Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1897-04-22

see Washburn and Claude yerv
plainly. Now these towns are about
nfteen and twenty miles away and
could not be seen with the most
powerful telescope simply because
elevations intervene.
would not dare write YOU all I
have seen with my own eyes, to saw
nothing of strange stories told me
here of the mirage, for one who has
not seen cannot believe.
When saw horses to-day twenty
feet high | thought Of the happy
blind mans remark to our Saviour :
81 see men as trees walking"
This is Carson county. 1t has this
one and and only town and county
seat and one hundred and fifteen
voters, most all Of whom live here.
It's altitude is $500 feet. The at
mosphere is the very essence of pu.
rity. Mrs. Callahan, who, by the
way, is from Nicholas county, w.
Va, tells me that no contagious dis
ease is known here. Children do
not have measles, chicken pox and
80 on.
1t may seem incredible but it
is none the less true that the county
commissioners have appropriated
twenty five dollars month of
county funds to induce a doctor to
locate in town, and the people have
agreed to pay monthly an additional
sum, and beside that, to pay the doc
tor the usual fee in case there is any
call for his service. On these con-
ditions doctor of ability who is
himself in bad health, has agreed to
come and locate.
Talk about going to San Antonio
for consumption. do honestly be-
lieve this section Of Texas thou
sand times better for the cure of
that dread disease.
But the doctor is not the only man
who rusts and forgets how to prac-
tice in this enchanted land of plain,
wind and sunshine.
The sheriff is also tax collector
here. In ten days he can do the
work. Once within five years he
put one man and only one in jail
the people in pity turned him loose.
Juries are not summoned and the
court has practically nothing to do.
The sheriff draws his pay, loads his
pipe and goes a-fishing.
The people drill down from two
hundred and fifty to four hundred
feet to water, put in pump and
windmill, and, like Paul and the
sailors after tho cargo was thrown out
Of the ship-they "let her drive"
for the water is good, pure and in
exhaustible.
have looked at many hundreds
of cattle, some of them fat enough
for beef, and Notwithstanding there
has been snow, rain and an unusually
bad winter. they have had nothing
but the short, curly mesquite grass
to eat. The cowman lives in town
and has man or two ride the fence,
keep up the wires and the gates
closed and in the spring brands his
CALVES and hunts the strays that may
have slipped under the fence. Fif-
teen to twenty acres will keep a cow
the year through.
The cowman rejoices, for the
price of cattle and feeders has not
been so high in years.
If reports can be relied upon, cat
tie are not nearly so plentiful in
Texas az in former years.
1t was a pleasure to-day to meet
the banker here, Mr.. j. G.. Paul,
formerly of Augusta county. Va,
and the pretty Miss Dot Cofer, of
Frankford, in Greenbrier county,
w. Va.
Think of Il person direct from Ell
ther of the counties named living
on the plains where the merry song
sters of the forest cannot come, be.
cause there is no tree on which to
roost Or build nest; where no noun
tain or hill or shrub is to be seen
where the farmer is not, and wheat
and corn do not grow; where the
mighty rushing winds find no bar
rier; where the deep, awful silence
Is only broken by the prairie dogs
chirp and the coyotes dismal howl;
where the sand-hill crane passes
swiftly far above croaking, "too
lonely, too lonely"
But the air is tonic, the nights
arc lighter, the stars ten-fOld more
numerous and brighter, the days
clearer, the sun to all appearance
nearer, the nights cooler and the di-
gestion and appetite better than in
other places where this deponent
hath set foot, and for f'riendliness
and hearty welcome you will find
none to surpass the good people of
La Llano EstacadO. CHOCTAW.
ONE Boys VIEW.-The children
of clergyman were discussing the
reasons why their father forbade
them going to the circus. He