Washington telegraph., 1852-01-07

ready market for the productions of his
land and encouraged to exertion by the
certainty of remuneration, was beginning
to make that nobiest of all occupations
quite a science, and commencing 10 find
out that practical scientific education
was as necessary 10 make good farmer,
as to make good geoogist.
At last l reached the mouth of "tliat
beautiful but neglected stream" White
River; and so, by tle way of Rock Roe,
! a. considerable expense and trouble, M ar-
aged to get home. The contras, was
enough to make ones heart-sick A dull
stupid apathy broods over the whole
State like great leaden-colored cloud
All along our roads are abandoned huts,
shattered fences, deserted fields over
grown with weeds. Except few cot
ton planters, nobody seems to have any
energy, confiience. or hopefulness. -
Home" l called it. Yes such home
| as tavern is,--round which not
single recollection clngs, which we
enter without single thought of pleas
ure, and leave without single thrill of
emotion. Not foot of railroad not
even a foot of p!ank-road or turnpike in
one public school to county; the roads
almost impossible; and half the people of
the State ready to leave it whenever the
| "range' gives out, or the "mast" yields
but short crop.
Even the roads which the General
Government made for us. we have been
too lazy to keep up. Within two miles
of this very town, this place called in
mockerv a city, the great Southern road
is in winter an almost impassa ole bog.
1t has been steadily getting worse for the
last ten years. So has the Old military
road from Little Rock to Fort Smith. II
is perfect miracle if man gets hun
dred miles on any road in tie State,
without breaking his carriage to pieces,
or laming his horses. Last sprung / lam
ed three, upon old rotten causeways, in
one trip at a cost. in the loug run, Of
over four hundred dollars: lolerabie
large tax, one would say, to pay in sin.
gle year, OH account of bad roads. Go
where you will, and either on the hills or
in the bottoms, you will stick in mud
holes, or break through miserable bridges
or have TO swim Wretched little rocky
bayous, at the imminent peril OF your
life. If tree falls across road, new
track is made round it; and I know trees
on principal roads, which fell ten years
| ago, and are lying across the road yet.
Ii mar settles on road, he is certain
to put his fence across it or on it, some
how or other. very often to save the trou-
bic of cleaning up fence row: and if
traveller ever finds one who has not done
it, he involuntarily stops, and passes an
unanimous vote of thanks.
If you talk to even the most intelli
gent men, you fnd that they are wholly
withou; hope or faith as to any improve
ment of our condition. They will agree
TO all you say in regard to the necessity
of railroads, manufactures, Of improve
ment of every d,-they will admit
that the very putting under contract of
railroad from Memphis to the centre of
the State would double the value Of eve-
ry acre Of land in the State; they will
not deny that if there could be brought
about an universal determination on the
part of the people to do something the
means could be found, and the work done;
but they viii tell you that it is of no use
to try,-that it will all end in talk,-that
l
these things, nor pursuaded to put out
their hands aud to work manfully and re.
deem the State and SO they not only do
nothing themselves, but they discourage
! others.
If it becomes necessary 20 decide
whether A. or B. shall be sent to Con-
gress, or made Governor, matter of re-
ally not the very slightest importance to
any body OH earth but themselves and
few friends,-forthwith the country is in
imminent danger, the editorial rams
horns are all sounded Justify and long,
and up here to Little Rock come fifty or
sixty delegates from every. even the re-
motest corner of the State, to a Whig
or Democratic Convention,-the difficult
ty is settled, the country is safe once
more, and the whole State rejoices, and
so keeps on with her mud-holes and pole
bridges and rotten, breaking old
causeways, as Tennyson says, "with
meditative grunts of much content" i'm
porting bacon and apples, butter and
cheese, hay and flour, and even cabbage
and mince pies, from Ohio and else
| where.
But try to get the county commission
ers together here, to devise some general
system Of improvement, and to apply to
some useful purpose a large fund in a
fair way of being squandered without
benefiting anybody: and if after constant
solicitation, line upon line, and precept
upon precept, a dozen are got together
you may begun to believe that the days
of miracles have returned again.
Truly the contrast is a sad one, between
this State aud her sisters. Beyokd any
doubt she is the slattern of the family