Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1869-06-15

TO some of your readers. 1t is that part
which lies in lat. 3s1o of which ! write.
So near by the Missouri border is it fna'
its suffcripgs from the hands OF the border
rufians during its struggle for admission
az a free State were even greater tnah
those of Lawrence, because it was not as
thickly populated hence the burden rest
ed more heavily upon the few brave men
who scorned to abandon their claims and
Weld their rights, but rather meet the foe
and death If need be, and the instances
are rife where that men when strongly
urged by their families to leave their
houses and secrete themselves in the tim
Der, would reply that they had done moth
ilr WORTHY of death and would not run;
The result was that the cod-heartcd mLr-
derers entered their dwellings, and re-
gardess Of the tears and entreatles OF
wives and children, hurried them away to
the field of blood, there to shoot them
down as only border rufiian and Amer
can rebel could. This was in the early
part of the summer of '5S and just pre-
coded the terrible slaughter committed by
Hamilton and his men. which was the
theme of that world-senowned and soul
stirring poem by Whittier entitled the
" Marais des Cygne massacre" From
the number taken four escaped with their
lives, two of these Lamoille county boys
who fell with the rest and played the
'possum SO well that they were counted
among the slain, and within stones
throw of where now write rest the mar
tyred heroes sleeping that long sleep from
which the tramp Of armies and the din OF
war which has since surrounded them and
all earthly commotion fails to waken.
1t is about ten miles from Blooming
Grove to where Curtis and Price fought
the battle Of Mine Creek, which resulted
in a grand rout to the rebels, with the
loss OF the two generals, Marmaduke and
Caball, together with all of their artillery
save one piece.
But the long, dark night of war has
passed, and the morning of peace dawns
upon loyal, intelligent people, possessed
Of a valley almost unequaled in its wealth
of soil and so beautiful with its soft way
ing grain that the eye may almost be I'M
satisfied with its seeing.
We are about sixty miles from Kansas
City, town which is rapidly rising into
grand dimensions and bids fair to be II
second Chicago; at that place railroad
bridge across the Missouri has just been
constructed at the expense Of more than
million Of dollars, connecting the Kas.
City. 1T. Scott and Gulf road with east
ern routes. This road which is second in
Importance to none in the United States,
save the great Pacific, runs within cou-
pie of miles Of blooming GrVro, and Is
being rapidly pushed forward to complete
ness, the grading being already done as
Jar as Ft Scott, distance Of 100 miles
from Kas. City. The entire distance
through to Galveston is 500. The people
throughout the valley feel that they are
about to realize the fruition of hope, for
they have hoped and prayed for railroad
with that infusion of lie and activity which
is invariably connected Herewith. In
this they could well sympathizo with the
people along the Lamolle river.
Oh! the dear old river so familiar to
me that | can almost count the ripples
upon its surface and the pebbles upon its
beach. From my Western home, memory
oft wanders back to the old river, for
upon thy banks the happy years of child
hood swiftly glided by. And then in after
time when the sunlight of our existence
was eclipscd, and bereft of our pride and
strength, we learned from thy placid sur
face to calm the troubled waters of our
soul, assured that as thou vert Fastening
on to the great ocean, so surely were we
to the great ocean of Eternity. .@J
But | will close, fearing that have
already wearied your patience, though
strange indeed would it be for my patience
to be wearied in reading the NEwsDnALER
for 1t has place in my heart next to the
letters from home. Adieu,
VoTRE AMI.