the stately Hampton Roads, being the now deserted Jamestown Exposition buildings. It seemed hard to think that almost ft year had passed since 1 had stood there. April zttn, ana seen the world's navies, representatives of every power, looked at the marching thousands of men, and beneia tne President, the centre of attraction, as always; In other words had witnessed the opening of the exposition, which In some ways was a failure, while In others it was not. Fort Monroe has always been an attraction and always will be. It was the biggest or the oia forts In the country. Its quaint wat sr-battery. down on the shore level. has been almost entirely raxed, and a new construction with modern guns has been placed in-front or it, tnougn the real forts, with guns or every cat Ibre. mortars, etc., are to the north ward, stretching for perhaps mile along the beach. The time- was when half the garrison at Fortress Monroe were North Carolinians. This was the case when the war with Spain broke out. This brings to mind that a year ago the country, so quiet now, was in the throes of war. It seemed like a toy affair, after the sorrows and suf ferings of four years of civil war, but It was a great thing for the United States and for this whole world of ours. It revolutionised things; it brought about a national spirit, broad and catholic, undreamed of, say In 1897. It meant world-wide possessions, a great navy and a place alongside of Mother England, as one of the greatest twins this earth has ever seen. Out in the Roads lay the Idaho battleship, stately and splendid, and presently she left, t&go to some of our possessions. Eleven years ago if you spoke to anybody about the Philip pines the snswer would be ft casual one, to the effect that these were Int ends somewhere In the far Pacific, snd the idea of anybody going there was regarded as quite beyond the limit. Tet several thousand North Carolin ians have since been there as soldiers or sailors and nothing more is thought of going around the world by our troops and sailor men than was thought. sny a dozen years ago, of go ing from New York to .Savannah. In possibly nearly every county in North Carolina there will be round some men who have thus circled this globe. The werld changes and we change with It; so easily that the change Is Insensible. IWe took the trolley at Fort Mon roe and went through Phoebus, quaint old Hampton, and by the great Hoteliers' Home, with Its 4,000 Inmates, and Hampton Institute, the big ne gro school nearby, then through a lit tle stretch where sa yet there are no houses, snd then entered Newport News. The trolley has built up that part of the country. It will be but a few years before there will be a con tinuous tewn from Newport News to Old Point. Not much of a gap Is now to be tilled. The growth of Newport News U remarkable. The place, like Norfolk, has deep water and fine rail way connections and Is In close touch with the great West. As we entered! the heart or the place and swung around a corner there was a distant view of titanic masses of steel high In the sir, these being the great cranes at the Newport News shipyards. which was our objective point. 'Like all good North Carolinians we wanted to see the great cruiser North Caro Una. We spent many hJurs in the yards, saw everything there and were most delightfully entertained by Capt W. A. Marshall and Lieutenant Com mandec Victor Blue, of the North Car olina, but this story has already been told in The Observer. April 27th, the very day-on which this noble vessel .went from Newport News to the Nor folk navy yard in order to be put in commission. We had decided to see life on the canal and that sort of thing and as the schedule northward through the canals wss less convenient than that southward, we chose to return In the latter direction and selected the Dis mal Swamp canal, as being the oldest and the most picturesque, though the Albemarle and Chesapeake Is the one which will be part of the inland wat erway. The Dismal Swamp canal has two levels of water; at the north end the water being much affected by the tides rising and falling, while st the south end the tide la not worth mentioning, being merely due to the wind. Therefore about mldwsy of the canal there Is a little canal or "feeder" which leads from Lake Drummond and thus the big canal Is kept full of water irom that lake, which Is four miles square. This canal Is therefore a big ditch, with a dam at each end and also a "spillway" over which the waste water flows.Kfhe water outside t each of the locke&eing some twelve feet lower than that of the canal and at each nd there being a lock wit double gates, each 100 feat .n.rt a. that vessel coming np to go through the canal goes Into the lock; the up per gate is opened, the water rises un til it reaches the level of the canal; the gasoline engine gets ready and way goes the host. ' - J - we left Norfolk very early In the owralag, Ut weather being cool, wit BY COL.' FRED A. OLDS. frost, and being inrstrange contrast to that fortnight before at Wilmington and the mouth of the Cape Fear river, the world abloom and all the riotous verdure of. summer. Norfolk was ft month behind Wilmington ftt least, in temperature and vegetation. We came along near Berkeley and then up the Elisabeth liver directly past the navy yard, which Is , called the . Norfolk yard, though it is really at Oosport, a suburb of , Portsmouth- Now this calling It tha Norfolk yard la not rel ished by the people 'of Portsmouth, who to be sure are Jealous enough of Norfolk, but the name stands all the same. Lying there was tha old Texas, half dismantled, an unlucky sort of a battleship anyway, quite tubby la ftp-i pearance and as antique as if she had been built say fifty years ago, by com parison with one Of the new Battle ships. There, too, was the Ban Fran cisco, which I had last seen in 18ll. She was In the blockade of Havana, lay In ft little too close one night, was fired upon, ft shell. burst under ber stern and tore ft good slsed hole,' aay three feet above water,' playing havoc with the admiral's cabin and library, he happening to be somewhere else in the vessel. . A good deal was going on at the. navy- yard, and some .vessels were being fitted out and work was being pushed on the new dry-dock, one of the largest In the country. Out of the water and upon .skids were ft couple of those devilish contrivances, the submarine boats,, staring at one like catfish, and there was a fleet of torpedo boats and torpedo boat de stroyers. " Further along the "-powder station 'Was reached, with Its yellow buildings set here and there In regu lar rows and with a perfect forest of iignining-roas. Never had I seen so many of the latter In so small ft com pass. Our boat was the "Guide." ft remarkably narrow and tall craft, looking -like gaunt heron, and pres ently we began to thread ft rather tor tuous creek and so came to the north ern entrance to the canal. The water looked exactly like molasses, and the effect was beautiful as It foamed when the boat was "locked through." Then we got up on tha high level of tha ca nal and went ahead along that seem ingly endless ditch, with Its well-worn banks. This canal was begun In 1711 and was for years very prominent and then played second-fiddle for ft while to the Albemarle and Chesapeake canal which was the conception of Marshall Parks, of Norfolk, but now It has been widened and Is doing the most busi ness, the captain of the "3ulde" said. At one time the United States and the States of Virginia and North Carolina owned two-thirds of this canal. We were passing through the Dismal Swamp, but there was much cleared land; farms right and left, though to be sure there were swampy places and all kinds of wild growth, yet we had seen swamps further down In North CaTollna which made this one look like a sorry affair. It was easy to see, however, that while a good deal of the Dismal Swamp can be reclaimed noth ing can ever be done with considerable stretches of It, but some good cypress timber and Juniper, commonly known as white cedar, not to speak of the tupelo gum, will give good material for use In many ways. We saw the A. H. Lindsay "Dover" farm of 400 acres. the most Important reclamation work along the line. The lands need lime and drainage, Mr. Lindsay told He ssld that labor is now so scarce and unavailable that reclamation work such as this can't be done. The farm was cleared 40 years ago. The sur vey for this canal was made by Wash lngton and he must, as usual, have looked pretty well ahead and realised what It meant. Lake Drummond Is about In the centre of the Dismal Swamp. It must be borne in mlnJ that the centre of the swamp Is higher than the country round about. This seems hard to understand, but if one will reflect that the whole mass is sponge then It is easy, to fix it in the mind. A sponge swells up and this swamp is a spongy peat and most of It will burn when dry, being a mass of root, etc., so that when wet it simply swells and rises, and thus it happens that the centre of It Is about eight feet hiKhor than the surrounding country. Lake Drummond, therefore, throut-h the feeder csnal, which Is three miles long, supplies water to the Dismal Swamp Canal, the surplus water run nlng off through spillways near each end. This Lake Drummond water is also served to Portsmouth and to Suf folk for drinking and other purposes and is wonderfully fine. In the old days It used to be used on all the ves eels sailing from the Norfolk navy yard, being put in tanks, and the writ er once drank some of It which had been In a tank II years, It waa said, It soon undergoes a sort of fermenta tlon and then holds Its own Indefinite- ly. Colonel Creecy swears It Is ft llfe- glvlng drink. As we passed along through the Dis mal Swamp Canal we were told that the swamp la a very snaky place and that there are bear and deer In It. A lady said that she had never seen so many snakes In her life ss along the feeder canal to Lake Drummond and that she was afraid to go through the feeder In the summer. The Dismal Swamp Canal is quite a waterway and through It great numbers of little ves sels pass from the north to the south and vice versa, among these being numbers of costly pleasure yachts, which have gasoline and sail-power. we saw several of these and ft pretty picture tney made as they passed us, all gay with flags and fittings, with every bit of metal and timber polish ed to the limit and the tourists look ing very happy and laty as they swung along. Some of these yachts - were coming from Florida and even be yond. They make short cut of this canal, entering the sounds at Beau fort and coming out at Norfolk, and thus.dodge Capes Lookout and Hatter as, the latter of which they dread im mensely. We had ft real old-fashioned country dinner on the "Guide" with corn meal dumplings and showed our "raising" y making heavy Inroads Into the supply and by expressing our appreciation of the cooking, which was the work of "Aunt, Dicey." Along the east bank of the' canal there runs a road all the way from Norfolk and buggies passed us and u lifetimes uedeatrlana. anil aa tha boat moved along, at slow speed of course, aa Is the requirement in ca-i nals, where high speed and conse quent quick rush of water will Injure the banks, compliments' were ex changed with the passersby. There were no very special Incidents until we reached South Mills. This Is In Camden county- and there Isn't a quainter place on the map. There Is a swing' bridge across the canal and the town Is In two parts. Our boat was-pushed up to the bank and a lot of hay in bales was unloaded into a warehouse. Then the boat went along a little further ana mads several ef forts to hold on to the bank, finally utilising an old fence post and ft big log. and the remainder of the hay was put into man s barn, while the crew iwort at the werk, Nobody hurries in South Mills. They don't have to Their speed is regulated by that of tne water ut the canal and by tne boats on the latter. This means that nobody runs. This town used to be very k popular place - "with runaway couples from Norfolk and hundreds-of Virginians - have been married there. They didn't use the canal In getting there, either, .for If they had the more or less' angry - fathers of the brides would have simply skipped along the Shore in a buggy and rounded up the whole outfit. That would have been dead easy. No Indeed. The fond lov er got ft buggy and the fastest horse he could get and " made quick time alongside the canal to South Mills, where there were ready both preach ers and magistrates to tie knots with neatnesa and dispatch, one of these be Ing the eastern equivalent of our genl al friend near Charlotte. 'Squire Bailee, whose one object in life is to 3e able to say ha has married 10.000 people. But since the building uf the railway to Elisabeth City the latter place is considered more fashionable by Virginia, elopers and some of Its clergymen and Justices of the peace do what may be termed a land office business. ' Never a day passes without a runaway match, and perhaps in this year of grace. Lean Tear as it Is. some more or less prudent maiden may take the Invitation and - elope witn ner lover and thus 'Change places. ,. At South Mills there is another card lock and from this we dropped into the low level of the Pasquotank river, x Then we began to really see swamps and the beauty of the banks ana oi me stream was beyond praise, At each bend there was a vista ahead of us which exceeded In grace and beauty the one we had but lately looked at. Lilies floated here and mere. The banks, luxuriant with Tinea ana tenner greenery of every sina ana witn tha golden glow of the yellow Jessamine acceowae: them here and there, were so rarely lovely that mey made the dull and prosy old ca nai seem all the more dull. , The water was of color so deep as to ap pear black, thanks to the Juniper Trnicn sirains it, ana tne slope so treacherous, so mixed as to water and land, as to give hardly a foottnr for ft human being. We had seen many virus,-great and small, bald eagles, etc., all the way from Orton planta tion on- the Cape Fear rlver and we saw them here. This was a real swamp, and It made the Dismal swamp, so much talked of, pitiful by cumparaon. Mere ana tnere were "runaways" back into the forest, mr. duroyed with logs, along which timber was Drought to go to the mills In Elisabeth City. Some very fine tlmbor was seen and at one point there was a picturesque ferry across the river, witn clustered peonle and striklnr ef fects In cofor in the costumes of the men and women. Presently tha river broadened and there waa a vision of big buildings to the southward. We were nearlng Elizabeth City and a lit tle later the "Guide" made that port and made fast alongside the .long wharf of the Norfolk A Southern Rail way. We had come through solely by waier irom Virginia into ivortn Caroll na, and had made a day of It, as It ws after 5 o'clock before we reached Elisabeth City. The canal has always Dcen or more or less importance and now under the coming regime of the United States, these water-ways as sume a value they have never oefore had In the public mind. It must be re membered that in a few years vessels but little smaler than regular ocean steamers, can come through from New York without entering the ocan all the way down through the Chesapeake bay and the canals above It and then through this canal or the Albemarle and Chesapeake, then through the long stretch of Albemsrle and Pamll co sounds and can go even farther southward than Beaufort through the quiet water-ways, cutting across by New river and thence to the Cape Fear and eo on Into South Carolina. It Is quite within the possibilities that there will be an inland water-way all the way to Florida In the coming years. In a later letter the story of the In land water-way In the State, as al ready provided for and as further planned will be told. We left Elizabeth City at night-fall and went to old Kdenton. that most classic place In all North Carol! n which surely ought to be the mecci of a pilgrimage this yer or in the near future of both the Colonial Dames and the Daughters of the Kov olutlon. Our train stopped on the very shore of stately Edenton buy and we went to a hotel for the night. The next day was Sunday and Easter Day .with the clouds all gone by, the sunshine brilliant and everything Just us oni would rnave It And we thought of Her rick s poem, in the olden days about the English Easter, . generally so gloomy, wherein the poet declared. In allusion to his lady-love and the peep ing of her tiny feet, "like mice, be neath her petticoat, that "No sun up on an Easter Day was half so fine a sight." ... .. " Two yesrs ago Edenton was very fully described by the writer, but it was ft delight to go ever the town again, and to meet such friends as Mr. John O. Wood, the owner of "Hayes;" Dr. Richard Dlllard, who has done, so much to bring out the history of the old town, and Mr. W D. Pruden, and others, and to have a hand-shake with Rev, Mr- Drane, the rector of the beautiful Episcopal church, which will before long be able to celebrate the second century of Its foundation. The quaint little Cheshire churchyard hear the railway station has been oieared or the little trees of Paradise whlcn stood so thickly within It. The Episcopal church has . singularly sweet-toned bell, which is however new. The old bell was melted In-1111 and formed part of the four cannon tn the "Bell Battery, as it waa Known,- wnicn went Into the Confederate service from Ed enton. The writer had' the pleasure of making an Easter talk to the Sun day school children In the church and of attending service there and of ait- ting In Governor Samuel Johnston's old pew, with Mr. and if re. Wood, and Mr. Alfred Haywood, of Haw River, who had gone to Edenton a day ,or two before we arrived. All of us walked over to Hayes" for dlnrter: tn fact spent the arternoon there.-At ev ery turn there were historical places. The Norfolk Southern Railway runs through the grounds of "Hayes," a couple of hundred yards In front of the old mansion. Mr. Wood remarked that while 110,000 had been paid foe the right-of-way, he would gladly re turn the money to have-the road go somewhere else.' He regards "Hayes" as a place "held In trust," nut only for Edenton but for all Worth Caro lina. This Is a very noble spirit, for It Is all his own. the gift of his father's oia rnena. ir. Jim - jwmwn, who waa the richest man In-the South when the civil war broke out. - One might almost say off the town of Eden ton, that, like "Hayes." it is held ,ln trust for North Carolina, so full Is it of colonist memories. Work on the railway stopped last autumn very ab ruptly when til panle came. We ob served that the bridge, or trestle, t 1-3 miles, long, which is to cross Albe marle sound there, has been built one some hundred yards from each shore. It has been Intimated that the money will be forthcoming to finish this greet work and make other Improve ments of the railway, but nothing de finite has yet been officially stated, A number ef people bve complained that thla bridge wilt stop the flan from going; va lb aojiniL, hut her pee- pie ridicule this Idea. What Is needed they aay is keeping the Inlet open, mainly Hat teres, where there te 1-1 feet of water. This upper Albemarle sound Is very mnddy and the Roanoke river does the work,' bringing down a terrnt-f -md.-Thl Tlver-hero h enters into the sound is only 200 yards wide; has a current of 7 miles an hour and is 40 feet deep, r "Hayes," the most beautiful colon! at estate in North Carolina, with the house perfectly preserved, was named for sir Walter Raleigh's English horn". Memorials of the past are In every room and hallway. Johnston was real ly the Marquis of Annandale, a Scotch title, but never took it He was the Ian of his race and died In May, 18S, directly after the war- had cume to an end- He waa a very strong Union man and , quarreled with , the ' man who wanted-to toe his heir,'- namely General Joseph Johnston Fettigrew, because the latter Insisted on going to the Confederate service. Mr. Johnston had vast influence with such men as his devoted friend John Stanly ana also Edward Stanly, the latter having been the military Governor ftt Now bern of those counties which were un der Federal control, and was able to obtain kindnesses for Confederate friends when the latter were prisoners or in otner trouble. - , At "Hayes" there was ft good deal of talk about the fisheries. The Wood fishery is not this year operating the great seine and making hauls on Its fine beach, but is using pound or Dutch nets and gill nets. These Dutch nets were brought in by ft Dutchman thirty years ago. Edenton bay, really part of Albemarle sound. Is very wide, and very fine to look at. despite the color of the water and becomes very stormy in a gale. "Hayes" Is thorough ly English. It looks out upon this bay and as we walked througn the grounds, all laid off in triangles, and Into the old graveyard, we seemed to have drifted very far back into the past. There- are enormous cypress trees, cedars, oaks, elms, cheery trees, etc In the old graveyard, from which the body of James Wilson, the great Penneylvanlan, was removed last year, ft white marble slab has been placed over the grave. It may be said In passing that "Hayes" Is the noblest colonial mem orial we have.Rlltmore, at Aaheville, is the most splendid exponent or mod ern buildings and Ideas. The railway trains are taken across the sound now on the greet transfer barge Oarrett, hich at night looks exactly like a battleship all lighted up. There waa more or lees taix about farming and things of that kind. The farms in that section used to be on a vast scale and Mr. Johnston was the blrrest farmer in all North Carolina. and one of the largest In the United States. Much of the land is very fine and produces cotton weiu The farm t "Hayes" is magnificent. I recalled a conversation with Mr. James Sprunt at Wilmington In .regard to the efforts of the Russian government to grow cotton in Central Asia. Mr. Sprunt, at special request. sent quantities of seed to one of the Russian noble meq there. Khiruorr, ft prince who was interested In this experiment. these seed having been obtained from the Mount Olive section of Wayne county, but though there was a good yield for the first crop the plan was abandoned, as the tabor was not of the proper kind. Mr. Sprunt said it was found that the people there sim ply could not do the work. A RISI.VO INDUSTRY, Ginseng Farming tn Western North Carotin Profitable, Statesvllle Mascot. Ginseng farming In westeril North Carolina is becoming more and more pronounced. . Several years ago this hia-h-oriced herb was only to be found growing wild in the mountains. Now the culture Is being carried on In al most every county in the western por tion of the State, and with profit The (Legislature of North Carolina two years ago placed Its stamp of appro val on the culture oi ginseng anu passed ft law making it a felony pun ishable by long imprisonment to steal ginseng from beds under cultivation. In Buncombe and Henderson coun ties there are large alnseng beas that are paying a neat profit on the Investment Recently W. It. Sandrldge, who cams to Jforth Carolina irom Mis souri, and engaged In newspaper work being a former editor of The Bryson City Times, published at Bryson City, in Swain county, abandoned the newspaper field for the more pleasant and presumably profitable pastime of cultivating ginseng.' It Is learn ed here that Sandrldge now has a growing ginseng "farm near liryson City, where he and notner person have planted about one and one-half acres in "seng." expecting io their first shipment this year. The dried roots of the ginseng plant are sold for shipment to China. The grower receives about 17 per pound, the present market value. It Is esti mated that an acre of maure ginseng Is worth between lis. ooo and sto.ouo. J. O. Harrison, of Franklin, also hss ft very valuable ginseng "farm" which will, it Is said. . In ft few years, yield him ft greater Income than the best farm In. Macon county., , . i ANNIE OAKLEY JHE WORLD'S GREATEST LADY ; ' ' RIFLE SHOTt'SES. AN D : - ' ' - JTECOMMEXDS "Traveling as t do , continuously. I have been troubled a great deal with dandruff and falling hair, and until I tried HerplcMe I hever found a remedy that was satisfactory. "Herplcide Is a delightful prepara tion that fuinne the Claims made for it and no lady's toilet 1s complete without It ' I highly recommend it to my friends. - - - - , (Signed) ANNIE OAKLET.", Newbro's Herplcide Is the most re markable hair preparation In ex istence. It hss produced - more actual, visible results than alt other hair remedies combined. It contains no gresse or dye. Stops Itching of the scalp almost. Instsntly. V ' ,k , ' . v.' Two sle. SAc. and f 1.00, at drug store. Send 10c. ht si snipe to the IfrrploMe Co Dept.- N, Detroit,, Mich., for sample. Ouaranted and re Mm Food and Drags -Art Jaw 30, ltOoV rrial 'No. lift. Insist npoq Herplcide. . , . . .. .' It, It. JORDAJS CO, . , Special Agents. ' . ; Applications at Prominent Barber S' m fc--, ! ' Tibs 0ti2;&i Ess : ! F. B. K- What was the longest run of the battleship Oregon around South Amerlealn 18 r , , A From San Francisco to Callao, 4.000 miles, which she mads in six teen days. The trip from Ban Fran cisco to Key West was made in sixty alarht days. Stops were made for coal at Callao. Puntas Arenas. Rio and Bridgetown. . - - ,t : F. D.How wide is the Isthmus of Panama at its narrowest point T f A. Opposite the bay of Santa (Bias, about II miles, x G. !' C. What'doen "Patent P' oiled for", mean? - - . " v A It means that " ; the Inventor claims the protection of nhe govern menJt during the time that the patent office Is Investigating hie petition, tor letters patent. It la ft warning to weuld-be Infringers. . ' '. . H. D. B. Was Charleston, W. VaH ever known as CharlestownT 11) Which has the largest area,: Fair mount Park In Philadelphia, or For est Park in St Louis I , A. Charleston was " Incorporated aa Charlestown in 1794.' .(1) Forest Park contains 1.S70 acres; Fairmount Park 3,153 acres. E. W. M. Of what race of people was the LordT 3) What Is the horoscope of one born April lid? A. Jesus was a Jew. - (t) Good reasoner and leader, difficult to 'force make good lawyer, teacBer, etc. Horace, What. ajrethL 1 hret Jegd.. Ing events In "the history of the Unit ed States? A. The Louisiana purchase, which extended the territory or tne unuea States to the Pacific: the war with England (1(12 ) which gave us Inde pendence on the seas, and the civil war. which estabiisnea nationality and the permanence of democratic form, of government. ' JL J. R1. How are oils extracted from flowers? ' A. A thin layer of freshly pluck ed flowers is spread on sheets of cloth which have been moistened with olive oil. and allowed to remain's, day or more. Then they are replaced with fresh flowers.' After several lay ers have been treated the oil is ex tracted from the cloth vr neavy pressure, put In bottles and finally decanted. . F. M. What was the controversy between Venezuela and Great Brit ain which led to President Cleve land's famous Monroe doctrine mes sage T " A. A dispute Of long sxanaing, involving many claims and counter claims, ree-ardlne- title to a large are on the frontier of British Guiana and Venezuela, R. R. To learn value of stamps. show them to a dealer. Tour coin is not rare. M. w a. The 1153 quarter. If gen uine and without arrowe or rays, is worth $160 to $1.50. There are coin dealers in evary. city. E. G. Vt. Is there liny such church as "Ornish" tn this country, or any hlufnrv of such a church. A. -The Ornish church is a sect of the Mennonltes, who derive their pe culiar name from one of their preach ers of the seventeenth century. The Ornish are also found la Germany and Switzerland. Numls. Where are Canadian coins minted? A. At Ottawa. Previous to this year they were struck In England. L. F. D. Please tell me how to clean oil paintings T v A. Take ft raw po'cato, cut off a piece and rub the freshly cut end over the painting. As aoon as the potato darkens use a fresh slice. Af ter doing this wipe carefully with ft cloth wrung out of clear water, , S. D. A.- Is any information avail able as to the educational facilities given the children of the common people of Russia? - A. Official figures show that there are 17,000.000 children in Russia be tween the ages of and If who have no educational advantages what ever. - Sue.- Who are president and sec retary of the Carnegie hero fund? - A Charles L. Tsylor and F. M. Wllmont, respectively, both of Pitts burg. . Anxious. Would you deem Jt a wise Investment for a laboring man of limited ' means to taVn a i-nuru In .Bl.m.n.kl. l . I w m, mj, auu vucfcuy voiaJi . a position aa salesman? i- . All depends on things not told. First . is tha matter of age. . If yeu are young and have the education and tastea that Would lead, you to be f , ana, nave reason--tfble assurance that you can get and aoia a posmos wnen ntted for lU.lt would be worth trying for. An em ployer would not oe likely to prom--ise a oosltion merelv oti tn vnrth Of ft OlolOma. "ho W vr mnA .... curing the position a, man must make good right straight along, notwith standing the . beautiful promisee of otner conditions to comply with be- O. W. Cj -Waal H tAnnAv an viaaiuei minister, ana eo of wnat church! (I) Print a sketch of the . life of Rev. George C. Cates? (3) Rv what .1 i A . - -V......I.I.MUM W HO lUq.Ulll . uieoumi cnurcn organized! ' -. J " . V,llB'DL. - not ordained. if i jn f ' me same is round. - ti) The name ' Protestant was first given to the fol iowere of Luther, and afterwards in- - rlUdad falvlnlsfa mnA nh mmtm arated from the See of Rome. Luth- aramsm sprang up in leii.r . ' 6. M. B. Look In the advertising columns for namna nr nnnlin, ani-.' J. R. B -Who s the present Em peror of Germany, and what relation I t. . - ,1.1,11 . . i n . . . ii v io TTiiiiain i me ureal -- - A II . 1 L . n - m ifiiiwui ii, uiv m iwii i - cm- P?rpr, .succeeded . his father. .William . I, In 1III.- He was not known as "the Great," however.. s. H. W, B. Has the capital of Alas ka bee a chanced from Kirk tn Jn.' neku? ". . . A Not yet. but it will be even tually. - - ' r -,- 9. K. B. What is the address of " P. C. Knox, of Pennsylvania?, fx) What causes an eclipse of the sun? ' is) When will the next total eclipse occur? (4) How many warships, hss tha TTnltai! Hliuf HiiWIi.i u two-cent piece of 13(4 worth? () w?w . . . . " uai are int arvrn wonurn or me world? (7) When: was St Auaus- tlne, Fla founded? . A. iPtttsburg. (3)' The nreSence of somebody which intercepts Its rays. (II June Sth. llll. (4) Twentv-seven battleships. - t cruisers. It .tornedo boats and It torpedo iKiat destroyers. - (t) Two cents. () Egyptian pyra mids, Mausolus' tomb, temple of Diana st Epheaus, I a by Ionian hang ing gardens, colossus at Rhodes, ststua of Junlter Olvmnua. Ptnlamva watch tower. (7) In 1115.. - , . O. R. K. Your coins are not rare. Any money exchang-a will buy the Spanish coin, which Is of small value. J, J. G- Do you consider ours the best government on esrth? . (21 Are there to-day men of such power as we had previous to 1860? - (3) Was Bonaparte great, powcYfut or ambi tious? ' - -4. ' A. Sure. There's no question about It even if we voters sometimes, for get to apply that vigilance whloh Is ever the price of liberty, (t) power is relative. We have Stronger men and more of them, than In any , pre- ..wu Kftr, v fiiwv ciiuam tj Hi tler men with whom they have to contend. Things are more complex now; we have fewer kpeclallsta In "' proportion to the' whole. (I). Bona- ' parte was certainly ambitious, ,'and for a time, was great and powerful. M. M. D. One born October. 17 th ' should be mechanically inventive. have grest foresight and finei intui tions. July 37th. unambitious, fond . of nature. This latter need not dis courage, however, being the purest of folderol. L, K. .The first battle of theMexl- can war wss fought al Palo Alto. May 8th. 1846. Working- Up Haw Maun-laf.' : Lenoir Topic. - . ' It was our pleasure last week to visit the collar department of the D-1-.-ntl.. TI fW ivvviifi nariiBM i.uriiimny. v iijr take tne raw material and produce ' finished collars of a superior variety, at the rate of 2& 'dozen per . day. . In the production of these collars al most every ltsnt that enters Into them - hides, bark, straw, in fact every thing except the buckles end rivets ! 11 uuui.u in iiii uiiu i vuiiuiua counties. A11 the money from the sale of these goods is put in clrcula- ' tlon here. The product s far nas only ' been placed in three or four adjoining States, and orders are in for all the goods they can maite. . mis is an in dustry that doesn't seem to be affect-.' ea in tne least oy tne panic, - TEasfifi
The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 31, 1908, edition 2
2
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