The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1860-09-14
Letter from the Peninsula State,

BEDFORD CENTER, MICH., Aug. %, 1860.
To tie Editor Of the CaleGcnian
Permit stranger in the Westland to in
terrupt you for little while, and divert your
attention from "clipping," "scissoring" and
'pastlng." to few "otes upon the Peninsula
State. Isl quieris pennsulam amoenam cir
cumsplci' is our State motto, and it is true,
Horace Greeley to tie contrary notwithstand-
ing.
We have beautiful country, now more
rapidly opening to future greatness than
heretofore. Our railroads are progressing
and being completed, our pineries are re-
sounding with the sound of the axe, the
voice of the teamster ard the clank Of the
mill our pllstcr is being quarried, ground
and exported by the thousand tons. beside
what is spread Oil our farms to grow clover
and grain our coal mines arc being opened:
our salt works are beginning to attrac; a,tell-
ton, and OUR iron and copper mines on the
upper peninsula are among the richest in the
world
Mr.. Greeley has made himself unpopular
in Michigan. lie speaks of our many beau
tiful little lakes, that are clustered like stars
in the heavens all over the State, as small
bodies of water that in their efforts to be-
come lakes came to be only og-ponds, and
gives our people as body polite similar
compliments. We pay him off by giving him
severe letting alone ard supporting our
own TiJune-the Detroil-the most able
ard valuable, We think, of the 1,iju.c fami-
iy.
Our agricultural interests are prospering
slorous Y. We are harvesting the greatest
crop of all kinds OF our produce this fall that
we have ever yet raised. Many ofour wheat
reds have averaged from forty-hvc to sixty
bushels per acre. Corn, oats, hay, apples,
pears, plums, cherries aud all kinds of gar
'!en sauce are abundant, while our"opeLins>'
and swamps are loaded with all kinds of Wild
fruit ndisenous to our soil.
Wheat is being threshed and sells along
our railroads at from 96c. to : 04 per bush
cl. Many Of our farmers are now about their
Se"ling: the abundant crop Of this year has
50 inspired them that almost every man WHO
has uhcIearcd lard is making every possih.
Effort to "break as much as hecan for a crop
next year.
Socially, We are a peaceable, kind-hearted
FRIEND loving people, making ourselves ana
our guests, Whenever strangers come anon.
rs. feel that l.ere We have erected the house
hold sods-tr tr,ndshp and lovc-at whose
shrine we worshped around our parents
hearth-tires among our native hills. While
/ It is true that the human heart has but one
home on earth, and tha, is usually the ilomc
OF childhood. it is also true thai cur "now
homes" in Alichisa which Dr. Ki;chel says
are only holt-homes possess more Of the true
home element more of permanence and So
ton, than do those Of any Of our Northwes-
tern sisters. Fruit and flowers, school hous-
es and churches, add beauty and morality to
almost every homc-evcn the neweSt-and to
every Settlement. A gentleman from the old
Bay State said rightly when, after he had Wis
tied Michigan, Illinois AMI Wisconsin in
sealch of Il pace where to educate his tami
ly, increase his possessions, and spend his cid
age, "Michigan is the State where they have
the schools" We make this our Doast-w,
hare the schools. Our State University is
second to but few in the Union. Oar Nor
NAL schools are unsurpassed, ard our union
schools are not at all inferior to the acadc
mics and semnarics of the Eastern States
Many of cur union school buildings are mod
els in architecture. finish furnish ard arrange
ment for convenience, and have been ercctet
at cost Of from $4,000 to $4,000 each.-
Politically We are Ml right. The Dougla:
: wing of the Democratic National humbug is
however, making a tremendous effort to car
ry the State this fall, by lying in regard t.
! State Expenditure, and BY free use OF thci
: cid arsument- Whisky Bat the people
know too well who made the State debt an(
who has paid all that has been paid on it,ans
they know, too, the benefit Of stringent liq
uor law so well that whskyism cannot pre-
vail this fall. We calculate to give Lincoln
t greater majority than We gave the gallan
Fremont.
Leaving this string OF generalities ther
G are few particulars of some interest. Mar
i shall, the county town of Calhoun County, i
think, the oldest town between Jackson ant
kalamazoo. 1t has about 900 inhabitants
, upwards of seventy liquor shops, third rat
u churches, small, low, wood union schot
: building, large stores aud very large, We
finished hotel unoccupied, glass broken ou
and rotting down; unpainted wood house
and fences, and yards growing up to weeds
S and is Democratic IN politics. Battle Cree
: is younger town by some years, thrice
;, miles west Of Marshall, with about the Sam
If population has not one place where tn
y criNer is sold publicly, y,-ard there is non
i sold there except what is smugged as "eol
tea" and III like manner,-has good pave
streets, nicely painted houses and fence
w. u, good churches, beautifully laid out yardstw
a. good school buildings, one Of brick, full O