In the Red Beds of Texas 249 



low my notebook for a while, as that, perhaps, is 

 the best way to give my readers an idea of our life 

 there. 



On the eleventh of July I was in Seymour. I 

 write : " A big dust storm struck the town, and this 

 evening a rain is falling. This is indeed a great re- 

 lief to me, as it will make the air cooler and give me 

 water in the brakes, so that I can visit localities I 

 could not before. My wagon, brought from Kan- 

 sas, is a narrow-gauge one, and all the roads in 

 Texas are cut by broad-gauge wagons. This forces 

 my team to pull with one set of wheels in the rut 

 and the other outside. Consequently the labor is 

 wearing them out, in connection with the awful 

 heat. I am, therefore, having new axles made, a 

 long and tedious work, and I am resting out of the 

 heat. Jesse S. Williamson has told me to occupy 

 the building owned by himself and Will Minnich. 

 It is a little cabin within a mile of the bone bed near 

 Willow Springs. It has a tank of water for the 

 horses, and is but a mile away from the schoolhouse, 

 where a well has been dug. A few bucketsful a 

 day, enough for camp use, trickles into it." This 

 cabin proved to be a great accommodation, especially 

 as the owners had a stack of sorghum, which was 

 placed at my disposal and saved me the trouble of 

 hauling out hay. 



As one of my spindles was broken, I had to send 



