Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1856-10-04
Letter from Gainesville.

For the Dallas Herald
DElR LATNER 81 arrived at this place a
day or two ago, aud feeling somewhat prosey
tonight sit down TO drive of the phantoms
Of the past, and headache produced by the
"bad spirits" OF the present, by penning you
line descriptive of this pleasant little village.
Perhaps you are sitting In your sancium to-
night, environed with walls Of slate papers"
and magazines, blest with the facilities Of
news and fresh literature. while have not
single paper, owing TO the confounded maj
failures. The only book on the table is work
on Obstetrics; but not being versed in that
sublime, occult science, shall not hazard an
opinion on its merits until consult Mrs. W.,
who thinks "Midwifery Made Easy" superior
10 Lallah Rookh. The other objects visible
and tangible are boot.iuck, broad-axe and
co,k-screw. In the midst of these unpoetic
associates you cannot grumble II | write prose.
Gainesville is steadily improving, and the
go-a-hcnd.aive inhabitants seem fully impress.
ed with the idea that they are TO become a
great people-eyen the builders OF city on
nm hill.
There is certainly much of the beautiful in
and about Gainesville, especially the feminine
part of its inhabitants; but, leaving them out
of the question, the locality Of the place is
worthy OF note. You have any quantity of
air though it is rarely still long enough TO
analyze il. And as for range, you have only
TO tie your horse 10 the sgn.post and he is in
luxpriant grass. The young ladies nevor soil
their prunellos on botanzing excursions. They
lean from the windows and gather the wild
flowers that boom around the walls OF the Cot
age Inn! Bless their bright eyes wish
they had to 60 mile and take me for guide.
But, alas ! don't know one flower from an.
other.
Westward, few hundred yards from the
Inn, ioll the clear waters OF Elm Il mean when
it runs y and over the green ridges north oil
the village, rises n chain of romantic mounds,
beyond which the mountain-born waters Of
Red river sweep on in scrpentine beauty. West
Of Elm spreads the grand prairie, stretching
It's magnificent extent of pasiurare' to the Up
per Cross Tmbers, few years since the homo
of countless thousands Of buffalo! But tn "
are gone The neigh of the wild horse is head
no more in the valleys; and yet few DAYS,
and the "silvery-(ooted antelope" will be seen
no longer on the hills. The red men, too, are
gone the mighty waves of immigration have
relied them back. But few linger in the
pristine home of their fathers, and they are no
longer the wild, happy children of the forest
The lustre Of their eyes is dimmed and their
stately steps are broken. They have lost the
great fee simple of their fathers, and their only
hope is in the broad, green prairies and silver
waved rivers Of the Happy Hunting Grounl.
Gainesville ls abundanty ' supplied with good
wells, which have furnished all its citizens
with drink since the passage Of the new liquor
law. Another advantage which deem impor-
tant, is Its proximity to the Choctaw Nation,
thereby atfordng an outlet to refinement if the
inhabitants should become burdened with it..
But sublimely and beautifully pre-eminent are
it's young ladies--bewitching girls nimble and
sportye as antelopes, fair and sweet as the
wild flowers that beautfy their native mead
ows! 1t is true they never learned to play
ding dong on nervous, old piannos, or warble
their "wood notes wild' with piled-on agonies.
But their eyes are just as bright and their lips
as rosy as if they had been raised in Semna-
ries and as for the "poetry of notion" they
can Guidance Terpsichore herself! In fact,
looking at them makes me feel young again,
and carries me back LiIlen, to
''Tha days when You
Had caused my boyhood flame,
| When thought it an honor to tic your shoe,
| And tremblcd to hear your name -
But my candle has blown out; and must
bid you--Adieu,
w. IT. G WEAVER.
GAINESVILLE, Sept. 20th, 1856.
The Prospect.
Every man has his own opinion of the prob.
able issue of the present canvass. We too