Eau Claire Argus (Newspaper) - December 11, 1879, Eau Claire, Wisconsin VOL I NO 32 CLAIRE West Side CLAIRE CO DECEMBER 11 1879 i IS THEKK ANY BY L O They tell mo that tie all of life To live and toll and die Ending at once all care and strife There in n Our hopoi that we ahall find A heaven beyond tho fiky Aro but the mists of mnd is no Ou farth and dust to lust we rely nothing further we can trunt Thero If m Oh con It be that all onr hopes Of Anal home and heaven Of and rest of joy and peace In one short hour aro Will those dear friend weve HO In lie No fond embrace all through No meeting This web we here cull Unfinished aoon must lie The rarest pattern Incomplete no Ah tell mo ye nho look beyond The of mortal eye thia alone the sum of life Is thera no CITY Iowa WINTER E PLAINS In the JLand of Coyote BY LAWSON COOKK In the fall of 1870 after the comple tion of the Kansas Pacific railroad to Denver I concluded to have one win ters hunting on the plains In pursu ance of this object I from Parks Fork now a small station situ ated about halfway between Kansas City and Denver The fort was named after Tom Parks a railroad contractor on the Kansas Pacific who was killed by Indians near thia place I was well acquainted with him and helped to lay him out after his body was recovered If I recollect correctly I counted sev enteen arrow spear gunshot and tom wounds he had received He was not scalped and killed eight In dians before succumbing One cart ridge was still left in his Winchester rifle At the time of which I am writing the plains were a vast for countless herds of buffalo but of late years they have almost entirely disappeared On reaching Parks I formed the acquaintance of a young Ohioan named Leonard As he had just arrived having come on a hunting expedition like myself wo struck up a partnership and concluded to hunt to gether My tenderfoot friend had brought a email armory from the States with him A Winchester rifle a needle gun a three different sized revolvers and a big box of assort ed cartridges composed a portion his warlike accouterments After ing a programme for the winters cam wo bought a horse each and a cart and harness together with a stock of provisions Finally everything be ing in readiness wo hitched up our horses tandem fashion and struck out almost duo north The first night wo made Brush crock and camped As it was yet dusk wo shouldered our rifles and strolled down the creek in search of game After traveling half a mile we reached a grove of trees taller than tho surrounding ones Each tree contained one or more of what appeared to bo the nests of some gigantic bird Curious to ascertain what kind of nests they wore I climbed up one of them and found it WPS composed mostly of bark and in tho inside wrapped in an old blanket was n small skeleton Wo had run across an old Indian burying ground It is still tho fashion with some tribes of Indians to bury dead in trcos Next morning wo harnessed up our novel team and in tho course of an hour reached Solomon river Tho stream is broad and shallow and its banks are devoid of timber Toward evening we arrived at Prairie Dog crook fifty miles from Parks Fort As there was con game in tho neighborhood and plenty of wood and water we con cluded to make this our camping ground For two or three days we were busily engaged in building a residence kind of roofed cellar We killed a few buffalo and used their hides for shingles We had barely become com settled before we discovered a about three miles distant So we vacated our first house and commenced building a This we loopholed banked up with dirt and roofed as before Busi ness now commenced Whenever we killed a few buffalo we cut off the hams took out the humps and tongues and hauled them to camp These were cut up salted in brine and finally smoked and dried The balance of the carcass was slit here and there and strychnine placed in the cuts This was intended to accommodate the wolves and coyotes Our baits were looked after every morning and occasionally wo had from one to six wolves After a few weeks game becoming scarce we took a trip over to Sappa creek seven miles north with the in tention of staying there a few days The first day of our arrival we killed seventeen buffalo and as usual pois the remains The following morning we found twenty dead wolves and coyotes By the time we had them all skinned and pegged put it was time for supper As I was gathering up sticks with the intention of starting a my partner called my attention to some fellow on horseback coming over the divide from the Republican river Just as he got within plain view er and another followed until finally we counted eight of what proved to be Indians They came down the creek and went into camp about half a mile down the stream from us As tion was the better part of valor we built no fire and consequently went supperless to I dont think either of us much At the first gleam of daylight we saddled up and made a hasty back to our castle We never returned for our and whether our red brethren appropriated the or no deponent sayeth not Buffalo antelope deer otter wild turkey and bits were abundant On one occasion there being a little snow on the ground we found the tracks of a band of deer which we followed They had crossed and redressed the frozen creek several times and in making one trip over the ice it proved treacherous and in I wont As the day was intensely cold my compulsory bath was rather and although I made good time toj our cabin I found both my feet were badly frozen This accident ren dered ine somewhat of a cripple and confined me in doors for several days In tho bourse of a week the confine ment proving irksome and my partner reporting fresh I wrapped my fest in gunnysacks and we rallied forth I Ad tho were lined with willows he took one side I the other I Before going far I espied an old evidently taking a kindly interest in my maneuvers Al though he was nearly 400 yards away I fired and ho fell In going toward him I slipped another cartridge into my rifle When within about five yards I noticed he was a pretty corpse but ere I had time to ruminate ho upland charged Instinctively I pointed tho rifle at his head and fired The old fellow merely shook his crani um but delayed not I dropped my rifle then commenced one of the most interesting races ever beheld I was a little ahead with the bull a good sec ond After retaining my slight lead for about seventyfive yards I heard my partner on the opposite side of the creek yelling with laughter and halloo ing Qo it it Previous to receiving this encouragement 1 had been doing my utmost to beat the buf falo i Presently my partners rifle cracked and glancing over my shoul der I saw my antagonist was down having evidently withdrawn from the contest The moment I felt I was safo I began hobbling toward my partner but heat once objected to my mode of locomotion claiming it to be an utter impossibility for a cripple to make such good time as I had recently done He ever afterward insisted that with a little training I would be the fleetest foot man on the plains Ou another occasion Leonard wound ed a young bull which leisurely walked into the stream and lay down As we were anxious to have him on dry ground I was to poke him with a stick and when ho charged me my partner was him down After a good deal oJj punching the animal came put to interview me Unfortunately after ho got on terra firma Leonards rifle missed fire and I had another footrace We however only raced about fifty yards when apparently stricken with remorse withdrew from tho contest and returned to the stream The next time I coaxed him out a sure shot laid him low once in two weeks we loaded up our cart with an assortment of game which I used to haul to the sta tion and exchange for necessaries we required This trip of 100 miles all aloue i right through hostile Indian country was not a pleasant one There was no trail and as the plains are of a very monotonous appearance it was a difficult matter to keep the right course I generally managed to make Brush creek the first night and after preparing supper no matter how cold it might be I had to put out the fire as I was afraid it might attract the at tention of neighboring Indians On one of excursions when I reached BrushI creek the night was intensely cold and I thought Indians or no In dians Ill keep a fire this night My blankets were stretched near the fire and I was dozing sound sleep was out of the when I heard a crack ling the twigs and dry leaves On looking around about ten feet dis tant I sawa pair of shining eyes glar ing right at me My first impression was thiat an Indian crawling on his knees and I edge a feeling of fear On reaching for my rifle I began to think it might possibly be only a wolf and if so it was dangerous to fire off a gun at that time qf night not knowing who my neighbors might be or their where Finally becoming satisfied it was a wolf I drew a brand from the fire and threw it at the two eyes With a snort and a rush my visitor left me I have read accounts of buffalo bel lowing and pawing the ground before making a charge but I never heard one even moan and they do not even lose any time in pawing I never heard of them attacking a man unless badly wounded Until a bull is 2 years old his horns stand up erect and he is then called I a After that his horns commence curving toward each other The old patriarch bulls who have outlived their usefulness are run out of the harem and rove around dis consolate either singly or in herds Buffalo sometimes exhibit astonishing of life I have known them get clean away with probably a pound of lead in them Occasionally the first shot will kill one too dead to skin The most noisy animal on the plains ia the coyote When about three oi them congregate at dusk and begin warbling their evening hymn instead of a trio you would imagine it was a grand chorus in which 500 voices par The produced is about as melodious as what we are ac to hear that back yard artist the Thomas cat The coy ote although not endowed with superior ONE musical to the feline his a greater of voice Ashis is I have often wished to conclude his serenade by gently caressing him with a club During stormy weather we had ample time to cut up and salt what meap we had on hand Although the winter passed pleasantly it was a RobiE son Crusoe kind of existence On Christ mas day our big contained the breasts of three or four turkeys a jackrabbit pieces of deer and antelope and a portion of buffalo hump I doubt whether there was a family on tho j continent which had such a variegated of fare My partner who had a weakness for tric costume during the winter made himself a cap a badgers skin a vest from beaver pelts and a pa pants from the hide of a buffalo r of alf He also seriously contemplated the manufacture of coat from is hard work but is so much excitement attached to it that the hunter not feel tired un til his days work is done and he finds himself or six miles away camp I Toward spring we divided our spoils and I returned to Denver I never saw or heard of my since The Songs of Scotland There is a very general impression especially in England that Burns pre ated Scottish song and that all that is valuable in it is his work Instead of saying that created Scottish song it would bje more true to say Scot tish song created Burns and that in him it culminated He was born at u happy hour with a great background of song centuries old behind and breathing from hie childhood a very atmosphere of From the earliest times the Scotch hive been a people meaning by song both the tines or airs and words This is not the bide which the man turns to the world when he abroad into it to push his fortune We all know the character that passes cur rent as that of the typical haired clannish to his countrymen shrewd cautious seeking persevering un sympathetic toj strangers difficult to drive a bargain with impossible to pir The last thing a stranger would credit him with would be pie love of song Yet when that hard Cal trader has retired from change or the marketplace to his own fireside perhaps the things he loves best almost as much as his dividends will be those simple national he has known from his childhood a very recent time the whole air of Scot land among the country people dolent of You heard the milk maid singing some old chant as slie milked the cows in field or byre housewife about her work at her wheel with a Kit upon her lips In the Highland glen you might hear some solitary reaper singing like her who n Wordsworth has immortalized in tile lowland harvest field now one another of the Reapers taking up an world melody and then band breaking out some chorus The plowman too in winter as he turned over the lea furrows bj humming or whist ling a tune even the weaver as lie clashed his shuttle between the thread 3 mellowed the harsh sound with a song In former dayis song was the amusement of the peasantry as they of a winter night met for a ing by each others firesides This was the usage in for centuries and I am not sure that the radical newspaper which has superseded it is an improve Mimetic Crystals Let any one examine the of the purest white belonging to that dainty little blossom of our Northern woods Miletta nuda and he shall see the fulfillment of a prophecy made in the depth of winter by a snowflake which in the symmetry of its six compound crystals exactly prefigures it I Nature in the great variety of the star spangles of the snow seems to find patterns for many of as when ex are flat and radiate The min eral kingdom shows at least a prefigure ment of life and living forms Crystal upon crystal clusters in graceful and symmetrical accretion until the dull hard indurated mineral or chemical salt spring fairylike fronds into arborescent forms Their purity and the translucent brilliancy of their colors render them blossoms of inorganic nature Again as the crystal is the mineral flower flower is the veget able crystal Tne geometrical tions of crystals reappear in the sym metrical arrangement of the parts in vegetation and rhomboids as for instance they appear in the fir cone before it opens belong equally to minerals and even the cube jis represented in the pretty littlo early spring blossom the and triangles cyl inders and ellipses in the delicate little organisms of the Beard in Earners Magazine The Peanut The woolly skin of the peach tle blushing colors of the apple the flavor of the pear the juice of the watermelon all do fade as leaf but the peanut holds its own forever the transcend ental combination of fruit berry aid vegetable king of the gallery par ex cellence on the half shell and the greatest promoter of matrimony in the wide world j A PIECE quilting party THE SNAKE DANCE a Wonderful Story Told by au Agent of the Indians Trom the San Francisco Bulletin W K Mateer Indian Agent of the Maquis j Pueblos of Arizona gives a thrilling account of a strange ceremony practiced by that tribe called the snake The regard the serpent as a sabred reptile possessed of the power of controlling the elements and to be friendly to man They never kill a snake and frequently handle the most poisonous serpent with impunity The rattlesnake is re with special veneration and their bite is no more dreaded than the scratch ing of a for the bite of a rattlesnake which is in fallible of a thorn or the prick cactus They have an antidote and never fails to effect a cure in a few minutes when administered immediately An Indian of this tribe when bitten by a rattler swallows the at once and after being stupi ned for a moment becomes entirely restored and never feels any pain or inconvenience afterward All attempts of white men to learn the ingredients of this antidote have proved futile as the secret is regarded with religious fidelity and an Indian would lay down his life rather than communicate the recipe for snakebites to a paleface If a white man is bitten by a rattler the Indians will not hesitate to give him the antidote but he must not in quire what it is made of The snake dance is performed by the every two years and is resorted to as a means of propitiating the spirit of the summer rain to send abundant to fructify the earth and make the crops grow The corn is planted in the moist sand of the mesa without previous preparation of the ground for the plow is unknown to the tribe and after it has grown to a certain height and needs moistening from the clouds preparations are made for the grand snake dance A deep and wide excavation is made in the dirt floor of one of the largest houses in the village and the whole tribe go out to hunt snakes These they catch with their hands and bring them in twined around their necks coiled in their bosoms or wrapped around their legs and arms All kinds of snakes are rattler the viper the moccasin the blue racer the garter the green fact every variety existing in the country These to the number of several hundred are placed in the r i in the floor and the mouth is covered with a the hairy side to prevent the reptiles from crawling out and escaping Then a certain number of the old men dance around the pit chanting monotonous songs aid calling upon the imprisoned to intercede with the spirit of the clouds to send rain upon the thirst ing cornfields A body of younger men next form a circle around the pit and go I through a similar ceremony Then come the old women who have a different chant then the young married I 1 1 women virgins then the boys and the with their hair done up in loops and then for a few moments a solemn silence prevails during which the hissing of the serpents and the shrill sound of their rattles are heard under tlie These sounds are as favorable tokens that the incantations have been successful and that a copious fall of rain will follow Til en is removed and then men and boys leap into the pit and each one brings forth a snake which time a e holds in his mouth Some man will emerge with two or three snakes in his mouth As each man the pit with his mouth speed own the quickly nil of snakes he runs at full side of mesa until he comes to the plain and there gently releases his cap at once take to the grass and disappear After the pit has been the men examine the wounds en their arms breast and faces and if blood has been drawn they know that the fangs of a rattler have en tered their flesh and they lose no time in ing antidote The veranda inflicted by the rattle painful The rattler when is the most of all serpents and will continue to strike and lacerate an enemy as long as he is within reach Sometimes an old snake with fangs will fasten upon the cheek or arm of an Indian and hold on until the fangs are torn from his jaw Mr Mateer witnessed one of these of the recently and was horrified at the sight He saw the blood streaming fiom the arms and breasts of the Indians who bore the pain with stoic indifference and seemed to take pleasure in the infliction They believed that the more savage the snakes became and the deeper the wounds in he more copious would be the On the occasion of the last snaked mce the Indians of one of the villages refused to participate For they believed the rain would come down without the dance and the other villages were en gaged in the ceremony they in their houses listening to the noise and smiling at the unnecessary trouble their neighbors were taking Subsequently they had good cause to repent for when the rain came sweeping down from the mountains it poured a copious flood upon the villages and their flelds and passed around the heretic village and their parched corn leaving them as dry as a powder horn The result was that six of the seven villages raised abundant crops aud the other had to call on the Agent for rations Mrl formerly a resident of this and appears to be a truth ful man He was a spectator of the strange snake dance but witnessed it from a distance sitting on a wall overlooking the scene Hotel Experience in Russia A traveler in Russia thus describes a night in a Moscow hotel Cleanliness which in the long run I have learned to to godliness is still rare in Russian hotels even in St Petersburg and Moscow while the filth and dis comfort of hotels in smaller towns are indescribable We had fine rooms in the so far as furniture is concerned and after a fatiguing day of sightseeing we commended ourselves to the care of the Iberian Madonna and lay downto rest It was midnight and a deep sleep had fallen upon the In appearance the lodgers in the Bazar were all peacefully sleeping But what is this There is a sound of hurrying feet shrill exclama tions of disgust and words which would benefit an argument on eternal punish ment The light of candles break upon the gloom audio upon the snowy cov erings of the beds and on the walls and curtains and the robes de null are seen a swarming host of but no I will not mention them From such another sight may all the Bussian hunters of that night be ever spared In fact the rooms wore full of that peculiar of vermin the end and aim of whose existence seems be to dispute with man the possession of a comfortable bed Next morning I conversed on the subject of with the pro animated by that warmth of feeling naturally inspired by a night spent either in the chase or hanging over the back of a chair From him I gained the folio wing information My dear sir said the proprietor it is a sad fact that in all Bussian hotels you will have abundant occupation in the art of selfdefense In winter it is worse than in summer The Russians who como see I am French the extreme East South and North aro not over cleanly Many of them do not remove their clothes when they go to bed Most of them play the part of to many para sites and thus the mattresses the walls the paper and the canopies become act zoological hanging gardens a Hero is a story constructed on the sams principle as the one that told of how a man got the three youngest turkeys in a group of six by telling the market man ho was a house and wanted three of his turkeys and when they were selected the stutterer walked off with the other three The following yarn is from a French paper M 0 having broken an ble article of porcelain goes to the dealer from wnom he had purchased the set to endeavor to replace it Have you any objection to breaking up a set ho says I bought one from you last week and one piece is smashed It was liko this How you take for that sugar bowl there without the cover Well the price is 15 francs with the cover but Ill let you have the i 1 by itself for M You see the COY amount to point of may say it is it would look absurd not to make some deduction so Ill knock off 1 the cover franc only Surely the cover bo worth more than 1 franc No sir in realty it isnt worth more than half a franc but seeing its you Ill call it a franc and let you have the bowl for the fourteen Why by Jove what an ass Ive been It wasnt the bowl that my wife told me was was the cover How funny of stupid It isnt the bowl I the cover Here is your 1 mind wrapping it up Vanishes in the infinite azure ofthe street A Cruel Hoax Last evening just before sundown says the Virginia Nov a gentleman who was sitting by his win do Won North B street casually re marked There goes the woman that George Browns dead gone on His wife who was in a back room getting supper ready dropped a plate on the floor stumbled over the baby and ran like a to the win dow with Where where tell me quick I The one with the long at the corner Then the woman at the window said in tones of deep disgust Browns wife Yes exactly remarked the brutal Then the disappointed woman went back andi got the supper ready but her disposition was soured for the entire evening French Story A domestic attempted tion by but his master ar rived onthe spot just in time to save him ordered another of his manservants to keep an eye on the suicide and prevent him in case he should renew the attempt The unfortunate servant being unable to drown although closely watched accomplished his desired end by hang ing His master returning was great ly surprised that the man in charge had not prevented the rash deed and up braided mm reproachfully to which he made reply Upon my I thought he had hung himself up to dry DOLLAR PER YEAH RUTH K Ah Ixer face is very Snowy white and rosy red And the golden hair Hovars round hor head And her voice is soft and low Clear as music and as sweet Hearing it you hardly know Where tho sound and silence meet All tho maglo who can tell Of her laughter and her sighs Or what heavenly meanings dwell In her kind confiding Pretty lips as rabies bright Scarcely hide the tiny pearls Little of light Love to nestle in hoc curls All her ways aro winning ways Full of tenderness and grace And a witching sweetness plays Fondly oer her gentle face Trae and pure her soul Breathing Gods seroner air Evil and the shame of sin Cannot dwell a moment there am Winter WIT AND Ai LITTLE lover may be a man of great sighs nevertheless a widower gravely 1 am satisfied that she took a sudden cold Six in four you cant as the shoe maker mildly suggested to a lady cus tomer SECURED which are firmly to the floor of an audi o ABOUT the greatest 1 know said the farmers boy is our old peacock Mr pleasure is twofold said A heartless young man who was courting two girls at once Two fooled he meant it iz the little bits of things that fret and worry us said Josh Billings we jkan dodge as elephant but we a fly priests stole lie began But she interrupted him Said she What was it the priests stole He said he supposed they stole their stoles ASTONISHED parent Why carrying chips in your hat Charley displaying his summer Never mind mamma its my II AM astonished my dear young at your make mo sir Ive been waiting for you to start for the last hour WHEN hungry cold and busted too nor gold nor silver can he borrow what legend bursts upon his view Tay today and trust A asks us to give him amount of the public debt We would do it in a minute but we left our pocketbook home in our other pants FiEl Mollie quoth Keuben to Mary tis a pity wo two cant agree Fie Mollie is good sir she an swered but youll find you cant Mo long known what is meant by the center of gravity but wo confess to having just discovered that a hand some fragrant bouquet is tho of attraction IF an actor is desirous of appearing in several pieces in one evening let him smoke a cigar in a nitro glycerine factory He will bring down the too I her Id never smoke another cigar he said softly and I wont A pipes plenty good enough for me aud he gracefully drew a match over the leg of his trousers THERE is said to be a rage in Paris for old buttons In this country wo are not so particular When the head of the family goes to put on a clean shin Sunday morning the rage is for any kind of buttons ONE siding father of ter the brightest little sons re on hill saw hin fixing the with a After the old man had finished tho table he remarked Now pa see if my heads Syracuse Standard Mass postofneo re a letter postmarked San Ber nardino addressed to The Old Mass It contained an offer of marriage froma wealthy oM to any widow or old maid bo tween and 40 who answered the lal The replies are numerous JBE s letter from thy sire Mary Ann Mary Ann Anid hes just as mad as fire Mary Ann Mary nn t And hB say if I come nigher hell raise me ten times higher Than the German Methodist spire Mary Ann Mary Ann If to win I aspire Mary Ann I On I dread to see hfs Mary Ann Mary Ann I know hell give me a Mary Ann Mary t Hd will me tho room Ha will fan me with the broom Yep I safely may assume Mary Ann Mary Anc ThUt hel fire me out of the t MaryAnn Iri so scared I cannot Mary Ann Mary Ann For Im struck all oil a Mary Ann Mary Ann f He is coming after me 1 Blood In both his eyes I see Oh herever shall Mary Ann Ann Ho will make it hot ior mehe Mary t JOE PENTZ took a rifle to cling at Marks Gap Texas ton tried to persuade him to leave it at the door on entering the church but in carrying it across his should er as he walked with his bride up to the altar rail His explanation was that i rival had threatened to kill hik on occasion and he meant to be i prepared wed The sex pew in a aikd fell over the railing turning in the Mr and striking on Fuller with brushing effect Deacon
