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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1886)
THE WEST SHORE. Ill A VOICE FROM TENNESSEE!. rpHERE are times when, unloss one move abroad, I he is in danger of 6Upooliug tlio progress at X. home. If I were to make any comparisons since I left Washington Territory and Oregon, eaeoitil. ly with this Southern country, just now their moat prom inent rival in the line of immigration, thoy oould not be to the disadvantage of the Northwest Take this placo, for instance, save Atlanta, the most conspicuous of Southern town One is painfully impressed evorywhore with the want of enterprise. There is nothing of that push nnd elasticity with which one is bo familiar among us. Talk with the business mon, and they will tell you that they have trade enough to live on. What would we say in our community, if we had a town like Nnsh. villo, boasting sixty thousand people, nrnl no Merchants' Exchango, Chambor of Commorco or Board of Trado 1 The State of Tennessee has a population of one million five hundred thousand, and yot the combined circula tion of the three largest dailies in the State, the Ap. x-(il and Avahmvtm, of Momphis, and the American, of this city, does not amount to twenty-five thousand copies, whilo Oregon has two dailies that have a com. bined circulation greator than that, and tlio California dailies have, probably, a circulation of one hundred and forty thousand. I have just returned from a visit to tlio famous " Ilormitago." If thore is one placo which this oountry ought to revere, it is that And yet, it is a ruin t Mrs. Jacksou's flower-garden, which must have been a marvel in tier uay, ib nothing out a wasto 01 woods. Jackson paintings, pictures, etc., are strewn alxnit promiscuously on the floor. The houso is in decay. The graves about it are dilapidated. The fenco is partly down. Tho whole aspoct of the historic home only raises regrets in tho American heart The State of Teunossee owns tho place, so thore is no excuse for such a ooiulition of thii.gs. I have mentioned it to alxiut forty citizens hern, and not one of thorn has been near the plnco for ten yearn. Such hardihood of neglect I beliove wo are iu cnpable of at home. I think one of tho most notioeablo features of society here is its castes and cliques. What Mrs. Browning called "Tho pale spectrum of the salt" is a very sub stantial ghost hero. People do not mix. Tlio rich and prostiorous exact from tho laboring men of hith oolors a habitual respect Those who are uoither rich nor prosperous, mon of family or of temporary official im portanoo, emphasizo strongly in their demonuor that the employee or sulxirdiunto belongs to a different social order. Of course theso assumptions aro amusing to us. Tho unexpected change of fortune in our country is an element fnrhiddina such a state of things. The spirit of independence fostered by our agricultural, min ing and their related industries, is hostile to any such underbred displays. Aristocracies follow monoidies. This spirit of caste is what DoTocquevillo, years ago, prophesied would ruiu this ltopublic. 1 boliovu thore I is self-preservation enough in this Commonwealth lo avort any bucIi danger. And yet, I must say it is mnnh more nrcciilla to live in locality where every man of fortune meets ovory man of misfortune as it his clothes were invisible. That is democratic and maul v. Yet, as a result of these same fissures and oanyons in society, fencing it apart into isolated classes, there aro hero tho most perfect servants I have seeu anywhere. buoh service is not iu Oregon or Washington Territory. 1 call to mind now the oompamoiis with whom I have so many tiim driven all day through tho Alkali dust of tho l'alouse and Powder rivers, or " protected " among tho long swales of bush, so matted together one had to struggle to get through them, companions with whom I have waded morasses and clunhed moraines, and all this unflinchingly and good-humoredly, only at last to suc cumb, and, amid circumstances that should iiavo txn oomfortable, but were not, lose temper before an inso lent servant or Uxinsh hotel-keeper. How wo have Im precated iu tho last stress of lost patience for somo Iu tersisitioii hotwmm us and tho causeless, but inevitable, bruiso. One cau not journey from Portland to Walla Walla without experieiieing many ialty and reasonless annoyauccB at hotels from waiters and rtem, annoy- auces that would not Im tolerated hero, for hero it does not seem to bo tho anxiety of servants to advertise and demonstrate that their social position and full equality havo lieon in no wise compromised by their present pur suit They are willing to (to their work well, and to im agine hiiH supply wants before they aro expressed, and aro incapable of harrassing a tired traveler with cause- less delays, careless stupidities and neglect, and a hun dred irritating, Istcauso unnecessary, inflictions. Why, I remeuilstr on tho way hens and before leaving Mon taua, at tho hotel iu Do.nman (that lovely town, more liko a town of New Englaiul than any other out of it), that at breakfast, after tho serving-man had stood at my side, seemingly dumb, for two long minutes, I von tared to make an excursion toward his possible bill of fare, by the half-asilogetio remark: " Well, I would like some breakfast, sir." " Well, by , sir, so would I," was tho respotiso, " I haven't eaten anything since five o'clock this morning." It was iu Miles City, further ou my journey, that, as I was endeavoring to bargain with ono porter to transfer my lutggagn, I hoard the follow ing oolloqii) IsitwAm a fellow-passen ,r and the other porter: " Will you black my IiniU ? " " Well, I guess not, t-Mliiy; come around to-morrow when I'm hlackiu', an' most proliably I'll blnckeu 'em." The price for blacking Issits was twenty-uvo cents. Of course, these aro fleeting plinuomens among us. Tho Northwiwt is in its earlier adolescence, and change are rapid The negroes are leaving here in numbers, but many of them are coming back. They must live iu the land of tho pine knob. They eagerly duvoumur Immigration pamphlets, which are raiiilsws rather than landM-ax. Cll.illl.KN J. WooniiuiiT. Nasiivulk, TtSH., March 15, lHrtrt.