AMERICAN ADVENTURES

A SECOND TRIP "ABROAD AT HOME" BY
JULIAN STREET

WITH PICTORIAL SIDELIGHTS
BY
WALLACE MORGAN

NEW YORK
THE CENTURY CO.
1917

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Copyright, 1917, by
The Century Co.

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Copyright, 1916, 1917, by
P. F. Collier & Son, Inc.

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Published, November, 1917

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TO MY AUNT AND SECOND MOTHER

JULIA ROSS LOW

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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 thick-skinned 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 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.

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—J. S.

New York, October, 1917.

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CONTENTS

XI THE VIRGINIAS AND THE WASHINGTONS 105 XII I RIDE A HORSE 117 XIII INTO THE OLD DOMINION 136 XIV CHARLOTTESVILLE AND MONTICELLO 150 XV THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA 159 XVI FOX-HUNTING IN VIRGINIA 169 XVII "A CERTAIN PARTY" 186 XVIII THE LEGACY OF HATE 193 XIX "YOU-ALL" AND OTHER SECTIONAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS 203 XX IDIOMS AND ARISTOCRACY 214 XXI THE CONFEDERATE CAPITAL 222 XXII RANDOM RICHMOND NOTES 233 XXIII JEDGE CRUTCHFIELD'S COT 242 XXIV NORFOLK AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD 248 XXV COLONEL TAYLOR AND GENERAL LEE 258   THE HEART OF THE SOUTH XXVI RALEIGH AND JOSEPHUS DANIELS 273 XXVII ITEMS FROM "THE OLD NORTH STATE" 285 XXVIII UNDER ST. MICHAEL'S CHIMES 296 XXIX HISTORY AND ARISTOCRACY 312

tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">XXX POLITICS, A NEWSPAPER AND ST. CECILIA 326 XXXI "GULLA" AND THE BACK COUNTRY 338 XXXII OUT OF THE PAST 349 XXXIII ALIVE ATLANTA 356 XXXIV GEORGIA JOURNALISM 369 XXXV SOME ATLANTA INSTITUTIONS 384 XXXVI A BIT OF RURAL GEORGIA 392 XXXVII A YOUNG METROPOLIS 403 XXXVIII BUSY BIRMINGHAM 417 XXXIX AN ALLEGORY OF ACHIEVEMENT 426 XL THE ROAD TO ARCADY 440 XLI A MISSISSIPPI TOWN 447 XLII OLD TALES AND A NEW GAME 458 XLIII OUT OF THE LONG AGO 467 XLIV THE GIRL HE LEFT BEHIND HIM 474 XLV VICKSBURG OLD AND NEW 482 XLVI SHREDS AND PATCHES 494 XLVII THE BAFFLING MISSISSIPPI 500 XLVIII OLD RIVER DAYS 508 XLIX WHAT MEMPHIS HAS ENDURED

tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">518 L MODERN MEMPHIS 535   FARTHEST SOUTH LI BEAUTIFUL SAVANNAH 553 LII MISS "JAX" AND SOME FLORIDA GOSSIP 572 LIII PASSIONATE PALM BEACH 579 LIV ASSORTED AND RESORTED FLORIDA 595 LV A DAY IN MONTGOMERY 603 LVI THE CITY OF THE CREOLE 619 LVII HISTORY, THE CREOLE, AND HIS DUELS 629 LVIII FROM ANTIQUES TO PIRATES 648 LIX ANTOINE'S AND MARDI GRAS 663 LX FINALE 675

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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.]

class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">100 "What's the matter with him?" I asked, stopping 117 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 124 Claymont Court is one of the old Washington houses 132 Chatham, the old Fitzhugh house, now the residence of Mark Sullivan 148 Monticello stands on a lofty hilltop, with vistas, between trees of neighboring valleys, hills, and mountains 157 Like Venice, the University of Virginia should first be seen by moonlight 168 One party was stationed on the top of an old-time mail-coach, bearing the significant initials "F. F. V." 180 The Piedmont Hunt Race Meet 189 The Southern negro is the world's peasant supreme 200 The Country Club of Virginia, out to the west of Richmond 216 Judge Crutchfield 228 Negro women squatting upon boxes in old shadowy lofts stem the tobacco leaves 237 The Judge: "What did he do, Mandy?" 244 Some genuine old-time New York ferryboats help to complete the illusion that Norfolk is New York 253 "The Southern statesman who serves his section best, serves his country best" 280 St. Philip's is the more beautiful for the open space before it 300 Opposite St. Philip's, a perfect example of the rude architecture of an old French village 305 In the doorway and gates of the Smyth house, in Legaré Street, I was struck with a Venetian suggestion 316 Nor is the Charleston background a mere arras of recollection 320 Charleston has a stronger, deeper-rooted city entity than all the cities of the Middle West rolled into one 328 The interior is the oldest looking thing in the United States—Goose Creek Church 344 A reminder of the Chicago River—Atlanta 353 With the whole Metropolitan Orchestra playing dance music all night long 368 The office buildings are city office buildings, and are sufficiently numerous to look very much at home 376 The negro roof-garden, Odd Fellows' Building, Atlanta 385 I was never so conscious, as at the time of our visit to the Burge Plantation, of the superlative soft sweetness of the spring 396 The planters cease their work 400 Birmingham—the thin veil of smoke from far-off iron furnaces softens the city's serrated outlines 408 Birmingham practices unremittingly the pestilential habit of "cutting in" at dances

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@18304@[email protected]#p424jpg" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">424 Gigantic movements and mutations, Niagara-like noises, great bursts of flame like falling fragments from the sun 437 A shaggy, unshaven, rawboned man, gray-haired and collarless, sat near the window 444 Gaze upon the character called Daniel Voorhees Pike! 456 The houses were full of the suggestion of an easy-going home life and an informal hospitality 465 Her hands looked very white and small against his dark coat 480 As water flows down the hills of Vicksburg to the river, so the visitor's thoughts flow down to the great spectacular, mischievous, dominating stream 485 Over the tenement roofs one catches sight of sundry other buildings of a more self-respecting character 492 Vicksburg negroes 497 On some of the boats negro fish-markets are conducted 504 The old Klein house 512 Citizens go at midday to the square 520 Hanging in the air above the middle of the stream 536 These small parks give Savannah the quality which differentiates it from all other American cities 556 The Thomas house, in Franklin Square 561 You will see them having tea, and dancing under the palm fronds of the cocoanut grove 576 Cocktail hour at The Breakers 581 Nowhere is the sand more like a deep warm dust of yellow gold 588 The couples on the platform were "ragging" 600 Harness held together by that especial Providence which watches over negro mending 613 It was a very jolly fair 616 The mysterious old Absinthe House, founded 1799 620 St. Anthony's Garden 632 Courtyard of the old Orleans Hotel 641 The little lady who sits behind the desk 656 The lights are always lowered at Antoine's when the spectacular Café Boulot Diabolique is served 664 Passing between the brilliantly illuminated buildings, the Mardi Gras parades are glorious sights for children from eight to eighty years of age 672

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THE BORDERLAND