The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1885-07-31
A SILVER SUNRISE.
The Splendif and Peculiar Pageant Of Morn.
tng In Southwestern (ieOrvia.

- 0AuVEh bUNhkSk
The Splendid and Peculiar Pageant Of Morn.
Ing In Southwestern Georgia.
Poets have sung Of rosy dawns. OF
orange sunsets waning low, and Of
That later hour when large lIesper
glitters through the rosy spaces, while
mid silent spheres rises the deepening
night. But the poet is yet to be who
will tell in numbers worthy of tho
theme the story of that magical drama
OF nature. tho silver sunrise in the
south, or in that part Of it known us
tho cotton belt of southwestern GcOr-
gia. There tho isothcrm is semi-tropi-
cal. Tho almost Hat, slightly undu.
lating landscape is. or was twenty
years ago. under the high cultivation
OF the slave system, a sheet Of ver'l"rc
breathing incense in tho months OF
March. April, and May. Tho tall
cypress, the thick-lcaved ambrosial
live. oak, the hcavy-sccntcd magnolia
grandiilora. form the upper foliage.
betting the clear dark ponds that dot
the low, flat. level tracts. Around
their sc,lgy borders the cranes aud
curlcws call, on their dark bosoms
swim the broods of mallard and teal
ducks. All the beauty and pictur-
esque charm OF nature do not belong
TO the mountain lands alone. 10 the
lover of nature ils all her phases and
moods this pond land is Us full of
beauty as of bloom. 1t is lively ut all
seasons of the year. all hours of tho
day, but especially when seen under Il
silver sunrise.
Not every morning of tho whole
year round is this wonder witnessed.
II takes peculiar conditions Of the at
mosplcro to produce the phenome-
non. To the savtnt belongs tho task
OF telling what the conditions are that
produce silver sunset. Tho effect |
will try to describe. In April or May,
when the early spring rains that have
soaked the porous soil and filled the
ponds, and given the flush and lusty
green hucs to the cartl,, have ceased to
fall, when the atmosphere is rarilicd
by Il heat that makes the young cot
ton plants grow visibly under your
eye; in the darkness OF Il morning that
is only slightly cooler than tho night
III which you have watched the mo-
tons of the consultations in tho cloud
less heavens, YOU may rise, us have
risen, morning after morning, to catch
that fleeing first scene in the first act
Of the Spectacular drama of Il sunny
day in the sunny south.
DO not wait to hear the clock strike,
or look nj your watch, but when dawn
is near, the swift-passing dawn of that
I.lf n,ya. ~ In lN-f N
low murmur of insect and bird life
around you, rise and hasten forth.
You can sec the white sands under
your feet, but barely note the long,
gray MOSES, that hang like stalactitcs
from the branches of tho trees above
your hoad, only family in the gloom
made visible by starlight and tho
swift-moving dawn. In that latitude
twilight and dawn are matters of only
IL few minutes. The stars blaze out, as
it were, in the beams of tho rising sun.
In the negro parlance of tho old times:
sit is broad day before you know what
you are about" Tho sc.lgy rims of
the ponds, the tall Expresses and oaks,
the heavy trailing crcepcrs of tho
vines. the light swaying banners of
tho moss, every tiny blade of grass
and leaf plant and weed. every flower
petal and wheel of field cobwcb is
gcmmcd with beads of dew, but it
does not drip. II looks almost or
quite like hoar-frost spread over the
Occan.likc cNpansc of land and water,
like Il white veil blending ard making
more beautiful the darker vcrdure of
the foliage around the pools, and the
glowing emerald aud color shades of
the cotton and corn fields.
A thousand knocking birds are all of
q sudden clcavlng the blue vault
above you with such strains of unpre-
meditatcd art rs skylark never
dreamed of. In fact, ii one of the
southern mocking birds ever hears the
song of one OF those English skylarks
which the late Isaac w. England
found Il home for in the meadows of
New Jersey, he will beat him so badly
ia his own song that the British warb-
Ter will hide his head under his wing.
poor thing. and die of grief and
shame.
Affair." off from thickrt and leafy COW
ert comes the cooing of Il thousand
doves, the soft whistle of us many
quails, the slriil cries of the rc.lbir,ls,
the sl,rilcr calls of the ca,brds, and
notes of many another fcalhcrcd song
stcr. whose names you must learn from
Mr.. Audubon. The thrushes, too,
hardly less musical than the mocking
birds. sing from the lcafy boughs and
shrubbcry near by.
While batllcd. rs it were. in this out
burst Of liquid melody. this first
diapason Of the opera of the day. sud
denly. without warning, with no rosy
glow TO herald his coming, up from
the white misty horizon bursts the sun,
a blaze of silver light bigger than the
biggest cart-whecl that ever was made,
dazzling, AS if composed OF ten thou
sand Furnished silver mirrors flashing
electric light through panes of crystal,
flooding the landscape with silver lace
dotted with diamonds and powdered
with sparkling silver dust. The sense
of the exquisite colorlng of the scene
is lost in the wondrous radiance shed
over the landscape that stretches miles
away, until the dazzling view is lost
in the silvcry haze of the horizon. 1t
LOOKS rs II all larry land had met to
battle on field of jcwclcd silver,
paneplicd in silver mail, and every
shield and every spear decked and tlp-
ped with gems. Not one moment is
there rest in tins wonlrous scene,
which lasts but IL few minutes, for tho
first brecze Of morning waying the
sparkling banners If long moss. and
the first warm kiss of tho sun beams
sweep the glltteriny pageant all away.
Mo- YORK. SIN.
Health and Wealth.