The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-11-18
THE DIGGER's RETURN.

THE DIGGER's RETURN.
taken hold of this region have done full
justice, it seems, to the description Of
sky and landscape leaving me. therefore,
nothing to do but proceed with my
story.
A word or two, however, regarding
the region itself may not be out of
place.
year when at this elevation, above tide
water, the air is filled with purity and
things OF that character; when the eye
is constantly deceived by distances,
owing to the rarity and limpid charac-
ter of the atmosphere
1t was early autumn, and the black
gum, with its dark purple foliage, had
long since prophesied with unerring
truth the death Of summer. Earliest Of
autumn harbingers, it had weeks before
tinged the still verdant forest with its
rich and royal announcements of COM
ing frost and shortening days, while
now to keep it company the golden glory
of the sassafras shimmered in the up
lands, while the darkened and dying foil
age Of the persimmon sauntered leaf by
leaf down through the Silly silence.
1t is the seductive season when at
dusk the moist odors Of dying herbs sa-
lutte the senses of those who are pro-
vided with those things and when the
red nosed brier CLEANS in the stubble,
the quail calls down the valley to his or
her mate, as the case may be, and the
pensive mule in the faraway paddock
murmurs at the fate which has defraud-
ed him of his lineage and Knocked at his
future.
Here nature holds i'm her hands heal
ing balm for the invalid, and in the hec-
tic of the dying year health to the
human sufferer may come again ON joy
Gus wing. At al elevation of $500 to
6, 600 feet above the sea, and with not
only an unbroken succession of glorious
mountain pictures of wild loneliness,
but with a mean annual rainfall wher-
ever the eye may turn, nature seems to
be in her most gladstone mood, and the
one lungers with unlimited means find
at each wayside inn cordial welcome
and festive board that fairly groans
with its burden of hog, hoD4lny and eli
mate.
Here life is one glorious Indian sum-
mer, and in the pure heart the peewee
is constantly caroling. In the glad
autumn, the ginseng digger goeth forth
for TO dig, and as the dust of evening
gathers he returns bearing here and
there rich dashes of coloring where the
red bug has touched him up IN kindly
keeping with the glorious hues of the
season. Far up the cove | hear him sing
ing a bar or two from his favorite opera,
while at his cabin door a dozen head Of
hounds are neighing
A brawling stream is laughing at his
feet, but he does not mind it, for others
have done the same thing. Far down
the valley his children hear his voice
and come boiling over the stump fence,
living cataract of progeny. AT the
door their mother stands IN an easy
position, holding more recent edition
on her hip and peering out across the
void
The whole picture is one Of repose, Of
rest and of perpendicular real estate
The cry of the bittern IN the swamp be
low Is echoed by the distance hound,
while in the solemn elm the tree toad Is
apparently computing the mean annual
rainfall.
What a delightful haven for the tired
one Of earth! Here the Jarring storm Of
life Is stilled in the waveless harbOr Of
repOse. ana the simple heart Is hushed
10 rest in the arms of beautiful soil
tude. Here envy and hatred, malice,
jealousy and all Uncharitableness cannot
come. The innumerable shades Of vice
that Turk and linger beneath the snad-
ows OF a great city are strangers here
Burglars do not enter here. They DO
not care 20 steal the glorious climate OF
70 carry away the mean annual rain
fall.
Here one dos not see the dcormat
chained 10 the door. for virtue l. It's
own reward. and unruffied slumber
greets the tru>tful soul
But ! must not wander from my story.
At the time Of which | SPEAK the
war had closed and peace had been de-
clared Several people had written with
considerable care their impressions re-
sarjlng the wax and had been suitably
remuneraJed fur the sane
The warriors had recovered from n,s
saddle gals and received MS Penslon
Cor luIurieS received while IN the line
Of duty and nsd reluctantly allowed
himself 70 bs,a-.e Identified with aS-i-
culture.
What a curse war !,
Nothing causes 20 much III feeling a.
WAY Could j. BE carries! or IN such
way as 10 promote harmony there co1ld
- no objection u war. but ~ II i now
conducted u : certainly injurious =
both man ana h@asr
Bur i, the time q which We sax
peace had returned. and in me mountain
e g.