The Rutland weekly globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1873-07-11
Our western correspondence.
BURLINGTON. IowA. Jnly. 1873

Our Western Correspondence.
BURLINGTON, Iowa, July, 1873.
Edit0r Globe.
promised to report to you as soon as
arrived in my western home. Here | am
again upon the further bank of the Missss-
ippi, my thoughts carrying me back across
these fifteen hundred miles of separating
distance to my other home among the hills.
What stretch of country it is, to be sure
How wide Gods acres are, and how great
after all is the material prosperity ofman.
Who can estimate the growth of this great
land of ours, or the future value of this
broad domain9 How will it appear when
Gabriel's triumph shall sound and Mchael's
hosts be marshalled in the skies-when
Peters keys shall jingle from his belt while
all the universe awaits the unlocking of the
ponderous gates of heaven2 How do we
not know that Peter has not lost those keys
to Paradise? And if the keys are lost who
i'll all that company can battle down the
doors? If all depends on Peters faithful
keeping of the keys it seems to me that of
all the hosts of heaven he has the worst
responsibility. And unless he keeps the
faith with Jealous care we may not see the
shiny sidewalks of the celestial city.
But how will these broad acres then ap-
pear! How will it be when Gabricl's horn
shall send its summons Der the plains and
MichaePs voice echo from the sultry regions
of the Adirondacks to the frigid waters of
the Rio Grande? Will the land be strong
and mighty with the garnercd wealth of
years. Shall stoned urn or animated bust
ornament the fence-posts from Maine to
California? Shall these western hay-sta ks
become Egyptian pyramids? Shall all the
arts ofGreece be born again and flourish with
new vigor on our more fertile soil Shall
literature and letters be the heritage ofevery
man and woman in the land? will this be
a great republic then, with the peoples will
supreme? Or shall corruption finally bring
us to despair as it causcl to fade away the
grandeur of the Roman Empire? Shall
Goths and Vandals carry on their petty
conquests and institute reign of terror
from the Gulf of Mexico to Puget Sound,
and selfconstituted monarch sway a fee
BILE scepter from lettering throne?
Such were my speculations as rode
along and doubtless they were vain, but
they were entertaining. No one can rush
through these little towns and cities just
springing into life without wandering what
will eventually become of them. How
long will they continue to grow and what
power will eventually suspend theil
growth? They cannot multiply them
selves forever and forever. All things
must have an end, and forever is long
time. Human life on this continent is
radically speaking, only in its beginning
Emigration is greater every year and oul
home population is steadily multiplying it
self. When will 1t all have an end, ant
what will end it? 1t may be earthquakes
famine or pestilence. 1t may result from
connections within or from foes without
Some great convulsion alone can wipe III
out of existence, and who can ever guess
what it shall be?
Only month ago 1900 emigrants flee
single day. Westward the course of EN-
pire takes its way, and the majority o.
them followed in its course. Upon tn,
broad praries of Iowa and Nebraska many
| e tl,a,,, haNfa a1raa1xs founded tLnir
: humble empires. Most of them wer,
poor-a few of them were not But iron
almost every cline beneath the sun they
have brought the individuality of their owl
peculiar people. They came from selfsl
motives chiefly, and with their prejudice
, in favor of many of the institutions of tn
, fatherland. They came because land cal
be bought almost without money and with
out price, and because here the laborer i
, worthy of his hire. 1t is not because o
7 any marked affection for the grand feature
of our government-not because they low
our institutions or revere democracy. A
, a rule they know nothing of either, The!
came because we offered to sell them fer
, tile lands for cent foot, and less. The,
came to Iowa because it is the most pros
porous state in the great northwest and tn
only one in the Union wholly free iron
. debt, a few plain principles they can easil.
comprehend. When told that the popula
e ton has doubled in the last ten years, AM
now numbers million and a quarter; tina
! in 1860 it ranked as number twenty in tn
r Union, while to-day it ranks as humble
eleven-they understand it. When told o
: its freedom from taxation; the advantage
I of its soil the liberality of its laws
I which allow aliens to hold real estate with
out naturalization, they comprehend II
A Now the west is being thus built up b.
l men from New England and beyond tn
e seas, who left their homes with nothing il
h their pockets but their passage money
nothing to uphold them but tn
r courage of their hearts, and the arm,
g of these emigrants and !, their descendant
> grows stronger every day. Shall we b
I able to keep them true to the institution
i that have made our land so great Shal
q we be so strong within ourselves that tn
n lapse of time shall not Undue them wit
d that spirit of progress which the centur,
has nourished These are the questions tina
must occur to every thoughtful person
@ he stands. here and watches the heavy Ia
G den trains of emlgrants pursue their west