The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-03-29

gOOOS, PROVIDED Iney come 1rOm WAS
sachusetts or New York, but we have
conscientious scruples against manufac-
turing them ourselves.
Another thing strikes US forcibly in
this town, and that is that people have
resumed specie payment. or rather, they
have never left the specie as it has been
in circulation all the time. There is
little or no currency changing hands here,
but lots Of silver. Now, . Mr.. Editor,
VIC have heard 4 great deal about the re-
sumption ofspecie payment in different
parts Of the country, but we are most
emphatically opposed to it for all time
to come. We will define our position in
a few words. Let man, travelling on y
salary Of eighteen dollars per week and
paying his own expenses, put up at a
hotel in La Grange. He transacts his
business and, at the ehd of the week,
finds himself the possessor of thirty-six
silver half dollars, or double that num-
Der Of quarters, as the case may be.
He involuntarily thrusts his hand in
his pocket and as he feels that he has a
hand full, he naturally thinks that he is
wealthy; is fast becoming bloated
aristocrat, in fact. He walks up to the
hotel desk and says, with the air Of a
lord and gentleman: GLOW much am /
indebted to you, Mr.. Jones?" "Twelve
dollars;' blandly replies the landlord.
He counts out twenty;four halves, and
turns a little pale. He then walks over
to the stage Office and enquiries the fare
to Ledbetter? Four dollars. Very well.
He counts out the amount; and to see
the man at that moment, with his hands
deep down in his pockets, and to see
the CHASTITY smile that breaks DER his
face as he feels that he has only four
solitary half dollars left, would melt the
hardest heart. It is a perfect picture
Of misery, Of blasted hopes and lofty
aims. 1t would be real kindness for
some one to take away the remaining
four half dollars and give him a chance
to take a new start.
No, as We said before, we are opposed
to specie payments from this moment.
The descent from great wealth to ex-
treme poverty is too abrupt; altogether
too sudden. You may conclude that
the above pictures our individual case,
MIR. Editor. 1fyou do, you will not be
more than forty rods out of the way.
From Lii Grange to Ledbetter, distance
twenty miles, the country is of the post
oak variety, more or less timber the
whole distance and the soil is not very
deep. We noticed, that for several
miles, there is a bed of limestone rock
about one foot under the surface of the
earth and, as 4 result, the rains soak
through the soil to the rock and run off
into the ravines, leaving the country
very Dry in summer. There is not much
of this land between La Grange and Led
better in cultivation and, though we
were told that it is very productive
region, "the cotton stalks of last year
still standing did not indicate tremend-
GUS growth, and we are still skeptical and
do not feel as though we would give Mr..
Purdy's farm in Goodhue Co. for one
here and ten thousand dollars to boot.
No, we certainly would not.
Ledbetter is simplya station on the
H. and I. G. r. r., Austin Branch,
and is, we conclude, not worthy of notice.
We think so from the fact that the few
inhabitants living there do not notice it
much themselves. We take the cars and
are soon whirled along west to Giddings,
the county seat of Lee Co. and decidedly
the finest little town in many respects we
have seen in Texas. It is located
among the post oaks and is situated on
high ground. Several hundred feet higher
than Columbus, in Colorado Co. Being
high they have been unable to find water
so far, and every inhabitant must neces-
sarily have a cistern. They have within
the past six or seven years built up
thriving little town and a very pleasant
one, and the beauty Of it is still growing.
We conversed with old settlers who told
us interesting tales of chasing wild mus
tangs over the spot on which now stands
Gidding's, and that was done too less