Well, our last day in this forest city closes; the mocking bird, that sings only in the dark, holds its last concert on our verandah, and we are sung to sleep by the sharp cutting cries of a family of youthful alligators which some northern tourists are taking home in a tank.
To-day and yesterday.--General experience of travel in the South.--The associated Southern Railways.
On first starting Southward everybody warned us of the great discomfort of Southern travel; we were therefore prepared for all kinds of inconvenience and annoyances by the way--partly arising from the alleged dearth of proper meal stations, and the long waits at the little wayside stations, where we expected to be turned out of one train and left disconsolately waiting in the wilderness till we are picked up by another, and we were prepared to resign ourselves to jolting cars and rough roads, indeed to a series of jerky rickety journeys, ill fed by day, ill lodged by night.
Having reached thus far, we have continued to pick up many crumbs of experience by the way, and I think this is a fitting place to pause, and say a few words on this and some few other subjects. First, I have no doubt that my many friendly informants spoke according to the light which illuminated their minds, reflected from the days gone by, when things generally were in a chaotic state, trembling in the balance between order and disorder; or perhaps they thought retrospectively of a time still earlier, when there were few travellers and scarce accommodation--for the one must grow in accordance with the other. _Mais nous avons changé tout cela._ In no country in the world are changes so rapid and complete as in the United States. North and south, east and west--all are animated by the same spirit of progress; always on the onward march; carrying on their social revolutions with a rapidity that astonishes and takes away the breath of the dear old world, which has been working for centuries building up cities, gathering peoples together, making laws, and evolving constitutions from the heart of ages, lopping off and pruning the rotten branches till it has grown tired of its labours, and would fain fold its hands and rest. But the new world has its life before it; like a strong young Samson, it is full of restless energies, it must always be “up and doing,” and trying its strength in all directions--building up on theoretical principles, bombarding and pulling down as practical necessities lead them, changing the features of the land, modelling and remodelling day by day till, were the whole skies turned into a looking-glass, it would not recognise its own face as reflected therein.