The Newtown bee., 1904-03-25
LOCAL AFFAIRS.
 E. L. JOHNSON

LOCAL AFFAIRS.
 E. L. JOHNSON
 l ACROSS THE CONTIN
 When we left your readers in our las
 letter we were in the western part O.
 New Mexico, and just at sunset crossed
 the line and entered the territory O
 Arizona. The first place of any i'm
 pOrtance reached was Tucson. Bear ing in mind the fact before leaving
 home, that in Tucson was an old-time
 friend, once school boy of mine, ]
 dropped postal at Washington tt
 Frank T. Botsford of Tucson, telling
 him we were due to pass through thai
 place at certain hour on the following
 Tuesday. We were four hours late
 when we reached there, and I feared
 he had tired of waiting and we would
 not see him. It was about 8 p. m "hOA Jul LII dlQ d1IlfCus FfO "ClC O1
 the ground as soon as the wheels stop ped moving, to find our good friend expectantly waiting to say, if no more, "Howdy do, and good-bye." But we
 had long wait there, and we had a chatty time thereby. How strange the meeting! Once together as teacher and pupil in South Center school, now together in the far off desert country, Right glad we were to meet, and it will always be one bright spot in my memory-the meeting of Frank in the glare of the electric light on the far of plains of Arizona. How much such little episodes mean in the every day experiences of life! While we were talking a porter called out, "Right off dis way fur de Gram Central" and it needed but little stretch of the inn agination to dream myself in New town, once again. We also knew that our friend, Mrs>J. W. Gordon, had two sisters living in Tucson and Mrs John son had written them of our expected coming; one of them was there to meet us and have little chat with those who knew her sister who was so far, far away. When far from; home, the next thing to letter. is to clasp the hand of one, though stranger, may be, who is personally acquainted with some dear friend of ours. A very pleasant interview it was, and it added another ripple of pleasure to our won- derfully interesting trip. Our train started on after half hours delay, and we supposed that when daylight broke we would be we'll on our way sorry that must lose so much of day light travel across the Arizona desert- a strip of country I had always wished so much to see by daylight. We had now finished our fourth day of sight, seeing out of Washington. Not book or paper had looked at in the mean time. I was going over route I had never been over before, and that was never expecting to go over again. Any other time I could read, at no other OtuO COu1u CFC1 oCC uAC 4lhO oCCAO1y again. Dreadfully tired, I soon fell asleep. When I awOke it was we'll into the night, and we were going bumpty- bump, but at not very high rate of speed. My wife was sitting up ln her berth putting on her outer wraps. I said: "What are you doing?' She re- piled: "I believe there is something the matter. believe we are off the track and I am going to get ready for it." "Oh! pshaw," L said, 'do lie down and go to sleep" Of course, she said "No!" But poor me, I felt as in- different as man does in sea sickness, for I knew we were locked in our car and we were bound to go where the car did, and soon fell asleep again and slept soundly till morning. After day. light we began to take our bearings and found that during the entire night we had only gone 80 miles, ,and we were yet in Arizona. That meant to me Arizona by daylight, but to the busi- ness man it might mean a vexatious delay, or to one going to meet sick friend disappointment, if not actual sorrow. On enquiry we learned that when 30 miles out of Tucson our en- zine became disabled, and they had to telegraph back for helper; then when we'll under way the hind truck of our car jumped the track and made an- other long delay. But thanks to clear (perhaps), your correspond ent slept through it all. All the day before, through New Mexico the yucca, a plant that grows spontaneously on the desert waste, to heights varying from two to five feet, with it's long spike leaves, and flower stem running up two feet or more, covered with del- icate white blossoms, was particularly prominent. Now as we enter the Arizona desert, the cactus is the plant to draw attention. All across the border they are to be found, but a habitant more particularly of the east ern part, where they grow often to a height of 20 feet, and as large at the base as telephone pole. Sometimes with long branching arms shooting forth from either side, they look like stationed upon the outposts; a growth 1 never tired of looking at, as the train speeded on. I was much interested in a large herd of Angora goats, some hundreds of them, that I