“‘But,’ said the banker, coldly, ’we lend money only on the basis of population.’

“‘That’s all right,’ returned the promoter.  ’Measured by any known standard except an actual count, we have a population of two hundred thousand.’”

I shall not attempt to point this tale more than to recommend it to the attention of the secretary of the Chamber of Commerce in every city in the United States.

* * * * *

Raleigh is situated within seven miles of the exact center of North Carolina.  The land on which the city stands was purchased by the State, in 1792, from a man named Joel Lane, whose former house still stands.  The town was then laid out in a one mile square, with the site selected for the State Capitol directly at the center of it, and lots were sold off by the State to individuals, the proceeds of these sales being used to build the Capitol.  As a result the parks, streets and sidewalks of the original old town still belong to the State of North Carolina, and the city has jurisdiction over them only by courtesy of the State government.  Raleigh has, of course, much outgrown its original dimensions, and the government of the town, outside the original square mile at the center, is as in other towns.

While Raleigh has not the look of age which characterizes many old southern cities, causing them to delight the eye and the imagination, its broad streets have here and there a building old enough to remove from the town any air of raw newness, and to make it a homelike looking place.  The sidewalks are wide; when we were in Raleigh those of the principal streets were paved largely with soft-colored old red bricks, which, however, were being taken up and replaced with cement.  Not being a resident of Raleigh, and consequently not having been obliged to tread the rough brick pavements daily, I was sorry to witness this victory of utility over beauty.

One of the pleasant old buildings is the Yarborough Hotel, at which my companion and I stayed.  The Yarborough is an exceedingly good hotel for a city of the size of Raleigh, especially, it may be added, when that city is in the South.  The Capitol, standing among trees in a small park, also gathers a fine flavor from age.  In one of the many simple dignified apartments of this building my companion and I were introduced to the gentleman who was governor of the State at the time of our visit.  It seemed to me that he had a look both worn and apprehensive, and that, while we talked, he was waiting for something.  I don’t know how I gathered this impression, but it came to me definitely.  After we had departed from the executive chamber I asked the gentleman who had taken us there if the governor was ill.

“No,” he replied.  “All our governors look like that after they have been in office for a while.”

“From overwork?”