Newspaper Page Text
8
THE FEDERATION OF WOMEN’S CLUBS IN THE SOUTH
A Department Designed to Create Federation Interest and Promote Growth
PLEADING FOR TALLULAH
(An address delivered by Margaret
Beverly Upshaw before tne Georgia
Weekly Press Association at Rome,
Ga. A resolution was passed, endors
ing the steps already taken to save
Tallulah Falls from destruction, and
urging hearty co-operation on the part
of the Georgia Weekly Press.)
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am not a conservation crank, but
if I was I should certainly come to
this industrious body of Editors and
Editresses for “a good turn.”
Tallulah Falls has had a pretty fair
amount of publicity given to it during
the past few months, but I do not be
lieve w r e have begun to reel tne import
of what the destruction of this superb
gem of nature would mean to us as
Georgians. There is a difference, you
know, in feeling and tninking. Tne
woman philosopher with the square
chin, who was haranguing her audience
on the varied and various rights of
women, tritely remarked: “Women
feel where men think.” “They do,”
responded the man who had been mar
ried three times: “That’s why men
become bald.’’
Please be warned, gentlemen, that
we, the women of Georgia, are begin
ning to have strong feelings concern
ing the destruction of our beautiful
Tallulah Falls.
Those of us w’ho live in the congest
ed cities, realize deeply the need of
having convenient places of rest and
rejuvenation. And I was startled, a
few days ago, when I began making a
sort of mental inventory of the really
attractive pleasure resorts Georgia po
sesses. lam sure no body of men and
women can appreciate the necessity
■'st-nooks like we poor, tired
editors who are too ill-paid to travel
far and too overworked to tarry long.
Therefore, it behooves us to rise in
our might and defend this treasure
trove.
We need to take up the cry of Pat
rick Henry, even though it is not
prompted by the same aggravation as
the youngster in John Hancock gram
mar school is deputed to have ascribed
it. The youngster had prepared an
essay on the illustrious patriot. It
was a good essay, too, but somewhat
mixed in its construction.
For instance, in one portion of the
effort he gravely announced that “Pat
rick Henry married when a young
man, and then he made a speech and
he said: “Give me liberty or give
me death.”
Years, ages before we were born,
God, Nature’s God and man’s, set in
motion the forces and agencies that
have been steadily at work ever since
carving out Tallulah’s majestic gorge.
That turbulent little stream has pur
sued its work and overcome the
mountains of difficulty that loomed up
before it. And now shall we sit idly
by and see the vandal hands of com
mercialism wreck, and despoil and
destroy the noble handiwork of God?
By our actions, which speak lounder
than words, we have been looking up
into His face, during the past few
months, while the fate of Tallulah hung
in the balances, and saying: “God,
it was very patriotic, and sentimental
for you to create for us this sublime
work of art, but you have really been
very unwise and unbusinesslike in
spending so much time and talent on
it. A spring and a funnel would have
been a more profitable creation.”
Tallulah Falls is being destroyed,
‘ ‘INFORMA TION IS INSPIRA TION’ ’
I do not give this fact to you out of
hearsay evidence. I have been on the
ground within the last three weeks
and I know whereof I speak.
The blasting is going on almost
incessantly. Witch’s Head, one of the
most grotesque freaks of nature around
the Falls has already been destroyed
and the proposed tunnel is being made
just at the top of the first fall, thereoy
destroying, not one, but all five of the
cascades.
•*»®w®m®m®m®««®w®««®«»®«*®m®m®m®m®m®m®m®m®«*®m®m®«*9m9w*m>
t ?
*
I
I
I
J
I
I
1
i
. i
i n ?
Margaret Beverly Upshaw
• •
i**®**®**®**®**®**®**®**®”®**®**®**®**®**®**®**®**®**®**®**®**®**®**®**®**®
What can we do about it? In a con
versation of some length with Messrs.
Stephens & Ogburn, attorneys for the
Tallulah Falls Preservation Society,
a few days ago they told me that un
der the laws governing the transfer
and sale of property in Georgia, the
property owners who sold the lands
abutting on Tallulah River to the Pow
er Company, had a legal right to do so.
But that an investigation of the re
cords, both in Habersham and Rabun
counties, where this property lies,
failed to reveal a record deed to any
of the land, showing it to be the prop
erty of the Power Company.
But that was only a loop-hole, and
not the means of escape that they had
to suggest:
Their two propositions, as outlined
to me, were as follows:
1. That the citizens of Georgia, if
sufficiently aroused, would, in their
belief, contribute a fund su__ciently
large (and not necessarily exorbitant)
to buy up the holdings of the Power
Company, and convert Tallulah into
a permanent park and play ground.
2. That if satisfactory (evidence
could be procured to show, in court,
that Tallulah Falls had ever been dedi
cated to the people of Georgia as a
free resort, even orally or inferenti
ally that would constitute a cause of
action su__ciently strong to make
them willing to go before the United
States government and ask that an
easement be granted setting aside the
property in question as a National Re
serve for the people of the South, such
as Yellowstone Park is to the people
of the West.
Our attorneys have been making a
diligent and painstaking effort to lo
cate such evidence, but the old citi
cens to whom the property formerly
belonged have died, and their children,
in many instances, have moved away,
and the only way we can secure the
depositions’ that will save Tallulah will
be for us, as faithful outcriers, to pub
lish these facts, and see if we can
start somewhere one or more persons
who remember that their fathers or
grandfathers had virtually dedicated
this property to the State.
The Golden Age for July 27,1911.
It has also been suggested and
strongly urged that, as a follow up
method for crystalizing the sentiment
that will be aroused by the concerted
call of the columns of our faithful and
efficient Weekly Pres®, we shall have
a representative to canvass the State,
rapidly and thoroughly, speaking to as
many of the citizens as it is possible
to reach, and linking them on to the
conservation movement by offering
them membership in the Tallulah
Fans Preservation Society, upon pay
ment of SI.OO each. This fund will be
used for necessary court costs and
other items to be incurred in the
preparation of our case, and will be
duly accounted for by the Treasurer.
Then a special convention shall be
called, to meet at some central point,
on the earliest convenient date, at
which convention a hearing shall be
had of all the acts of our attorneys,
and others, and a showing made as to
the future plan of action and its prom
ise of ultimate victory. Then by spe
cial arrangements with the railroads,
the Convention shall be carried, en
masse, to Tallulah Falls and given an
opportunity to inspect the wonders and
glories of this matchless place.
The Weekly Press can be of inval
uable aid in creating enthusiasm and
drawing the crowds to hear the ap
pointed representative and also in
keeping hope fresh and vigorous in
the hearts of the people.
Fellow Editors: f know you are a
busy lot, and I know that much of the
“fiee agitation” that keeps the world
rocking falls on our overburdened
shoulders, but in this instance I believe
each and every one of you realise that
the game is gloriously worth the can
dle. Patriotism is writ large on every
face in this presence this morning, and
I feel assured that your honest hearts
will break and your faithful right
arms forget their cunning before you
will see this work of desecration go
on to its inglorious consummation.
We can’t afford to lose the inspira
tion and blessing of Tallulah’s magnif
icent sweep and soothing roar.
We must arise, full-armored and
alert, and let these vampires who are
sucking away the life of our queen of
beauty know that we are in meetin’,
too. They meed to be startled as much
as the congregation of a dear old hard
shell preacher was not long ago, when
he attempted to line out that old la
miliar hymn:
“Why should we start and fear to die.
What timorous worms we mortals
are.”
He evidently had on his “fur-away
specks.” At. any rate he astounded
his meek and modest audience by de
claiming with great gusto:
“Why should we start or fear to die,
What tremendous worms we mortals
are.’’
We’ve got a right to get mad about
the way they are treating our prop
erty, and they know we have a just
cause. They are in the class in which
the old deacon inadvertently listed
the indigent ministers, thank you. He
was up in conference reading the
yearly associational letter. He droned
over the items in a nervous quaver:
Home missions, $6; furrin missions,
nuthin,; State missions, $4; indignant
ministers, 40 cents. Huh! grunted the
deacon, as he took a more careful look
at the report. Indignant ministers,
well I like that. Don’t see that they’ve
got any call to git mad about it When
we’re putting up the money
Edited by Margaret Beverly Upshaw
Whatever we do toward saving Tal
lulah Fall®, we must do quickly. We
must save it. People from all over
the world come to look with wonder,
awe and admiration on Georgia’s
crown jewel. Shame on us if we cast
our pearl before swine.
The climate is the rarest and most
refreshing in the United States. The
scenery is declared by those who
have seen Europe and its natural
wonders, Yellowstone Park, the Grand
Canyon and all the rest, to be unsur
passed in scenic beauty by anything
else of its kind in the world.
There is nothing more restful than
the organ swell of Tempesta’s road;
nothing more artistic than the sun and
shadow patterns that flutter and play
upon the foam-tipped crest of Oceana;
nothing more romantic and exquisite
than to watch old Hurricane daringly
leaping his 90 feet pursuing the pham
tom bride who seems ever at his feet,
hiding in her filmy veil of mist and
spray.
There is nothing that feasts the soul
and lifts it up, calm and trustful, as
the abiding serenity and steadfastness
of those rock-ribbed hills and gently
nodding cedars.
We can’t feed our higher selves on
electric currents, reservoirs, dams and
flood gates. We can’t rest our tired
brains and harmonize our jangling
nerves in the noise, confusion and
smoke of a commercial maelstrom.
And looking out upon the genera
tion that must needs follow in our
footsteps, we owe them a heritage,
friend. We want tnem to be big
hearted, clean-limbed, strong-bodied
commanding men and women. Then
beware! Biew r are!
We can not raise broad gauge men
and women on a diet of mere dollars.
We can not perpetuate artistic tem
peraments with the Goddess of Lib
erty as the only model.
Ladies and gentlemen, we dan not
pasture our colts on the limited sur
face of a dollar bill, and train them
on the circumscribed circle of a sil
ver coin, and expect them to distin
guish themselves as thoroughbreds in
the endurance race of LIFE.
Can we afford, then, to see Tallu
lah go?
A HOME MADE CANNER.
For a home made cannery haul
some rocks and post-oak dirt and
build the furnace and have fitted in
a large wash-pot and one large zinc
tub. Use two old zinc tubs a size
smaller with holes cut in bottoms for
baskets to put fruit in. Then buy one
soldering copper which costs $2.50,
one pair tongs for 50 cents and your
cannery is complete, with a capacity
for cooking 800 cans per day. You
will have to buy your cans
Sweet Cucumber Pickles.
Pick the cucumbers when they are
the sizie of your finger and two or two
and a half inches long, and soak for
twenty-four hours in weak salt water.
Than put them on the stove and let
them come to the boiling point. Put
them in self-sealing jars; have ready
boiling hot vinegar spiced with mixed
spices and sweetened to taste; pour
over the pickles and settle.
Apple Preserves.
Late in the evening take nice large
apples and peal and slice in common
pieces. Put a layer of apples and a
layer of sugar until all are in and
sugar last. Let set over night; in the
morning soon put them on the range
ana cook until the juice is like jelly,
