The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1880-11-18
THAT SAND BAR.
A Elf xoRr PERSONAL THAN OTHERWISE.

BIT WORE PERSONAL THAN 0THE8WiSS'
When away from home il has been rule
with US to contribute something of the incl
dents and episodes Of our trip for the edinca-
ton or amusement of such readers as take
an interest in the comings and gOings OF one
who meets them at their fresides each week
through the local columns Of q home paper.
We have msde trip and are at home again.
For a violated rule we will here make atone
menf. our only excuse for silence being the
purely private and personal character Of the
Journey. This much in the way Of an apollo
cv TO the general reader who. to avoid all
risks of being bored. cannot do better than
TO stop with this explanatory paragraph and
hunt up something more instructive, While
we proceed to edify that other crowd
of cood-natured personal friends and home
bodies who might feel that We had not
eyinced for them proper consideration If
we failed TO .t down and in the same kindly
spirit with which they read. tell them all
about il.
IL was five weeks since. and the sun had
just risen high enough to peep over the hill
and down upon ouryaley and its great may
thread of silver. that We were whired away
Through the Flint Hills. Five days thsreaf-
ter. following a brief visit with cousin Frank
Pierpont. the stalwart executive who held
the Old Dominion level until crazy division
was forced upon hcr,-.ound Us IN stage
coach rolling over the hills and across the
valley deiiles of the Allegheny Mountains.
The venerable dye-factory man, Jack Frost.
had preceded Vs. fortnight, and mountain
and gorge were dazzling in all the bright
colors and delicate tints of his own paint
pot: Everywhere and upon every hand was
rhapsody of gorgeous coors which biazed
in the soft sun light with a brilliancy that
riya!led the burning bush of old Horab.
Away we went, rafting along the winding
nike. now across some plungng brook under
whose messy banks of holding ferns and
shelving rocks sporicd the speckled trout.
and the cadences of whose laughing waters
followed us far up the next mountain side Of
dense spruce and laurel green; again, by
some little gem of meadow with farmhouse
and barn einbowercd with fruit trees loaded
with great red apples which, falling. rolled
down in piles against the fences and filled the
ruts of the road to the disgust Of the satiated
pigs nosing thcreabouts. II was a morning
of a thousand. aud one offered that stage
load but once in lifetime. And, so all the
day, broke in upon Us delightful SUGGESTIONS
OF rolling hills picturesque declivifies and
uncxpected valleys each with its orchard and
home-all day until the sun had begun his
decline towards the tree tops, when the re-
n. ,.,r aft inn
Ii was from the tower of the State Universe
~ OF West Virginia. Below us ina deep val
ley lay the pelucid Monongalia spanned by
a suspension bridge which led 10 the town
named for and founded by an ancestor, the
memory of whose one great exploit is pre-
served In bass-relicf in the rotunda OF the
National Capitol-a town laid out when all
west oi the Ohio river was an unbroken VIII
dcrnc.- No railroad or steamboat whistle
ever di-.urbs its quiet. As boy in pinafore
we had wondered at il. masDifcence. After
lapse of thrty-!iye years, rs 4 man We Won
dercd what, n a boy, We wondered at. But
within a radius of five miles Of this unchang-
ed and unchangng burg of unpretentious
people generations Of our ancestors had APP |
pearcd and disappeared. The appearance |
and disappearance of another Of the line We |
hope was not followed by any serious catas-
trophe.
The next succeeding days, beautiful Octo-
her days. were spent upon a spot rendered
sacred by thousand memories and a,socia-
tions. sitting one afternoon upon the crtn-
blin= Foundations of the home that had shelf
cred parents, grand parents. great grand
pa ents. and great great grand parents. with |
mother and wife upon either side, shadowed
by four ancient pear trees whose roots draw
life from the living spring hard by. reius-
ing 10 decay or die. in full view OF the little
unprctending church which is surrounded by
many c,riouslv cnt and carved weather
stained stones that mark the s.eeping dust
OF those We know. yet do not know, our dear
old Aunt Jane told III of the long gone days.
and of their many stories and traditions
Here the ?ierronts had settled in Colonial
times and about them the Morgan, and Ridge
WAYS. their relations. Here had come Wash
ip.-ton. after the war and before he WAS Pres
idcnt. 10 visit our great grand parents. 1T
was dag when one might dream with open
eyes," dream dreams that would haunt the
memory. day when nature seemed trans
fixed with fr,iition of the longings of a life
time and its memories. And 80 we sat and
listened and dreamed listlessly watching tho
shadows in the dccayed orchard and the
proud old chestnut trees that Il Cd beyond. |
--seniinels that had seen 50 many of Us come
and co--the same old trees. the same green
field, and the same blue sky. but changed all
else and gone
so abou, the charmed spot we loiicred for
day. tracing back our line upon one side TO
the "Clan Murdoch."--and no classical LOT
were they. but iron-mongers and machinNts
to the land of heather and thistle, hunting
up an old iron furnace built by grandfather
of which nothing remains save undecayins
seoria, spending pleasant hours with our first
..school MASTER and with people and rela-
ton, whose name, seemed even strange. I'M
Ill the near approach of election day brought
us back to our senses and a realization of our
duties and then. and not till then. did we
harbar a care or anxious thought
Before leaving home we had calculated for
one day in st. Louis. two days in Washing
ton. one day in Paramount. one week in
Norgantown and vicinity. one week in King
wood with an uncle and cousins, and then
home by the Ohio river 10 Cincinnati. spend
ing two days in Kentucky and two days in
Ohio, where we were 10 leave our mother,
reaching Wichita the night before election.
We made il all. except the very last. On
account of low water we had 10 come
from rsrkerslNrg back TO Cincinnati to get
Il boat. We stli had time left TO make IL.
But 1.-THE best laid schemes of mice and men
gang aft aglee." Eight miles above the lat
ter place we stuck on n sand bar which I'M
fortunate calamity cost Us our vote Our JOY
at seeing 10y the papers that Kansas had gone
Republican without our vote. can better be
imagined than described. As II WAS we wit
messed the last grand rally of the Democracy
in kcntcky. The vehcmence with which the
latter affair was conducted was not very
comforting to an average radical IRON Kan
sas.
Bat the personal interests ndaspeets dwelt
upon above do not comprise all that was
noted during that sojourn among the hills Of
West virginia. While her people live to
live and enjoy in the fullest sense the good
things of Til. life. which now. after the eN-
pira'ion of two or three hundred years, ap-
parently come wthou; much worriment or
labor. her political cxcitements. religious
phenomena and agricultural hardships offer
many sources of fun, thought aud philoso-
ply. Not only the men and women but the