Thursday, June 24, 1926
Mineral waters affect me differently. The absorption of natural tonics inclines me to dance, hunt, fish, golf, lie and romance around. To eat, drink and be merry. The theory is to go to the springs and sedate and build up for the battle of life. But, so far, all the effect that it has had is to increase my capacity for pleasure and the question has been not so much whether I could come back stronger and better for the experience, but whether I could go there and retain my Christian integrity.
If you have followed me this far, I would remind you that in writing on the subject of mineral waters, that I approach it from the viewpoint of an observer who has lived all his life in the heart of the most prolific region of mineral springs to be found anywhere in the world.
One of my earliest recollections is that of helping a gentleman gather up and place a few hundred weight of secondhand horseshoes and other scrap iron in the flow of a celebrated chalybeate spring and cover up the place. The object was to improve the quality of the water. I think now that it was a harmless experiment and that it was in no wise to be compared to the salting of a mine. My part of the work was to accumulate the iron. I got five cents for my part of the dirty work.
Later on, it was a matter of great interest to make a trip in a covered wagon across the mountains and observe the superior mortals who dallied around such summer resorts as the Hot Springs, the Warm Springs, the Bath Alum and Millboro Springs, all of which lay on the road to the railway depot. There, we saw a set of carefree mortals, and it never occurred to us young ones that these kinds of people ever had any troubles and tribulations. I know better now.
There is a real value in the curative powers of mineral waters, and many instances occur where persons are sent to the springs by anxious hearts at a cost that makes it a supreme sacrifice. It is a terrible drain on the family savings but it is given in hope of saving a loved one’s life. And tragedy walks hand in hand with pleasure at watering places.
People of this section do not realize what a wonderful geological region they live in. There are so many tinctured waters that they have invented a word for water that does not have a pronounced mineral taste, and they call it freestone water, and prize it very highly…
The most luxurious resort is the Hot Springs but most of us Scots keep away from there on account of the worry attending the brooding over the scale of prices. There is such a thing as paying so much for food that it takes away the appetite.
And while the visitor may be there for his health, the hotelkeeper is not. I have had experiences at that Spring ranging from sleeping in the road at the railway depot under a covered wagon, to that of dining with the President of the United States…
BIRTHS
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Moore, a son.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Barlow, a daughter.
DIED
Dr. Raymond Lockridge died June 18, 1926, of a cerebral hemorrhage at his home near Knoxville, Tennessee. Dr. Lockridge was the eldest son of Mrs. Maggie Warwick Lockridge, of Minnehaha Springs, and the late Dr. J. B. Lockridge. His age was 34 years. His sisters are Mrs. Boyd Campbell and Miss Georgia Lockridge; his brothers, Newton, Julian, Hal and Horace Lockridge. Dr. Lockridge was a rising young physician; he was in charge of a hospital; his life was one of great usefulness.
