Smyrna times., 1886-08-18

D to 10 cents per dozen, in summer
and butter to 10 cents per pound.
Taxes in our county last year were 3.s
cents on the dollar, or $2.9O on the hun
dred, or $4,000 on the thousand. Some
farmer may now be able to cipher the
price he would receive for his labor on a
farm in Kansas.
CLIMATE OF KANSAS.
In regard to climate-We are little
more than 1000 feet above the sea Cthe
height increases as you go westward).
the atmosphere is pure and dry, cap
ital thing for consumptives. In Sum
mer the nights are cool and thus in
sure rest, There have been very few
nights in the Summer season that I
could sleep without covering. But
flies, gnats, feas and mosquitoes are
here nevertheless, ever ready to die
for that which seemeth sweet. Flies
are so bad that bob-tailed COWS fare
badly in Summer though the flies fare
sumptuOusly. Breezes are nearly al
ways blowing but the sun sometimes
grows sweltering hot and there is not a
tree to cast its shadow over you, or
even break the mOnotony of the land
scape. sometimes long to hear the
rustic of leaves and to see a fence that
IS made of something besides barbed
wire.
The Winters are not long but they
are frisky. Last Winter did not lose
amomentinimprOving its opportunities.
There was not day from the time
Winter set in that it was not nasty
under foot, dismal overhead, with
clouds dropping fleece, or that the
north winds did not search for every
warm spot in the body The cold
north winds swept across the prairie
and howled their most dismal, discord-
ant notes around the house-corners
and under the caves. The thermom-
eter seldom reaches 3Oo below zero
more than two or three times in one
Winter. The Springs are disagreeable.
Not very wet, not very dry, not cold,
not hot, but changable and windy.
Wind, wind, wind a ceaseless. troub-
ulous blast, that makes one brace his
body and pull his hat down so tight
that it makes his headache, that makes
his ear drums rumble as if he were lis
tening to the thunders of Niagara.
Nothing can be left loose Out-of-doors,
or else it goes humping and tumbling
over and over "Catch that hat %
Stop that dish pan ~ "Hold down
your frock !" The world seems howl
ing as if it were in trouble. This is
the season of squalls and "iimmv-
canes" As we have no trees and corn
grows rather large, sometimes we
anchor our houses to corn stalks. But
II cyclone reports are true, Kansas is
far from leading the list, in fact, she is
not much ahead of Delaware. But
then there is that ceaseless tide of
wind that one gets awful tired of. that
makes him feel as if he would give
anything if he could only get awav
from 1t. Fall is by far the pleasantest
season. The atmosphere is still and
bracing, the days are mostly clear and
bright, The mosquito has quit his
hum, the insects their droning, and
the frogs their croaking. The bubble
OF wild ducks and geese under way
for SUMMER climes, sound overhead.
Prairie chickens and quails are ripe
the crops are slowed away for Winter
everything seems glad the heat of
Summer is over. The landscape has
changed its hue, the tall blue-ioint
mods cOntentedly in the breeze, the
whole world as it appears to me from
the top of this knoll, is being rocked |
into the silent, dreamless sleep of death
by the chill winds of Autumn,
OUR CIVILIZATION.
Some people living East think that
the West is unused to the ways of the
civilized world, that the people there
know nothing of civilized life, and
that they can go out there and in a
year or so by their knowledge in these
things they will become great leaders
among them. You need not let such
thoughts make you lose much sleep at
nights. 1t is time enough to become a
leader after you are chosen one. All |
your eggs might not hatch. You
might find some other fellow who came |
here with the same idea. By accident
l met a man in Kansas City who told
me, in effect" Yesterday a fellow
from your State calling him by name)
came to me to borrow money enough
to take him to his destination in
Northwestern Kansas. He lost all he
had through some sharpers down
town" Before he left Delaware this
young man told me how he was going
to take the wild West. He was n
bright star in the Dudes Fraternity of
Wilmington. Since, he managed to
make money enough to take him back
to Delaware, and he returned. You
see his eggs didn't hatch. Every now
and then hear of some Western bank
cashier starting for Canada with his
" Doodle" " to stay during the heated
term. This reminds me if Western
people are not civilized they are fast
becoming so. In this part of Kansas,
at least, there are no classes in society
no upper tendOm," no Goldfish" "
aristOcracy. They judge man by the
product of his brains and the man
hood that is in him, and not by the
number of dollars that he has. They
respect the man, not the money; not
fine clothes, though they sometimes
fear the power of accumulated capital.
They love the mighty dollar for the
power that it wields. AS a mass. in
life, they are keen, good
hearted, rough-clad, independent peo-
pie, not inclined to be too honest-for
instance in a horse trade. A man
must rise early and travel late if he