The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1879-11-08
ATRIP TO KANSAS.
Prom the PrairIes to Kansas city.

erty taken with your person and movements, W
will transport you instantanecusly from the in
teresting associations of the capitol toa very nc'
and very sanguine little town of $50 inhabitants
lying IL miles northeast OF Topeka.
Meriden nestles down among the charmln!
prairie knobs very much as II it felt at home.
is a baby town in short dresses. but has ambitious
dreams of a wonderful future. Like n clear-head
ed sensible town it has not scattered its business
houses over a dozen Streets but has grouped
them in a commodous, short avenue, beginning
at the depot and ending on the prairie.
Not unmindful of the admonition to entertain
the stranger within the gates, Meriden has erect
ed two small but neat hotels ard their hosts some
times spread the hespitable board for as large a
number of guests as forty in single day. Three
dry goods stores, not by any means fac SMILES OF
the handsome establishments of our Ottawa firms,
hut In modest keeping with the general charac-
ter of the town, supply its citizens with necdful
articles for every day wear.
So bamy, so full of the cliycr of life are the
breezes which sweep over these hills and Valleys
that few people are ever i'll, according to the
statements Of the inhabitants, and none q die
unless from diseases contracted in other states;
nevertheless this diminutvc hamlet is able to
snpport two drug stores and two physicians
do manage to exc out miserable (!) existence.
A tiny post Office in one corner of one OF the
aforesaid drugstores links the town to the great
Sutsidc world No saloon is visible. The strin-
gent law of Kansas forbids such an institution, un-
less called into being by the imperative wish OF
the majority of the inhabitants, both men and
IL. 81 n,,I Gam hsInE
Happily for herself Meridcn belongs in this cata
logue.
Softly and sWeety as the voice Of an angel
calling men to prayer, the notes OF church bell
float out on the evening air. Men and women
do not usually flock to week night religious ser
vices as they do to Pinafore and have more than
q suspicion that prayer meetings are thinly at
tended. The all cOnquering Pinaforc, however, |
has never visited Meriden. Not once did we hear
the classic quotation, "What nevers Well, hard
" ever" This possibly accounts for the fact
that the evening we attended church the neat,
gnbstaatlal honse was more than half filled. |
Soon another edifcc now in progress OF compile
ton will open its doors in friendly rivalry with
fts sister church
We shall never forget that happy evening hour
which we spent in examining the treasures Of a
very fine private geological collection. lis fortu-
nate owner, a lady friend, was not scientist
but she possessed deep love for this branch
Of natural history and had diligently gath
cred her valuable acquisitions from far and
near There were lovely crystals that flashed
back with hundredfod of added color and bril-
lance; there were gray old stones that held the
10 . bor W. /
ates aud agates, aud a strange mass Of something
exceedingly black and very light which seemed
to be natural interrogation point asking the
question, What am ~ Like the Yankee, we
could only answer the question by asking anoth.
err You do not seem to be a mineral or yegc-
table. What are you' Quickly the answer came,
] am hay transformed into this most unnatural
mockery of myself 10y the combined action of fire
and rain. But the rocks were not the only in
mates of Mrs. G.s parlOrs. Other curlOsities
had made for themselves hooks in the corners.
There were grasses that had once clung to the
rugged summit of the White mountain there
were fragments of organ keys which, II they had
lips could tell n wild, thrilling story of the ter
riblc cyclone which swept through Wakefield
Kansas, In May there was dried lily which re-
sembles nothing SO much as a childs rattleboX
with the rattles on the outside there were tears
which rained down Jobs cheeks hundreds Of
years ago slipping smoothly over our fingers
stolen, as we arc informed from a Kansas plant.
But delightfully."- as the moments went by, our
must end for we were well assured
that early day would find the wagon at the gate
and were confident that IL would not wait for de-
Iinqents,
Alas the best laid plan. of men and mice and !,
girls will oft gang aglay," Owing to this dire
fact we were not among the number who started v
out for a long pleasant ride over the country sur
the pleasant village. Nevertheless we
found plenty OF thought food for that morning I
and the moments went swiftly and brightly by I
until noon su-priscd liz by bringing the wander.
ers home
Morning brought with II It's own happy com +,
for il found us on the summit Of Rice
Hill. This elevation, one half mile distant from
Mcriden and from - to ~ feet above il, com. "
mands one Of the farest views upon which the Ii
eye OF a lover OF beauty ever rested. Around il a
sweep uyuriapt acll. Of wheat, yielding grain "
OF remarkable quantity and quality and nursery b
whose straight graceful, healthful trees show z
that their constitutions are entirely sound Above
Il bends sky which might well battle n poets "
pen or painters brush. Over it come the gori. o
Gus winds bearing the fragrance OF the prairies II
on their wings and the richness OF ecstatic physi II
cal life in their touch Far, far away, as the eye .
can reach stretch the prairie knobs and valleys h
half in dazzling sunshine, half in delicious Y
shadow, bearing here and there like nantes Of Il
velvet thrown over their shoulders, the fields of Il
young wheat just springing into life. Along the IL
borders OF these valleys wind in and out the 7
wooded creeks, which form distinctive feature e
Of Kansas, lifting their graceful crowns Of ioli-
age as if to meet the heavens And now, good
reader, If you are weary Of climbing and would
rnst NTH LIZ 1ul. 1..1 IL .I..a.. L. 10