The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-07-18


hem seventy-three feet deep, and got
no water, but struck sand, which
saved so he could not curb. This is
the only such case | have met with in
Nebraska. Sometimes they must
dig deep, but they get as fine
cool water as [ have ever tasted.
This family used water from the
creek, of which one draught disguised
and satisfied me, and [ bore my thirst
till the next day. No mention was
made of supper, and [ was conducted
to a loft which served as a corn bin,
but In a vacant corner a rude bed was
spread upon the floor, where [ turned
in, and :" In the arms of Murphy
| 100 forgot all my troubles but
thirst. More than once in the night
[ dreamed of the old naken bucket"
with its accompaniment of the cot
and the dairy house, and woke from
the t%antalizing dream just as the water
touched my lips. Daylight, in novel;
ist style, I" revealed the horror Of the
situation" The mans wife was
81 Chilly insane, or as he told me,
$ clean duff" and his children-he
had six Of them ranging from one
year old to ten-were growing up like
wild bulrushes, moving examples of
the carse dust thou art" &c.
A sort of breakfast was prepared
bv some means, and j. took a scant
portion Of bread and coffee; but it
was a signal triumph of a Catholic
stomach over a Protestant nosel My
host. who stated that he was from
Pe~nnsylvany, near the Virginny line,"
declined all pay for my lodging, but
would take a lemonade with me
down at Ftumont, where he was a
goin' to git his double breakin' plow
sharped." We took a seat in his
wagon, and soon reached the slope
leading to the Platte Valley. As |
viewed the wide expanse of beauty,
my heart swelled unutterably full of
enjoyment at the glory and mag
~nifcence of the scene. Far as the eye
could pierce to the east and west spread
the plain, its surface covered with tall
grass waving and sparkling in the
morning sunshine. Along the oppo-
site bluff ran the broad Platte, fringed
with timber; and on the near bank,
some five miles distant, the town Of
Fremont showed like a toy village
half buried in the green carpet.
There are few subjects on which | am
enthusiastic. but natural beauty on a
grand scale is one of them. L wanted
to shout aloud, to sing; eagerly /
wished for some friend to share my
feelings, hut the man at my side was
unmoved. He had seen it a thousand
times, and, Gallio-like, cared for none
of these things" We soon passed the
plain aud entered Fremont, a -four
ishing little city of 1900 inhabitants
| some thirty-si miles west of Omaha.
| We found the Democratic part of the
population all alive over the New
York nomination, news of which had
lust arrived. There is some enthusi-
assn over Seymour, but Blair is re-
garded as a damper." / shall re-
main here over Sunday, then return
to Omaha, and soon leave Nebraska.
| I like the country we'll, but L have
some harsh criticisms to make on the
people. About half of them seem to
regard a traveller as fair prey. They
look on him with covetous
ewes, and for the smallest
favor will charge him all they think
he will stand without a disturbance.
The idea is to get money, they are not
particular how, and those who are
travelling are supposed to have plenty.
And then so few of them really know
how to enjoy what they have. Bad
| cooking is frightfully common, and
taken in connection with lack OF
fruit. and other evils of a new cOun-
try. if it were not the healthiest
in the world [ am afraid it could not
be settled at all. But this last /
have noticed all over the West.
How many families In Indiana
and Illinois are cursing the
climate for evils which a months
attention to the chemistry of common
life would remove. But a few days
ago | stopped for dinner at a rather
pretentious house, in a pretty valley,
surrounded by fine fields of corr and
wheat, where the material was obvi-
| ously plenty and required only decent
attention in cooking. My disappoint-
ment was terrible. Tea that drew my
mouth awry, without milk; butter
that defied me in self-consciOus
strength; the rankest pork that ever
smelt to heaven, and bread which
deied all my efforts at classified
ton. 1t lay in strata, and by
cutting out the middle layer l
did pretty well, but the crust was too
much for me. G~eOlogically speaking
it belonged to the .pulaeoZoic period,
ard seemed a rare combination of
horneblende, flint, aud mica. 1t lac
| Grated my Jaw; it would have killed
rats. I attacked it with my usual
recklessness, and gave it up in ten
minutes, after excoriating my mouth
and half running some Of DIR. Bier
bowers best work. I am not al all
squeemish, for | have travelled before.
eaten with Indians. Negroes and Ma
lays, and footed it through the hill
country of Alabama. For this
entertainment (O he charged me
" onlyhalf a dollar" OF all the West
ern humbugs l have met with, he
was the most unmitigated. Oh for
wings to fly to the corner of Second
and Gum Streets, to take a square
meal" at the Hotel de Perkins! Why
will the Western farmers wife pay so
little attention to the science ofcook-
ing. Know ye not that what a man
eateth he is Science has demonstra-
ted that We are totally re-made bone,
blood, brain and muscle every seven
years. Thus our present selves are
ever scooping up our future selves
with knife, fork and spoon. And has
not A. b. Of to-day a vital interest in
what the A. B. of seven years hence
shall be?
How melancholy to reflect that at
the end of this period he will be the
result of a combination of cold hash,
watery potatoes, sloppy coffee and sad
breadl How can such a one retain
his s~elf-respect when he remembers