St. Charles Republican intelligencer. (St. Charles [Charles City], Iowa) 1856-1857, 1857-05-14

dies fire near him, and the wind bears
the fame onward, burning q path be-
fore him, which he follows to place
of safety, and thus escapes horrid
fate, that but for his sagacity would
have been inevitable. A prairie on
fire can sometimes be seen at a dis.
tance of fifty miles. The fire contin
ues until the grass is all consumed
and not unfrequently it is carried by
the wind into the adjacent forest which
it blasts and devastates, until check
ed by water-course. Early in the
spring, the prairies renew their ver-
dant clothing, all vestiges Of the pre-
ceding confagration are gone, unless
perhaps some worm-eaten and sapless
tree, in one of the island-like clusters,
may show by its blackened trunk and
leafess branches that the flames have
been there.
In no possible condition can the
prairies be seen, without exciting feel
ings of a peculiar and most lively in
terest. They are gloriously beautiful
or awfully terrible, according to the
times and seasons in which they are
beheld. When viewed in the broad
glare of day, they seem like large
lakes, gently undulating in the breeze,
and their variegated flowers fash in
the sun like phosphorescent sparkles
on the surface of the water. Seen by
moonlight, they appear calm and plac-
id as the lagunes of Venice, and the
beholder almost wonders why they do
not reflect back the starry glories of
the sky above them. In storms, the
clouds that hang over thcnf seem to
come more near to earth than is
their won't" in other places, and the
lightning sweeps closely to their sur
face, as if to nov them with fiery
scythe while, as the blast blows
through them, the tall grass bends and
surges before it, and gives forth a
shrill whistling sound, as if every f.
bre were harp-string Of Eolus. In
the spring they put forth their rich
vcrdure, embossed with the early wild
flowers of many hues, spreading a
gorgeous carpeting, which no Turkish
fabric can equal At this season, in
the early dawn, while the mists hang
upon their borders, curling in folds like
curtains, through which the morning
sheds a softened light, "half reveal
ed, half concealed" by the vapory
shadows that float fitfully over the
scene, they appear now light, now sha-
ded, and present q panorama ever va
rying, Frightening and darkening, un-
til the mists roll up, and the incur
tained sun reveals himself in the full
brightness of his rising. In the sum-
mer, the long grass stoops and swells
with every breath of the breeze, like
the waves of the ocean, and the bright
blossoms seem to dance and laugh in
the sunshine, as they toss their gaudy
heads to the rustling music of the
passing wind. The prairies are how
ever most beautiful when the first tints
of autumn are upon them when their
lovely flowers, in ten thousand varic-
ties, are decked in their gorgeous foli-
age when the gold and purple BIOS
SONS are contrasted with the emerald
green surface and silver Innings of
their rich leaves, aud all the hues of
the iris, in every modification, show
themselves on all sides, to dazzle, be-
wilder and amaze. Bleak, desolate,
and lonely as u Siberian waste, the
prairie exhibits itself in the winter,
painless and trackless one vast ex-
panse of snow, seemingly spread out
to in6nity, like the winding sheet of a
world.
The traveller to the Rocky Noun
tains may rise with the early morning,
from the centre of one Of the great
prairies, and pursue his solitary jour
ney until the setting of the sun, and
yet not reach it's confines, which re-
cede into the dim, distant horizon, that
seems its only boundary. He will
hear, however, the busy hum of the
bee, and mark the myriads of parti-
colored butterflies and other insects,
that fit around him he will behold
tens of thousands of butfaloes grazing
in the distance, and the savage but now
peaceful Indian on the hunt and he |
will sec troops of wild horses speed
ing over the plain, shaking the earth
with their unshod hoofs, tossing their
free names like streamers in the wind,
snorting fercely with distended nos
trils the fleet deer will now and then
dart by i'm and the little prairie-dog
will run % the top of it's tiny mound
and bark at him before it retreats to
it's den within it. No human being
may be the companion Of the traveller
in the immense solitude, yet will he
feel that he is not alone the wide ex-
panse is populous with myriads Of
creatures and, in the emphatic Ian
guage of the red man, "'Thc Great
Spirit is upon the Prairie !"
AN EGG WITHIN AN EGG.-The Cleve-
land co. Herald says Wheels with
in wheels are plenty as blackberries,
but an egg within an egg is a barn
yard freak we had not dreamed of nm
til shown Shanghai egg, regularly
laid at Canton, Stark county, which is
double throughout-shell and all. The
outside egg was very large one even
for Shanghai, but inside it has an
other about the size Of the common
hens egg. Around the inner egg,
and between its shell and the shell Of
the larger egg, was the yolk and the
white Of the larger one. Both eggs
were regular "hard she'll" Our ex-
planation is that the big Shanghai has
q common hen inside Of her, and act
ing in unison in their egg factory they
throw dOublets. v
It was this kind of eggs that our
devil" spoke Of few weeks since,
one Of which he asserted was laid up
on the EDITORS table, and measured
serss inch1s n diAmeterl The editor
himself was absent about that time.