Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-11-27

Cling for the ascendency, and there
are still many more where nature
yet repOses in her lovliest form.
The whole country spreads before
US a field for speculation, only
bounded by the limits of the human
mind.
1t would be difficult for any writer
to give such an account Of the mani
ners, customs, ETC., of the west as
would be admitted on all hands to
be correct. The beauty of its seen
cry and the fertility of its soil elicit
much commentator, but then,
there are so many difficulties and
inconvenience attendant upon the
setting of new country, that a
person is apt to be Influenced by
the circumstances under which he
is situated. So far is this true that
even in the west you meet with
many persons who differ in opinion
with regard to the advantages which
it presents. Here you meet with
every shade of character of which
you can possibly conceive, from
the pious and devout Christian to
him who disregards his God and
sets at defiance all the laws of man.
You also meet with representatives
from every civilized country i'm the
world and having all come here
for the purpose of lettering their
fortunes, they are generally shrewd,
intelligent and enterprising, much
more so than the mass of people in
the old countries, for it requires
some energy of character in a man
to sever the ties of affection which
bind him to his native place and
seek a home in "a strange land.
Thrown together under circunstan-
ces of this nature, unacquainted
with each others former character,
they are in general less confiding
than they are in a country where
society is more settled. Yet there
is more civility than you would ex-
pect to meet with, and much appa-
rent frankness of manner.
The citizens have, as yet, paid no
attention to the luxuries and very
little to the comforts of life; but
nature here has been so bOuntiful in
her gifts that the time is not far
distant when west of the Mississippi
river will, in point of wealth, be
the first agricultural country in the
world, filled with a population
brave, enterprising and industrious.
Although the west is settled by
representatives from every country,
it is very largely indebted for its
inhabitants to Virginia, Georgia,
Kentucky, Tennessee and the two
Caroinas. The western soil, being
productive and cheaper than lands
of equal value in their native states,
holds out inducements to the emil
grant. Northern emigrants who
come here-and they form but
small proportion of the population
generally settle in the towns or
little villages, where their tact for
trade enables them to get along
with more advantage to themselves
than they could derive from agri-
culture. Possessed of this talent for
trading, they live easily, and often
accumulate fortunes. The Yankees,
as all men north of the Potomac are
here termed, are generally well edu-
Gated, and have become as cele-
brated in the west for shrewdness
and cunning As they are in the
south.
Those persons who navigate our
western waters in fiat boats have
many peculiarities in their habits
and language. The great exposure
to which they are subject, the great
labor they frequently perform, and
their propensity for fun and frolic,
have rendered them remarkable as
class. The introduction of steam
boats so extensively on our western
waters has served to destroy in a
great measure the use of flat-bOats,
and has driven to other occupations
many of the persons thus engaged.
The introduction of railroads are
facilitating many hardships and fast
driving on to future prosperity.
No country presents greater
rage for tripping the light, fantastic
toe" than does the far-away west.
Here "belles and matrons, maids
and madams" all meet with a suit
able partner in the other sex. You
do not fancy, gentle reader, that
they move with measured steps
throughout gay parteFre, or thread
the may dance in some well-illu-
mined hall? No, nor do they listen
to an Italian band, which MARBLES
the soft airs of its native country,
but with music far more sweet, the
banjo, thrummed by some old trusty
black, in a hall whose roof is the
star-spangled armament, and whose
floor is girded by the limits of the
forest and with forms not screwed
into fashions mould, nor feet en-
numbered with light prunellas, they
trip the fairy dance. Governed by
the republican maxim that we are
by nature free and equal, there is no
necessity for introductiOns, and so
great is the spirit of accommodation
that they all dance. Whether a la
dy solicits a gentleman, or a gentle
man a lady, is a matter of indilfer-
ence. Nor can this amusement get
along altogether without steam, for
there ever burns a furnace bright
and ready, from which issues a sup
ply sufficient to keep the ball in mo-
ton.
This is the famous brandance of
the west, and derives its name from
the fact that the ground is generally