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.