The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1867-08-15
"WOOl Gathering"

|
| sa AZ the summers pass away
----->
| ~ "WOOl Gathering"
! How this book of Gail Hamilton S
which is record of travel in the West
and South, happens to have the name
given to it we explain in the words Of the
writer:
About year ago I came into possess
ion of a fortune. 1t was from an entire
/ .ly unexpected course, and naturally cast
about for the best mode of investment.
! Diligent investigation showed that wool
growing was a delightful and profitable
occupation. Sheep are innocent, lam 8
engaging, and wool marketable. l there
fore despatched my agent to Wisconsin.
where he bought twenty-five sheep at
! "a 80 head This amounted to SIP. so
T gave him the odd half dollar for COM
mission, babe him put the remaining So
III forgot to mention that the original for
tune was Sl25) into the bank against a
rainy day. drive the sheep to Minnesota,
and set them spinning-by metonymy.
In due time the sheep were shorn, and
| the wool brought 81. so. Gail Hamilton
says; 1a4h
The thoughtful reader will not fail to
see that so. SO is sum OF money not to
| be laughed at, and the question at once
became, how to get possession OF 1t. The
United States Post Office does not refund
the property which it fails to transmit.
and, considering the heavy robberies COM
mitted upon the Adams Express Com
pany, | could not trust my treasure to It's
keeping After severe mental conflict,
| L decided TO go myself and fetch the mon
ey.
She then prepares for her journey, and
gives list of the articles she took. AT
ter her best clothes, she put in her trunk
a bottle OF cholera mixture. Ut this and
of brandy she says:
can, from my own knowledge, speak
with confidence of the efficacy of this
medicine For nine weeks it travelled
with us by field and food, and not one of
the party had the cholera.
A bottle of brandy makes an excellent
travelling companion, if your principles
and habits are good
Her adventures in reaching the West
are sufficiently amusing, and her snap
judgments on the towns and the people
she saw and visited are excellent. Thus:
A single fact will show how rapidly the
course of Empire has taken its West
ward way. Only in 1910 there was but a
| single school in Milwaukee, with twenty
| FIVE scholars now, there are three hun
| bred lager beer saloons
The worst thing about Minnesota is,
! that it is fifteen hundred miles from Bos-
toni
Saint Anthony stands on one side OF
the river, and Minneapolis Oh the other,
| and between them both sorry life they
| lead the poor old Father of Waters. His
back is broken with mills, and his throat
his choked with logs, and what with the
rocks and the sIuices and the splinters, it
/ is as much as he can do to get along at
! all. Never was there such an over work
ed river. 1t Is an unceasing hand to-
hand conflict between man and Nature,
| and man gets the upper hand, at least for
a while.
[ do not greatly wonder at the feeling
comp pounded ofdislike and contempt which
the higher classes Of the South enter
tain for the ~ aukee, apart from THEN
persistent and successful opposition to..the
peculiar insti uionr | suspect that very
many of the Northerners who go South
are ignorant or careless Of good breeding
! which IN lis last analysis is Christianity.
The South is an excellent specific 10
put one in humor with the West. An
ill-tempered irritable person like-Well
| let US say Ike the reader does some
times, it must be confessed come in con-
! tact with the energies of the West almost
too violently for his serenity. You may
be the Great West, mentally apostro-
phizes this violent tempered person, after
I after a dolefnl days ride in an unclean
/ and unventilated rail car, or day sail
on floating palace, you may be the
! Great West, but you are very dirty Great
West You are smoking and a swear
ing and an uncouth Great West. You
are oose-jointed ungainiy giant. strid-
/ ing over the prairles, leaving your foot
prints everywhere, brandishing your big
arms, and bawling out your proves
through the disguised world. Energy
have you? Yes, you are drunken with
energy. You are wrecked on the rock OF
material prosperity. You make it your
idol and you bow down aud worship it,
sacrificing to it whatever is lovely and fine
and thorough. Give over your boasting.
[ detest material prosperity. Blessed be
poverty and failure and calmness and 81
lence.
Gail Hamilton tells us no more of the
wool. Sic conclud S by saying that she
/ brought home a golden fleece, and she
adds
And yet. oh, reader, gentle but just,
if you should whisper that there is great
cry and little wool-7alas cannot gain
say you. II ( 80 ~ II Z &