Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-08-19
Letter fiom wisconsin.

efforts have made of late TO point my pen
for your paper, and send you an echo from
this city of sand. But failure sticks to ev-
erything attempted of late. The reason-wen
the truth may as well come out: it's simple
laziness; pure concentrated and consolidated
laziness. 1 believe it is epidemic, and the
whole city appears to be prostrated. Indeed,
if there is a city of any note between the arc
tic and antarctic circles that is not smitten
with this terrible plague advise them at once
to institute most rigorous quarantine and
protect themselves from the fearful scourge.
We came up into this high latitude to spend
the summer and enjoy the cool climatic
breezes, SO pIoverbially peculiar to this re-
gion. But tas your Nebraska correspondent in
last weeks NORTHWEST suggests think we
will go south next time, to recuperate and in
hale the cool breezes of Florida and the south
eastern coast. However, our motto is: "Make
the best of the present, we shall probably get
a cool breeze before the next Easter approach
es and our relaxed and collapsed mental and
physical organisms may be restored. In the
meantime let US maintain our moral and So
cial equilibrium and not indulge too freely in
metaphorical exagerations concerning the de-
grees of heat which oppresses us SO generally,
''Hot, isn't il, "unaccountable hot" Such
salutations will do, for we become accustomed
to them. But when people talk about the
mercury rising to one hundred, to one hund-
red and twenty in the shade in the State OF
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it. People will lie, especially in hot weather
some on beds, some on the lounge, some in
"the hammock" and some on the ground.
ALI men are liars. Why, as prudential act, ]
find it almost necessary these hot days to shut
up both eyes when / look at the thermometer
lest exagerate.
We arrived in this city the 4th of June, tick
citing from Defiance. And here let me say a
word for the benefit of the novice who pro-
poses to take stretch over the rail. Don't
buy Through tickets" Those tickets are
stereotyped at high rate even if ''limited," "
and don't ticket farther than you want to go
for the sake of discount. We purchased
tickets to st. Paul via. Eau Claire. They took
us up to Milwaukee, thence northwest, cross
ing the main line to the Mississippi river into
Minnesota, thence up the river to town call
ed Wabasha and dropped us, leaving us in
another State and to get to Eau Claire, a dis
tance of about sixty miles, as best we could.
A few hours waiting, and few dollars extra
standard coin, brought us through at last in
tolerable shape, having survived the ordeal
and kept our temper.(O
This city is an immense "dug out" at the
junction of the Eau Claire and Chippewa riv.
ers. The soil is sand Gd inJfnitum and IL Il
best quality for plastering, precarious foun
dation. as facts verify by the destruction oi
many valuable buildings, when the wint
blew and the rains descended and the flood
came and beat upon them" few years ago
when a large portion of the city had to fee tc
the cliffs for refuge; the water floating theil
pianos in the parlors seven and eight feet
deep. But of course such is not of frequent
occurrence. They claim I believe popula.
ton of about twenty three thousand and
should say there was room for twice the mum
ber. It is avery beautiful town, containing {
good deal of wealth. The chief source of itt
wealth is the lumber business, which is i'm
mense, and of which may speak more in de-
tail at another time. I have made some OBJ
servation in regard to the religious and socia
status of the people. Religiously, / thinl
they are scarcely up to the standard of north
western Ohio, which certainly snot very com
plimentary. The pulpit talent for city Of
this size one might expect to be of the first or
der. We have heard as good preaching in
Napoleon and other towns of less pretentions
The social qualities of the people I admire
They are specially friendly and warm hearted
have seldom enjoyed more cordial greeting
and hearty expression of fraternal sympathy
than we have in the different churches since
we came here. When strangers come among
them they Ego for them" That is as it should
be. We had not been here week before W.
were called upon by two ministers of differen
choice as to UNCONVENTIONAL home relations
the bonds of our common Christian brother
hood are none the less endearing and shoult
never fail of an appropriate recognition in thu
person of the Christian under all circumstan
; ces and wherever we meet him.
intended to have said something abouttht
crops and agricultural interest of this part oi
the country, but all that could say would bt
too prosy to insure perusal this hot weather
specially since these seem to be the chief topic
of late in all the papers in the country
Drouth and crop prospects, witha large pro
portion of the sensational, as murder, suicide
strikes, Anarchism, &C., is about the sum to-
tai of the hot weather literature. will ven
ture however remark or two in regard tC
the subject. I have had few excursions in
to the country since we came. One of about
! sixty miles or more on the northern road, ,and
must say that it greatly exceeds my expecta.
tions in its farming aspects. In passing
through the country by rail the first thing
that impresses the mind of the observer from
the east is, the number and amplitude of its
acres. It must be confessed that it is Large
place. up here. The expansiveness of the
fields, the beauty and comeliness of the gen.
4 eral surface and asa rule the order and meth
cd evidently observed upon the farms, chal-
lenge our admiration, and we cheerfully pro-
nounce ita beautiful country. Andsoitis. They
are certainly entitled to this verdict. Such are
the surface facts. Besides they raise an inn
mense amount of grain up here, specially in
this State and Minnesota. By the way, they
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