Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1877-11-26
9gputh' s Column.
LETTER FROM THE WEST TO
THE CHILDREN.
AUSTIN. MINI. Oct. 0. 1877.


Dear Children: At last am in
Minnesota. Do you realize that for
three days the mighty Mississippi, the
king of rivers, has rolled between us ?
But ] expect to cross it again to day.
l left the capital of Iowa yesterday.
came to Grinnell by the Pacific rail-
road then took the Iowa Central road
to Mason City. where staid last night
and this morning l came to Austin.
Look out all these places on the map.
and then find st. Paul, where / in
tend to make my next stop.
At Des MOines l visited the Kinder
gdrten. There were about thirty chill
dren in the room. and they all seemed
very happy. There we're three classes.
arranged according to age; and each
class sat around table, with teacher
at one end of the table. who told them
what to do. One class were working
with blocks. and another with paper
strips. They work an hour, then have
an hour for luncheon and play, then
work another hour and are then dis
missed for the day. Do you suppose we
could start such school in our village ?
Another thing saw at Des MOines was
"bird show; !" the performances of
dozen canaries, trained to do a great
many pretty things. They would run
over ladders, wave flags, and chirp hur-
rah. One was dressed up in coat
and cap, and sat in a chair, and anoth-
er came up to him, talked to him and
rocked him. And then one of them
fred off little cannon. Little Harry
R sat in my lap and saw it, and
how wished some other children could
see it. too
| wonder if you can imagine how the
country looks out here. There are no
mountains, and no hills worth calling
such and as far as you can see the
prairies stretch away. | shouldn't dare
to say how many acres have seen in
one corn field; but | have seen many
fields which | am sure must be reckoned
by miles. Think of row Of corn half
a dozen miles long. Another thing
seems very different from the way we
do things in Vermont. The farmers
stack their hay, for there are not many
barns here. There are thousands Of
haystacks along the road. And wher
they harvest their grain, they thresh il
in the open field; and many Of then
burn their straw. / have seen a gooc
many heaps Of straw burning yesterday
and to-day. Another thing looks queer
to me. The people here pasture theil
hogs just as we do sheep. 1 have seer
great many drOves of hogs in thu
fields, and they are not white like ours
but many of them are speckled, anC
some are almost black. The houses il
the country here in Minnesota don't lool
like ours. They are small. l don
believe hardly any of them have NOR
than four rooms in them; but they ar
painted white and look quite pretty
only they are so small that it seems t
me the people are only making 6eLieo
Rve. But in the cities it is different
There are large brick and stone an
iron buildings. and they look almost ex
actly like the buildings in our Me-
England cities. / like some of th
cities l have seen very much. The Ger
trail part Of Iowa seems different fror
anything else have seen west of Oh
cage. There are more hIlls-just enoug
to make a city beautiful for situation.
One day last week went down into
coal mine. at Des MOines, where Il
men we're digging and blasting the Goa
two hundred feet under ground. The
have donkeys down there to draw Il
coal in cars TO the shaft, where they pl
it IN buckets and haul 1t up by an ell
CINE. After we came up out of Il
ground, we went to see the new Sta
House across the river. 1t is not e
ished yet; the men have been workiI
on it for three years, and it vi
not be done now for two years more.
will be a splendid building, costing e
million dollars. We went up to L
top Of one wing, about two hundred fe
from the ground. After that we we
to the Arsenal. where we saw the bat
flags Of the Iowa soldiers, some Of the
smoky and full of bullet holes. Tn
We drove through beautiful cemetei
and after that visited the water worl
where water is pumped up from
river and made to run in pipes 10
the houses in the city.
But l am afraid my letter is aIrea
too long, and the rest must wait till y,
time. AffectiOnately yours.
p
CHRISTMAS PIE.-NOthiDg can