The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1888-12-07
4 WESTERN SKETCH.
IT Is ENTERPRISES THAT BUILDS
UP THE CITIES OF TIRE EST.
All Things Are yast--The Plains. the
Mountains. the Billiards, and Human
Enterprise But Follow Suit.
Especial Cor. to s3rATE CHRoNICIE.I


Scarcely raore than the long ears OF the
animal We're visable from under the Mexi-
can Saddle and his miscellaneous load Rov
and beaSt we're moving At snall's pace.
it was ten miles to the nearest house Il ght
had almost come, while the bitter wind
that swept down from the Rockies chilled
ne under furs and blanket.
Me an bUrr0 ; bout gin out" he an
swered as J reiaea up questioned. They
bad come seventy mics across the plain
aud had passed the two previous nights
without shelter. 1t had turned very cold
and the little fellow was evidently suffer
ing. After strapping his load to tile back
Of my vehicle and offering 10 take him and
burrO toe if he could tie the best IN |
drove a1ead while ne mounted and follow
ed less slowly. 1t was several hours into
the night before he reached shelter and
claimed his property
| mention this incident TO show the force
and self reliance which this western coun-
try begets- To push ahead and look out
for yourself. to hustle, is here the oondi
ton OF lie. here everything is on a vast
scale without nerve aud vim one soon goes
under Cities are built in the West while
4 man IL North Carolina sits on his fence
and considers whether TO reshingie his
leak water when it rains A corps of en-
eineera drop down from a passing train,
streets and avenues are laid out, town lots
staked Oft; here the city hail, there the
opera house, here a street car line, there
the electric plant and yonder the reservoir
for waterWOrks. In few days boards
rise among the bones aud mummied steers
announcing Lots for Sale to the great
CONSERVATION of prairie dogs and coyotes,
tenants by courtesy. Maps are drawn and
with printed matter scattered broadcast
over the country Is this knayery or folly4
Wait. The dead steers are dragged Off,
the coyotes retreat, ,artesian wells are sunk.
canals TOR irrigation dug, trees planted and
as by magic, gardens and q stately city
have sprung from the desert. II i neth-
er folly Dor kuavery. 1t is enterprise
But a. | said. all things are vast here,
the plains, the mountains, the canons, the
blIZZ irt-, and human enterprise but fol
lows Suit- 1t takes ones breath to con
sideI the immensely Of these undertakings,
the capital launched, the risks involved,
the achieyeme! S done. TO him WHO knows
how to till labor here is like the tilIing of
a fertile field here every blow struck
shall count at the harvest ligle Too often
III North Carolina after .ite Of honest
toll the harvest gathered Is but handful
barren soil. is it true hat for the devel-
opment Of national character State needs
that disaster should alternate prosperity,
as soft iron is stee,ed by fire and water.
How happens it otherwise that the pot Of
earth most blest by Nature, without fever
or blizzard, without dfouth or food, with
out grasshoppers or Chiuese, should be
alluded 10 in the National Senate As 1.-The
tail end Of the Nation
When our common wealth was born all
the fairies but one we're invited 10 the
christening and each in turn bestowed her
choicest gift But as-always happens in
such cases the left one got there just the
same and, after painting the place red, de
clared that for hundred years and more
the new BON State should be cursed with
old E.. Great Scots. What was |
about to do. With such match man
once lit a powder mine
The lmmensity ana solitude Of these
prairIes appals as nothing else hat ! lave
known in nature. The ocean j. rarely at
rest The long line of ground swell. the
flash of white caps, the rush ani curl Of
| brakers impress in lively way. Noun
tains, stupendious rs they may be, are
graspcd by the mind. Bat stand in the
midst of an arid plain where the eye seeks
in vain a green leaf, human habitation,
or a moving dot of lie, and ideal vastness
IS realized. The voice, if ut cred, goes off
like ghost into the waste air. The sound
of a rife shot seems far away, unreal.
| Away, away, towards The clear cut line Of
| sky stretches the dead earth. and beyond
| that liue for hundred miles again the
same scar level, and still beyond a hun
| dred more. ana more. Its vaStnesS over
whelms | feel AS tho falling, l. there
nothing 10 rest on: Al. gleam, the River,
! the blue hills Of Tennessee, and away over
| there where he eye canil0t reach the red
thought catches on aI4d brings up Tor rest.
But see. A wide lake appears and tie
clear wafer throws back the shadow 81
trees along its banks ! look for sail,
| but there is none, for it is only a mirage
only a strip Of sky seen in crooked way,
seen on cold days a we'll as hot. but doubls
| beautiful to thirsty him, and illuaive, who
struggling through alkaline sands in Au-
gust seeks some chance pocket OF storm
water.
Presently a moving speck is seen, tier
Others. | bring my glass to bear. II is :
herder CT 5~siug the plain with drove o
| cattle Often these men go mad. Fol
weeks ana months they hold heir solitary
watch n-i;h OILY a day for company. Iht
vast solitude gives 40 rest for eyeor mind
Soon they tax to themselves and heal
strange voices; they see shapes stalking
among the cattle and gathering on tn,
plain. Then comes madness ana suicide
But there is scarcely a pflnt IN Colorado
where the deSolation Of the plains is no
relieved by sight of mountain peaks
Two hundred mile to the eastward they
gleam above the horizon aud rise contin
ually with approach till from the plain
along heir base they spring ten THOUSAND
feet INTO the clouds HiIl does not rol
above bill till maAimum Is reached, hu
suddenly. as IN a moments Impulse, tn
white peaks lift to full statue from tn
plain.
The desolation Of the desert depresses
these snow capped peaks uplift with thei
majesty They stir deeply and bring t
thought Hhatever is besj III ones nature
They seem to say that il is something t
: live ii only to endure with equinimity
That character is s0mathjng, that ii !
sonnet hing to be pure. And yet anothe
t chord they touch, SO deep the vibratio
cannot be heard, but it thrills. Is tn
, that which Is more sublime, more beautifl
than thought Of man has yet conceived
Towards which the grand and pure in II;
ture lifts, and the grand and pure n maj
a dream that becomes less dream whe
lifted on he sublime we see beyond II
portals of the flute and in the vision fe
$ the presence OF that Mystery veiled behr
1 the curt aims that have never been wit
: drawn Purity and self sacrifice is yet Il
S sublmeSt height we know and 1t is to Ii
as these white peaks to the desOlatiOn