Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1859-03-15
A Hard Road to Travel

1.-The present session of the Missouri State
Legislature has been remarkable for the witty
speeches of its members On Monday evening
again, Mr.. White delivered himself as follows,
in reference to the project of forming new
county r: .... ..:,.,.e ar ..fas5m o b,d
I predicate my objections to this new county
on different grounds, one of the main and most
important of which is that, am confident, it
would not be entitled to representative in the
next fifty years. Mr.. Speaker, did you ever
visit the territory sought to be created into the
county of Oarter2 Did you ever have an oppor-
tunity of beholding its multifarious beauties
and of examining its boundless resourcesf Well,
sir I have. l have been all over it. and all
around it, and do say here openly and detl-
antly, that there Is not level ground enough
within its entire limits to build a pig pen on.
Iaughter) The soil is SO poor it would not
grow ''penny-royal." Sir, you might NOW the
county with razor and rake it with fine comb
and you wouldn't get fodder enough to keep q
sick grassbopper through the winter. Renew-
ep laughter) qoT. s.I-.sisoss .s,s..n
Sir, they plant corn with crow-bars, and hold
their sheep by the hind legs while they nibblee
the grass in the cracks of the cliffs. Increased
laughter.) Sir, the terg nature of that section
are principally ticks, and must in justice say
that variety of insects attain a splendid size in
this new county of Carter, the smallest that ever
fell under my observation being at least as big as
saddle-bag locks Oaughter.) As to internal
improvements in that section, this House can
form some idea when assure it that the only
thing resembling road that ever saw there
was when one of the bare-footed natives drag
ged wild boy seven miles through the snow.
daughter and cheers.) With such country as
this, Mr.. Speaker, they propose to make q new
county, and the reason given for SO doing is that
the convenience of the inhabitants will be pro-
NOTED thereby Sir, if it were possible to hold
their courts under shade of post-oak and black
Jack sapplings, to keep Clerks office and the
records of the county in the recesses of hollow
sy camore, end to make Jail out of some OF the
dark and Shiny caves beneath the craggy bills OF
that rough country if it were possible to estab-
lish the machinery for doing county business
out of such materials, we might entertain the
project as feasible and plausible But, alas,
even such advantages as these are denied by ma
ture to this country. (Great laughter.) 1t is
| true there would be no difficulty about the cav
erns for jail, but the necessary post-oak and
blackjack saplings, to supply with their foliage
canopy for the august tribunals of justice,
could not be found. They are not in the ooun-
ty. And as for sycamore tree suitable for q
depository of the archives Of the county, 1t
would be sought in vain. The winds even re-
fuse to blow sycamore pods in that direction
(Cheers and laughter.) And the idea of the
people ever being able to build houses, in which
to transact business is deeply, darkly, prodig-
iously and preposterously absurd.