The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-04-07

any legal specification for such work,
consider fair and just?
Only one drinking saloon in town,
and but little intOxicatiOn; three inc
brates within the corporation; not
bad showing this, though these are
three too many. We hear of late that
a second saloon is being opened for beer
drinking and billiards. We hope it
may be only rumor.
It is night now. We sit in our corner
study while the sixteen home-lights
seen from our window have been ex-
tinguished. The musical tinkle Of
cOw-bells and the distant barking of
dogs are all the sounds that disturb the
stiffness of the hour; peaceful, blessed
retreat of home; happy, quiet, yet
enterprising town, with its healthful
air, its pleasant surroundings, and it's
uniformly kind and friendly inhabit-
ants. But, lest this settlement. now
seven years old, may be thought idylic,
and attract host Of emigrants upon an
unfair showing, from your frozen
North into this sunny air, Texas sun
shine and moonlight being of all
places we have visited in our own
country Oh Europe, the finest, we will
put in the darker tints. No picture.
however meritorious, is natural with
out the shading, even IIico is not an
exception to this rule. We cannot
raise flowers in profusion as at the old
home; the hot dry winds are killing to
them. House plants cannot be kept
over winter, unless in dug-out Tor
cold, glassed conservatory in the
ground.) The sudden cold winds liable
tosWoop down at night, are destructive
to them if indoors. Our houses are
not built sufficiently thick to prevent
letting in the frost, when the fire on
the hearth is covered for the night.
Then there is the pest of fleas; not SO
dreadful here now, as when porcine an
imals were allowed to perambulate the
streets as scavengers. There was
murmuring among some of the owners.
when these hitherto privileged classes
were turned over to the marshall unless
confined within home limits, but good
sense, and an awakened idea of the fit
ness of things came to the front, and
now one can walk out without encount-
ering dozens of the unclean beasts as
formerly, almost disputing the way on
public streets.
Drouth and heat too, came in as
w-backs to perfect felicity. When
the heavens were as brass for months
and crops failed, famine after the
second failure came stalking in. All!
1t was pitiful Not in our little town
did the spectre enter, but it was all
about US, and this was ruin to business,
and poverty the result. Sitting by our
window we would watch the passing
trains of covered wagons drawn by lean
horses, in which families were fleeing
from starvation. Happy for them if
they could get away in time to save
their few cattle and themselves.
Thank God, that is past, and though
the tleod came at last, bearing, for the
time, devastation in its track, yet it
left also the foundation of future har-
vests and now all is cheerful. Wheat
fields are smiling in this golden sun
shine, all cereals are being sown, and
soon the silken rustic of the corn will
be heard, and there will be a great
gathering in due time of ''seed for the
sower and bread for the eater" Mean
while the soil moistened through and
through will withstand rainless months
without injury to abundant crops.
Next the heat at times is terrific, from
100 to ll6 degrees above zero, is some
thing that no physical constitution, un-
less that of q salamander, could hud
really enjoyable. Well do we remember
that day when the maximum of "ho5-
ness'' as L would call it, was reached;
how We kept wet cloths on our head to
prevent the few brains in our possession
from melting away. How one friend
narrated, that once in the years past,
when such a burning climax came,
she had extended a line across the
room and hung wet sheets on it to cool
and moisten the air, That, how
ever, like other hard experiences, did
not last forever; and the nights were
refreshingly cooled by the gulf breeze
coming up from the south.
There are certain vines that take
kindly to this climate, and we were
fortunate later on in the summer, to
have front porch, Or gallery as it is
called here, embOwered with them.
As the autumn advanced the verdan.
sea of broom weeds, covering streets
and commons to tile depth of two feet,
became one mass Of golden star-blos-
SONS. The pillows of green, which,
while they crowded out the nutritious
grasses 50 needful for the cows, were
beautiful sight when swept by the
summer winds, were thus transformed
into a superb spread of 'cloth-of-gold,
upon which, seen at a short distance,
| il looked a rOYal pageant might have