Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1885-10-27
ARKANSAS LETTER.

y lllS WOTlu Is u sh1l SUI pluCc L knONs
And what living soal can doubt it,
But 1t will not lessen the want and woe,
To he always singing about it;
! hen away with the songs that are full OF tears,
Away with the dirges that sadden,
Let lis make the most of our leetng years,
by singing the lays that gladden.,
The world at its sadest is not all sad,
There are days of sunny weather,
And the people in it are not at all bad,
But saints and sinners together
With an apology for such lengthy
quotation from Ella Wheeler, Ohio il
is good poetry and sound sense,) l
shall endeavor, with your help, to
take cheerful view oflife in general,
this bright October morning. Why
not take my readers, if l have any,
for pleasant walk in Southern Ar
kansas ?we will follow the path across
the old field, where the swaying
sedge grass grows without molesta-
ton, and the friendly cuckle-bur is
rather caressing as you pass by. But
there are subjects here fit for The
artists pencil, only the artist is lack
ing. See that patch" of gold over
to the left I? It's a bed ofyellow flowers,
botanical name left out, tho they
used 10 call them "pretty eyes" in
Tennessee-from the black spot in
the centre, l suppose. lin brackets
[ will state that it is most gratifying
to know that there arc some people
in the world who appreciate black
eyes, as the belief is almost universal
that they indicate a dark and sinister
mind.) But we started out for a
ramble in the fields and woods, and
not to moralize on the injustice Of
humanity. See that flash of color
your line of golden rod makes against
the pine thicket, and how it relieves
the sombre green then you find the
''iron weed" turning to royal purple,
and over there by the rail fence the
sumac is dropping its blood-red leaves
into the dying grass. First offerings
to the new season. There is hint
of a slight frost lately for the topmost
boughs of the oaks and sweet-gums
have changed their summer robe for
the "livery of Autumn" there is a
"faded look. about every thing which
plainly tells us that Bryant's "melan-
choly days" are coming-if, at slow
pace. The Autumn season can never
be quite so beautiful here as in more
Western ATTITUDES. There is no sud-
den transformation in woodland
deep as in Kentucky or Tennessee,
where the magic tocuh of Jack Frost,
will in one night and day, change
the green world into realm of Won
derful beauty, where the many tinted
leaves rustic at your tread, the rab-
bit darts across your way, and a SLY
squirrel peeps at you from behind the
limb of some big hickory or chestnut
tree.
Well, we are not in Kentucky, so
let us enjoy the surroundings, if it is
in Arkansaw. There are some lines,
a little hackneyed, yet worth repeat
ing, which I'll give as an "encore,"
''Therc's beauty all around our paths
If but our watchful eyes III
Can trace 1t midst familiar things
And through their lowly guise."
Take the "short cut through the
swamp. and help me to admire the
strange shrubs and flowers found ON
every side. There is INDIAN Mulber-
ry," a low tree or bush, with leaves
resembling the common mulberry,
the fruit growing close to the stem,
of a purplish red or creamy white.
The latter has the appearance OF
carved ivory aud seen among the
green leaves is well-worlh "raving
over" tho | do not affect that
style, for lack of enthusiasm. The
winter huckleberry and "possum'
haw bushes lean over the roadside,
but the fruit is far from being of a
tempting nature yOnder is water
maple with its graceful spreading
branches, and there plne-oak, with
tiny slender leaves. The flowers are
blooming everywhere, herbs of all
kind, and curing all kinds of ailments,
chills, "swamp-fevcrs" rattlesnake
bites, toothache, headache and
rheumatism Are we through the
woods? if so, You may have the
pleasure of gazing Oh acres and acres
Of cotton, ready for "picking." Every
body talks cotton" in Arkansaw as
everybody talks tobacco in Kentucky.
Here is the wagon road the public
highway, over which all the bales of
cotton are handled TO the nearest
market. In looking up the early
biography of this "Friend of the
South, we find that it was first
planted in the United States in the
year of our Lord, 1859" 1t is safe 10
say it has been planted every year
since more or less, and will continue
TO be planted for years to come. A
consoling thought.
They say the Chinese language
consists of 100000 characters, so if l
possessed knowledge of said
language, | might make this letter
more lengthy and more interesting,
as my adjectives have way of giving
out when feel most deeply in any
subject. With the wish that my
friends of the IS. X" may ever find
life as bright and as inspiring as this
day, when you can hear the mocking-
birds singing as if they were as happy
as in the Spring, and there isn't a
cloud in the sky, or dream of win
ter.
M. V. d.
HOPE, ARK. Oct. 20, 1885.