Weekly hawk-eye and telegraph. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1855-1857, 1856-02-27

~ AsJFRN Iu~ ~ TEsss y ~ issfsss
piscks on rnE HAwE-ErE Il TEIKsaArH-
As there NM no passing events Of mnch inter
4 TO communicate To you from this quarter,
nd You very trathfal description OF The Ais
,ari Bottom, which hare written for my pr
tic amusement, and which mar possibly anus
i'd ius;ruc, some af soar readers.
Respectfully, . z. @. +.
Lend me thy swee. raase, 0, Longfeaow,
While ia Hiawaihic measure,
shall sing the vast resources
OF this rich Missouri Bottom;
Bottom where the crawfish lahors,
Throwing up his rugged hillocks,
And beneath the two-poucheA gopher
Digs his subterrancan alleys;
And where many gray old badger
Sleeps all suugiy in his burrow.
Void think of tangled whiskers'.
Bottom where the coons and wildcats
Prey on helpless hens aud chickens;
And where wolves mid nightly bowling,
Fill their maws with tender mutton,
Mutton Of the sheep and Iamb-kins-
Bottom where the foul Missouri
Sweiled by SHOWS from northern regions,
Sends up foods of muddy water,
Water that would float steamboat
Over green and grassy carpets,
Over 5eauteous fragrant flowers,
Over crimson beds of berries;
Then receding leaves the fair land
Covered with shiny coating,
Coating deep, and fo,h, and stisky,
Vexing to each sad pedestrian,
And torment to equestrian
Bottom where sharp billed mosquitoes
Chant their wild baTbaric measures
Just before bloody fessal;
And where scores of fleas and bed-bugs,
With truly savage instinct
Drain the life blood from the people.
Yet fair Bottom with broad meadows,
Meadows with nutritious grasses
Grasses ntertwined witt pea-vines,
Luscious food for lowing cattle.
Bottoms too with tangled wildwood,
Wildwood where the fragrant Linden.
Tow'ring oak and giant cotton,
Noble walnut and 1.-THE hickey,
Graceful elm and printful mulberry,
Thorny locust and grand sycamore
Kindly shade their lowlier neighbors,
Crimson red-hud and false dogwood,
Coffee bean and scarlet wahoo,
Waving willow and nut hazel
While their stalwart trunks and branches
Lend support to giant srape-vines,
And beneath the lowly Bricr
With Its richly polished leaflets,
Sarsaparlla twinng dodder,
Vines and weeds and howrets tiny;
Grand, majestic, gorgeous, beautcons,
Are these deep and tangled wild woods
In this broad Missouri Bottom;
And beneath their shade the pewee,
Cuckoo, rcd-bird, chicadecdcc,
Blue bird, oro!c, wren and phcbe,
Woodcocb with bill so horny,
Maggie coming with cold weather.
Paroquet all green and golden,
Wippoorwill too, singing nightly,
Boding owl and oylGt screaming
O we've music rich and varied
In this vast Missouri Bottom.
Bottom where are luscious peaches,
COOLING melons rich Tomatoes
Waving wheat and oat and rye ieldsy
And tall maize whose sparkling gree lea,
Dance and sing in Summer breczes,
As if joyous giving promise
OF a rich abundant harvest
But in autumn grown all hoary,
Wave and moan and sigh so mcur1ful,.
As though wailing DER the dce3, grave
OF the tall and stately stranger
Overcome by Hiawatha.
Rich, broad. level, beauteous bottom,
Oft decricd and praised rs often,
Who shall tell in purer measure
All that's good and all thal's evil
On thy strong aluvial acres.