The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-05-26


other boys went tu school / had tn stay
at home tu work so had little chance to
git Iarnin'. had brother Ben, he went
to Californy an Iagreed to stay tn hum
and take keer of the old folks--an' was to
have the farm. So / got married an mo-
we'd into the further eend of father'shouse.
Wal arter four years Ben cum back with
pocket full of rocks : he'd made his
pile !; he'd got $4,000. Seq |, its no use
tu stay here-Pm goin to Californy; an
wife ye may go to the factory.
oval now l amt goin to tell ye how
got there, an how many hard times ]
went into, coz it'll take too long. But
arter I'd bin tn the mines three years /
had four hundred dollars an as / was
thinkin' how had tn work hard up to
my knees in water, one of our company
there was jist three of us-brought in
the HERALD of FREEDoM, printed April
the 7th, 1856. shall alters remember
day an date of that are paper. Well the
miner read calculation, an showed us
all as plain as moonlight, that we could
make money faster in Kansas, by diggin'
on top of the ground, where it is dry an
easy, than we could by diggin intu the
bowels of the airth ar;er gold. An it's
sartainly SO, there's no mistake. Wal
off we four started-cum cross the stony
mountains, an the firstday of September,
! 1855, we landed on this very spot, an
each one of US took up claim, an built
our houses on the border of our lots; SO
ye see we mightbe neighbors.
| oval the fust thing l did was to put up
a log house, an ] next sowed them oaks
you seed all round my farm; an l sent
for my wife, an, she cum; she'd money
to fetch her, and some beddin' tn boot
The fust of January, 1856, We were to-
gether in our cabin as happy as CLAIMS at
high water.
"The next Spring as was plowin'
seed hoss team drive up to my house
an stop, an, some folks git out; sez | tu
the boy, stop the team, an I'll go an see
what that are means. And when / got
into the house-as sure as guns-there
was father and mother. Wal arter sayin'
how do do; l sed father, what in natur
sent ye here? And he said -
"'Why them are plaguey newspapers
ye sent me sot me all afire. So | sold the
5 farm for FIVE hundred dollars, sold the
+ yoke of steers, two COWS, an the cart on
wheels, an such things as We couldn't
well fetch. AM here we be with the farm
money, an some over our bedding, plow
irons, an harrer teeth, iron shovel, dung
fork, an sich things are on the road. Ii
war'nt no use tu stay there. ! was grow,
in old, an could ntmanage the farm an
tu hire would eat UP all the crap. an
seed / was on the road to the poor house
An KNOWN yean' your wife would be good
tn US, we've cum right here an We take
the money an other stuff an take keel
) of US.
".But I sed, no father, ye'd better take
up claim an be independent; but al
the claims were all taken up for gooG
} distance, an the old folks wanted tu live
nigh by me, he bought out Moses Make
, moneys claim, an paid him two hundred
dollars. So ye see Moses made that sun
by making a log hutan' plowin' ten acre.
: of land an he went leetle furder away
5 an got jist as good a claim. An there
: the old folks live like pigs in clover
They've got farm worth forty times ths
one they left. But them old plow irons
4 aint of no use here; but pra'ps it doe'
father good to look at them.
can now / don't have to have the
: heart-ache every night to see father drag
GIN along, tired can most to death, an
= lookin' as if he'd drap down every step he
| stepped; he works when he likes and lay!
D by when he's tired. 1t duz my hear
? good to see him SO cheerful.
''Wal when the land Office was opened
t | went upan' entered my name, an fathe
! tn entered hizzen; an told the man We
1 wanted our deeds, an we'd pay him hi
money"
S "He sed we needn't pay eny money
Congress had greed to give US our lane
if we'd live ont"
81 ''Wal sez /, so much the better, Civ,
S us our deeds an we'll be off"
= ''But sez he, ye must live on the lant
; FIVE years first
, "Plague take the waitin' /; amt goil
0 on uncertainties hers yer money nov
t give us our deeds"
S 'tBut he give us resate an sed he'G
S send to head quarters arter the deeds
An he was as good as his word, an W,
e got our deeds; an then we both put vi
n these 'ere new houses.
+ .'Wal tother day / had letter from
S Ben; an he sed he'd as much as he coalc
It do to meet the two ends of the year. An
!? ] wrote him back that I'd got farm
t worth sixteen thousand dollars an som
: money to boot.
n "Now don't look so wild stranger :
: han't I got one hundred and sixty acre
as good land as there is out doors? An
every acre worth hundred dollars
IT Ther'll be morn thousand cords woot
in that are fence yit. Trees grow might,
tall. an mighty big in this ere country
a I've seed trees can most three hundre,
feet high in Caiiforny, an the sile nothiI
/ like what It's here.
"Now spose a man gifts twelve cents
d year for his money, ant thatgood intr'st
a Wal now spose I plows up my hundre'
1t and sixty acresof land, I can git seventy
s FIVE bushels of corn on every acre arte
o the fust year; ant there twelve hundre
, bushels, at quarter bushel, ant ther
st three thousand dollars? An won't on
b thousand pay ont the bills? There it
Ie by the still yards
n But perhaps your crop might be II
IS jured by the drouthe
ie "The drouth never touches my crops.
at How do you prevent it?
.'Coz | plows deep"
nj But perhaps you may not always g
twenty-five cents bushal.
1t mo danger; ant there the imigrant
coming every year; and then ther's Il
rel troops, an the stage horses clear to Cal
n forny.
"An' bimehy the old iron hossswillca
E. ~ it tn the mines, an down to Franeisc.
an. fetch us baekgold an fish an lie forit-