The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-04-06
P. DOMAINS PICTURE
OF GLORIOUS AUTUMN IN THE FAR
AWAY NORTHWEST.


[Devil Lake %. tt Letter in New York SUM-
Thousands of really sensible people,
caught by the garish glitter of society friv-
olities, fall into line end follow the aimless
paths of ia hionable numskulS and nobod-
les They choose the same routes and times,
endure the same bores and deliberations,
whirl and paddle through the same scenes
along the same beaten tracks, go into mo
chanical ecstacies, shout, gruns, growl and
damn through tho same uneniing gamut of
rambling stupidities, and miss nine tenth,
of all creations grandest and most glorious
displays
In all the gilt-elged guide books of fash
ionable tourists there is no mention of the
transeenient glores of autumn on the upper
Mississippi ami in the far northw no
hint OF the charms ami delights of trip
through the Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota
and Dakoto fairyland OF lake; ami deiis and
crystal stream in all the wild magnificence
OF frost-wrought coloring. Llnsua;e reel,
weak AMI hump-shoulierea, under an at
tempt to describe it. All tho pencils and
brushes OF ali the Titians, Turner's and
Claude Lorraines that could he st4ckal be-
tween Minnehaha and Popocatepeti, or
Winnipeg and the Eads jettie', would be
incompetent to knock chip eff the shoulder
Of an effort to depict it.
SUPERNATURAL VANITY.
Who that has ever seen it does not re-
member that wonderful picture of "Au-
tumna Scenes in the CatskiiIs," on which
Cropsey bankrupted his capacity for colols'
When it was exhibited at the st Louis
exposition, some years ago, Nellie Hazeltine,
the belle OF that village--herself a fit sub
ject for poem or painting.-as she stood
with me before it, exclaimed at wouli be
Exquisite, if it We're not impossibleI" And
yet, If that picture, with all its gorgeous
and seemingly supernatural richness and
variety of hues, were stretched Thousand
miles in length and multiplied to infnity in
tints, it would scarcely give an overdrawn
idea of a journey at this season from st
Louis or Chicago to Minneapolis, Devil
Lake. or the Yellowstone, over any of the
great northwestern railway lines
Beautiful as this paradisean lake and
river region of the new and golden
northwest always is, it is never so enchant
ing as in the fall, just after all the pleasure.
seeking, fashion-foliowing rabble of summer
tourists have left it October is, of all the
year, the queer month here Sac come:
dancing over peak AMI prairie, lake, valt
and deep-tangled dell, scattering beauty
and briliiancy unknown to dwellers in les,
favored realm. The fiutter Of her many
eolored, gauzy robes is like the dazzle o.
celestial Kaleidoscope. Her artist finger
weave NANTES OF autumn's brigh
tintings for the woods and sloping LAX.
and river sides. Romantic Lake Pepin
Minnehaha S.. Anthony, Okobnji. Min
| netonka, Mime wakan. and the wild rapid
| of st. Croix aud Wisconsin fash back un
| numbered CLEANS of borrowed crimson anC
purple and goll. The whole air is resonan
with the slumberous melody of fallin!
waters, and are resplendentiwith the gl0rie
Of million shattered ranbows as the las
sunbeams Of summer, tangled in the meshe
of tho spray and mist, die like etherea
| dolphinS in baze OF mauy-tintei pain
! THE PAINT-POTS OF HEAVEN.
| Nowhere else beneath the skies, not evel
in the Adirondacks or amid the wester
Carolina mountains can more infinite va
riety and richness of coloring be fonnd
| Nature absolute seems to empty all tn
paint-pots of heaven on the Landscape
Earth dons her most gorgeous apparellin.
of myriad-hued tapestry. Creation seem
bsthed in prismatic splendors. The forests
rejoicing in their new outfit OF endlessl
varied and bespangled toggery, toss thei
heads jauutily, swing their long arms, bend
scrape, and chuckle, and put on as man
airs as handles at rural ball The red bu
bushes at the wooing of jolly Jack Frost
who comes pinching her cheek and nippin
| ko,- IL.
true devil-may care. The willows and CO.
tonwoois, aspens and laurels, in their del
cate drapsries of green and gold, Hutter an
shipper with coquettish delight at tue wai,
perings of the amorous west breeze.
The hickory, poplar, beech, and ash
their sweet but mo lest gowns of tylisl ru.
set brown, look like fair young brides i
their second day dresses. The pomp Us osl
in his crimson coat, bows like a grenadier t
the slender maple in her wrappings of daint
canary; and the majestic elm, like gil
broidsrel courtier mods grandly to tn
dame-vesturei creeper that clings to h
feet. The haw displays her scarlet jewell
and the poison vine twines necklaces q
blue-black beads on fiery strands around tn
snowy birches. The everlasting greens
the tall sentinel pines, AMI thu feather
ferns, the solemn hsmlockl, the ivies an
the tufteI- cushioned MOSES lands relievin
tinge to the grani chromatic dra,s parad,
ENHANCING LANDSCAPE.
Amid it all and through it all, in sian
grandeur toward the south ward rolls Oh
ma jestic Father of Waters. whls towar
the northward, towarl the mystic border
OF the aurora borea!is and the northern poi
the far famed Red River OF the North IN,
anders, like rowing truant among flood
Above benls a sky OF translucent azure
beaute"us as ever beheld itself rehecte
back in tae blue waves OF Naples or til
Golden Horn. And over tine whole 81
trancing land scape, sleeping in the mello'
autumn sunlight; over hill and valley
mountain, lake and plain; over crag rocs
rlvuot AMI cascade, the mystic Indian sun
mer sprell her slft veil OF blus AMI laver
der hazy Grape. woven from tn. Smoke
thousands on thousands of miles of prairi
fires
1t is a realm of eDchantment, snatc
from the land Of the fairies. God himse
couli scarcely have made anything MOI
beautiful Let all real nature lovers an
beauty worshipers come hitherwari aftt
the fashionable tramps have fown-aftt
the catgut music and the dancing, the dres
ing, thu vapid twaddle AMI flirtations hlg
vanished with the mosquitoes and the SIN
mer gnats-whiie the autumn glory las
and young prairie chickens and antelo,
| steaks are ripe.
Death Dealing Lock.
Chicago Newsl