This lurking evil lies only in the one direction of the city; on the
other side and extending round the harbour are some delightful summer
resorts, Mount Pleasant and Sullivan Island being among the most
prominent, both being easily reached by a pleasant river trip. The Ferry
Company’s boats make the journey in about an hour, and make it many
times in the day; but perhaps the loveliest of all Charleston’s
surroundings is Summerville, which is reached by the South Carolina
railway. It is situated in the heart of the pine woods, on a ridge which
extends from the Ashley to the Cooper river; the climate is
health-giving and invigorating, and in summer, though the days are warm,
there is always a deliciously cool breeze in the evening, and there are
no mosquitoes to make night horrible to the sleeper; it is serene and
peaceful as a corner of the original paradise.
On our way to Fort Sumter we have to pass through the market, which is
quite unique of its kind. It is a remarkably fine building in the form
of a temple; the front faces Meeting Street, the most picturesque of all
Charleston thoroughfares. Passing through a handsome lofty archway with
a carved stone front and iron gates--now open, as the marketing
operations are in full swing--we find ourselves in a long narrow
corridor with groined roof and wide windows and doors on either side,
where gawky, ill-looking buzzards are gathered, flapping their wings and
feeding upon refuse.
As we walk up this narrow aisle piles of rich luscious fruit rise to the
right and the left of us; there are hills of pine-apples, and yellow and
red bananas, festoons of purple grapes, and mountains of strawberries,
bushels of black and white currants, pumpkins, and that arch impostor,
the great green water-melon, all artistically arranged, and forming a
perfect mosaic of nature’s own colouring--only the rough red face of the
honest British gooseberry is nowhere to be seen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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