Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-06-18
WESTERN LETTER.
LEsrxA. Kansas. June Is,

Summer has come IN earnest, at last, and,
like everything else in Kansas, there is moth
ing halfway about 1t. In Southern Kansas,
the thermometer has indicated as high as 102
degrees in the shade, which is somewhat
warm; but as the nights are always cool and
pleasant so that one can sleep well, the hot
weather is not as oppressive as it otherwise
might be. Then, too, owing to the elevation
of Kansas above sea level, the peculiar quail
ity of the air, or to something, the heat is not
50 debiitating in its effect as it is further east
One hundred degrees here is not as hot as
ninety degrees in Ohio. have worked in the
hay field here in Kansas when the thermom-
eter registered 1OS degrees in the shade, and
not suffered as much inconvenience as when
it stood at so degrees in the Maumee Valley.
Sun strokes are very rare, if they occur at all.
One day, when was living at Neosho Falls,
saw some men at work laying stone for the
abutments of q bridge. They were at work
in the bed of the creek, and, as there the road
ran between two high hedges, it was oppres-
sively close, as no breeze could reach them;
yet they worked without any difficulty. 1
went ON down town and found that the ther-
mometer stood at los degrees. Men working
in such place and under such circumstances
in Ohio, would lave suffered sun stroke with
the thermometer at 50 degrees.
In spite of the backward season, things are
beginning to look as if Kansas wasn't going
to starve for the next year, at any rate. Corn,
though small, looks well; and, if the season
lasts long enough, will be good crop. Oats
will probably be heavy yield. Wheat will
be light. The hay harvest will be heavy.
Fruit is failure, in some portions of the
State; in others, there will be a good yield.
People are pouring into Kansas by the hun
dreds and thousands. Some are disappointed,
as they have their expectations raised to such
a height that they cannot be realized; but the
majority of the people are delighted. Nor is
it to be wondered at that they are, for this
time of the year everything is SO fresh and
green and looks SO well, that it is impossible
not to be pleased. The great rush is into the
south and west, along the line of the South
ern Kansas Railroad One cannot travel
through Kansas by that line and fail to see
the grand possibilities of Those parts of the
State through which it passes Southern Kan
sas is developing with wonderful rapidity,
and, in the course Of very few years, will be
as thickly settled as any portion of the State.
When one sees the farms, stock, farm houses
and improvements, to say nothing of the cit
les and towns along this road-the Southern
Kansas--it seems hard to realize that, ten
years ago, it was all an almost unbroken
prairie, and that herds of buffalo had their
pasture where Harper now stands with its
four Thousand people.
Now want to say word or two concern
ing a certain class who come to Kansas and
go back disgusted and ready to say that of all
stupendous humbugs Kansas is the worst.
Horace Greeley's advice has been acted on
by everybody, irrespective of ''race, color OF
previous condition" The West was the El
Dorado where all were to get rich without
money and without price. Prosperity was as.
sured, and contentment and happiness were
to come as a matter of course. If one had
the means to get there, tho rest was sure tc
follow. Thus thought, and still think, scores
of young men, who consequently set out with
their faces toward the setting sun, dreaming
of wealth and prosperity which Somewhere
but they knew not in what place, and in some
way, but they knew not how, was sure to come
to them. Their minds were filled with glow.
ing visions of the future. Somewhere on the
boundless prairies of Kansas, they saw them.
selves riding the reaper, or sulky plow, driv.
ing thousand dollar span of horses, or over.
seeing a vast farm-raach, I should say
whose boundaries were lost in the distance
while off to the north or west were herds o,
buffalo or antelope, scurrying across the plain
to escape the ballsof the rife or the revolving
bullet. Just Ho,u they were to get those things
they did not know, but they had not the least
doubt but that they would have their bright
picture of the future fulfilled, and that. too
in very short space of time. How great
| then, was their disappointment, when the,
found that they could get nothing but by as
hard work-and even harder--as at home
that farms did not come for the asking, ant
| that the Texas pony was the nearest approach
they could make to thousand dollar span o.
horses. As their bright vision faded away
some had common sense enough to tax,
things as they found them and struggle mar:
fully until they put themselves on their fec
again, then they found that the reality was
after all, much better than their extravagant
pictures, and that honest effort here, as else
| where, is always rewarded.
| But the other class found themselves SC
broken up by the failure of their day-dreamt
to become realities, that they became discour.
aged and homesick. Clerkships were not tc
be had: they wouldn't steal, and ssto beg they
were ashamed SO, sending for money, they
did ''did arise and go to their fathers, = dis.
gustcd and discouraged, and thiaking that all
the West was "delusion and a snare.'
Now should like to give some little advice
to those contemplating a move to Kansas:
First Be sure yon want to come.
Second BE sure as to ichcse you are coming
Third BE sure and know what you are 90
ing to do when you get here.
Fourth Come alone, and be sure and have
enough money to pay expenses for, if neces-
sary, two or three months.
Fifth-D Don't make up your mind to make d
permanent stay, till you have thoroughly
tested the matter.