Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1863-09-03
MisteIlanp.



The members of the recent Teach
ers' Convention, assembled in Chicago,
were invited to take an excursion
thence to Iowa, and here is what one
of them says about it (: " ~.a
We left Chicago early on Saturday
morning, and rode all day through the
prairie lands of Illinois, The harvest
fields were gathering in their golden
crops--such harvest fields as must
bring, in all it's wide sense, to Eastern
eyes the untold resources of the West.
Vast meadows ofprairie grass, gay in
the robes Of purple, orange and white,
interspersed themselves with tracts Of
corn. Islands of woods, scattered
here and there in the great sea of cul-
tivation, We're indeed, the same that
broke through the level wilderness
when Cooper wrote of them while
rivers, winding like lines of steel, and
broadening as some young giant of a
city spread it's fore-grasping tendrils
about, delighted us again and again.
In every seat Of every car you heard
only exclamations of wonder. And no
marvel. Take the adjcctives charm
ing, beautiful, splendid, magnificent
and glorious, and blend them with the
chemists art Of blending, but they
will not give you one word to express
the multitudinous beauties that nature
has lavished SO profusely from Chica-
60 to the Mississippi. r
1t was almost dusk as we reached
the Father of Waters" The sun
was gone, and great clouds hung over
the Iowa hills, but quick flashes of viv-
id lightning lit up, with a rare sublimi-
| ty, the calm stream we had come SO
| far to see.
Dubuque did her best to make our
visit enjoyable, and the traveller must
have small appreciation of natural
beauty that will not find enjoyment
in Dubuque. The ladies climbed her
bluffs, explored her gorges, and men
tally stored away her Mississippi
views, until the future chalk curves
of our blackboard maps in her region
will doubtless elicit glowing descrip-
tions for the minds we train in gcogra-
ply ta a
Invitations and rumors of invitations
were the order of the day. The rail-
road Superintendent, Mr. Young, sent
special train and took us one hun
dred miles into Iowa, where prairies
in all their native grandeur swept in
4 to vast distances. Oceans OF green,
with not q tree, or shrub or fence,
even, to break the solemn scene only
a gray boulder lying here and there,
as it lay when all was truly ocean.
Here was no culture of Illinois, blend
ing stratas Of the present with the
past, no blotting out by civilization OF
the old landmarks of earlier days.
The rush of our own engine aud the
brown wings Of prairie birds were
here, and no more except, indeed, the
i. wide high sky whose suirt0nched
clouds swept in long shadows atlwaxt
the waves of endless grass.
Back again to Dubuque, merry
party, where impromptu meetings were.
held, resolutions passed, and all the
other out-croppings of excursionists
fully sensible to the kindnesses show
cred upon them, Here q mania for
specimens sent us borrowing hammers
and looking for quartz crystals. Sew
eral citizens. possess cabinets that
| would do credit to scientific institu-
!. tons, and one boy, lad of thirteen or
thereabouts, keenly intelligent, has ex-
plored the cleits, caves and hills for
miles around the result of which is
seen i'm collection that, with true
boys devotion, loads every article OF
furniture in his room, and renders
visit to his fathers house one OF inter-
est to geologist.
The West may well look to such
bows and such mineral districts for the
stand she will take in science. Let
her be wise and cultivate them both.
: Of the Mississippi its windings, its
, bluffs, its islands, its verdure-covered
banks, its bayous and placid waters,
| will say nothing.
We saw the sun go down in GRIM
son sea Of light, such as Turner never
. saw we watched the, foreground
| trees battle themselves in gorgeous
rays, and the far hills take on their
evening purple. We understood, too,
something of the feelings Of DeSoto.
when the great river first opened
. itself to him.
! Separating ourselves far aud wide
. through the diverse States, we will
long bear with US bright memories OF
those few white days. rn