San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-03-21
MARKS ON THE PRAIRIE.

Rowing one day over the western prairie
came on a deserted "dugout." Near it lay
rusty old tea kettle, a horses skull and
baby's shoe Their storyl This:
Early morning, a May morning in Kansas.
Over all the land silvery mist, palpable
dewiness, delicious freshness, the peculiarly
rich and subtle scent of freshly turned earth,
much of it being soil broke" for the first time.
A pround and prosperous young meadow
lark poised upon fencing post, spruce
young meadow lark in gray coat, yellow vest
and black cravat pours out series of tremu-
lous triple notes, a roundelay to the little
mother cuddling her eggs in the springing
prairie grasses. The mist begins to rise.
Upward, still higher, one marvellous scroll it
curls, revealing the pallid primrose of the
eastern sky. And now the vapory veil is
quite withdrawn and all the soft rose fires
heralding the king kindle into brilliance be-
hind the bluffs. Lighter and brighter it
grows Fraught with promise is all that
CLEAN and glow. Behold, the promise is full
filed Up rises a golden line which swells
into a curve, a semicircle, a huge, dazzling,
binding ball of flame. Up and up! thrush
from its nest in a cottonwood lifts its voice in
jubilant mathis, which are chimed in upon
by the brisk bravuras of rival robin.
Men and horses appear in the fields; plows
are hauled out; the work of the day begins.
In the phrase of the Kansan farmer, 1T is
sun-up."
Having numbered through the tiny town
which lies upon the state line separating
Kansas from Nebraska, crossed the railway
track and a brand new bridge, up a steep
bluff worn into deep ruts by the daily passage
of wagons laden with stone to be shipped
farther west, comes slowly and heavily that
most familiar of western sights, a prairie
schooner. Ponderously plod the horses up
the ascent; clumsily lTches along the level
attained the great white Canvased wagon
Unlike the ordinary emigrant outfit in some
respects, this. To be sure, evidences of
habitation bulge from the interior, and
chairs, stove, broom, with various household
utensils, are tied on behind. But there are
no cows, no dogs, no scrubby ponies be
stridden by barelegged boys. Of the thou
sands of wagons which trundle yearly over
the western prairies this presents a par
ticularly lonely appearance. Whoever saw
one without children: Children of all ages,
tow headed, brown skinned, healthy, hearty
children, including the inevitable baby star
ing solemnly from the Clasping mother arms.
Perhaps you may have seen some day,
Roses CrOwding the Selfsame way,
Out of a wilding wayside bush
The driver, whose broad back Obscures the
light of the front arch, turns in his seat, and
glances into the comparative gloom of the
interior.
How is she, Corry!"
Asleep"
The woman withn-a young woman with
a pretty, pale, sad face-directs his attention
by glance to the baby in her lap, He mods
draws up the horses by the side of the
road.
Don't you stir" he says. He descends,
unhitchcS the horses, finds twigs, builds q
fire, goes to the nearest farm house for
water, and comes back with a full kettle
which he suspends over the blaze by couple
of crooked sticks. Soon the smell of sizzling
bacon and boiling coffee become appetizingly
apparent. Then he goes to the wagon. His
wife lays the child gently down; alights
He notices that she is white. Air you
sick!' he asks, quickly.
NO, no. she murmurs. But quite sud
denly she sways and falls forward into hi.
arms. The journey, the rough, strange life
the variable weather, the exposure, all have
been too much, he decides, for one delicately
reared as she. When She revives he insist!
they shall proceed no farther for few days
perhaps not for few weeks. About fifty
! yards from the road is a little deserted dug
out" Some distance from it a new frame
house testifes to the prosperity of the former
| occupants. From them the campers" Obtain
| permission to take temporary possession O
| the queer little cabin. The whole interio
consists Of one room, and that room 10 fee
by r. To enter it is necessary to descenc
several rough steps. The walls and floor are O
earth just as when dug, quite unconceaIed b.
board or plaster. The sloping roof is of u.s.
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