Nevada County picayune., 1892-01-21
LETTER FROM TEXAS.
WoRTHAM. TEX. Jan. F, 1892.

Dear P1cAYuNE:-After delaying some time, l will endeavOr to com ply with my promise to you and seV- eral others. while in Arkansas. l shall first speak of my visit to Arkan- sas. boarded the train here on tue 2nd day of November, 1891, at .. m., arriving in Hope at , ?. m. l was met at the depot hy my friend, J. W. Philips, who took me to ms house. and there with his esllmahle wife and daughters, we enjoyed our selves in social conversation untli a. late hour. Next morning l Wt9t down into town. and hat thc pleas ure of shaking the hard of namer- ous friends On Thursday following, my kind friend James Philips, furnished me with a good buggy horse, and Mr. Welcome furnished me with a buggy, and started for my old ncighborhood. About night I arrived at my neighbours, F. J. Smyth. and there met my only SIS ter. Learning that the fourth quar- terlv meeting of Carolina circuit was to be held at Holly Springs church on that day, started with my sister to attend the meeting. We arrived just in time-iust as l entered the house Bro. H. H. Watson rose Tn the stand to preach. On looking around saw J $. Thompson. A, I. Ihomp- son. /. r. Bailey. Tip Franks, and several other official brethren, some of whom l have been meeting m quarterly conference for number or years. Bro. Watson, as usual, preached with power, and felt 1t was good to be there. l have held membership at Holly Springs for forty wears. God bless old Holly Springs church! For her my prayers ascend, for her my tears shall fall. " After service and gen eral handshaking, dinner being ready we were invited to eat. Provisions in abundance and quite variety. l spent the night with Bro J. T. Mar lar. On Sunday. owing to the ram the congregation was small spent that night with Bro /. T. Baily. On Monday. l went back 10 Hope, where | met my old friend, Capt Giyens. who lives in Missouri. 1t was a luxury to meet him. We spent the week together in Hope. On sun day morning following he started Tor his home. ! went with him as far Prescott. l there had the pleasure of shaking the hands of numerous friends. l spent the night there with my old friend, Capt. w. J. Blake. went back to Hope and from there across the country to Waldo on the Cotton Belt k. R. where l met my son, l. II. Basden. and several other relatives and friends. Johnny has fine school Tn Waldo. The town seems to be lm- proving. After being on the prairie so long. and then travelling through that timbered country it seemed to me the houses were hid out among the timber. l would look occasionally through the forest and think-oh me !. the hcks it will take to put that in cultivation. and could but regret that I spent the prime of my life among those long plnes rolling logs, cutting sprouts, digging up stumps, and weeding around trees, when l Icould have done so much better here lin the west. l boarded the train at Waldo at &. r. NJ. arrived at home next morning al 10 A. NJ and found all wei.
 A word now about TeNas. We are now having the coIdest weather l have experienced here. The ground is covered with sleet, and it is now showing. am staying close to the fire. We have had some sickness in the last month, principally LaGrippe. Some few deaths. \ short time after lnv return from Ark. we had rain in abundance-h filled all the tanks, no scarcity of water now. The farmers are blowing generally, making prep arations for a crop. Our town IS still improving. We have first class school, consisting of about one hundred al twenty-five pupils. We have one or two hrst-class drygood stores, and bank. We have three dry good stores, but they are owned by men who have large farms and pastures, and their merchandise is of minor importance. In my judge ment here Is the best opening for a dry goods store, one that would keep a variety of goods and sell for cash in hand. 1 nave ever seen. ] am in the hardware business, which Is a good business in this country. I know there is a great many people m that couutrlWho desire to move west. would advise all to come and look for themselves, believe a man cen buy land here at ten dollars per acre, and pay for it sooner than he could in the portion of Arkansas that came from far two and one half dollars. We had scarcely any rain here last year, from May until Nov. Cotton crops averaged half bale per acre, corn as a general thing was light though corn can be bought from fifty to iifty-iye cents per hu~hcl l am anxious to sec a se8suuablv year. believe the land would make q bale per acre and from 50 to 3a bushels