The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1868-10-15
Texas Correspondent of the Pioneer.
The Aspects and Scenery of Wes-
tern Texas.

Texas Cores pondent of the Pioneer.
The Aspects and Scenery of Wes-
tern Texas.
Fr. McKAvETT, TEXAS, Sept 20, 1865
Unroll the worlds map, and look
upon the great northern continent
Of America. Away to the wild
est-away towards the setting
Subway beyond many a far me-
ridian-let your eyes wander. Rest
them, where golden rivers rise
among the high peaks, where rests
the great war eagle, rest them there.
You are looking upon a land
where features are Uniformed by hu-
man hands. still bearing the works
of the Almighty mould, as upon the
morning Of the creation A re
gion, whose every object means the
impress of Gods image. His am
bient spirit lives in the silent gran
leur of it's mountains, and speaks in
the roar of its mighty rivers, A re-
gion redolent of romance-rich in
the reality of adventure.
Follow one, with the eye of your
mind, through scenes Of wild beauty
of savage sublimity.
l stand in an open plain, I tu1n
my face to the north. to the south,
to the east, and to the wst; and, on
all sides, behold the blue circle of
the heavens girdling around me-
Nor rock, nor tree, breaks the ring
of the horizon. What covers the
broad expanse between Wood?
water? grass? No-fowers AS
far as any eye can range, it rests
only on fiowers-on beautiful flow
ers
am looking as on a tinted map,
an enamelled picture brilliant with
every hue of the prism.
Yonder is golden yellow, where
the helianthies turns her dial-like
face to the sun. Yonder, scarlet,
where the malva erects its red ban
ner. Here is parterre of the pur
pie monarda, there the enphorbia
sheds it's silver teaf Yonder the
orange predominates in the showy
flowers of the asclepia; and beyond,
/ the eye roams over the pink bios
SONS Of the Cleome.
The breeze stirs them, miHfons of
corallas are waving their gaudy
standards. The tall stalks of the
helianthers bend and rise in long un-
dulations, like pillows on q golden
sea!
They are at rest again. The air
is filled with odors, sweet as the per
fumes of A1aby or Ind. Myr-
myriads Of insects flap their gay
wings-fowersof themselves. The
bee birds skim around, glancing like
stray sunbeams; or, possied on
whining wings, drink from the nee
tared cups; and the wild bee, with
laden limbs, clings among the hon
eyed pistils, Or leaves for his far
hive with song of JOY.
Who planted these flowers Who
hath woven them into these pictured
parterres Nature. 1t is her richest
mantle-richer in its hue than the
scarfs of Cashmere.
This is the "weed prairie,' it is
misnamed. It is 1.-The garden of
God" i X
The scene is changed, I am in a
plain as before, with the unbroken
horizon circling around me- What
do I behold? Flowers No, there is
not a flowor in sight, but one vast
expanse of living verdure; from
, north to south, from east to west,
stretch the prairie meadows, green
as an emerald, and smooth as the
surface of sleeping lake.
The wind is upon it's bosom,
sweeping the silken blades. They
eye wanders without resistance
Perchance, it encounters the dark
hirsute forms of the buffalo, entrac-
es the tiny outlines of the antelope,
perchance, it follows, in pleased
wonder, the farwild gallopof a snow
white steed
This is the "grass PRAIRIE" the
boundless pasture of the bison.
x
The scene changes The earth is
no longer level, but treeless and ar
dant as ever. Its surface EXHIBITS a
succession of parallel undulations
here and there swelling into smooth
round hills. It is covered with a
soft turf of brilliant greenness. These
undulations remind one of the ocean
after a mighty storm, when the crisp
foam has died upon the waves, and
the big swell comes bowling in.
They look as if they had once been
such waves, that, by an omnipotent
mandate had been transformed to
earth, and suddenly stood still!
This is the "rolling prairie
Again the scene changes, [ am
among green swards and bright
flowers, but the view is broken by
groves and clumps Of copsewood.
AS I move forward new landscaps
open up continously-views park
like and picturesque. Gangs of
buffalo, 'herds" of antelope, and
"droves'' Of wild horses mottle the
far vistas. Trrkeys run into the
Caprice; and phesants whirr up
from the path.
Where ARE the owners of these
lands, these flocks and fowls Where
are the houses-the palaces--that
should appertain to these lordly
parks !? l look forward expecting
aurrets of tall mansions to spring
up over the groves. But no. For
hundreds of miles around no chin
ney send forth it's smoke although