The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1884-08-21
Texas Fever.
To the CITIZEN.

Some of our boys are dowI
with the Texas fever and if it don't
take up too much space in the col
umns of the CITIZEN, we would like
to tell the boys what we know ot
Texas. In the fall of '76 we bade
farewell to friends, father, mother,
brothers and sisters, left a good
home and in company with G. B.
Simmons, Col. Martin Fry and Jake
Hiller, with their families, LETT by
pri 5ate conveyance for Texas. After
travelling about % days we arrived
at Red river, which runs between
the states of Arkansaw and Texas.
About the fist thing we got after
crossing the river into Texas was a
severe cursing from a drunken In
dian officer aud his companion. We
didn't travel a great deal further
until another serious difficulty pre-
sented itself, heavy rain fell and
wet that black waxy soil several
inches deep and every fifty yards
the wagon wheels would become so
clogged up with it that some of the
DO. would have to get out and
knock it off to keep the wagon
from stopping, and then some one
would have to pull them back into
the wagon out of the black mud.
We have seen crows flying through
the air out there with balls of black
mud stuck to their feet half as large
as a mans fist. Every time it rain
ed the ladies would have to coop
Cheir chickens to prevent them from
2ett ng begged up in the black mud.
One very serious objection to Texas
Is the chig2ers or red bugs. They
almost torment the life out of y
man. The writer has seen per-
sons with their feet and ankelf so
nadly scratched up that they
couldn't wear their shoes by scratch
ing where the red bugs bit them.
Then there are a host of other
pests, amoug which are the seei
ticks, centipedes and tarran ulas.
And then another thing, boys, when
you get sick out there among
strangers with one of those fevers
which are so common in Texas, you
will not fare so we'll as you W uld
under the care of kind mother or
4 loving sister. One particular rea-
son why we write this letter is TO
ask you not to leave a good home
where you are surrounded by many
friends and loving relatives and can
enjoy all the pleasures, comforts and
luxuries of life, to go to a land
where chills, fever and ague are
common and money is no more
plentiful than it is here. That you
may have some idea how much
money can be made by farming in
Texas, we will give you our first
years experience. We rented land
for one third of corn and small
grain and one fourth of the cotton,
bought farming tools and feed for a
horse, pitched our crop and worked
hard, made 1000 pounds of cotton
per acre, paid $125 per hundred to
have it picked, got 81 per hundred
for it after it was gathered, made
no corn nor oats, paid our rent,
board and doctor bill, and had a
twenty dollar bill left. Texas will
not do for a man with a family
Fl ON the fact that he has to buy all
his meat, for the farming portion of
the state is no place to raise hogs. |
There are no clover or blue grass |
pastures in Texas. You can't have |
milk or butter fit to use in the sum
mer time because there are no
springs in which. to keep it cool.
They have nothing but well and
cistern water in Texas. Tue writer |
DIR snk strained water the first year
he stayed out there. 1t had to be
strained to get the water lice and |
wiggle tails out of it. A man can
lie down out there with the perspi- |
ration rolling off of him and before
one of those severe north
ers will blow up and make it cold |
enough to freeze his toes of. We
hope no one will think we have |
drawn too dark picture of Texas.
Texas, with its stretching prairies |
clothed In flowers of every hue, is
indeed a pretty country to look at.
On the other hand, Tennessee, with
its fine forests, picturesque hills
and beautiful valleys, is another
pretty country to look at. We hope |
The editor will publish this letter as
it my prevent some one from tax
ing a step in life that they would
ever afterwards regret. Nearly all
hose who went TO Texas with the
writer have returned to Tennessee
md are doing well. q. E. A.
Free PuHs.