Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-09-04
Special Herald Correspondence.


day, August 81, 1879, a buggy drawn
by span of spanking bay mares
glided swiftly away from the Mon
dell House at Prairie du Chen.
In the buggy were seated two men
at peace with themselves and all the
world-L. A. Mahoney, well-known
commercial traveller from Chicago,
and the rowing journalistic bush.
whacker who has just begun the
pleasing task Of ladllng out another
column or two of tedious "taffy" for
the patient and long suffering read
ers of the HERALD.
All the boys about the hotel were
out to see us of Il now employ the
"frst.person' form of expression),
and to shed copious and becoming
tears.
No, come TO think, the boys were
not all out Major Viele was MISS
ing. And there's reason for it. The
Major had been mp late the preced.
ing night, addressing some "dear
little buttercup," and SAYING
Come rest in this bosom, my own stricken dear,
or words to that soothing effect, more
or less, according to the circum-
stances OF the case.
We whisked by the artesian well
park, and there was the fountain
splashing away the same as ever and
flashing splendidly in the early sun.
light
The youthful Bannister, the literary
lad who gets up the learned and lu-
minous local page Of the Courier, was
the only person in the Park. He
stood in a bewitching poetical atti-
near the cathartic fountain and
waved his hand CALAMITY as we
dashed along the dusty avenue.
Good bye, weet-heart, good bye.
Presently we come in sight of the
romantic remains of old Fort Craw-
ford and catch glimpse of river and
bluffs and wooded hills beyond.
What pity the fort has been per
mitted to go to ruin Why didn't
this great, big, good natured old
Government Of ours do something to
preserve It just as it was wien jeff
Davis was here and didn't make Tor.
hidden love to, nor run away with,
General Taylor's little Ounce of a
daughter?
If these free and enlightened Unit
ed States had done something of the
sort, the people of Prairie du Chen
would now have a bigger thing than
their diuretic mineral water TO draw
peCpis within their remedial gates.
The pity OF it, lago, the pity of it.
The Government cemetery is there,
just as it was twenty-five or thirty
years ago, also the old flag staff, and
| believe Jno. Lawler lives in the
house built and occupied by General
Taylor way back IN the early part OF
the century.
We canter gaily along, the noble
river and the lordly Iowa bluffs at
our right-in the distance-the wind.
ing Wisconse and the high, forest.
feathered northwestern shore of Grant
county straight ahead. That is the
town of Wyalusing, that majestic
scenery right in front of us. 1t Is
mostly in section Is and belongs tC
Mr. Brewer, the Episcopalian look.
ing gentleman who keeps store in old
or lower Prairie du CHEN.
Across sandy, weedy waste, as
level almost as the Western plains
for a mile or two, and We are in the
woods, after fashion.
There are plum trees on either
hand, the trnit red and tempting
among the green leaves, and there i,
a bewildering wilderness of wild
grape vines fairly agleam with pur
ping clusters
This lasts until We get to Bridge
port, a thrifty little hole for business
and wedged tightly between the ever.
lasting hills. When John Lawlel
built his wagon bridge here he rubbed
his large, lucrative hands together
and said to the merchants of Prairie
du CHEN: NOW you fellows viii
get pile of business from the Grant
county farmers, let me tell you
There will be no market hers for any
thing, because there isn't even room
for warehouse, to say nothing about
stock. yards"
Well, the farmers of all northwes,
Grant sell the bulk of their produce
at Bridgeport, and if man wants tc
rent an empty store building in The
Prairie City he can be accommodates
+ off hand.
II that bridge had only been bull
somewhere in the vicinity of "Walnur
Eddy" things wouldn't begin to BIZ
thus, say certain of the moro saga.
cious citizens of the Prairie burg.
Great word, this eff" at leas,
Shakespeare says it is great.
We cross the river, and as we
cross | try to recall the lines one O
our local poets wrote about the stream
several years ago. / fail TO recall
them, but having Just looked then
up, ! am prepared to give them here
with a AOurish