Year: 1871

In selecting the contents of this volume from the |
oopious writings of the late Mr.. A. d. Richardson,
the choice has fallen, in q great measure, upon the
admirable descriptive sketches which he was In the
habit Of composing with 40 great facility and with
such brilliant effect His power of observation has
been rarely exCelled; whatever he saw received
peculiar coloring from his own mind and he was
never at n loss for animated aud picturesque Ian
ruA0e in which TO clOthe his vivid impressions.
Among the papers preserved in the volume are his
graphic "reminiscences of "0ur National Capitol" in
the Summer Of 1867, narrative of journey to Cali
forna and back after the opening Of the Pacific
Railroad, and the history Of a month in Kansas in
1869. They present not only lively portraltnre OF
the salient features in the ever shifting society OF
the West but frequent transcripts of thought and
feeling from his personal experience. The fol-
lowing extract from his journal under date OF Octo
Der 49, '69 is not without certain touching pathos
al have been feeling rather dull to-day The weather
is too fearfuly cold to hunt 80 have been reading
and idling. picked up Vanity Fair, and re-read
part of it. fairly shouted at its cleverness two or
three times and yet on the whole didn't enjoy II
quite as much as used to. fancy it was because
opened it and plunged into its worldly horrors at
once and didn't get into them gradually as when l
read the book spriatim. Ard yet how wonderfully
true and how pathetic Thackeray is His musings
On death, particularly, always touch me. How he
constantly veprs to the thought that, busy and alb
sorbed and scf-impOrant as we are there will some
morning or night come when it will be nothing at
all to us how the sun rises sets: what happens
in all the great world, and when the little gaps we
leave will ill right up ike riffs in the when all
that will be remembered Of Us, by those who remcm-
ber us at ALL will he whether we were mcrcful and
unselish and loving or the reverse. 1t quite
strange to me to think tEat the great who wrote
all these sweet and drOl and tender fancies has him.
self passed to the land Of shadows have been think
ing tonight of his lonely death OH Christmas
midnight Like Col Newcomc. the Master called
him and he answered 'Adsum. don't quite relish
his cyniciSm, ard vet think lore Ihackeray more
than any man in all letters more even than
Goldsmith. more than Burns" Mr.. Richardson
thus describes his impressions upon the compile
ton of his journey about month later, as he was
about to return to his early home in Massachusetts,
AT last have got back to Topeka and railroads
after trip of two hundred miles in Southern Kan
Gas q part of the country had never travelled over
before am enchanted with it, 1t is the garden OF
the earth REGION Of the lovelest green slopes rich
dark hets of forest, prairie rolling like the waves of
the sea in high wind, and beautiful streams. as
clear as those of New England. The lands sell at
from two to ten dollars an acre. When got down
OIL Wolf Creek one hundred miles south of Raw
River found the lands taken up and the country
settled fifty miles further south and people pressing
down to the Indian Territory. The settlers were
charging twenty y-fvc to thirtythree cents for meals
and lodging / went to spend the day with some
friends who have been out here three years. found
them ON their quarter the Kansans always speak
of a mans quarter rather than his farm which is
feuced in on all sides and commands splendid
sweep of green, rolling prairie, with dark lines of
timber which mark the bed of the streams. The
land is uniformly goOd that there is probably not
half dozen square feet together of unprOductive
soil. They living in their large barn-more COM
Portable than many houses in this new cOuntry-un-
til their dwelling shall he completed; and their chill
dpen we're ruddy and robust in the pure air OF the
prairies Breaking the virgin soil costs three dollars
m acre. The ground should be opened while the
grass is full of life as in Spring, and then the roots
will rot and will not sprOut again. If the soil is
plowcd late in Spring, may be planted on the
sOds the next year. Nowhere are harvests more
bountiful. There are few harder struggles, say my
friends after three years of trial. than that which
opening farm involves but there is no surcr road
to comfort and competence, health and clear con-
science Tonight I 60 back to st. Lous, then up TO
Chicago for few days. and then home TO Thanks
giving"


In addition to the extracts from the writings of
Mr. Richardson. the editor has prefXcd 10 the vol
ume brief history of his life, which from his child
hood was marked by rare spirit of enterprise, a
scoInful contempt for every form of meannesS and
cunning art and decided GiSte 1Or romantic auNcn-
ture 1t is an interesting fact that he brought up
in the sterncs school of Calvinism under the minis
try Of the mtlexible DIR. EmmOns of Franklin, who
devoted all the resources of pitileSs logic 20 the
denonst ration of the justice of God in the damna
tion of sinners. The editor excellentlv remarks
"There are some sunny and beautiful natures which
grow up in the rigid soil of Calyinsm without be-
coming pcrmcated with anv of its hardness
severity These are the sanity souls to whom Gods
love is a reality, and whose own innate beauty and
tenderness of spirit give grace even to the sternes


dogmas Nothing can take from them the charity
that covers a multitude of sins in all about
them and no argument can refute their absolute
faith that this is Gods world in which all hap
pens for the best Just such soul dwelt in the
bodily temple of the woman who was the mother
of nv hero. The marriage relation of which
he was the last-born was happy and loving one.
and from his mother Albert inherited that faith in
God and man which was the groundwork of his
character and which enabled him all his life to see
all evils in their most hopeful light and to find some
charitable vail 10 cover the worst deeds of his
own worst enemies" His love of learning was almost
prematurely developed. From earliest bOyhOOd he
was an omnivorous reader, and found it very hard
10 leave the book that fascinated him for the
sary farm labor which fell to his lot. He carried his
books everywhere under his arm, buttOned in the
breast of his jacket stored conveniently in some
capaeious pocket When he was sent to split wood,
or drive the oxen before the pOw, to do errands at
the village store these familiars went with him. and
often made his hours work spin out to days
length or his errands take an unheard-of time. For
ever and anon he would drop down under tree or


stone by the roadside in the sandy fuTows where
.XoIL he n1a tla har rao1