Evening bulletin. [volume] (Maysville [Ky.]) 1882-1883, 1882-10-03
The Hungarian Plains.


are dimpled here and there with shady
hollows; while like golden islands in an
ocean of vivid green lie long stretches
of yellow COLA and ripening corn. On
the gently rising upland yonder dark
round speck appears against the sunlit
sky; gardually it elongates, and we hear
voice singing in a quivering treble
some national idyl. 1t is a husband
man emerging from the hollow and
trudging homeward along the crest of
the undulation. Then all is silence and
solitude once more, till coming to a
standstill at one of the primitive wells
by the roadside, we hear the distant
rumble of a wagon as its wheels grind
heavily along, the driver of it sing ng,
as it goes, melancholy ditty in the mi
nor key. Then one by one the villages
and solitary farms lying on the horizon
die away, and we enter the boundless
plains. How lonely we feel, and what
tiny atoms of creation, with no objects
TO measure ourselves by save birds of
prey, and the white clouds sailing far
up in the great, blue, glorious sky! Our
carriage, though imposing only in the
matter of size, proved very comfortable,
its ponderous hood shielding us from the
heat OF the sun, save where, taking
mean advantage of weak places in its
constitution, it shot fiery arrows in up
on us, scarcely less piercing than those
that pour down upon the head of the
traveller in the desert. The sun reflects
itself in the white and dusty road
Above the soil on either side there is a
Pickering motion of the air like the haze
from lime-kiln. Everything is hot and
dusty; not an insect is seen lowering
about the low bushes which now
and then skirt our pathway. All
nature is taking its siesta in the dreamy
noontide, and nothing is awake but the
scarlet pimpernel that with wide-open.
unblinking eye looks straight up at the
blazing sun. We now come to marshy
district, where lonely heron is con-
templating its lovely image in small
still pool, and then away we go again
out into the broad PURPLE patches of
newly upturned soil, bands of emerald
corn, and speckled streaks of tobacco,
with its large red and green leaves, and
on through cool labyrinths of maize,
till we come to vast tracts of uncultivated
land, where wild horses with flying
names 60 scampering across its surface
with the natural grace of untamed
things. AS day advances and the
shadows of the clouds begin to lengthen
across the plains, breeze springs up and
plays about us softly, rustling the large
white, surplice-like sleeves of the drivers
garment, but not sufficiently strong to
stir his black and flowing locks, which,
weighted with some unctuous matter,
rest calmly on his shoulders. Our
nearest town is Veszprim, but at the
pace we are at present going we are
scarcely likely to reach it before night
fall, if then. But what does it matter,
when we have the whole of tomorrow,
and the next day. and the day after that,
aye, and our whole lives, to do the
distance il if necessary How delight
full to enjoy for once the true feeling of
rest in this world of hurry-s .urry. where
we are but too often compelled to live
at high pressure! Let oh! let us for
once take life easily under the broad
and peaceful canopy of heaven, and re-
duce the dolce far niente to science.