Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1871-12-27
For the watehnal
1 Trim % CaliiOrnia... No. Is.

Now we are in for 10. In for what?N Why
the desert Of course Dear reader it 1t ever comes
to your lot 20 make the journey overland, wien
you leave Ogden, and are running along the Lake
Shore, enjoy to the Utmost that water and noun
tain view Yes get ali the satisfaction you can
out Of the mean looking houses and the stingy lit
tie patches Of cultivated land about them, for YOU
are just upon the border Of the meanest looking,
most disgusting appearing portion Of the whole
American continent and when the night through
whose mellow twilight you are riding shuts down
upon YOU at last, with the exception of the build
ngs belonging To the road, you will hardly sec
house, be iteger SO mean looking, and no patch Of
titled land be it ever 50 stugy in SIZE until the
morning Of the second day from then finds YOU
coming out Of the forests upon the farther side Of
the Sierrs into the mining villages Of the Pa
cfc Slope. summon up all your flrtitude, or what
ever else you name that force within upon which
YOU are accustomed 10 call for aid in helping YOU
bear what you do not wish to endure a BIT, but
yet you are obliged to you will need it, Con
over in memory all the wise and pious maxms
you have heard, seen and invented, bearing
on the worth Of patience, the Sublimity Of inyul-
untary sacrifice the beauty Of calm endurance
Of the uncomfortable, the grandeur Of meeky meet
ing and mildly overcoming hauassng perplexng
and irritating things. Iou will need them, yea
sou will need everything helpful and soothing in
t the whole round Of moral and mental forces in
addition to that grand physical force in the en-
! CINE ahead, to pull you through the Journey Of
tonight, tomorrow and tomorrow night, and
set you down among the Sierra Redwood, as good
natured and as kindly dspositoned fellow as
, you are now While gliding along the edge Of
, the Lake, where the water wages an ever unsuc-
cesslul battle with the thirsty dust demon of the
desert, you see rising from mountain side and
bosom OF Lake as in a mirage, the dear familiar
shapes OF Camels Hump Mansfield, Marcy
and Champhin. Ii that journey is not t.. lead
US into and through the valley and shadow Of
death" (ah how that sentence makes us think
Of brave, comely Fred Lorng who half year
from the night Of which we are now think
ing meets his real valley Of death" Just beyond
p those Southern mountains there over in ArizOna)
it is to lead us into and through the valley and
/ the shadow Of dust, and not ordinary, sensible
kind Of dust, such III procession of teams on
Fourth OF July morning or evening kicks up
on Barre street, but alkai dust dust that gets
into your eyes and conynces you that onions in
comparison are a very mild achrymifcal (that
sa good word and ought to he in the dictionary
il itnot) dust that gets upon your lips and thence
by the perfectly natural process known in the
vulgar yernacular as tapping ones chops into
the mouth, where it sharply and most unpleasant
ly reminds one Of his past experiences with
a ia Il 4 4
EPSON salts, and the result we'll | can convey
a knowledge OF it to you in no better way than
by letting another phrase from the above yerna-
cuar slip oil the point OF this naughty pen, and
say TINT you know how it is yourself !" dust
that puts Il complete raiment Of dingy grey upon
/ you, and makes You 10 all intents and purposes
(, as you journey Hic American desert.
. Dear reader am bound you shall not be dis.
! appointed in the country through which our way
: now lies, nor come upon it as did entirely un.
prepared. Ifyou know what you are to meet,
you will be ready to make the best of it, and real.
~ quite ot in the shape of things that are in
teresting and Instructive can be made out of a
journey by rail, through the desert Ia this letter
{ aim to tell you what disagreeable things you must
prepare for, that in the next you may be ready
with me, to enjoy what is interesting and instruct
i've, most Of which | noticed upon our return
trip, the first time over the plain beng monop-
ol1ed, as this letter is, with the disagreeabes of
: the route. The chief disagroeablo is, as have
already intimatod, the dust 1t is penetrating,
it is adhesive, it will find its way into ones hair,
, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, through ones clothes,
and when 1t is there, it sticks no ordinary brush
ing will start it. Riding upon one of our eastern
roads the busiest day ola dry July, is tidy and
r clean affair compared to the ride across the des-
' ert, One Of your farmers sometimes has piece
of rusty greensward oats and you NOW them
with scythe dull to pull most ofthem up by
the roots and you rake them with wire tooth
horserake, you are not careful whether you are
pitching on sods or grain you put them up upon
, the top Of the highest scalold, and when they
have been dried by the heat from the roof through
and through, aud have been there long enough
for the cobwebs to catch all the stray particles
Of dust in the barn, you send for your good Ugh
Dor D. to thrash for you with his machine Now
you renenher just how lie Looks when, as the
last straw goes into the cylinder, lie shouts
"whoa,' puts on the brake, comes out into the