Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-02-01
Life inTexas.


I the Lone star state that I woald drop you
/ line. giving you an idea 81 what saw and
how liked ~ But for some reason unknown
/ 10 myself have deferred u from day 10 day
mill am now almost ashamed 10 write. IL
were too remote 10 begin now on incidents Of
,ss UP ,os sq' rssser must rb say ur 10
prose coming south 10 keep as far IA they
can from any Of the country salong the 81.
ouis, Iron Mountain aud southwestern
Rsiiway, between Popular Buns. Missouri,
aud Little Rock, Arkansas, As this Is most
certainty the most worthless, dismal desc
II ia n land where aim Jst eternal silence
broods over desolation. There are few iso-
lated csdayorousiOoking wretched NOR
tails who stay in those wilds and
suppose really believe TINY are
making living by farming. They
- q large field. enclosed by a deiapidated
wornl-fence. With dead trees and fallen tim
Der scattered over the enclosure, while corn,
cotton and weeds, in about equal proportions
occupy the rest OF the ground Which Of
these the farmer derives the most revenue
from, IL will Jake better agricuiturrist than
] TO determine. The residence IS. Ia most
all cases, a log cabin tumhiing 10
decay, but made home-like BY beau
that cluster and hang from the caves or cor
ners and over the halEburned stick chimney.
from Little Rock. ARK, to Fort Worth. Tex,
is in my opinion, "a poor country The
timber, where thereis any, Is Inferior In both
size and height, yet the pine does well enough
In all but quality. IL Is full OF pitch and Al |
most as hard as oak and very knotty, but is |
used for most building purposes. The tim
stone, coarse and useless; but the prairies are |
mostly "A black muck or guinbo, as tenacious {
when wet As tar, and 10 dry times viii crack
open 70 an unknown depth. l viii not at /
tempt to tell you how they live
and farm and do in Texas in
this letter but viii say this
10 any reader or the JogrIdt in the north west
who owns farIn or homestead and is con
templatlng selling ont sin the spring. and
10 Just changeabie: the norther is just
as unpleasant AS the blizzard. Crops are more
uncertain, II Is no beiter-not az good for
stock raiIng-i mean good stOck-and chills 1
and fever are as sure rs death. and taxes and |
quinine are excessively high. You cannot |
raise vegetables that you can depend on |
keeping through tho winter, and about seven |
times IN ten IN putting up your winters meat |
you viii lose IL all. But these are very few OF |
raise and the way they do IL, would never /
suit 81 northwestern man of any energy. |
While you have homes and possessions in the |
pest country IN Ntrth America keep them !
and stay right with them. You might not |
see as much intense cold here during the |
winter, but what you do see viii make YOU |
go q long way toward cursing the &c untry |
and you win also find that every vine has "a |
biiar: every bush u thorn, and ev ry bug and
creeping thing "A terrible, terrible business !
end and are always laying In wait when you |
go TO pull an ear of corn or pick up u stick OF |
Stove-wood.
Fort Worth Is a city Of about 1850 inhabl-
thnts, with four railroads, gas, street cars and |
n Holly system of water works now being |
laid. There are several good brick and stone
buildings which would be IA credit TO any city,
and some OF the business houses carry aud |
handle AS heavy stocks OF goods as | ever saw.
There Is one wholesale grocery ind one
wholesale and retail drug house that carry
the largest stocks ever saw In any city. |
There Is an Immense amount OF cotton
brought la and marketed here, but OF thi.
and other produce will have more To say at |
another time. The city Is "a poorly kept
dirty, slip.shod kind OF q city The streets
/ I nv la,
town ofany protentiuns whatever, but there
is room and hopes OF Improvement
There was northcr struck this country |
| Thursday night at ~ O'Clock, andheld out all |
ofFriday and saturday. There was "a little
snow aud great deal of cold, freezing ice
/ three inches thick, and reminding one very
/ forctbly OF q northwestern blizzard q little !
modified. Thursday before the storm came
was very warm; people were setting out |
| iruttirees and plowing gardens, while frogs |
! were singing, and bugs and bees and grass |
hoppers were playing that spring was here.
] GLENN ELDER.
The above letter which we clip from
the columns of the Sioux City Gowa)
JoWRdR To which it IL addressed. is
as singular al admixture of fact and
fancy as could possibly be com
pounded The writer evidently in
tended to give Texas "black eve"
but the facts were SO plainly against
him that his conscience would not adj.
nit of his avoiding them, and facts
always bring their own in
evitable conclusions. The writer tells
his auditors in one sentence
that "crops are uncertain and in an
other that there is an immense
amount Of cotton brought IN and mar
ketcd in this city," and that "some of
the business houses carry and handle
as heavy stocks OF goods as he ever
saw"--which shows conolusively that
there must be something grown in
the country somewhere, rs it is an in
disputable fact that the mercantile
business Is dependent upon the pro-
ductions of the country. This city he
says "has four railroads, (there are
fivel gas, street ears, and Holly sys-
tenn ofwater works" all of which would
indicate prosperity and thrift, which
are not seen in poor country. "Taxes
and quinine are high is another of
his utterances. Taxes are four and a
half mills on the one hundred dollars
and no country can show lighter
rate, and quinine, staple drug, Is
81 30 per ounce, That 1.-THE city is
poorly kept, dirty and slip-shod," to
some extent the GAZETTE admits; but
where did GLEN ELDER ever see
city of 1000 people, five years
old, that WAS finished, neat
and tidy in every particular. The
writer OF the letter makes an utter
failure in decrying both town and
country--and evinces desire to do
an injustice TO both, that his con.
science will not justify. If the Jour
nal desires the solid facts, ii il re-
! quested To interview J. NJ. FRAziB of
Sioux City, who will take pleasure.
doubtless, in giving his views for pub
! LEGATION.
ROBBERS CAUGHT.
Salt Lake City January 3l.-The
morning paper has an account OF the