Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-07-24

nc rrslrE C14 tr&sxltt 4lzSlck>t&34A
kow the naslls MargusrIEe, By eounecung
herself WiEh ny psLfrsy. had hust ms
sociaIiy Il kenll worth inE, ard how the
young LADY Who eaIae here u ny the
h..lsam ana the healing ef the North
Carolina mountains Tor hsr fathers
asthma excused herself % get a heavier
wrap, thereby intiIaating teak there s&s
a coollsss between As. also that needed
hsaSier raF. Anyway. | have never
seen Der since
To return u cur national roads, it rs
wonder thar We have. as Americans, 50
long submitted 70 the savage and danger
Gus ruts over which We haul our empty.
wabl1ly, worn wagons. The reason Il.
doubtless. that We generally select our
choicest and densest ass ~ snperintend
the bGilding and repair OF our roads. and
ii Eaany cities our streets also. He
worl.s On the roads IN summer and sits
ca tlie jury IL winter. He Is generally
e aIan who Is selected because he has
herer been outside Of the county. be is
uHsl FIR his gravity, gloom and the
~ Of his mind.
-slotaer Reason Is the same that has
been fasal 20 most all farmer movements.
though started with the most holy and
honest motives. viz, that we farmers
cannot, Ike the residents OF cities, SEQ
each other every twenty-four hours and
plot against other trades. When We
have done over nineteen hours OF work
and another hours wholesome thought
interchange with our calf kindergarten.
and then mutton taliowed our bunion,
we must needs rest IN order 10 be up and
combating with the early bird for the
III advised worm.
Srill, somehow the foreign peasant in
several European countries, far inferior
to ours otherwise, has road over which
he hauls u carload as compared with the
silly little convention jag which We see
so often here.
am patriotic, had almost said, 10
degree. l shot away two solid hours of
fireworks here this year, sent TO me by
the manager Of Pain, the international
pyrotechnicker and faller Of Sebastapol,
Picking, Rome and other cities that had
formed the habit Of falling; did it, too,
where the celebration of the Fourth of
July has so long remained unobserved
that the best bird dogs here tried this
year To retrieve the common crackers,
and looked thoroughly ashamed when
they thought they had flushed three
pound rocket; and yet say that. patri-
otto and enterprising as we are in other
things, in education for instance, and
the ambition 10 have about eight more
churches than Wa can support in each
village, together with other real evil
dences of advancement, we have got the
worst country roads that have been PER
mitted since the days when the earth
was a vast hot, steaning ball Of mud, fit
only for a mighty lizard farm.
Some states have by nature delight
ful country road. Kentucky was born
with good roads. So were Colorado and
Wyoming. In the very heart of the
Rocky mountains these last two states
have a natural roadbed wherever it is
needed. Forty and fifty miles per day
with an ordinary team is the rule rather
than the exception, while in the spring,
when the frost is coming out of the
ground and the new milk COW is q
burden in tine land, the rich, deep, black
country road of Iowa and Illinois cannot
be passed even by two-thirds majority.
But what are we to do?
We may laugh over it il we choose.
Some people have wonderful control
over themselves in their grief. Once
there was young man on board our
steamer, coming from Queenstown
. 4 h. s. Is
the party. When others were III and
had gastritis quite considerably, he
was always our bit of sunshine. He
could tell stories-funny stories-tell
them, too, so that they sounded like
reading from large leather covered
tonne. never failing to put in the ''said
be- or the ''oh. she replied" just as the
book did. He could play the tumbler-
oricon and a voluntary on the mouth
organ. He was hike a bottle Of cham
payne, ever fixing and the life OF the
party all the way over.
When we got to Sandy Hook he broke
of suddenly in the midst of joke and
said softly 70 a passenger whom he led
aside behind the smokestsck:
II ana gay. IA you see; gay TO the age.
spread JOY among the passengers
wherever 20. am ray of sunshine
here. there and everywhere. People
cluster about me to get hearty laugh
and catch the contagiou OF my merry
atmosphere and enjoy my inexhsustable
fund Of anecdots, but my heart is really
sad on the inside.
III am going home TO bury my young
wife. She died IN Chicago and viii b,
buried in Brooklyn on my arrival. Hav.
You any idea what il costs to bring re
mains from Chicago to New York ovel
the Pennsylvania roadr'
Again returning to the matter q
wagon roads. lee every one who read
this letter resolve that be or she viii no
rest content till our roads shall be equa
In every respect to orr boundless enter
prise ia other respects, instead OF beinl
sc the everlasting tail Of barbarism
Thay are inhumsn for one thing. W
form societies for the prevention o
cruelty ~ animals and then beat on
dumb beasts through swamps and rnucl
holes. over roads that il would bother
peri with eleven foot wings 70 60 owe
lightly.