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AIKEN, S. C.Tlie -Millionaire's Southern City.I customary, tut they had it ti do to keep in with the Northerners and l every winter new bills are sent down ; from Washington.■ So many people buffering l'roai lu I bereulosis have been made well by Aiken's climate that its present nourishing condition seems a permanent thing and each year sees a new colony of hcalth-scckcre addeds to its list.— Nita Black, in Atlaota Journal.An Augusta girl at school in Washington was very much insulted because the Northern girls would ask her if Augusta was near Aiken instead of vice versa. She said she used to road novels in which the heroine would spend the winter at Aiken and it was hard for her to realize that it was the little village near her city home. Ton years ago there was very littl-of it. One of its first Northern settlers was iTr. 11. M. 1 dbble, a man from Michigan, who eame there an invalid after the doctor had told him that lie would die a year unless he went to the piny woods. That was about IS years ago and now lie. is a big, fine specimen of health, lie owns Yale of Mntitme-renci, a dairy farm, in president of one of flic banks and a very popular niau in the county. Now the town is the size of Marietta nntl has waterworks and electric lights.The first thing to bo seen is the hurdlctrack. There must he at least a mile in the strip of grass with a liur-dlo every 20 yards, and they looked four or fivo feet high.The women are great jumpers and Mrs. Thomas Hitchcock's riding and daring feats on horseback are a continued source of entertainment to the men through the country. She is n crack Bliot, too, and they will tell you how they saw her stand under a tree while men in the field would scare up a drove of doves and she would shoot each one dead beforo it lighted in the branches. She and her husband ride all over the country together and both art! great fox hunters.She rides astride, as all the Women do in Aiken. They wear very narrow divided skirts with a long divided coat, cowboy hat and their hair in a plait down their hacks.We were on the lookout for all the Yankees wo could see, and as we passed Mr. William C. Whitney's home wc saw two ladies go in. One had on a fur overcoat unu no hat; neither were great beauties nor well dressed.On the business black there were several teams und horses saddled. Kvcry one drives in runabouts, and they do not put on lutieli style. Occasionally a well-dressed groom would pass with two thoroughbred horses saddled nnd waiting for their owners; it was a matter of speculation its to whether they were to he ridden by two men or a woman and a man.The prevailing style among these millionaires scorned to bo tlio wearing of great big overcoats made of a brownish gray, shaggy fur, that looked more appropriate for tho north pole than the sunny South. Every mau and woman that pussed wore one, and with no hat. It must be good for the complexion, for they all had very ruddy faces.Mr. Ilunnewcll made a wager that he would not wear a hat for so manyIt'is a sacl thing to see fine fruit trees spoiled by the blight. You can always tel! them from the rest. They never do well afterwards but stay small and sickly.It is worse to see a blight strike children. Good health is the natural right of children. But some of them don’t get their rights. While the rest grow big and strong one stays small and weak.Scott’s Emulsion can stop that blight. There is no reason why such a child should stay small. Scott’s Emulsion is a medicine with lots of strength in it—the kind of strength that makes things grow.Scott's Emulsion makes children grow, makes them cat,months and lie has not been seen this winter wearing one.There is a very pretty club house which has the air of a comfortable residence, set in a forest of pines and magnolia trees with a high hedge about tile grounds.Adjoining (hi! club is a largo building just being completed at a cost of 4vltl,0i»j. The architect showed me over it. It's only use i:. for court tenuis. Thgro are only two buildings in tho I nited States for such .-port, one in tlf North and this one in Aiken. A man from England came over especially to lay out the court, which i- ijtiite different from lawn tennis. It is much more scientific, and is played with a much harder ball and racket. There is a referee and umpire for each game. At one end scats are put for spectators and baek of that is the Uidon saloou, a small room done in green to ho fitted with divans and easy chairs. Next to that was the ladies' sitting room with lockers for their use. This had red walls with green wood and is to be furnished in flemish oak. On each side of the court were lockers and dressing rooms for the men, with shower baths and drying rooms.The streets of Aiken show the touch of money’s hand nnd taste. Bown the centre of oaeli avenue parks filled with magnolia and pine trees with a great deal of the Spanish bayonet. All about uear the s’dewalks arc planted these same trees. On the poroli of one house were three pine trees planted in boxes and they arc also grown inside oi' tho houses.Tho homes are low, rambling cottages and look as I hough they all tried to look us Southern as possible, one or two were set in a big lot and around the house was enclosed another yard with an old-time fancy wood fence. The buildings are wood, painted white, with green blinds und dormer windows.Whitneys house from t.ic front looks like a little cottage, hut from the hack it scorns to cover four or live acres. It is spread round a court, and is for the great part one story high with a porch all nbout it.Mr. Mallory, a retired army officer, owns a beautiful place in the town. Ilis is colonial, painted yellow, and surrounded by a big shady yard.Mr. Hitchcock bus a rambling cottage, too, with a hedge nbout his walks, and his stable is almost as large as his home. His wife was a Miss Kustis; her mnidcn home is near the railroad nnd hasn't very large grounds.The Aiken people movo out of their nice homos during the season and rent them at an cuormous price. One man got 51,000 for letting his home for three weeks.Bull Dug and Pig.Under the heading of profit and loss in the Standard Oil company's hooks there is an entry I bulldog,'' followed by same details. The dog is catalogued uu the loss side of the balance.ItTho land has boon bought up by these millionaires for about ten miles around the town. Thoyimposo heavy Gnes for the picking of flowers through these woods, especially jasmine; and not for auytiiing would they move one sprig of pine.Beautiful roads have been laid out, winding up and down hills, through piuc-thiakcts and by little streams. Severul of tho men pay taxes on laud for miles in order to have tho hunting privileges on them. Several hundred red fox have been turned loose on the preserve, which arc also well Blocked with other sorts of game.Altogether ouc is impressed with the vast effort spent on making the surroundings of tho wealthy more comfortablo for them in their pursuit of pleasure.Tho golf links are beautiful, just as if they had been mapped out in one's parlor on a gigantic scale, so clear and precise is everything.There were one or two tall, lean moo and a big fat one followed by their negro caddies putting on a green as wo passed.I’olo is a great game for these people as is tennis, and in fact they play almost every outdoor pauie. Tho women are generally tho lenders, nnd nre just as good fellows as any of tho incii.But those rieh folks arc very much lik'd by tho native inhabitants of Aiken and one man from the country said that, “if you hud just met one of the Yanks and shaken hands withid that ho is the only dog over owned by that powerful combi nation, and after its experience with him the company is not likely to invest in any mure of his kind. He became a ■Standard Oil dog in this way:One of the company's stations near Charleston, \Y. V., had suffered the loss of many barrels from the depredation of thieves, who found them useful as lirci. ■lt;■ 1. After trying in vuiu to capture or get a shot at the thieves, Blake Stewart, who had charge of the office, scut a requisition to the division office in Baltimore for one large und savage bulldog.In tho course of time after some fluctuation of red tape the division office notified Mr. Stewart that it possessed no facilities for the purchaso or manipulation of savage bulldogs, hut that if be thought he oould obtain one locally of a sufficient degree of ferocity for 510 that sum was at his disposal.Two days later u negro delivered to Mr. .Stewart a hrindlc bulldog chained to the end of a pole. The negro explained to Mr. Stewart that the reason ho used the pole instead of a rope was that its stiffness was of advantage in keeping tho beast at a proper and re spcclful distance. The dog was duly established in tho barrel yard and wont on record as an employe of tho Standard Oil company, with an allowance for maintenance.The office force tlicu went about making the acquaintance of the now acquisition. Mr. Stewart conducted his advances from tho top of aslmd, which, ho being an agile and athletic person, had gained jflst before tho dog got to him.The head clerk tried the power of iiis hypnotic eye on the beast, and, though normally » dignified and slow-moving person, ho cleared the fence by a vault that was the admiration of all beholders. Several other employees tried to establish friendly relation:., and those who got away were the lucky onus.They named the dog Fury, und employed a trainer from lt;9liarlcston to come down and train him. Three minutos after his introduction to Fury tho trainer gavo up his job, together with a considerable portion of his raiment and went home.Thereafter Fury ruled the roost. There were no more barrels Btolon, for hi s reputation went abroad iu the land; but there wore other difficulties.Wlieu a stock of barrels was acquired, it took the major part of the office forco armed with clubs, to drive Fury to cover while the workmen got the stock out.Iu the course of time Fury became a littlo more pcucnable and would allow u few favored acquaintances around the place; but no stranger ever got so much as one foot inside the inclosure wilhoui hastening to take it out ugain beforo the dog could fasten to it. Fury carr.sd his salary.One day a wandoring pig came nosing around tho inclosure, found a looso place iu t he fence nnd made his way iu. Now the West Virginia h.-eed of pig is not the fat, lazy, and inert poker of the fnrniyard. lie is a Iran, sharp backed, sinewy animal who has had to make his own way in the woftd for so long that ho is thoroughly equipped to take care of himself.The only thing he considers it worth while to get out of tho way of is n railroad train; and ho sometimes contests the right of way with that, under which circumstances both train and pig commonly leave the track together.Either Fury didn't understand the nature of tho invnder, or his lordly career had puffed him up with an undue sense of his own abilities. With
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Anderson Intelligencer
Anderson, South Carolina, US
Wed, Feb 26, 1902
Page 6
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USA 26 May 2025
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