Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1874-08-14
Aug. 10, 1874.
of the Vermont Phoenix.
OwAToNNA. MINI, Aug.


July 25th, and had what the friends called
a warm reception, |. O., any where from 05
to l05 degrees by tho thermometer. The
hottest day, say some, known hero In IL
years. Yet was the air 50 clear and pure,
50 lively with breczes we did not suffer
greatly.
Owatonna is live little city at the cross
ing of the Milwaukee, st. Paul and Min
neapols X. r., with the Winona and st.
Peters, 80 miles west of tho Mississippi,
and 40 miles north of ihs Iowa line, being
exactly on the ilth a.allel OF N. Latitude.
l find very many Vormonter, here ; al
so many from Massachusetts, Connecticut
and New York. A happier, more cheerful,
go-ahead community, one might go far
without finding. The climate in summer
is invigorating, and by no means IA torrid
as one would gather from the papers, or,
indeed, from the thermo meter itself; for
that ignores the bracng qualities and
ccascless stir that medicate tho air.
GRAssHoPPERs
we hear less of here, | think, than in Brat
teboro. Mankato and New Ulm are Just
on the border Of the plague-swept district
in about 90 miles. Having converted with
refugees from the invaded fields, gather
they Those insects must be very numer-
Gus and very hungry. One lady estimated
800 bushels per acre, said they commenced
raining dow n like heavy snow storm on
Friday, and remained over Sabbath, 10y
which time fields ready for the harvest
were stripped of everything, so that even
the grasshoppcrs len in disgust. 1t is
deemed improbable that this region will
he in their course and yet, it may. or
| course the great vocation here is agricul-
ture, and tue great staple wheat Waving
miles of creamy harvest just now arc go
| inI down, acre 10y acre, at the touch OF the
| potent sickle. asked n man through the
ear window if they used the era lie any.
lie looked at me an instant as If doubling
| his cars; others suspended conversation to
get look at such RIP Van Wrinkle; but
the man only smiled his aslonshmeLt and
answered, "Iou are from the East, |
| judge" took in the sign and we went
on. With the harvesters in use, while
| boy, (oltcn young girl, in fact,) drives
the team, two men. riding also, aud all un-
der an awning, bind as fast as the grain is
cut. Ono will shock it up; so three men
and boy harvest eight 10 ten acres per
day. The country lies high and rolling
seems fertile and beautiful. But just here
| n word about the way.
| bought for the full price at starting
| what, ii seems, is called q "book ticket
certainly my first and last of the kind.
| The meanest ticket ever issued--a kind of
"bond for deed" to some supposable seat
beyond Buffalo, which in certain contin-
gences Uhe onus of which il on the pas
senger) shall become his 1t was said, the
conductor will exchange it for you. But
when too late for MS TO do so, we found
conductor cherished a different theory, and
that our last chance TO pass oil our yellow
Il. II. literature was Dunkirk. II was
long amer midnight; only time to run and
get the ticket via Chicago Il North Western
| Minnesota branch to Owatonna. But
at ID. the ticket by Milwaukee and Prairie
Du Chen was given instead, which, on tri-
al, involved an extra expense at the hotels
in those two places Of nearly s., and the
loss of twenty hours of precious time. !
find up here that this is by no means an
uncommon trick. We write this not for
our own benefit; we are satisfied, and re-
member said officials at their Just meas
ure; but others may be the better for wis
dom we lacked. But this, "by the way"
is a DEPRESSION.
SOUTHERN MINNESOTA,
as To climate, must resemble northern
| New England, as it certainly does in popu-
lation. Delicate ladies' assure us that not
infrequently they walk out with ordinary
winter wrapping, and for considerable dis
tances, without serious discomfort, when
the thermometer runs $50 to 400 below ze-
70, this peculiar lightness and dryness in
the air making all the difference. lorna
deos of wind, at any one given point, are as
rare as in Illinois, Michigan or Iowa.
In this city their large, two-story, brick
school house with stone Easements aud Man
sard root, erected at a cost of some $25, 900,
and accommodating 600 children and 8
assistant teachers, is under the care of live
Windham county Vermonter, Mr.. c. w.
Hall, whose success as an instructor seems
assured.
see the same features Of home comfort
and general refinement here that prevail
among like classes in Brattleboro. or the
facilities for manufacturing or general
trade, the facts that Steele and adjoining
counties are unsurpassed in the nation,
probably, as wheat growers, and that four
lines of railroad centre here, are calling
the mills to this point. Even now a new
Touring mill with capacity of 800 barrels
per day is being removed from point
north, and we learn, another is soon to
follow.
Though last, not least, the churches are
well represented here, and the people earn
est in the cause of temperance. No bar In
any hotel here. Indeed, a proprietor of
one of them assured me the public senti-
ment is such the very fact being known
that bar was in the house would cost him
his best custom. Last Sabbath, at union
temperance meeting held in the Congrega-
tional church, an audience of over 300 were
present. One of the essays, select read
ing, and an exhortatiOn to mothers, were
by ladies' of the place and excellent in
quality. In conclusion then, here is the
soul-lile, heart-life, brain-lle, of your best
type from Hankee-land, striving to clothe
itself in worthy body Of material wealth /;
to build itself into an organic compact,
complete In every part and shapely-
verify of the sres.
Yours abroad,
o. G. DICKERsoN.