St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-08-28
ST. PAUL TO WASHINGTON.
What DIR. blanchard Saw EN- Ronte

Dear Sill nave not had the pleas
ure of seeing my St. Paul letter in
print; but know that you printed
papers copied it. Probably our mu-
tual friend, Thad. S. Varnum, had a
hand in that. Thad. occupies the
night editors chair on Minneapolis
daily, and is winning lots of friends
in that busting city. The rate at
which he drives the quill would terri
think the penmanship would terrify
anybody.
My later impressions do not differ
materially from my earlier Aston
ishment is the principal feeling that
possesses VermOnter as he looks
upon what the West has done since
the days of the Civil war The ele-
ments of social life which the East
has and which the West lacks are
those that come only by the slow
growth of years The West has as
vet no litera ture. 1t has no museums
of art; no collections of scientific OBJ
Jects. Its theatrical performances
would not interest Bostonian or a
New Yorker, though the evolutions
of the ballet corps at the Harris opera
house, in St. Paul, would have done
credit to any company in the world.
The play itself however, was rather
rude and coarse. But art, science,
crroca aud ct,It ,rra xx,iI1 conn. Eta Ia
while, and there will be new art, a
vigorous scientific growth and a
healthier culture than we have at the
East. Quite q number of people
whom / met expressed themselves in
this way: Yes, this is a glorious
country; this is the place to make
money; but, after all, when have
made money enough, shall go to
some Eastern city to live" BY the
way, about cyclones The Western
papers took some grim satisfaction
in giving full details, with goodly
headlines, of the July tempest at
Lawrence, Mass, and | couldn't find
it in my heart to blame them.
Where do your Vermont lawyers
buy their law reports? St Paul has
the biggest law publishing house in
the world
Don't imagine that all the land at
the West is rich black-soiled prairie
Look out, if you think of buying.
Some of the land is as barren as Cape
Cod, and some is like the Bog in the
wilderness.
Well, finished my work on the
Census Frauds, of which YOU will
probably hear more when the courts
take up the matter, and bought
ticket for Washington by a round
about route, over the $500 line" to
Montreal, thence to Windsor, New
Haven, New York, Philadelphia and
St. Paul at 7.15 Saturday evening |
passed through northern Wisconsin
in the night and can give no report
of the country. When | awoke Sun
day morning, we were rolling
through the most dismal region that
| saw in the West. The land was Il
dead level, covered with q rather
thin growth of spruce and tamarack.
1t was exactly like riding for five
hundred miles through Danville
tamarack swamp, only, in Wisconsin
the fire has run through the woods
on either side of the railroad, leaving
grim row of dead trees on right and
left, and sometimes the fire-swept
area extends for miles back, almost
as far as one can see. Small chance
for descriptive eloquence here, but the
comic is near at hand. Indeed, the
comic is always near by, if you look
for 1t. The train moves very slowly,
and | inquire the reason. The ex-
PLANTATION is this: The woods are
full of logging camps; logging re-
quires oxen. At night the oxen are
turned loose, and in order to get the
benefit of the breeze that sweeps
along the railroad clearings, they
come up out of the woods and lie
down on the track. Along comes a
train. The ''crumpled-horned, trail
NEGLECTED" OK placidly munches his
cud. Now, if the cOw-catcher gives
him good, square, lifting blow, he
is distributed along the track in the
shape of mince meat, and the train
suffers no damage; but if the cow
catcher rides over some part of the
lazy bovine, very likely he will roll
like an extra wheel under the engine,
and the train will be ditched. 1t is
rough on both OK and passengers
Almost every day oxen are killed i'll
this way. Occasionally, also. deer
lying on the track is killed by the
train. After hearing the explana ton
did not grumble at the slow gait or
at the frequent stops.
| was struck with the similarity of
the vegetation of northern Wisconsin
and northern Vermont. Although |
kept a diligent lookout, and jumped
from the train a dozen times hoping
to secure some plant new to me, each
weed turned out to be native of
Vermont, and it was only after cross
ing the Canadian border that | found
anything new. All along the road
wherever the fire had passed over the
ground, the purple fire-weed in full
bloom covered everything. There
would be 900 acres in patch, one
blaze of purple glory. The forest
trees were those of New England.
saw none more than two feet in di-
ameter Sunday forenoon we were
sweeping along the northern shore of
Lake Michigan, in frequent sight of
its waters, and about three O'Clock
we crossed the straits of Sault Ste
Marie, pronounced 500 Saint Mary) J.
At this point had my first sight of
a revenue Inspector. He performed
his duty by sticking one finger into
my open grip-sack. At the straits
saw more than a hundred vessels
lying to, unable to pass the straits
on account of a break in the canal
lock. There IS much grumbling be-
cause Uncle Sam don't keen the canal