Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1860-05-02

with many an Indian tribe fearless Of the beautiful
arrow He sinks not beneath the severity OF cold
nor the intensity of heat whilst bis march, though
slow, is onward, until he shall have gained the
Rocky Monntains-there, upon its lofty summit,
with his wild romantic notes warbled into the melo
dy of song to hail with joy the advent OF spring.
and cheer aloud tb, Grst approach of civilization
Here, also, we passed over some prarles which are
said to extend from Trinity river to Ell Paso, dis
lance of more than six hundred miles. in this coun-
ty, also, Jew Antelopes to- be found; they are
said to be beautiful animals, exceedingly swift footed
and very shy, but if taken when young, easily DO
mestcated, and perfectly harmless They range
upon the most elevated portion of the prairie which
is free of timber, and will suffer to be captured by
either dog or man. than enter the little WOOD
land that skirtsthe PRAIRIE which Is generally aeVoa
of underground and in no event would seem 10 pro
duce any material impeachment to their running. IL
is. however, equally true that they never abandon
their flight until their breath is nearly exhausted,
when, in few moments, they expire We had not
the pleasure of seeing one. On the road we passed
several wagons loaded with lumber, drawn by hVe
woke of oxen, tie usual team in this country, and
bound for Dallas county, one hundred and twenty
miles. The wagoners bring down flour from the
upper counties sell in the piney region OF eastern
Texas, and make return load in lumber. nave
heard of lumber being hauled for building purposes;
fences nearly that distance In some places cedar
rails are hauled twenty miles. The usual length OF
an oak rail here is eight feet, which makes the
strongest and best looking rail fence have seen any
where. The fences in this country are generally
very good Our farthest point OF travel was near
the northern line of Ellis county, at little village
named "Possum Trot." Here we saw flour mill
in operation driven by three yoke of oxen treacmg
upon an inclined wheel 80 or 80 feet in diameter
fnxuy hnprrc
then we could have seen sixteen Mexican OK carts
loaded with -four from Dallas county, and bound for
San Antonio 1t was said they were in the service
of contractor to supply our troops. Twas anxious
to see the manner in which the oxen were geared
All accounts agree that the yoke is placed upon the
head in front, and Just below the horns; so that
the oxen may be said to push rather than to pull
Almost every nation has its own peculiar method OF
gearing work animals. In this particular the south
Americans differ widely from us in relation to the
horse; and the inhabitants Of Morocco differ from
us in still greater degree, regards both horses
and cattle OF course each nation believes its own
peculiar method to be best and it becomes matter
of interest as we'll as curiosity to witness the diver
sity of the human mind in the various applications
which have been made to attain the same object
All the country north of Navarro county is said to
be especially adapted to the raising OF stock of all
kinds and to the production of wheat, rye, barley,
and cats Wheat is said. in Ellis county, to weigh
70 lbs to the bushel and the product of barley to
be enormous. And these remarks, / understand,
will apply with equal force to all of northern Texas
But little cotton is raised in that section. And
here, perhaps, it might be proper to say that Texas
may be regarded in three grand divisions-the
Northern, of which I have already spoken-the
Middle which is adapted to the production of cotton
and corn and the Coast which is adapted to the pro-
ducton of sugar. cotton and corn In this division,
and very near the coast learn that stock raising is
carried on to some extent. From the famous little
village spoken of above we turned our course home
wards, passed the f1ourishing village of Waxahachie.
where we saw another flour mill in operation driven
by the weight of three yoke of oxen upon an in
cned Wheel and within few miles of this we saw
some fields partly enclosed by the Bots dare, or
Usage Orange as it is called in some sectons-pas-
sed Chambers creek where the bottom land is about
a mile wide and very rich. We stayed all night at
DR.. Fosters, where we saw a large flock of Grouse.
have since learned they are to be found as far
south as the coast and perhaps, in every section of
the State.
We left in the morning and reached the village of
Corsicana, where we remained about an hour. Here
Mr.. VIM. Storey kindly presented me with some
curosities and among the number the Centipede and
Tarantula The former is SAID to have sting in
every foot-the latter inhicts its damage with its
fangs alone We passed Richland creek, where the
bottom land is very rich and covered with wild rye
which, although dead, was still standing. We tar
red for the night with Mr. Bureson, Brother of the
lamented Gen. Edward Burleson. who was native
Of Buncombe county, N. C.. His memory is respect
ed by ALL and his deeds of service stand in brilliant
association with the history of Texas Next morn
ing Mr.. Burleson, with horse and dogs, rode out
with us to see if we could start the Mule Hare
which is regarded as of the animal curiosities
of the State. When our hunt was nearly over one
sprang up within few feet of our horses, ran in
front of about fifteen PAGES, stopped and faced
u.s. We had good view for the time it lasted but
one of party calling for the dogs, one came up
and the hare led off slowly and in playful man
ner at first, but soon its speed was doubled The
gap between the racers widened rapidly at every
pace, and in few moments it was gone from MS
forever. As well as I could judge, is was of grey
color and its from five to seven inches in length
and hence its name. 1t was three or four times
larger than the common rabbit, and its head pre-
scented somewhat bushy appearance, arising per.
haps from its length of hair. The same remarks
made concerning the Antelope apply with equal
force to the hare. Under no circumstances will it
enter timbered land, but is always found in the
prairie and sooner than violate this law, will suffer
to be captured by either dog man. Several per.
sons sometimes post themselves horseback around
the prairie, and when is started it is chased al
eeIidtely ny TIE TlueTS until Hnally II is broken
down. Like the Antelope, it is said to be easily
domestcated. 1t is an unsettled question which o.
these animals has the greater speed, and upon this
point public opinion seems to be about equally di
vided. They both run perfectly level like the horse
We reached Fairfield in the afternoon, which is
beautiful place. Here l was introduced to Mr.
Huckaby, a polite, clever and wealthy gentleman
residing few miles in the country. To him wa.
indebted for the poiteness of introduction to Mr.
Bragg, the brother of exGov. Bragg, of our State
found him polite, clever and intelligent gentle
man. We were invited by DR.. Miner, the friend o
Mr.. Smith, to enjoy the inequalities Of his hous
for the night. He polite, clever and intelligent
His lady appeared to be equally so, and we wer
entertained with an elegant hospitality. 1t was her
was introduced to Mr. Henry L. Graves and hi
lady, both from own State, and the latter sis
ter Of the Hon. Calvin Graves, of Caswell. The
have charge Of female college here which is in
Aourishing condition, with about ninety scholars
and possessing reputation in advance Of any sim
lor institution I have yet heard of in the State
This Of itself sufficiently proclaims for themselve
character talent and capacity. Having left Fairfel
we arrived the second day thereafter at the plac