Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-06-05
A Letter From .sThe Future
Great.,s

Thirty-six years have changed this
place, especially in the way of hurry
ing it up. Formerly the bulk of the
coal used in the city was brought by
x-teams. Now the bull puncher's oc-
eupation is gone.
Everything goes here now with q
rumble, wiggle, rush, whizz, a
roar, or rattle. A close observer can
see more here now in thirty minutes
than he can describe in thirty days.
Under those circumstances we must
class matters and treat them in bulk.
Thirty-six years ago the city had
five miles OF river front; now it has
fifteen. Then seven and . half square
miles would have held tie city; now it
covers about sixty. Then the writer
of this article sl.t sauirrels and track
ed deer wnere south s I.oaIs now
stands. Then the deer came IN at
night to browse in the gardens of the
old Frenchmen; now Frenchmen are
scarce, and gardens more so. Ther
Carondelet was called 6ide P0che, or
"empty pocket" and its trade consist
ed mainly in garden products, big cat
fish and donkey loads Of pole wood;
now. come and see.
Then the communication between
st. Louis and the East was mainly by
the Ohio river and the canal from La
Sale to Chicago; now look at the rail-
road maps. Then the Mississippi riv-
er was the only route south. Then
Texas had just been acquired, and lit
tie communication opened with it; now
st. Louis has direct railroad and tele-
graph connection with the Pacific
Ocean and the City of Mexico.
But in this matter comparison would
exhaust time. OF the industries which
connect this city with the surrounding
country, the sale of Agricultural inn
plements has grown the most rapidly,
and the traffic in liquors next. VIM.
J. Lemp, in addition to several trains
on every railroad, has a large fleet of
fiat boats on the river. The Anheuser
Busch company is still stronger than
he is, and there are many smaller as
sociations that deal in beer. And
there is no shortage in whiskey.
On the first day of the week there
seems to be about one-half more drink
ing than on any other day. I do not
speak OF the Sabbath.
That is practically ignored here. 1t
is a day on which perhaps one person
in fifty goes to church. l have no
right to find fault with the preaching,
for am very sure that the Devil would
not. AS is my eustum, went into q
synagogue on the Sabbath day, ahd
sat down in 3 Bible class. The new
conner was offered lesson leaf, but he
requested Bible. After some hunt
ing, small pocket Bible was found
and he was told that the lesson was IN
the ninth chapter of second Corin-
thians, and that the subject of the les
son was Systematic Benevolence. In
about five minutes the newcomer rais-
ed Cain by suggesting doubt wheth-
er the lesson taught that money was
the handspring of ancient, as it is of
modern, theology; and then he insisted
that the object of the contribution re-
ferred to in the lesson was TO buy food
and clothing for the poor saints atJe-
rusalem, and that as the Church does
not have any general fund for the sup
port of its poor members, the lesson
was not applicable as authority tor =
for any other object
Then the poor widow and her two
mites were promptly brought out AZ an
unanswerable argument. But the new
conner did not seem to be afraid ofwid-
ows, either rich or poor, for he very
explained that In the time of
Christ the Jews had thirteen contribu-
tion boxes set up.in the Temple, and
that the purpose of each one was stated
above it; and that whilst the rich nen
= 80.