The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-11-05
point about the city and that which gained FOR u
It's national reputation 10

... FORT LEAvENwORTH, ..'
located a little ABOVE the city, some three miles
north. It is one Of :he most delightfully."- stuat
ed forts west OF the Alleghanies. The reserva-
ton is several miles square, extends along the
river and commands pleasing view OF the Iowa
shore and the surrounding country. 1t was a
delightful evening, that on which We entered the
grounds, the band was dlseoursing one Of their
sweetest tunes, its melody was waited through
the trees and echoed again from the hills be-
You'd. description Of the grounds and sur
roundings is not my intention-time forblds-
but I will state that the grounds are sim
ply charming, beautifully laid out, and the grand
old oaks elms and other growths, now gorgeous
In their autumn tnts. Everything within this
fort is kept In "applc pie"oseer and soldier like
The officers quarters are particularly noted for
their elegance and arrangements; the prvates'
quarters and other buildings forming q little
town In themselves. '.. .rau.,
Taking q long farewell of LeavenwQrth, we
skip up to Atkinson and take the A., 7. & 8.
F. railway for the capital OF what John g. Free
mont once called bleeding Kansas" and always
said something about "woolly horse" The
woolly horse has gone west but in his stead there
are moro woody headed niggers and temperance
lunatcs than all the rest of the country can boast
Of and yet, there is more "fire.wster" sold and
drunk annually In Kansas than in any other state
In the Union. On the way we pass through the
honrishing city Of Lawrence, which Is kind OF
rival Of Kansas City. But the comparison is as
odious as St. Louis's claim to rival Chicago. To-
peka can crow considerably over Leavenworth
In location, business and prosperity. But Tope-
ka's praise was humorousy sounded by the d.
rectory man Of that place in his last edition,
where he says: Topeka was born Of poor but
honest parents; and she sits on the banks OF the
Kansas, the empress Of that or any other naviga'
gable stream that leaves the soil OF Kansas. She
CONN ands the whole internal maritime trade OF
our state her future is secure, as the judge said
when he sentenced the man TO the penitentiary
, for life, We have free bridge at Topeka that
was paid for. We have also lunatic asylum.
Here resides the governor and his military staff,
as also their new clothes, which are ornamented
with more genuine metal distributed around pro.
miscus.l like than brass kettle. A new courthouse
IS in process OF erection at a cost none OF us can
guess at or approximate or wish to limit Qike
our Ottawa edlfce). Topeka has stores until you
get tired Of looking at them, and customers to
buy everything they have got 70 sell; and she has
the Santa Fe railrod, the big boss thing Of the
west. We have scarletine, typhoid, meas.
els and other game in its season. We have a
straw lumber mandatory where was made the
first lumber out OF straw ever produced. We
have a huge rolling mill, Touring mills and gin
mills without number. We have Bethorn college,
where hundreds OF fair.haired, beautiful girls
are becoming fitted for their stations as the CON-
ing women of Kansas (voters) We have the
Washburn college; and goodness alive! the free
public schools! They are ON this corner and that,
here and there and everywhere. And then the
chldren beehive struck with club Is not
half so numerous. They are our only natural
sources OF increase; other than them we are
largely compelled to draw our population from
abroad. We spend $4,000 year for new school
books, with four book agents to hear from.
There are more babies born in Topeka than in
any other town in Kansas, and there is more
raw birds eye cut up for diapers by thousand
yards than in all Of Atkinson, Topeka and Els.
worth. This much for statistics. We have nc
old maids, nor old bachelors, but we have oyer
three hundred bright, blushing maidens living
within the city limits, and suicides on account OF
unrequited love are almost unheard Of and an.
known in Its history' ]. d. II.