Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1881 — From Remington. [ARTICLE]

From Remington.

. Dear Republican: It has been a long time since I wrote to you and much has our quiet village that might interest a portion of your readers. Two of our most prominent citizens have been taken from their pleasant homes, by the ruthless messenger, against whom bolts and bars, money, love and skill are alike powerless. m There have been deaths births and marriages since we wrote to you but what need for us to write of them when you had an “Occasional” letter and the columns of the Remington News to scan each week. We' Remingtonians are a little proud of our new paper. Don’t yon think 'we haw a right to be? Tj 1 We have peon away from home since last we greeted the readers of the Republican. W e left behind us the sodden prairie, the murky skies, the Fowling north-west wind, the little village squatted in the mud, and tookT our departure for fairer climbs. We wandered through the trackless forests of Brazil, and sailed fori 2,000 miles Up the mighty Amazon. We rested in the shade us the palm trees and watched |hfi aprilliant-hued birds fly in among the waving leaver W<e saw the natives gliding down the water in their frail looking ittle boats ever on the alert to. secure some denizen of the river or of the forest to satisfy their unpamperedtfappetites. From our good ship on the bosom of the mighty ocean, we saw the distant peak of lofty Teneriffe more than two hundred miles away. We touch at many strange ports and see many strange people. We stopped for ope.'day and night at Bordeaux and heard the elegant and gifted Matamoras read, with a voice which carried us away from the things of time and sense, the ninth chapter We visit Spain and Portugal, France arid Switzerland • lingering for awhile’ on the vine clad hills which overlook the blue waters of Lake Geneva. We gaze with dim eyes at the rude stone post to which “the prsoner of Chillon” was chained to drag out his dreary captivity., 7 ; We sail through the narrow strait which connects the waters of the Atlantic, and Mediteranean and gazed upon the frowning fortress which gtiards the gateway of the nations, b .' v We, floated over the waters of the bay of Naples and linger for awhile under the blue sky of Italy gathering the delicious - grapes which grow almost under the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius. .We look at the relids of agos past in the museum and in the ashy streets of Pompeii. We feel a thrill of humane sympathy fdr the elder, Pliny as he lies dying in his boat, with darkness covering the earth “as with a mantle” lighted only by the fitful glare from Mt. Vesuvius. . : JWe go on our way over mountains and rivers and seas and deserts, over the stormy Jordan, and land at last in that city where all tradition centers, the Mecca of the christain and Jewish nations, Jerusalem . We look at the mountains “which encompass the city round about.” We stood on the shore of the sea of Galilee we looked and beheld the cedars waving on Mt. Lebanon, glanced at all the hallowed spots named in sacred History, anti all this for 60 cents, taken thither (in imagination) by the vivid description of Prof. Fletcher who lectured for its last week. ■ Our citizens owe a vote of thanks to the committee who secured for us such a treat as this. Several prominent citizens of Rensselaer , were in town last Wednesday atteding the funeral of O. W. Church. Among them we noticed 8. P. Thompson, C. H. Price, M. F. Chilcote, J. W. Powell and others. Indications are favorable for the ifuture prosperity of Remington. Real estate is advancing in value, all the empty dwelling houses have been taken, business changes are being made, and people generally are more happy than they were a year ago. ■ Mother Shipton’s prophecy that the world would come to an end in 1881 is frightening a few timid souls, but the majority of the people act as though the lease of life had unnumbered years yet to run. But I must close this long letter. 3-2-9.