New-York daily tribune., 1857-04-24
KANSAS.
KANSAS EMIGRANTS.
Rem Or specisi Correspondent
Tuu--,, u r. Mach IN t2g,

They come the morning, they come ht W"
MONDAY. they come in the night. Inc
snortinp Missouri River leyiathans. which have
toiled through the muddy Shaggy sand'oanhy
sinuosites Of that classic stream. halt V 'no
muddy. undeveloped leyee Of some embryo c"y' a"u,
with a 6endish Border Ruffsn' scream. herald
,b. ,5vent Of a few hundred more adventures 10
this land of promise. Ferries ply orishiy q. 'no
r,o3arp Jordan "A the rebellOus aud muddy "at"rS
reh,,e 10 stand still for the passage OF Ihose cameo
'o,',ra6 a. arks +" drawn by oxen, and containing
notb;no bolier than 90 household gods. Hacks
and bnggies and wagons, every wbeela Die variety Of
the genus carriage, are IN moLoh, ana tue owners
thereof realizing fair thing" BY this most legti-
mste mode of " "conveyancing." Enterprising singu-
lars. with carpet-bag " attachment" thrOng our
tborouehfsres Board and lodging are words of
startling import. Local geography Is elevated to
the chief raik among the sciences, and claim"
takers are Ike another cloud Of locusts upon the face
of Tie land.
Abortion Of these emigrants come to settle per-
uabenty; a portion come to speculate; few come
10 spy out the land, fOrerunners OF prospective
emigration; while no ncOnsderable number are Like
the emigrants to Arkansas who went there to come
bach again. To-day claims were to be had few
miles from such point; tomorrow, few miles
further off. To-day an adyenturer, by the aid OF
advice and exploring peregrinatons, discovers
place that suits bis fancy. He lays down few logs
which he carries on his shoulder from the nearest
point Of timber, and amuses himself by penciling
bis name. with sundry dates and the fact that the
claim is taken. He stands on some prominent
point of his prospective heritage and mentally maps
out the improvements that to grow up under the
hand of industry and the Italian-lke soitness and
beauty of the landscape before him puts him in
heroics. He goes back to the nearest town to con-
template the erection OF q donicile, and inquire
about the prOpriety Of recording his claim, when he
finds a still fresher emigrant than himself, who,
upon hearing Of his choice, offers him fifty, or one
hundred, or two hundred dollars for his "cbaDce,"
and anxious to make trihe so easily he makes
the transfer, and claimtaker number one Is once
more upon bis investigating travels
Then there is a cloud Of spectators, those who
came to be specustOrs, and those who are tempted
into becoming so by the multiplying qualities of the
almighty dollar. Alnaschars vision is realized only
il grows out of town map instead of basket Of
crockery. Lots rise as if they were blown up by
ounpowder, and city interests are considered the
antecedents of pecuniary millennium. year and
a half ago man could buy claim for thousand or
fifteen hundred dollars, which was regarded as big
price then; now he is selling it in lots at rate that
will realize one or two hundred thousand dollars.
All the world of halfhedged spectators hear with
wondering admiration. Another has invested few
hundred, or it may be few thousand dollars in
town lots but few months ago, and is selling at an
advance of two or three hundred per cent. Already
anticipative nabObs expand into Importance The
worship of the golden calf is too sublime faith to
be diverted from its legitimate outpOurngs by the
shabbiness of the temple in which it is set up.
Perhaps the expanding home of the legitimate
squatter is TIE happiest picture. First tent
whitens the prairie hillside; then log-cabin,
rough and uncOuth. Soon frame or stone build
ing grows up while the furrOws are drawn through
the deep black SOIL and the germ Of another noble
homestead farm is shooting out in strength and
vipor To-day is for trial aud toll, tomorrow for
hope The seeds Of future happiness and wealth are
sowing thick and fast in Kansas to-day. Slopes
hitherto untrodden by the foot of white men are
claimed day by day his heritage. Those who have
prudent industry and perseverance will succeed US
| surely as daylight follows darkness. But a few
years and all these will be rich farms and those
towns or others better chosen, will be the seats of
business and enterprise. That is, unless Border
Ruffian violence or Federal despotsm cOnspire to
throw another blight on Kansas.
What motley mixture Of human life is com
prised in this exodus from the States The motives
to emigrate are as different those they have sent
here. Little episodes of life are written, strongly
marked and full of interest. How many of those
| who come are incapable of going through even a
brief pioneer experience 1t is one thing TO read
of the patient energy OF pioneers, and another to
face it. Even where the obstacles are lightest and
|
faith nor courage to meet Them In the older cities
and States there are very many whose means aud
wants are limited to the day that creates and sup.
plies them. Their livelihood depends on the capital
| and enterprise of others. They grow up, live and
| die like SO many wheels and cranks in the complex
| machinery of the body polite; and when you take
| them away from the other wheels and cranks they
| cease to reyOve and seem to forget that they are
| any more than fragment of an incomplete machine.
10 ~
thinking, and consequently they do not think eff
GENTLY Enterprise is not quality that will lie
long in dormant, inutle expectancy. 1t takes a
man with good deal of the hardy yigor of life to
throw of old associations and look cheerfully at new
aspects of life when they promise to be better
Oh the milltread Of the little paths of life which
narrow down the human soul and the physical abil-
ties 10 point as infintesnal rs homeopathic dose
| Of medicine Political economists tell as that by
| limiting mans occupation to the performance Of
| one thing he will excel in that. So ho will. He
| who has never done anything but make pin-head,
| can make pinhesds to perfection. He who has at
| tended and watched the operations of a piece of
| mechanism for a mOnotOnOus lifetime, can do no
| more. Must We glorify the process by which man
| is made into machine Is he 10 be like watch
wound up weekly, and regulated BY the fears Of .
loss Of place. As tho machinery wears is it to be
| oiled by alcohol and wound, and wound up, until
the handspring breaks, and then be superseded by
newer piece Of machinery
There may be some men who are destined, or
| who are only fitted to be sO many cranks in the
| great machinery of ciyilzatiOn-who are, to move
and rcvove silently in their respective places ut the
unknown impetus Of smother crank, and TO shine in
| the lurd furnace-ight of the great Moloch-shine
until they are worn out by revolving, or until they
have forgotten To do anything but yevOye. Pin
heads and money must b. made Veneering saws
ha fl.1 nd at IL. IA