Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1901-03-29
MEXlCANO-AME RICANOS

Here at last in the hand of he setting
son as nearly every son | see Is setting
down, apparently resting. Resting from
what? Probably an inoqueo1s desutudo
as they seem 20 be capable of nothing
more than representing those square
blocks below the bars in music a com
plete rest
| want 10 describe "A scene | saw en-
route from San Antonio here They say
il was portion of the Texican dessert
still for all that there were visible TO the
naked eye of passengers on fast mail
as many as seven growths. all at once on
the same ground and in the air above it.
First-because highest: Texas vul-
lures those scavengers Of western plains.
sailing high IN air, seeming their food
from the almost invisible heights of
heaven, most truly product Of this soil
of earth most unearthly yet supernat-
urally persistent in aiding nature TO re-
turn dust to dust.
Second A scattering growth of scrub
oaks. dOtting the plain here and there
with another such growth of gnarlled
and twisted limbs as must have given
the inspiration 10 him who illustrated
the furtsc scenes OF "Daute's Infero. "
as nowhere else did | ever see ANYTHING
10 resemble them Not over 80 feet
high, but spreading over a space OF
ground in diameter as the height of tree.
there does not appear 70 be a foot of
straight body or branch anywhere
Wouldn't that gladden. the hearts Of our
honest farmer who sells wood corded
as tight as nature allows not selling
air spaces only the boundries thereof
Third Ohapparel Set out with the
irregularity of nature, yet at first sight
one thinks ii vast peach orchard of the
north, or more particularly a field of
much overerown ounce bushes. stand. |
ing from 10 to Is feet high and which |
must have driven TO insanity one lost in
such a space, from the amending SINH. |
larity and boundless space where moth. |
ing else can be seen for 80 miles in all |
directions
Fourth: The prickly sage bush carry
ing an almost uniform height Of about |
four and ore half feet and forming a |
very campact growth at top, though the |
roots may be dozen feet apart, through |
which, TO force ones way means count |
less duckings and deviatious from.
straight path, and then the marks of !
battle will inadvertently appear when |
on return from a never bloodless contest |
with these ever watchful "sentinels |
and pickets of the plains"
Fifth: Cactus All, what sights to the |
votaries Of Botanical research. Plants |
without beauty at home, yet nurtured |
with gentlest care abroad Plants here |
are justly abhorred for their pertiuac
ious life, than which there is nothing |
more comparable than our own |
Canada thistles Plants having no |
stems nothing but leaves" from the |
edges Of which grow other leaves until |
the mass from single root will effect |
ually close door ten feet wide and six !
feet high. If setting north TO south, for |
these plants so grow in nature as TO |
present only edges 10 the hottest sun
at noon, with broad and smiling face,
ever green, for the rising or reclining
sun
Sixth Grass Yes, grass, forming a
velvet carpet TO the foot of the passerby,
however showing many a thread TO the
bare spot wherein nolonger any pile is
seen, and at the same time forming "A
means of life for still another growth,
which springing neither from earth nor
air. is part or both and while last is by
no means least for this is the only one
valuable growth Of all, yet all combine
TO produce in this last saleable commo-
dity which we have placed in the list
of Rrowths as
Seventh Cattle. The circulating
medium of the Texas plains. The ranch
mans money; the brides dover; the
farmers food; the bone of contention
among all, from the vulture TO the most
aristocratic lady who picks the bone
from porter house steak as well as the
cowboy who picks a stake from the near
est fence TO enforce his claim TO priority
in a round mp" Cattle of the ordinary
everyday kind live among the chapparel
thickets on this grass and help to make
an otherwise barren dessert, fruitful.
Can a land TO sustain at once these
seven distinctly separate growths, ever
be common place? even be without
resources, entirely it's ow n, to claim at
tention at the hands of we lords of
Grafton. the Great Creators creature,
man? No, emphatically no. Other things
claim our attention here, of only one
more however will / speak herein-the
rarified air, through which distance
seems to be annihilated one little illus
trative instance Of which / wish to re-
late. On our wav we stopped at little
way station for 10 minutes, to wait for
a coming freight 10 reach us and take
the side track. No telegraph is needed
here in day light as the trains them
selves are visible for miles beyond be.
lief.