The Van Buren press., 1859-10-07
For the Van Buren, Press
On the road to the Lower Counties.

| september Zutn, 1907.
| FRIEND DuSHAM IL hardly know wheth-
er to write to you or not, for thus far on my
journey nothing of importance has occur
red to me or any of the company. From
Van Buren, to this place we trudged on as
travellers generally do, gayly whistling or
singing, for we feared not the lurking rob-
ber, as we fell under the category of those
happy individuals, whose especial privilege
it is ESQ Horace tells us) to sing among
thieves, perfectly fearless of being deprived
of that which they had not. My agreeable
companion, the S. j., broke the monoto-
ny of story telling and glee-singing, occa-
sionally, by administering an unmereiful
castigation to the faithful beast that carried
him. very inconsistently with his conduct
I declaring tlat s'thc fool hadn't sense
enough to know that thwack with the
hickory meant, when interpreted into horse
latin, yo-ahead." With here and there a
tall stumble, our steeds at length landed us
at the first nights stopping place. Next
day, about l o'clock, we found ourselves at
Payne's Hotel, at the fourishing city of
Clarksville. After hearty dinner, we
made tracks for the g temple of justice -
(now days mistaken for :. doggery y
where we found his Honor, Judge WILSON,
presiding with his accustomed dignity, al
though his health has by no means been
fully restored to him. On the streets l
heard but little said about the Kittrell case
this accounted for readily. Killing has
become low AID commonplace. 1t is no
great things to kill brother man, now ;
anybody can do that. Formerly there was
something startling in the account of a
murder having been perpetrated, now it is
mere gossip. Children can kill just as ca
silly as men in fact it is made part of
the initiation into manhood. The full
grO,cn man who has not dyed his hands
with the blood of his brother, is spiritless,
chicken hearted . tlat'' Kittrell is in Jail
l think, as that is a@step that must be tax
en- first the next thing is to go to work
and bail Him out,'' or Habcas Corpus -
him, and then let him slide If he is fool
enough to stand his trial, he will only have
heavy lawyers fees to pay, that's all.
l must tell you little incident that fell
under my observation not long Since, as it
shows SO forcibly the spirit Of this age. y
small boy, just learning to read cleverly
took up a newspaper, and seemed to be ca
gerly searching, supposed, some story.
After looking thoroughly On all sides, he
laid it by with an air of dissatisfaction
strongly mingled with contempt, at the
same time rcmarking, "Pshaw ! there S
not murder in it." Phansy my feel
inks
There was an unusually large number of
persons intoxicated in Clark Vile the day
l was there, and several attempts were
made to raise row, which of course failed,
as | was there to see it my luck is to miss
all the fights. Leaving Clarkstille. |
wound my way alone towards the lower
counties. Mr. Editor, did you ever travel
alone through pine forest ? If you new
er did, do not say you ever had the blues
for of all the lonely places in the world,
one of a whole nation of selfish, uncongenial
hermits. Each tall, majestic tree, with its
long, bare trunk, stands alone, seeming to
have nothing in common with its brethren
that stand equally isolated around. Nc
branches intermingling with kindred bran
ches no harmony, yet an unending same
ness The earth beneath, vast rocky
mass, fit bosom for the nourishment of such
gigantic anchorites. The farms along the
highway many of them looked we'll ; 9TH
ers bespoke indolent masters. Many farm,
ers secured nothing but a fine crop OF
grass and weeds, others had fine corn. Cot
ton looks well, but generally in my hum,
BILE opinion, it has been planted too closely
Some l noticed not more than two or two
and half feet between the rows The
consequence is, after heavy rains the SUI
! cannot reach the lower balls. and the cottor
ucing naturally very sappy, soon rots and
one third of crop is often lost in this way
The cotton plant must have plenty of sun
shine in order to come to perfection. | no
ticed now and then small patches Of fine to
baeco. and l am of opinion that Arkansas
is as fine tobacco country as can be founC
, in the world. Farmers should look wei
to this. Farmers below are breaking VI
their ground, preparatory to putting il
wheat. They desire to avoid the spot i
early planting will do it. Oats should b.
planted early, also, to avoid the. rust
,, may be kept down by pasturing in the win
ter. The importance of manuring is grow
ing in the estimation of the farmers. I
gentleman with whom dined on my wa,
: home, informed me that he had made al
, experiment with a small field. with the fol
!. lowing result From that field he had tax
en- previously from 16t Is wagon load
!. Of corn, using no manure this year h