Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-01-31

ABOUT MUD.-The weather prophet who
predicted a cold, hard winter, hides his d.
minished head. New York is in the mud
Philadelphia l. in the mud Cincinnati is in
the mud Chicago is in the mud St. Louis
IS IN the mud, and, going abroad, London Is
London TO keep the streets clean, for ~
would be utterly impossible to remove the
mud. Paths have been cut through the
crossings to prevent people from getting
hopelessly mired. In American cities very
little, If anything more has been attempted.
People are compelled 70 boldly navigate the
sea of mud or remain at home. one man
recently persisted in the streets of st.
Louis and If the open weather continues,
Others may suffer the same fate. Discretion
has generally prevailed over courage and
the spirit of adventure, however, and those
who would walk up to the lannon's mouth
have carefully refrained from walking into
the mud until its depth has been ascer-
tanned.
Farmers in the West are having a rare
the soft weather of 1880. 1t is not quite so
bad in Ohio and Indiana as among the
Suckers and their neighbors of Iowa. In
that region the farmers are apprehensiVe
that the winter wheat will be greatly in
jured by the thawing days and freezing
nights, and Will have all IL can do 10 keep
alive through long spell of such unreaSOn-
danger is described as so extremely threat
ening that the people are getting ready TO
fallen and the fields are at the mercy of mud
and frost. That section, as well as Iowa, is
famous Tor the depth, DlaCkneSS, ana cling
ing quality of mud. Nearly every year,
during part of the autumn, there is a "mud
embargo" more OF less complete and eXtenS-
i've. II does not often continue into the
winter. At present, in Central Illinois, the
business boom has subsidized. 1t is a thing
of the past and of the future. 1t now sticks
in the mud. There is a stagnatiOn OF trade.
Communication between the towns and
country has been etfectually stopped. 1.-THE
farmer sits in his easy chair smoking his
pipe of clay" and the merchant does the
same thing, or plays cards on box in the
cellar. There is more comfort in the picture
than the reality, however. 1t is not pleas
ure to Western people TO be idle when cribs
are bursting with corn and counters are
loaded with goods; certainly not when a
growing crop is in danger.
The mud embargo may have one good
effect. 1t Is sand that people are beginning
To regard this state of things, re- SURFING every
year or two in different seasons as an intol-
cradle nuisance, and have about concluded
that 10 will pay TO give more attention in
the future to the construction of gravel
roads and pixies. There can be no doubt
that the West now needs solid highways,
over which loaded wagons can be drawn
the year round, more than railroads. and
yet the number of communities willing To
give money for a gravel road in preference
10 a railroad, while already possessing excel
lent railroad facilities, is only one out of ten.
one mud embargo would seem to be enough
To show people the great practical value of
tlrSt-claSs wagon roads. Every pOpulOuS
township should have them. The citizens
one bad season. Cincinnati Times.