New-York tribune., 1872-12-02


bors saw spawn mik' when they are used to calling
Il mush" Happily There no chance OF keeping 10
ourselves felt like IT, for books were few ana 'ho
mail came but once week, and the neighborhood was
bound to keep sociabe as the only terms OF enduring
e. don't wonder young soldiers at frontier Garrisons
advertise for correspondents lowgade weeklies; the
horror of an nequent mail without letter istoom muoh
for even strong nerves relish have no doubt we
bored our friends with letters long and desperately pune
tua. .... ,-ur
Then by wav of recreation, we used TO 80 of In n
holes and corners and cry The first thing that ala our
homesickness any good was the sight OF the open p
The house where stayed was in the euge Vi 'lio
woods but one warm, breezy afternoon Ventureu uP
the road to the "psce." Past the breaking near al
hona onopcd wild odorous plane green, in front
ON the right and loft only cut of by the sky Inc coo
WAS not the emerald Of grasses nor the Deseen
of the deep Connecticut meadows, and the sWaro was W
turf OF lawniike pile; but 1t was praNe' eAeeiou'
sight under the midsummer sky, that lustrous prohhe
green prairie its ae grass mixed with resnouh her"e
whose shang made II fairly sparkle ashroieoln
the light oeaseless wind Mover clear day comeslnsun
Iner without this wind that the heat on those pia
only shaded by the Clouds is always enduraDe' Inc ~
was sndescritably pure kind, aud elastic houmg an
aromatic scent from the gum-yeldng pishtS "D'ch
abcand dashed with thepicy sweetness of many fanty
odorous flowers The inOs charm OF the scene was It's
solitude SIS absence frui all that Yeng and unre
fned but next 10 tins was its Astounding life u was
full OF Strange sound and mysterious movements tefe
was of tho prairie hen sitting in the grass
the gossip Of nameess wild fowl toewhits and whoops
iabberfags and gabngs broken by the sGrp, shrewisb
cry The snpe ore short, heavy hutter OF wings as
hen yose from nest. Gophers stood ON their hnd
legs q minute to observe flung down and ned quick
as nerves; rabbits scudded away noseless as night
3 the hum OF great bees fell on the ear, with the
fnc drawn bow Cf the grass-hOppers and crlekcts
that from July TO frost never silent day
IT. roipp Eyer
world Of happiness and novelty. The families OF
fle earth gathered their safe, grassy plain
under the covert OF warm, STOPPING sky and welcomed
their mTth ana repose. The cure for home-sleK-
found the open prairie. Its strange sights
charmed and diverted without fail. Every fortnight
brought the unfolding Of some flower fresh phase
of Summer life 1t was feat 10 walk three miles to see
the men cut hay on the prairie where the grass grew
deep in one Of the nolst basins and help toss the fra
grant wlnroWs. 1t too much of temptation to re-
riding the gray horse with his harness on ones tco
resting the hames for srrups mile 10 the place
where the reaping was going on and then TO hang on
safe ledge OF the reaper it went clacrng round and
z round the 80 acres Of dead gold wheat.
POSSESSION TIE SOIL.
> There was a sound. safe hold ones heart made
z the first time of standing on land that was our
own. THE earth grew sort of kin in that first
n born moment CT title and Mr.. Bayard Taylors
words IN letters he had lately been writing for The
TRIBUNE that standing the shores Of Lake Tahoe, he
onced TO square yard Of earth deep down into
It's burning BOSOM came with the happiness of possess
z ing what the traveller longed for Eighty acres Of
smooth rich prairie lay in ncosure TO be the Eden
another family where its orchards and roses, its cot
tOnweods and gardens its gTassplot and grain fields
i were 20 grow loveer and dearer year by year. The
SMOOTH long furrows OF the breaking lay broken lap
ping each other like sawn stone. The sod was matted
with roots, which held the vegetable mod of decaed
which formed the sill firmly as clay, and year
needed for the upturned earth to lie and let these
dbers fall into the waste Part OF the farm had
been broken up the year before and planted before
came that the harvest ready for but pretty
penny the bills amounted The fencing partly
DONE but without the eye OF the work trives
well. The feeling OF older settlers toward new comers
was frankly expressed by talkatye bost You see
h We all get pretty well out here, and when man
\ comes in with money all turn in and fleece him."
1t lust to this manvOuble schemins contractor that
he wasto say that he beed the character he gave him
self and for the rest it amounted only TO the desire TO
make all they could out OF hard lot In prairie life, as
any other the who would not lose must make his
contracts sharp and bind them He must look after
fence posts to $50 that they set deep
enough and the nails in The boards to be they
secure and inquire well the price Of labor 10 know
that be is not giving the highest pay Indifferent work
Happest Of all is he who depend on his own hands
for nost that he needs Work drives fast prairie
farm Ten days. reaping and stacking, then threshing
and huTyng market, in the new handsomely painted
wagon thirty bushels put through the tanning mill just
before dark the girls detailed the machine,
little heavier than running Wheeler & Wilson, then
OF by the light Of stars 25 miles TO Madison and back by
the next day repeat the round. Yet 1t did not
hard to stout minds and frames that gored in en-
durance The hgled horses trotted along the smooth
in the prairie and the driver dozed his load
till day came, with the company OF neigbors the
same errand There exchange Of loud CHEEKY greet
Ing, inquiry to the prevailing topic, wheat
How did yours hold ont, yesterday % "Fifty-une
pOundstO the bushe" Au grain is measured at the el
4 evators by weighing before it loaded the cars
Hassler said wheat g. % in Milwaukee, yesterday
when he came through" "Wiuter wheat, that wish
We could raise moro here" "Frwon't do. It Winter
Z kills four times of five. How do your out
x this seasonW "Not great crop-not than forty
H two bushels TO tho acre. L declare I done how
N farmers going to live"
TWO INCHES OF ICE INDOORS ALL WINTER
And that was before cutz bugs and Colorado beetles
4 were knownl There house to be put up before
Winter set in anG SNOW fell in October SO the great
brinded oxteam went quick marches nine miles to
the Dekora Mills, the Wisconsin, for lumber that was
then &4 TO SIS thousand and the first building was
put up. II Tanary 18Z2 feet in the clear story,
with good attic as much from door to ridge
pole this be the house OF family for one
winter The large house would need more time o. s.
FOWlers book Gravel Wall for Houses" tho
year before, and father TO the new con-
crete Pine was too dnsy for houses that stand
the stress OF prairie weather. brick and stone far too
Nobody IN the region understood the thing and
with his unsssisted reason father cOnure the
whole secret OF mixing the concrete, boiling the mold
boxes together, and setting tho 1t late
when the work was DONE and the boards left
the mortar III Spring No snow or account fell till
Christmas, after the Thanksgiving furry All this time
were house keeping IN Two rooms. but anxious
10 get out OF the LOt lore on our own account than
that Of our kind hosts, VINO would want ter paror for
a wedding that was 10 come of in the holidays The
Saturday before Christmas sent the goods up the
hOuse. and rode upon tho last load OF feather beds at
nightfail in snow storm OF. The pteous reality that
met our eager eyesi Half the floor not Ia d. and the
stove was set ON the bare prairie sod; there were