The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1883-01-07
A RIDE THROUGH TEXAS.
Graphic window Impressions oi
a travelling EmpIIahmnn


AZ Correspondent, probably MIR. Phil.
Robinson, who has bc,n travelling through rexls,
writes follows.
Hut is this pcnga ct Texas that NJ, ne travelling
through The vegetation about us Is almost that VI
suburban Calcutta aud the heat, the damp Steaming
heat OF Wing iand, might he the sOonderbunds
Aud here betel an adventure. We were ueari ng
Ananta. The train was on down gtado and going
very last indeed-porhapS half n mile minute. /
was sitting ON my seat In tho Pullman with the
table In front OF aud reading. At the other end
| OF the car was lady with some children, sitting
with her back to me. opposite her, but also with
| his back TO me, was the conductor. Each 4" sec
ton " OF q car has two windows. The one at my
lett elbow had the blind drawn down. The other
had not ON sudden NJ my ear as II seemed
there was report Of rlne the thick double glass
over me- aud tho woodwork tell In splncrs upon my
book. | instantly pulled up the blind ot the other
| window and looked out to see who had " fred. ~
nut, OF course, nc the speed we were going there
WAS no one now In sight called out 10 the conductor
| that some one had nrcd through tho window lie had
not heard the explosion, had the lady, ana their
surprise was considerable Aud while was looking
In the woodwork fOt the bullet expected 10 md the
| conductor picked OF my table q railway spike. Some
wretch hnd thrown " at the passing train, and the
great velocity at which we were travelling gave the
missile al the deadly force Of q bullet 'An inch or
two more In the centrepf that window, sir and YOU
would have been Killed probably. - said the brake
/ man. look at the spllntered woodwork and the
bullet like groove which the sharp pointcd abomIna.
tion had cut for Itself was sufficient to assure me that
he was right. But think OF the arOcous character Of
/ such mischief The man who did 1t probably never
missed having horrible crime on his head. - II we
could have stopped the train and caught him would
have lynched him, " said the conductor " A year
or two ago mlscreant threw a corn cob into vim
dow-voty near this spot, too. II struck lady
breaking her chcek-bon aud bursting the ball OF her
left eye. We stopped the train, caught the man, and
hanged him by tile side OF the track then aud there
And then Atlanta, In country that Is very beauti-
full but with that " poetry OF malaria which sug-
gests peril In such beauty. And gradually the land
becomes swampy, and the old trees, hung with moss,
| stand ankle.deep IN brown stagnant water. The
| wherever "A
sa long waterway stretching down between asles Of
| sOmbre trees. u Is wonderful In Its unnatural
beauty, THIS forest, standing III lagoon. Tho world
| was like this when the Deuge subsdlng There
Is mysterious silence about the gloomy trees;
bird lives among them. But Ia the sulen water
there are turtles moving, aud and then a snake
| makesa moments ripple on the dull pools. Sunlight
never strikes ill., and MS looked could not help re-
membering all the horrors Of the hunt and the
murder at the end Of It,, Ia the dark depths Of some
such horrld brakes as these pass. What q spot
| for legends to gather round Has no one ever lu-
! vented the swanp.g0blIn
For an hour and more we pass through this entire
country, aud then comes change to higher land with
splendid growth OF pine aud walnut and oak, all
healthily rooted In dry ground. But toward evening
! we came again Into the swamps, and the sun went
down rusyfed behind the trees till their
trunks stood out black against the inddy sky ana the
pools about their feet took strange nts copper and
purple bronze. And suddenly we flashed across the
track OF the narrow-g gauge line In New Orleans-and
such sight! The ne peTces an avenue, straight ms
an arrow, for miles and miles through the belt OF
Forest and on either side along the track lie bitches
hlled with water. But tonight the bitches seemed
hlled with logwoOd dye, and the wonderful vista
through the deep green trees closed with
curtain by the crimson west! II was only glimpse
we got OF 1t, but as long live shall never forget
1.-THE most marvellous sight of all my life. No; not
even sunrise upon the Himalayas nor the moonlg ht
on the palm-garden In Mauritius-twO miracles Of
simple loveliness that are beyond wOrds-Coud sur
pass that glimpse through the Texas forest 1t was
not In the least ike this earth Beyond that crimson
curtain might have been heaven or there might have
been hell But am not content to believe that 1t
was merely Louisiana