Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1872-01-18

filling up the valleys, was unable, strange
to saw. TO note any diminution in their
size since last saw them, several years
before.
A few miles out from Cheyenne, and we
began to have ample sport shooting prairie
dogs, and shooting at antelopes. i say
shooting at antelopes, because, although
this most exciting sport was attended win
nlomentary pleasure, il resulted IN no
meat for supper Appearances are decep-
tive out West The mountain TO all ap-
pearance lust ahead of the traveller, may
he fifty miles away the pretty little lake
in the distance, with sails upon its placid
waters, recedes as you approach. leaving
only the arid desert covered with sage
brush. The Indian, skulking on the plain,
inspiring the lone traveller perhaps with
fear, vanishes like the placid lake, and In
his place is found the strutting crow,
peckinC at the carcass of the fallen deer.
The man YOU meet, with pistols dangling
at his rear. with sun-burnt face, and mat
ted hair and beard, and buckskin suit,
may be desperate or a thief, but then
YOU don't know. and when you ask those
who do. YOU find him a gentleman and
scholar run wild an ex.judge, or mem
Der of some State Legislature, turned
rancher perhaps, with a squaw for wife,
and worth two or three hundred thousand
dollars. Such little uncertainties as these
and others, tend to take the concelt out OF
man who comes West. They strike at
ones dignity, ones egotism they make
men more liberal and lenient in their
views of things.
have in the course Of my ramblings
slept IN many different positions and
places in hay lofts, in granaries, on
porches, in the corners of Virginia rail
fences, and among the tall pines of the
South beneath the sometimes questona
Bile shelter of the army "purp tent.
With my somewhat extensive experience
in "out door lodgings in sixteen differ
ent States of the Union, | have become
somewhat of an epicure in my choice OF
beds. About the worst sort of lodgings
which ever came into very general use
was the pile of sacked potatoes on board
the Mississippi transport during the war
Ipartook of this last once, and only once
after that when this alternative presented
| itself, as it sometimes did, preferred to
sit standing" About the next best
mem thing in lodgings, is the new fan
gled patent spring mattress bedstead
| which, when YOU lie on your back, SINKS
down in the middle, standing your head
on your stomach, and bringing your knees
up on each side of your ears. But the
best of all beds in good weather and in a
healthy climate, is the bed upon the soft,
! fresh, understanding earth. We com
posed our tired limbs for sleep. 1t was q
clear starlight night such night as Is
only seen upon the plains. You could
have seen the hour by your watch. There
were the dim shadowy outlines OF the great
mountain up among the stars, and per
feet stiffness reigned. Silence absolute
! No night bird sang, the wolf forgot tt
howl, and the wind was asleep.
Lord Byron, in some Of his writings
has said that nothing could equal the aw
full solemnity of great empty room il
the dark. He could have known nothing
of the solemn, impressive stiffness of ;
great desert in the night.