The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-07-06

Ing country, and as there is no soil gen
orally but vast peaty, springy mattress
OF dead vegetation, covering 100, 900
acres, it is thought that the lake occu-
pies vast basin six miles by three,
burned out as the result Of a lightning
stroke
1t is altogether one of the strangest
phenomena in the known world. To my
surprise, it is very healthful place,
aside from the poisonous serpents and
vegetation, and the water in the canal.
though the color Of umbrella juice or
the broth of lanyard, is delicious if
you can forget the snakes.
1t is fresh spring water colored by the
roots Of juniper and cypress, and those
who dwell in the Dismal swamp live
ON and on and on.
One man, colmed, was shown TO me
es very old inhabitant of the swamp,
q cypress shingle maker who assisted
Adam in naming the wild beasts of Vir-
ginia and made George Washington his
first squirt gun. | asked him if there
was any truth in the cherry tree story,
and he says there was not. He SAYS that
it Was a bee tree which George cut down
with his little Ratchet, and when he told
his father about il and showed ham how
he had hived the swarm and secured a
washtub full Of honey the old InSn ex-
claimed: Come TO my arms, my truth
ful son. If You are a good boy next
week, | viii take YOU ont and show you
tie Triiby Phosphate works on Sunday.
Some one ought to tell George Du
Maurier and Mr.. Paul Potter that Viz
einia now has q Trilby phosphate for
fertilizing the soil We are also talking
some Of changing the name OF Mount
Pisgah, Ill North Carolina, whose head
pierces the clouds, and whose massive
feet spread over two counties TO Mount
Trilby.
Mr. Arnold, the author of the small
book entitled "Uncle Aleck and His
Mule, s" says, II can take 4 retrospective
view of the past. -
In this respect he is to be congratulate
ed. l think Yet what better way is
there to look at the past than that? Nou
might almost say that one has no choice
in the matter.
DvnastieS have arisen, dvnastied and
died. Rome has had her day, doomed,
fickered and passed away. Greece has
covered the face Of the known world
with her power, and vet today a little
ammonia wUGld remove her from the
map
Yet the Dismal swamp has changed
but little. Its giant gums, like those Of
the hippopotamUs, wave 10 and fro The
high and white topped waves of Lake
Drummond III stormy weather lash the
leaden sky, and the farreaching scream
Of the catamount pierces the dense cane
brake where lies the venomous serpent.
Onward. ever onward. the insane low
Pr in the misty night traces new WAYS
through the
Tangled juniper beds of reeds
And many a fen where the serpent feeds
And man never trod before
But the FREELY lamp Of his loved one
ever and ever recedeS III the solemn
aight, ana silently her birch canoe melts
into the gray of dawn as the weary and
.ainting lover, now over 200 years OF
age. sits down in the bright red stump
water of this huge home OF despair and
iesolation.
IL 1921, according 10 old Uncle Tony,
mighty nice looking man came 20
Norfolk and got Tony 70 carry him out
20 the lake. BE kept bis eyes open all
the way. gave Uncle Tony a pound and
wrote IN his notebook all Of the tlmes
Years and years after, when people told
Uncle Tony that his passenger was Tom
Moore, the Irish poet, who wrote the
sad and beautiful poem Of the insane
lover who followed the phantom canoe
and FREELY lamp of his sweetheart, the
old man was quite thunderstTuck-
viii now tell true story about
snakes. One day a gentleman living to-
day III Suffolk saw III his path through
the swamp large ball of snakes about
the size Of a cock Of hay A great many
other snakes We're constantly joining the
wrlgghng mass. He decided 70 discharge
his winchester, the magazine OF which
was fall 1t the time, into the massive
Gerpentlne pill and run He did SO. aid
81 the following day he returned I'd the