Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1851-10-17
WHOLE NO. l55.
The Prairies.

| stand on an open plain. | turn my
face TO the North, to the South, to the
East and to the West; ant., on all sides
behold the blue circle of the heaven.
girdIing around me. Nor rock, nor tree
breaks the ring of the horizon. Wha
covers the broad expanse between!
Wood! water! grass! No--howcrs! As
far as my eye can range, it rests only OF
! tiowers-on beautiful flowers!
am looking as OH tinted map-an
enameled picture brilliant with every hue
of The prism.
fonder is the golden yellow, where
the helianthus turns her da.-like face 10
the sun. Yonder, scarlet, where the
malva erects its red banner. Here is a
parterre of the purple monarda--lhere the
euphorbia sheds lis silver leaf. Yonder
the orange predominates in the snowy
flowers of the asclepia; and beyond, the
eye roams over the pink blossoms of the
cIeome.
The breeze stirs them. Millions ol
corollas are waving their gaudy stand
ards. The tall stalks of the helian,hus
bend and rise in long undulations, like
pillows on golden sea.
They are at rest again. The air is
filled with odors, sweeia the perfumes
of Araby or Ind. Myriads of insects
flap their wings-flowers of themselves.
The bee birds skim around, glancing like
stray sunbeams; or, poised ON whirring
wings, drink from the neciarcd cups; aud
The wild bee, with laden limbs, cllngs a.
mong the honeyed pislils, or leaves for
his fair hive with a song of JOY.
Who planted these flowers! Who
hath woven them into these pictured par
terres! Nature. lis her richest man
lle--richer in its hnes than the scarfs of
Cashmere.
This is the "weed prairie" Ii is
misnamed. ]. is the garden of God.
| H
The scene is changed. am in a plain
as before, with the unbroken horizon
circling round me. What do | behold.
Flowers! No, there is not flower in
sight, but one vast expanse Of living ver-
dure! From North to South, from East
10 West, stretches the prairie meadow,
green as an emerald. and smooth as the
surface of a sleeping lake!
The wind is upon its bosom. sweeping
the silken blades. They are in motions;
and the yerdure is dapp,ed into Lighter
and darker shades --as the shadows of
summer clouds, fleeting across the sun.
The eye wanders without resistance.
Perchance, it encounters the dark hirsute
forms of the buffalo, or traces the linv
outlines of the antelope. Perchance, 1t
follows, in pleased wonder, the far-wid
gallop of snow-whte steed.
This is the "grass prairie," the bound
less pasture ofthe bison.
The scene changes. The earth is no
longer level, buttreeless and verdant as
ever. It's surface exhibits a succession
of parallel undulatons. here and there
swelling into smooth round hills. 1t is
covered with soft turi of brilliant green
ness. These undulations remind one of
the ocean after mighty storm, when the
crisped foam has died upon the waves.
that. by an omnipotent mandate, had
been transformed 20 earth, and suddenly
stood still!
This is the rolling prairie"
Again the scene changes. I am
among green swards and bright flowers;
but the view is broken by groves and
clumps of copse-wood. The frondage is
varied, its Units vivid, and its outlines
soft and graceful. As | move forward,
new landscapes open up continuously
views park-!lke and picturesque. Gangs
of buffalo, horses, moule the far vs.as -
Turkeys run into the copice; and pheas-
ants whirr up from the path.
Where are the owners of these lands,
of these hocks and flowers! Where are
the houses--the palaces-that should ap-
pertain 10 these lor9ly parks9 | look for
ward, expecting to see the tu:rets of tall
mansions spring up over the groves
But no. For hundreds of miles around
no chimney sends forth smoke. Al
though with cultivated aspect, this re-
gion is only .rodden by the moccasined
foot of the hunter, and his enemy, the
red Indian.
These are the "mottes the "islands'
of The prairie sea.
/ IN ~