John March: Southerner

by George Washington Cable

Excerpt from John March: Southerner

In the State Of Dixie, County of Clearwater, and therefore in the Very heart Of what was once the Southern Confederacy, lies that noted seat Of govern ment Of one county and Shipping point for three, Suez. The pamphlet of a certain land company - a publication now out of print and rare, but a copy Of which it has been my good fortune to secure - mentions the battle Of Turkey Creek as having been fought only a mile or SO north Of the town in the spring Of 1864. It also strongly recommends to the attention Of both capitalist and tourist the beautiful mountain scenery Of Sandstone County, which adjoins Clearwater a few miles from Suez on the north, and northeast, as Blackland does, much farther away, on the southwest.

In the last year of our Civil War Suez was a basking town of twenty-five hundred souls, with rocky streets and breakneck Sidewalks, its dwellings dozing most months Of the twelve among roses and honeysuckles behind anciently whitewashed, much-broken fences, and all the place wrapped in that wide sweetness Of apple and acacia scents that comes from whole mobs of dog-fennel.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1894

About the author

George Washington Cable was an American novelist notable for the realism of his portrayals of Creole life in his native Louisiana.