The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1892-04-02

stoCkade and the buildings. A friend
at the agency made US a present Of
a handsome cock, and we heard bis
cheerful announcement, on the
morning after his arrival, that he
was the cock OF the roost. We en-
joyed the crow from our point Of
vantage in bed. 1t vas the pleasant
est and most homelike sound that
had greeted our ears for some time.
But it did not last. That day he
must have recOnsidered things. AT
any rate, he did not crow that morn
ing, nor even again, except on one
or two rare occasions, when for a
brief moment he forgot that he had
resolved that there was nothing in
this world worth his while to crow
about. Gradually he joined tie
army Of the silent ones. No shrill
clarion WAS heard in that henhouse
thenceforth Our cocks danes
felt as he did about life and took it
as "au grand serieux." What was
there in laying an egg that was
worth making fuss about7 SO,
when they laid an egg, they walked
silently from the nest. Not CHEEKY
note was heard on that subject or
any other from them, except very
occasionally faint chirp, as they
stepped about looking tor food.
There are many dogs in Dakota,
but | had been there some months
before | heard one bark. | feel sure
that great numbers are born and
live their lives and die without a
bark. Horses and Indian ponies
abound, but | never heard a sound
from one of them, except once,
when a pony gave little whinny
to large drove feeding on hill
side. They lifted up their heads for
a moment and looked in the
direction of the unwonted sound,
but they made no response l think
the whinnying one could not have
been bred in Dakota
We heard from neighbors that,
terrible as winter was, the summer
was worse. They did not exagger-
ate. The sun bounds up from the
level prairie as a flame, and as the
day wears on, the heats grows more
and more intense. When the no,
air gets in motion, it is worse than
calm. | thought the house was ahre
the first time this hot wind burst up
through the floor; it WAS in the
middle of the night. People close
windows and doors to keep it out as
much as possible, but even under
these circumstances the heat is
scorching. The earth cracks open
on the trecless prairie in riffs; one
almost believes the crust separating
the surface from the internal fires
cannot be thick here.
But the hailstorms are the ruinous
feature Of the climate. These are
of frequent occurrence, and destroy
crop or a garden to be annihilated.
The Billiards of Dakota have given
her a more widespread fame than
any other feature OF her climate.
The thunderstorms are appalling
even to one who has known storms
in the tropics. The lighting is one
blaze on three sides of the horizon
at once, and the thunder is awful tO
hear One seems in the vortex of
the clouds and electrical current.
Duststorms, like death, claim all
seasons as their own. In winter
the snow banks are strewn thick with
dust, and in the burning heat of
summer one is blinded, and house,
furniture, eyes, mouth, are full Of
it.
l had almost forgotten that one
good thing is said of Dakota
malaria is unknown there. And the
hardest thing said of her is that not
rat is TO be found within her
borders. Wise little folk!