The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-12-27

1
Miss Blowe, of st. Louis.
For those who prefer individual instruc
ton, there are private teachers of paint
ing. drawing. dancing, music and Ian
guages.
There is story told of an ancient set
| tier. who stood on a bluff near Colorado
| Springs and warned a comrade against EN-
tering the place.. Don't you never go
thar, pard, : said he, ''don't never set foot
in that ar town. Why, thar amt place
to irrigate in the hull camp, and they keep
sie Shakespeare clubs running all the gear
roat'a.' (Be it explained that ''to irrigate'
in the racy western yernacular is to take a
drink, as ito fumigate' is to indulge in
pipe or cigar.) Whether the pioneer was
strictly accurate in his statement concern
ing Shakespeare clubs, we are unable to affirm
but it is certain that Mapitou and Coiora-
do Springs are free from that crude and
uncouth aspect of society which is, in a
reproachful sense, termed western. The
ami tary advantages of the two places have
drawn to them people of culture, Of leisure
of means, people who would be wanted
at the great centers if they could exist out
side the boundaries of Colorado. This is
the reason that all professions are here SO
ably filled. Lawyers, doctors, teachers
and clergymen stay in self defense. For
years man preached in a little church Of
Colorado Springs, who had refused to stand
in Theodore Parker's pulpit, in Boston,
Artists come here to.obtain fresh studies for
their paintings, writer's to find new topics
for their pens.
There is large English element in Col
orado. 1t consists principally Of scions of
old families; in some cases younger sons
who have come for hunting, or health, or
travel, or because they may here possess
what is inherently dear to an EDglishman'S
heart-a large tract of land. Their pres
ence necessarily makes society more cos
mopolitan and gives Colorado's interests
a broader sweep.
1t is odd to find in the remote North
American west the vivid interest in Glad
stone or Queen Victoria which spans two
thousand miles of plain and three thousand
miles of ocean.
The absolute absence of drinking sa-
looms and dance houses frees this neighbor-
hood from. more than one obnoxious ele- |
ment. 1t would be unfair to say that the |
temperance statute is not evaded, but such |
violations are covert and decidedly fr0wn- |
ed upon by the community. A drunken
man is almost never seen on the streets, I
and intemperance is checked, if not done |
away with, by the law.
1t is somewhat of a trial to the new
conner, with imagination fired by the mar
ratives of Buffalo Bill and Kit Carson, to
find no border warfare, no mountain lions
prowling in the back yard, when he visits |
Colorado Springs or Manitou. That gor-
geous creature in fringed Hbuckskin suit |
and sombrero, with pistols carelessly thrust |
in his pocket is more than likely to be a \
stenderfoot, y arrived on the last train
Your herder is perhaps graduate of Ok
ford and talks Herbert Spencer to you, and |
your pioneer has more tales to tell Of new |
than of Indian raids. There is |
nothing lacking here in opportunities for
literary, artistic and general cul- |
ture. The riches of older civilizations, the |
pictures and statues, numerous and great |
libraries are perforce missing, but there |
are vistas of cloud and mountain from |
your window as you stand with face turned |
toward the golden west that are worth ma |
ny picture galleries. and stores of precious !
stones and fossils hidden away long before |
museums were. NJ Y. D.