The Greenville Enterprise

FOR THE GREENVILLE ENTERPRISE.

Incidents of a Trip to the West,

Council Bluffs, Iowa,

July 15th, 1871.

Dear Enterprise—I have deliberately and dispassionately looked at the state of affairs out here, and have come to the conclusion that things are mixed, "and that smartly." I expect, Messrs. Editors, you think that I have said considerable about the ladies in my previous letters. May-be I have, for my opinion is, that life is too short to waste any time upon men.

The following colloquy took place this morning, between myself and a bootblack, eight years old:

"Give you a shine sir?" "No."

"Give you a South Carolina shine?" "Very well."

I believe you are from Carolina?

"Yes."

"How is times down there?" "Very good." "Do you know William Tell Henderson, of Abbeville County?" "Yes he is a friend and neighbor of mine." "He stayed a good deal with us, and I kinder liked him; he wasn't much acquainted here, but I took him under my wing, and I found him a mighty apt scholar; he picked up ideas faster than a duck picks up corn; he was powerful fond of looking at the city by gas light; and like all Southern gentlemen, he was mighty liberal; if you would like to run in his ruts, I am the boy to initiate you. Do you know old Governor Orr?" "Yes he is a friend of mine." "He expressed the same to me. I kinder liked him too. He is a gay old cock. I heard him tell Judge James that he would have to go back to the times of Henry the Eighth to find what was the law in South Carolina. He paid like a true Southern gentleman. When you go back, give my respect to Tell and the Gov. I believe you are the only man in the city, who has no business on hand." "Possibly I am." "Are you living on the interest of your money?" "I am at present." "Are you supporting any body in particular except yourself?" "No." "How many more can you support?" and with this he presented his hat to get what was coming, he then bowed and smiled, said he would be happy to make himself useful, and with a significant grin, he asked, "How is that for eight years old?"

You know yourself. I told him he was a good financier. "Oh," said he, "there is nothing like financiering, sir. Shakespeare said, 'put money in your purse, put money in your purse.' I will see you again, good morning sir." Now, Messrs. Editors, when the boys out here are that sharp, you may be certain that it is hard to crowd the men and women. I was called upon yesterday by an individual of this city, who calls himself Potter Christ. He wished to know if his book setting forth a new religion, was circulated South. I told him that I had never seen it, and would like to know something about it. He stated that several years ago he was on a voyage from San Francisco to Australia, and that one night the angel Gabriel descended from Heaven, and wrote in indelible letters across his forehead the name Potter Christ, the Morning Star; that the angel spent the night with him and passed him into an immortal state; that he ascended into Heaven received divine inspiration, and was commissioned by Jesus Christ. to go forth preaching and prophesying. That in September next, he will ascend in a chariot to Heaven, and twenty-six men will be sent abroad to establish his religion. That the millennium will commence one year from the date of his ascension. That the angels visit him nightly, and all he says and writes is divinely inspired. This man was once a Mormon preacher, and it will surprise your readers when I state that he now has about eighty followers and believers in his new religion, and in him as divinely inspired. As I before remarked, things out here are very much mixed.

There is scarcely any two families or persons who ever heard of each other before they met here, and consequently the sympathies which result from being born neighbors and being raised up together are unknown here. There is no more coherence between the people, in a social point of view, than there is between grains of sand.

Large quantities of fruits and berries of every description are received in this city daily, being shipped from Southern Illinois and points farther south. I saw peaches on the fifth of June. The crop prospect in the North-west is better than was ever seen before. There are entire counties in this State that it is believed will average eighty bushels of corn per acre. Some of the papers think the State will average over fifty bushels. Iowa is not so good a wheat State as either those just above or below—in fact, she is the poorest wheat State in the North-west.

Your readers will no doubt be astonished when I tell them, that the climate in Montana, Idaho and Washington is milder and more pleasant in winter than it is in Iowa. I will not inflict upon the reader the profound scientific reasons assigned for this apparent anomaly, nor will I attempt to present the great climatological and meteorological questions therewith connected—take my word for it, it is so. It is too hot to say more. If heat expands, and the present hot weather continues, I will not be responsible for consequences.

I will state for the benefit of your readers, that it is the general impression here, that the Confederate debt will be paid by the United States Government, and also that all slaves will be paid for. If there are any persons down South who will sell their claim to their former slaves at fifty dollars a head, or who are willing to give one-half that may be procured for them, they will please address Tourist, Council Bluffs, Iowa (N. B.—and send stamped envelope) and I will send them a statement with the necessary blanks and instructions.

TOURIST.