Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 101, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 August 1903 — Col. Marble Gives a Barbecue [ARTICLE]

Col. Marble Gives a Barbecue

Co), Horace Marble, of Wheatfield, seems to have disposed of most of most of his large landed possessions in Alabama, but is going into strawberry raising larger than ever. The following interesting extraots are from a letter written by him to a daughter at CroVn Point, and copied from the Star, of that town. It is written |rom the town of Marble, Ala, It say 6: * J “I went direct to Gulfport and stayed there three days, and found the plaoe still on the boom. I sold while there 1,318 acres of land, and retained 320 acres. -----

Also sold my saw-mill, and then oame baok to onr strawberry plant Found that Mr. Lister had two rooms in our hotel finished, so I moved in. It has a ten-foot hall through the center and is a very pleasant summer house and close to a fine spring of water. We have about 40 oolored people at work cutting wood aud clearing land to put out 100 more acres of of strawberry plants, and Lister had promised them a barbecue when I arrived, and they are great on barbecne. So we bought a three-year old steer and the best hog we could get, and three goats. A large trenoh was dug in the ground, all night long they sat up and cooked the oaroasses. They kept it cooking until one o’clock next day, and then our oolored preacher asked the blessing and, pronounced tbe feast ready. The! guests were dressed in up-to-date colors and some of them in silk.! Lister and myself were the only whites on tbe ground, and after a speeoh from Lister they all drank lemonade to our health and then began working on the meat, which was the very best I ever ate, and it was all consumed.

The Sparta colored ball team came on the train to do' up the “Marble nine,” and I told my men to die on the diamond rather than be defeated, and I braoed them up by taking all the bets I could get, My men on the start fumbled the ball and got four behind, but I rallied them until they one out 26 to 19. It was a glorious victory, and the whole party is now in front of our hotel dancing the cake walk and singing plantation songs.”