THOMASVILLE AS A WINTER RESORT. 191 



good deal of horseback-riding and carriage-driving on the excellent 

 thoroughfares of the town and the pleasant roads through the woods 

 and the farming country. But, though the prices are reasonable, this 

 amusement is only for those who can pay for it. There was no 

 bowling-alley last year, though one was promised for the ensuing 

 season. But what is most needed of all in such a place is a gymna- 

 sium, where active and regular exercise may be taken to counteract 

 the besetting evils of idleness, and as an indispensable means of im- 

 proving the health. Our constitutions are made for activity, and only 

 those who cultivate their bodily powers by systematic exercises really 

 know what enjoyment there is in well-earned appetite and invigorated 

 life. The facilities for simple but adequate gymnastic exercises do 

 not cost much, and, while the large majority of visitors would probably 

 not patronize them, they would yet be invaluable to many. In the ab- 

 sence of a regular gymnasium, however, I fell back on Wood's five-dollar 

 " Parlor Gymnastics," which can be carried in a satchel and used any- 

 where, and which really answers a most excellent purpose. They have 

 a Library Association at Thoraasville, and a very pleasant reading- 

 room, but a larger stock of books is much needed. 



There was, however, one never-failing source alike of interest, 

 amusement, and instruction, which, though not confined to Thomas- 

 ville, very much alleviated the monotony of my stay ; I mean the 

 " colored brother." As an abstraction from much reading I had long 

 known him ; but it was different to come upon the negroes in concrete 

 mass, in their habitat, so as to observe the attributes of the actual 

 object in a composite state of society. This was all new to me, and, 

 with my old abolition education of strong convictions and little real 

 knowledge, I found extreme interest in studying the negro direct, as a 

 social object-lesson. He is playing his new part as citizen, voter, poli- 

 tician, laborer, learner, litigant, and Christian, with curious and in- 

 structive results ; and in observing his treatment in the courts, in 

 getting the views of individuals, in looking into the colored schools, 

 but, most of all, in attending the so-called religious services in the 

 colored churches, a good deal of time was pleasantly and usefully 

 occupied, and I came to the conclusion that the more Northera people 

 go South and see for themselves the more they will know of those 

 facts which it is very important they should better understand. 



