Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-10-19
sroeEEorDrRs.
P. @. HAMBAUGH, President
r. D. MOSELEY, Vice-Pres't
The Prairie-ocean.

ia, skirts the shores of that prairie
ocean which stretches down tOwart
the waters of the Canadian rive
full twelve hundred miles to tn
southwark. The old maps, framed
from the discoveries of Cabot ant
CASTLE, which represented the centr
of America as vast inland sea
erred only in the description of tn,
ocean they placed in the centra
| continent. The ocean is still there
\ but it is one of grass, and its shores
are the crests of mountain ranges
and dark pine forests. The salt ses
does not present more infinite va
riety than does this prairie-ocean
In winter a dazzling surface o
purest white, frozen into motionles:
torpor, or tossed by the ceaseless
winds into long undulating sWellS
or topping pillows in early sum
mer a vast expanse of grass and
pale pink roses; in autumn toe
often a wild sea of raging fire. This
phosphoreScent waters of the Egean
Sea cannot vie with its gorgeous
sunsets; no solitude of mid-ocean
can equal the loneliness of a night.
Swallowed prairie. The stiffness can
be felt, the silence heard the wall
of the prowling wolf makes the
voice of solitude audible; the stars
look down through infinite silence
upon a silence almost as intense.
This ocean has no past; time has
been naught to it. DesOlate and
stOrm-sWept was it before the reign
of Darius the Mede, and the roll of
the passing centuries disturbed not
its slumbers. Men have come and
gone, leaving behind them no track
no vestige of their presence.
THE PRAIRIE AT NIGHTFALL.
Standing upon an eminence in
this ocean, there is something I'M
speakably melancholy in the specta-
Gle presented to the eye. Far into
endless space stretch immense
plains of bare and scanty vegetation
plains scared with the tracks of
countless buffalo. Upon whatever
side the eye turns, the same wrecks
of the monarch of the prairie lie
thickly streWn over the surface.
Hundreds Of thousands of skeletons
dot the short scant grass and when
fire has laid barer still the level sur
face, the bleached ribs and skulls
of Iong-killed bison Whiten far and
near the dark and burned prairie.
The eye sees far away over the i'm
mense plain. The sun goes down,
and she sinks upon the earth the
straight line of the horizon becomes
clearly defined for moment across
his bloOd-red disc, but so distant. so
far away, that it seems dreamlike
in its immensely. There is not a
sound in the air or on the earth on
every side lie spread the relics of
the great fight waged by man
against the brute creation all is ST
lent and deserted-the Indian and
the buffalo gone, the settler not yet
come. You turn quickly to the
right or left; over a near hilltop
solitary wolf steals away. Soon the
vast prairie begins to grow dim,
and darkness fOrsakes the skies be-
cause they light their stars, coming
down to seek in the utter solitude of
the blackened plains kindred
spirit for the night.
SAILING OVER GRASSY SEAS.
Through this prairie-ocean the
steers his course as they do
who go down in ships upon the
great sea. By day he has the sun,
he stars by night. Coasting slowly
It first, guided by wooded promon-
.Ories and deep reaching bays, ne
soon "gets out Of sight OF land"
The waves of gra Is part before his
advance, ripple ln0meDtaslIy Dy
lis side, then clio Sc behind hln.
The bent heritage raises slowly
rom beneath his tread, trerQbles for
| while in swirls and esldies, aud at
asst closes over the ira IL, leaving no
race of passage. Mon OtOnOus days
pass where no landmark is encoun-
cred to mark his adva nee. Occa-
ionally other sails become visible |
against the horizon line-far-away i
pecks that loom up against the sky
or a time, then gradually melt |
way. Sometimes ne speaks ship
his course, compares reck-
)nings with the stranger, exchanges
and news, then on again
IN the painless waste. Strange
ides, Gibbs and foods, storms and
aims, adverse and favorable winds
etard or speed the VOyager on his
way, till Gland aheadp' is sounded
rom the lookout. So clear is the
III that the natural range of sight
5 greatly extended, and distant OBJ
ects may be clearly and easily seen
which elsewhere it would be impos-
ible to recognise or define. 1t is
lmOst like looking through a tele-
cope. The unaccustOmed traveller
inds great difficulty in ascertaining
he comparative distances of OBJ
ects upon the prairie, and cOnse-
Iuently in estimating their size.
lie will make the blunder of mis-
aking a buffalo for crow, or more
a crow for a buffalo. If
nyOne is inclined to smile at this,
ct him stand upon the seashore
With a sailor, and compare their es-
innate of distance with his. The
we ranges over sea of short wav-
ng grass without a single interVen-
ng object tOaffOrl it the accustomed
means of estimating relative size
nd distance. One travels over an
fiat disc of grass, moth
ng but grass meeting the plain hor-
z0n line all around. And the SEN
alton is that of crawling about in
Jew of high heaven on a circular
able punched out from the world
nd stuck on spike.
WINTER ON THE PLAINS. .
In winter the dangers and beau
les of the prairie-Ocean deepen and
ecome manifold. Deep answers
INTO deep; the storm RACES; snowy
illoWs surge and beat against the
apes and prOmOntOries which
tretch far out into the sea-like
'rairie; and the mirage of the desert
lays strange freaks of inverted
hore-land. To-day the snow lies
White and glistening on the CLASSY
waste; tomorrow the wind sets the
reakers going. They roll over the
lain in long parallel ridges, like
he swells of old ocean; they pile
pom each other in huge drifts, with
recipitous sides and overhanging
ombs, like expectant waves, or
merge into mounds and hillocks
With dome-like tops. They come
nd 90. advance and recede, restless
S the shifting wind. Gains come,
nd the tossing waves roll back
gain. and the low moon looks
own upon a surface as calm as a
ummer sea. II
OF THE PRAIRIEMIRAGE. I