The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-01-23
LIFE ON PRAIRIE De la FLEuR. No. 2.
BY MARY IRVING.
A PEEP AT THE PRAIRIE.

APEEP AT THE PRAIRIE.
These are the Gardens of the Desert-thsse
The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful
For which the speech Of England has name,
The Prairiesp-W. C. Bryant
Oar Prairie Of Flowers, In common with the
whole broad surfsce Of this Western country. is
peopled by many nations and divers touguesD
IT, -, ~ 1853 Is. =.
over-crowded European hives, and darksn the
wharyes of Boston and New York like the locusts
of Egypt, are generally borne en- mas~ with the
speed of steamboat and steam car into the val
legs Of the st. Lawrence and the Upper Missis-
sippi Seldom do the free-born of other climes,
however poor they may be, seek homes pnderxAe
shadowing of Slavery's banner. In our Lake
ports they cluster for time, afording many an
illustration Of Babel in the day of its confusion
From these, most are, sooner or later, sprinkled
over the wide prairies, or among the trees Of the
forests they quickly fell. Many, after replenish-
ing their wasted stores by few months work,
C start team" again, with their families, and ex-
plore the track to Oregon, Nebrasks, or Califor-
MIA.
have spoken of athe Wean use the term
relatively, not presuming to fix limits where 30
fully shaken. Especially is this explanation due
TO the dwellers upon our otherwise insulated prai-
RE, whose every spire Of grass might almost be
expected to uproot itself in sympathy with the
scornful indignation Of its inhabitants at finding
their abode stigmatized as che Vest With
the Chinese and the ohioans, finding such lin
tIess extent of territory at either side, they are
wont to fancy themselves in the "centre of the
worldp
Twelve years ago, Prairie de Ia Fleur was en-
phatically Wilderness trampliug ground for
wild budsloes, and savages scarcely less wild.
The Of the Indians forett life ia al un:
TytatsR i sss f4d i With The ss WA
dazzle and dsappoint curiosity tits all the his
tory of q race that has been, and soon must cease
to bel
This veil ofoblvion hangs mysteriously over the
origin Of the broad, green prairies the red man has
bequeathed US. What freak Of Nature left these
treeless tracts to bask thus openly in the sun
shne2 We ask of tradition, and her lips muir
muir some stihed sound, we know not what. We
ask of Nature herself, and shc too, is dumb but
her interpreters, the philosophers who aspire to
solve her unspoken enigmas, tell US of fires which
swept over the country ages ago in desola,ing
waves. Who kindled the spark that swept a
race of Drysds from the earth Who saw that
deuge of flame pour its baptism of desolation
over the face of this fair country2 There is
none to answer.
However they may have originated, it is GER
tain that the Indians preserved the prairies in
grazing state by firing" them every autumn,
when the tall grass was scorched to finder In the
sun'srays, and the blaze flashed like summer light
ming along the dusky evening horizon. Since the
prairies have changed owners, they have changed
also in appearance The coat of many colors,"
which their mother Nature gave is often eI-
changed for the more homely livery Of useful
servant and the prairie, fenced of into corn,
wheat, and oat patches, is made to minister daily
bread to its masters, much to the disadvantage Of
its pcturesqueness. Where the yearly fires are
thus warded of, winged seeds from the groves
take refuge, and find q welcome. Young trees
spring up and flourish most luxuriantly. Agri-
culturists and analysers Of the soil tell us that
the land having exhausted in measure, by long
years Of grass growing, the element most favor
able to grain-crops, is more valuable for timber
raising than for any other purpose. And 1t is
everywhere found, I believe, that the difference
between the ytld and the excellence Of wheat
sown on an acre of prairie ground easily poughed,
and that which has been redeemed by much toll
from the forest, is, in few years. sufficiently in
favor OF the latter to pay for its clearing" Or
charis thrive excelently and our Prairie de Ia
Fleur, now in one important sense almost frna-
less, gives rich promise of the harvests the chill
dren best love to gather, when few more years
shall have strengthened tls. young peach, pear,
and apple twigs into maturity.
The FIRST instinct Of the cmigrant settler leads
him TO provide for his head shield from the ar
rows Of the sun, and shelter from the winds
that sweep unclaimed over the prairie. vim
bern Is precious and rare in this treeless :crri-
tory 80 he contents himself with as little Of IL as
VIII acoOmmcdate MS DettsI hnii, """"'"'i
chattels, and COW, leaving pigs, chickens, NO, 70
find their own quarters among the tall grass
One Of these " shantiesn once caught my eye,
nestled in a retired "holowp 1t was the merest
shell Of domicil into which you could con-
ceive the smallest family to be crowded IL was
rooted and sided up" with rough slabs, receding
from any too intimate proximity TO each o'her,
and giving many peeping place to rain drops or
to prying eyes. A bit Of "stove pipe pro.ruded
through the top, in mimicry of a chimney i@h
was the temporary home Of man who had held
Office Of high trust In an Eastern state wl'n h's
wife, an accomplished lady, 10 kitchen AZ IN par
lor, no doubt and five or six children rev
years later, the comforts Of tasteful cottage wiz
probably make the remembrance OF their hu"o'o
home like hAlfforgo.ten dream.
DO you see that log hut on yonder purple NIL
lock, fortified by seven immense wheAt-S'aoks,
that ovsrhang II M the Alps aswiss village, We
will take II a. tolsrsbly fair sample OF its kind,
and pay ii a visit, by your leave. A chimney OF
mud aud mud colorei bricks covers hall one side,
with projecting bulge In gaise Of An oven Pau
The string Of the latch, that hangs out hosPia'
Dly--it will ring no door bell but II 10 Oil the