Wichita eagle., 1888-05-05
KANSAS VS.. TEXAS.


we took the street at the corner Of
Douglas and Hydraulic to make the
Frisco train at 9:29 p. m. The driver
said he was due at the union depot two
minutes after the time for the train te
leave, but, said he, if the mules and the
track hold out I'll get you there, and he
did.
Now we were on the road to the great
state of Texas. At Neodesha we found
everything wrapped in slumber, business
and all. At Oswego we took the zig-zag
train for the Nation. At Fanita we
shouidered our satchels and escorted our
selves to Hotel Ugh, kept by an Esta ca
donkey jack, cosmopolitan, think by
the looks. Anyway she stood in the
door, the marvel of oleomargarine pros
perity. The door was large enough, but
none to spare. She hailed me with
'Howdy; why didn't you whistle and I'd
KUN down and toeed your tackle up.
Johns gone TO the branch to kill some
kalseobells short for snipes), and we will
have snack d'reckly, Walk back and
take cheer, Sorghum barrel and soap
box).'' Not wishing to offend we board
ed the molaSses barrel and waited for
events, and in about ten minutes it came
IN. The majo took look at the pair
and named them Thick and Thin" We
took that snack and named it after the
| BOSSES and boss.
Then we took in the town and sailed
for Muscogee, |. T., where we found ap-
pies as large as hickory nuts, corn eight
inches high, and a fine young crop of
Indians, mulattoes, negroes and whites,
straight and mixed, from a foot to two
feet out of the ground, basking in the
sunlight of an Indian pony or brace of
greyhound dogs, or chewing a stick
daubed in sheep dip in the shade of one
| of those same old board shanties seen
there twenty years ago.
Here is where the earths greatest nom
entity lives-the squaw man; here in the
| bliss of seclusion with his sins and crimes
left behind him the walls for civilization
to ruin him. But bark; we hear two half
Indian girls singing.
1--WE will meet each other then
In that place so bright and fair"
The major says they they don't look
one-half SO much like Indians and
negroes as they did before we heard
them sing that song. Well the missions
are doing something here. There are
three Sunday schools in session here.
Here we are in DenisOn, Texas. A fine
hotel and excellent breakfast and we
start out-what! saloon. Bon Ton Saloon:
whisky, wholesale and retail. Uncle
Dicks saloon, Twin Brothers saloon,
Mothers saloon. Well, that knocked
the major off the box. l help
ed him up and told him
we were in Texas. He revived a little
and said he thought we had skipped it
entirely; but when we passed in front of
the next door and got a Whit of the
''roses of Texas" and heard the chips
rattle and the song of six on the red
and four on the blue" and saw a man
six foot ten by two and one-half inches,
resembling hill of sorghum in a misty
night, with a mule load of musketry
moored to his mizzen rigging, blear-
eyed, bloated and bloody" howdy,
gents" says he; "howdy," says Then
we knew we We're in Texas, the land of
the free, where rum, the bum, the bully,
the bullet and the bulldog breed. Yes,
we are in state where personal liberty
is at a premium.
If you should take the personal liberty
to wipe your neighbours with a six
shooter, why that's just joke; or if you
want to get in a crowd of a dozen or
twenty and parade the streets with loco
juice enough in you to swim a dog. and
drive all the respectable ladies off of the
street by your profanity and vulgarity,
why of course you should have the per-
sonal liberty of doing it. 1t may keep
many people from the white settlements
from becoming citizens of your state but
what of that? Your personal liberty
must be preserved. This great supply of |
snakes must be absorbed and there |
is no way to vindicate our free govern
ment, but to get at it and drink up all |
this whisky and make our wives, moth
ers and children turn their heads for |
shame as they shun us on the street.
Great heavens! what scene. Rum, |
rum it was the drink of the devil in his |
dream to destroy. 1t mirrors back the |
image of his imps in their infidelity. 1t |
comes to us in crimson drops and poison
puffs on the breath of the hirelings of |
hades. 1t builds the howell, hut and |
den. prison wall and pen: fills |
them with the sign-posts of
personal liberty. the shapes of men.
Its joys on a snare and it ends in drop
air. Then where, Oh, where, is a man
that will dare.
Texas and Kansas compare and look
up into His face and say personal liberty.
1t turns the song of happy children into
the wicked wall of woe. EVERYWHERE
around us dwelleth its pitiful presence,
painting pestilence on the rosy cheek of
purity.
But on we go, One corner window is
up and the corn foot high nodding in
the dew, and the melon-shaped leaves of
Ihe cotton begin to reach out its palms
as if to bid us welcome
The sun, half hid in mist or shrouded
IN the haze of sour gin and beer which
heralds our approach to another city we
have not seen, tries to say come, and here
we are in Dallas.
Dallas is the magic Of the nlultitudes
n Texas. The rumble and buz has a
nome like hum and for the moment we
seem to be back in Wichita, but as we
stand on the corner of Elm and Poydras /:
streets, we note dray No. loaded with
beer, No. 2 loaded with whisky, No. 3 ;
obacco, No. fine wines and liquors,
No. 5 cotton, and then we {
get tired and stop counting and
ook away up the street and it looks like '
me solid sea of barrels, but some of it
night DE them molasses." Dallas is {
,reat young city, cosmopolitan to excess, ;
White, black, Dagoes, Dutch, ring (
treaked and speckled; everything, from ]
he possom to the rhinoserous-with all |
lue respect to Darwin. ,
We left here eighteen years ago, when a
Dallas had population of 1000, and t
low like Wichita it has 10000, g
beautiful, Young. busy city. ,
IS streets are paved with Usage orange 9