It Was A Continuation Into Our Own Restless Era Of The
Manners And The Literature Of George The Third, With The Accompanying
Humor And Happy-Go-Lucky Decadence Of The Negro Slaves.
On our way
down we saw on the river-bank, under the trees, the old hostelry,
Alexander's, still in decay, - an attractive tavern, that was formerly
one of the notable stopping-places on the river.
Master, and fine
lady, and obsequious, larking darky, and lumbering coach, and throng
of pompous and gay life, have all disappeared. There was no room in
this valley for the old institutions and for the iron track.
"When in the chronicle of wasted time
I see descriptions of the fairest wights,
And beauty making beautiful old rhyme
In praise of ladies dead and lovely knights,
We, which now behold these present days,
Have eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praise."
This perverted use of noble verse was all the response the Friend got
in his attempt to drop into the sentimental vein over the past of the
French Broad.
The reader must not think there is no enterprise in this sedative and
idle resort. The conceited Yankee has to learn that it is not he
alone who can be accused of the thrift of craft. There is at the
Warm Springs a thriving mill for crushing and pulverizing barites,
known vulgarly as heavy-spar. It is the weight of this heaviest of
minerals, and not its lovely crystals, that gives it value.
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