American Adventures - A Second Trip 'Abroad at home'

Julian Street

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• Publié par: jezir
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 23
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of American Adventures, by Julian Street This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: American Adventures A Second Trip 'Abroad at home' Author: Julian Street Illustrator: Wallace Morgan Release Date: May 3, 2006 [EBook #18304] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICAN ADVENTURES *** Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Charleston is the last stronghold of a unified American upper class; the last remaining American city in which Madeira and Port and noblesse oblige are fully and widely understood, and are employed according to the best traditions AMERICAN ADVENTURES A SECOND TRIP "ABROAD AT HOME" BY JULIAN STREET WITH PICTORIAL SIDELIGHTS BY WALLACE MORGAN NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1917 Copyright, 1917, by THE C ENTURY C O . Copyright, 1916, 1917, by P. F. C OLLIER & SON, INC. Published, November, 1917 TO MY AUNT AND SECOND MOTHER JULIA ROSS LOW FOREWORD Though much has been written of the South, it seems to me that this part of our country is less understood than any other part. Certainly the South, itself, feels that this is true. Its relationship to the North makes me think of nothing so much as that of a pretty, sensitive wife, to a big, strong, amiable, if somewhat thickskinned husband. These two had one great quarrel which nearly resulted in divorce. He thought her headstrong; she thought him overbearing. The quarrel made her ill; she has been for some time recovering. But though they have settled their difficulties and are living again in amity together, and though he, man-like, has half forgotten that they ever quarreled at all, now that peace reigns in the house again, she has not forgotten. There still lingers in her mind the feeling that he never really understood her, that he never understood her problems and her struggles, and that he never will. And it seems to me further that, as is usually the case with wives who consider themselves misunderstood, the fault is partly, but by no means altogether, hers. He, upon one hand, is inclined to pass the matter off with a: "There, there! It's all over now. Just be good and forget it!" while she, in the depths of her heart, retains a little bit of wistfulness, a little wounded feeling, which causes her to say to herself: "Thank God our home was not broken up, but—I wish that he could be a little more considerate, sometimes, in view of all that I have suffered." For my part, I am the humble but devoted friend of the family. Having known him first, having been from boyhood his companion, I may perhaps have sympathized with him in the beginning. But since I have come to know her, too, that is no longer so. And I do think I know her—proud, sensitive, high-strung, generous, captivating beauty that she is! Moreover, after the fashion of many another "friend of the family," I have fallen in love with her. Loving her from afar, I send her as a nosegay these chapters gathered in her own gardens. If some of the flowers are of a kind for which she does not care, if some have thorns, even if some are only weeds, I pray her to remember that from what was growing in [Pg vii] [Pg viii] her gardens I was forced to make my choice, and to believe that, whatever the defects of my bouquet, it is meant to be a bunch of roses. J. S. October 1, 1917. The Author makes his grateful acknowledgments to the old friends and the new ones who assisted him upon this journey. And once more he desires to express his gratitude to the friend and fellowtraveler whose illustrations are far from being his only contribution to this volume. —J. S. New York, October, 1917. CONTENTS THE BORDERLAND CHAPTER I ON JOURNEYS THROUGH THE STATES II A BALTIMORE EVENING III WHERE THE CLIMATES MEET IV TRIUMPHANT DEFEAT V TERRAPIN AND THINGS VI DOUGHOREGAN MANOR AND THE CARROLLS VII A RARE OLD TOWN VIII WE MEET THE HAMPTON GHOST IX ARE WE STANDARDIZED? X HARPER'S FERRY AND JOHN BROWN XI THE VIRGINIAS AND THE WASHINGTONS XII I RIDE A HORSE XIII INTO THE OLD DOMINION XIV CHARLOTTESVILLE AND MONTICELLO XV THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA XVI FOX-HUNTING IN VIRGINIA XVII "A CERTAIN PARTY" XVIII THE LEGACY OF HATE XIX "YOU-ALL" AND OTHER SECTIONAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS PAGE 3 13 27 38 44 53 69 80 89 97 105 117 136 150 159 169 186 193 203 214 XX IDIOMS AND ARISTOCRACY XXI THE CONFEDERATE CAPITAL XXII RANDOM RICHMOND NOTES XXIII JEDGE CRUTCHFIELD'S COT XXIV NORFOLK AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD XXV COLONEL TAYLOR AND GENERAL LEE 222 233 242 248 258 THE HEART OF THE SOUTH XXVI RALEIGH AND JOSEPHUS DANIELS XXVII ITEMS FROM "THE OLD NORTH STATE" XXVIII UNDER ST. MICHAEL'S CHIMES XXIX HISTORY AND ARISTOCRACY XXX POLITICS, A NEWSPAPER AND ST. CECILIA XXXI "GULLA" AND THE BACK COUNTRY XXXII OUT OF THE PAST XXXIII ALIVE ATLANTA XXXIV GEORGIA JOURNALISM XXXV SOME ATLANTA INSTITUTIONS XXXVI A BIT OF RURAL GEORGIA XXXVII A YOUNG METROPOLIS XXXVIII BUSY BIRMINGHAM XXXIX AN ALLEGORY OF ACHIEVEMENT XL THE ROAD TO ARCADY XLI A MISSISSIPPI TOWN XLII OLD TALES AND A NEW GAME XLIII OUT OF THE LONG AGO XLIV THE GIRL HE LEFT BEHIND HIM XLV VICKSBURG OLD AND NEW XLVI SHREDS AND PATCHES XLVII THE BAFFLING MISSISSIPPI XLVIII OLD RIVER DAYS XLIX WHAT MEMPHIS HAS ENDURED L MODERN MEMPHIS 273 285 296 312 326 338 349 356 369 384 392 403 417 426 440 447 458 467 474 482 494 500 508 518 535 FARTHEST SOUTH LI BEAUTIFUL SAVANNAH LII MISS "JAX" AND SOME FLORIDA GOSSIP LIII PASSIONATE PALM BEACH LIV ASSORTED AND RESORTED FLORIDA 553 572 579 595 LV A DAY IN MONTGOMERY LVI THE CITY OF THE CREOLE LVII HISTORY, THE CREOLE, AND HIS DUELS LVIII FROM ANTIQUES TO PIRATES LIX ANTOINE'S AND MARDI GRAS LX FINALE 603 619 629 648 663 675 [Pg xiii] LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS [Transcriber's Note: Illustrations were interleaved between pages in the original text. In this version, they have been moved beside the relevant section of the text. Page numbers below reflect the position of the illustration in the original text but links link to current position of illustrations.] FACING PAGE Charleston is the last stronghold of a unified American upper class; the last remaining American city in which Madeira and Port and noblesse oblige are fully and widely understood, and are employed according to the best traditions "Railroad tickets!" said the baggageman with exaggerated patience Can most travellers, I wonder, enjoy as I do a solitary walk, by night, through the mysterious streets of a strange city? Coming out of my slumber with the curious and unpleasant sense of being stared at, I found his eyes fixed upon me Mount Vernon Place is the centre of Baltimore If she is shopping for a dinner party, she may order the costly and aristocratic diamond-back terrapin, sacred in Baltimore as is the Sacred Cod in Boston Doughoregan Manor—the house was a buff-colored brick I began to realize that there was no one coming Harper's Ferry is an entrancing old town; a drowsy place piled up beautifully yet carelessly upon terraced roads clinging to steep hillsides "What's the matter with him?" I asked, stopping When I came down, dressed for riding, my companion was making a drawing; the four young ladies were with him, none of them in riding habits Claymont Court is one of the old Washington houses Chatham, the old Fitzhugh house, now the residence of Mark Sullivan Monticello stands on a lofty hilltop, with vistas, between trees of neighboring valleys, hills, and mountains Frontispiece 8 17 24 32 48 65 80 100 117 124 132 148 157 Like Venice, the University of Virginia should first be seen by moonlight One party was stationed on the top of an old-time mail-coach, bearing the significant initials "F. F. V." The Piedmont Hunt Race Meet The Southern negro is the world's peasant supreme The Country Club of Virginia, out to the west of Richmond Judge Crutchfield Negro women squatting upon boxes in old shadowy lofts stem the tobacco leaves The Judge: "What did he do, Mandy?" Some genuine old-time New York ferryboats help to complete the illusion that Norfolk is New York "The Southern statesman who serves his section best, serves his country best" St. Philip's is the more beautiful for the open space before it Opposite St. Philip's, a perfect example of the rude architecture of an old French village In the doorway and gates of the Smyth house, in Legaré Street, I was struck with a Venetian suggestion Nor is the Charleston background a mere arras of recollection Charleston has a stronger, deeper-rooted city entity than all the cities of the Middle West rolled into one The interior is the oldest looking thing in the United States —Goose Creek Church A reminder of the Chicago River—Atlanta With the whole Metropolitan Orchestra playing dance music all night long The office buildings are city office buildings, and are sufficiently numerous to look very much at home The negro roof-garden, Odd Fellows' Building, Atlanta I was never so conscious, as at the time of our visit to the Burge Plantation, of the superlative soft sweetness of the spring The planters cease their work Birmingham—the thin veil of smoke from far-off iron furnaces softens the city's serrated outlines Birmingham practices unremittingly the pestilential habit of "cutting in" at dances Gigantic movements and mutations, Niagara-like noises, great bursts of flame like falling fragments from the sun A shaggy, unshaven, rawboned man, gray-haired and collarless, sat near the window Gaze upon the character called Daniel Voorhees Pike! 168 180 189 200 216 228 237 244 253 280 300 305 316 320 328 344 353 368 376 385 396 400 408 424 437 444 456 The houses were full of the suggestion of an easy-going home life and an informal hospitality Her hands looked very white and small against hi