Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1860-02-24

was . fearful contest and we'll did our
captain earn his laurels.
Oue fine afternoen three Or four days
subscquset TO thu incident, found us
approaching tha wharf Of Davenport,
where . large crowd Of old settlers
awaited our arrival; not that they cared
particularly for ourselves, but they
knew we bore with us . power in the
press, that las made thrones totter and
presidents tremble, that has built cities,
peopled states, enriched nations and en-
lightencd the world whose benefoent
rays have penetrated the remo.est
bounds Of the globo, identifying and
cheering the earth, wherever the foot Of
man has troddcn. Oh, mystical art,
preservative Of all arts, thy mission is
high one and faithful and true should be
the hand of him that guides thee.
To return to the soberer realms of fact.
We, old settlers, have seen many dark
cloud lower above our prospects, our
brightest hopes have at times been OBJ
seured, and our cherished auticipat,ons
eclipssd, but when did the sun ever fail
to show his beams from behind the
clouds-when did hope ever entirely de-
sert us or our expectations fail to be
realized? Never.
There's divinity that shapes our ends
Rough hew them how We will"
and though at times our lives may have
appeared almost black with adversity
aud affection, yet that good God has a.
ways lifted US from the slough Of des-
pond and placed us upon good dry
ground and-he will do it again.
l never hear farmers complain of the
times and lament their hard fate, but
think of those good old days when
wheat, plump as partridge, sold in our
market at 25 cts. per busheI and our
farmers received in exchange calicoes at
3l4 cents per yard. Money was almost
ont Of the question, so scarce indeed that
our heaviest dealer, when he purchased
the farmers wheat, is said to have fig
ured out the amount Of his taxes re-
quired to be paid in cash and very care
fully refrained from paying him any
more money than just what was requi-
site for that purpose. Every kind Of
business was transacted by dicker, and
the farmers were the worst su6erers.-
All kinds of farm products rated at beg
carly prices. An old merchant bought
a hog of large size for apair of bro
gsns, worth probably IS cts. A farm
or, in payment of years subscription
to the Weekly Gazette, stored away in
my cellar twenty-five bushels of as fine
Neshannock potatoes as ever made an
Irishman's eyes sparkle. Saddles Of
vcnlson went begging in our streets At
two cents per pound and nicely dressed
chickens at five cents each spoiled on
the holders hands. Cheap living, say
you? Yes, it reminds me of the Irish
man who, when asked shilling doz-
en- for eggs in the market, declared he
casld get the same in Ireland for six
pence. "Then why don't you 60 back
to Ireland r. exclaimed the irritated
farmer. "Troth, sir" was the reply,
"because there are no saxpences there"
1t was so with us, eggs were plenty but
sixpences sc.rce-produce cheap but
money dear.
"Ah," said the farmer in those days,
and again and again have heard it re-
peated, "if / could only get SO cents per
bushel for wheat l would be perfectly
happy" Well, wheat has gone up to
nearly one dollar per bushel, and the
same calicoes are down to l2a cents per
yard, and they arc more discontinued
than ever. This only proves that our
farmers possess great deal of that in
gredicnt called human nature.
The best illustration OF this phase,
however, was given in our own fellow
citizens, when wild with speculation,
corner lots became the keys with which
We were to unlock untold wealth, aud
Davenport to be regarded as the hub Of
creation, from which would radiate the
spokes of civilization and commerce, ram
flying oil nations.
the dream has faded. Once more We
stand upon terra frma, contemplating
the giddy height from which we LELAND
bracing ourselves for more vigorous ac-
ton. Let the past now be forgotten;
let its lessons be deeply engraven upon
the tablets of our memories. 1t has
taught us truth, firm a. the rock that
underlies our city a truth, only learned
in the hard school Of experience, and
therefore cannot be transmitted to others.
1t is this, simple and comprehensive,
that no man is safe in his own home so
long asa mortgage is pending over it.
1t has taught US that debt is canker that
eats away not only our substance, but
our enjoyment, and # we would be hap
py, in apostolic language, We must owe
no man anything but love. Or, in the
poetic words of Scotia's Bard:
cts not in stiles nor in rank.
It's not in wealth like Lon'on bank,
To purchase peace and rest;
It's not in making muckle more,
It's not III books, it's not in lore.
To make US truly blest;
If happiness have not her seat
And centre 10 the breast,
We may be wise, or rich. or great,
But never can be blcst
No treasures. nor pleasures,
Could make rs happy long:
The hearts ~ the part ~
That makes u right Or wrong"
But, fellow citizens, dark though the
present may seem, It 10 radiated with
beams of hope that yon white-haired
old man may live to realize. The clouds
are breaking away. the sun 10 rising in