Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1867-08-16
j." Wool gatherings -

How this book of Gail Hamiton'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 i'''''.
about a year ago / came into posses
sion of a fortune. 1t was from an entirely
unexpected source, and-I naturally cast
about for the best mode of investment.
Dilgent investigation showed that wool
growing was delightful and profitable Oc-
cupation. Sheep are innocent, lambs en-
gaging, and wool marketable. l therefore
dispatched my agent to Wisconsin, where
he bought twenty-five sheep at $3.50 a
head. This amounted to $112.50. | gave
him "a the odd half dollar for commission,
babe him put the remaining $12 Ct forgot
to mention that the original fortune was
$125) 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 $22.50. Gail Hamilton
says: ~ -, e -. -
1.-THE thoughtful reader will not fail to
see that $22.50 is sum Of money not to
be laughed at, and the question at once be-
came, how to get possession of it. The
United States Pest Office does not refund
the property which it fails to transmit, and,
considering the heaVyrobberies committed
upon the Adams Express Company, l
could not trust my treasure to its keeping.
After severe mental conflict, decided to
go myself and fetch the money"
She then prepares for her journey, and
gives a list of the articles she took. After
her best clothes, she put in her trunk bot
tie of cholera mixture. OF this and of
brandy she says Il 92f1 = U NTT0p
| ;EaI can, from my own nowledge, speak
with confidence of the efficacy of this medi-
cine. For nine weeksit Travelled with us
| by field and flood, and not one of the party
had the cholera rr4a tgr zoar rlarLa
| GA 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 judg'
ments on the towns and thepeOple she saw
| and visited are excellent. Thus e
"A single fact will show how rapidly
| the course OF Empire has taken its West
ward way. Only in 1910 there was but q
single school in Milwaukee, with twenty
| five scholars now, there are three hundred
| lager beer saloons !'e-$11A
| "The worst thing about Minnesota is
| that it is fifteen hundred miles from Bos
| ton!
r"sSaint Anthony stands on one side O
| the river, and Minneapolis on the other
| and between them both sorry life they
| lead the poor old Father of Waters. Hi
back is broken with mills, and his throa,
is schoked with logs, and what with the
rocks and the sluices and the splinters,
is as much as he can do to get along at all
Never was there such an oyer-worke'
river. 1t is an unceasing hand-to- ham
conflict between man and Nature, and ma
gets the upper hand, atleast fore while:'
"I do not greatly wonder at the feelln
compounded of dislike and contempt whic
the "higher classes of the South entel
tain for 2 Y ankees." apart from their pr'
sistent and successful opposition to tn
! peculiar institution. / suspect that yer
5 many of the Northerners who go Sout
aresignorant or careless of good breeding
which in its last analysis is Christianity"
"The South is an excellent specific t
4 nut one in humor with the West. An il
' tempered irritable person hke-well, let L
saw like the reader does sometimes,
r must be confessed, come into contact wit
l the energies of the w estalmost too violen
/ " for his serenity. r" You may be I'll
: Great West" mentally apostrophlzes tn
i violent tempered person, after dolefi
I, davis ride i'm an alnclean and unvertilate
! rail car, or days sail on floating palac
1 f" you may be the Great West, but you a
S very dirty Great West. You are smo
y ing and a swearing and an auncouth Gre;
West. You are leose jointed, ungainl
II giant, striding over the iprairies, leayir
l. your footprints everywhere, brandishIr
your big arms. and bawling out yol
o prowess through the Disguised wori
i Energy hayeyou? Yes. youare drunke
= with energy You are wrecked on Il
rock of material prosperity. You NAL
v it your idol, and you bow down and VIC
D. ship il, sacrificing to it whatever is love
h and fine and thorough. Give over yo
! boasting detest material prosperit
?, Blessed be poverty and failure and cali
ie ness and silence -.
Of Gail Hamilton tells us no more of Il
n wool. She concludes by saying that s
al brought home o golden fleece, and 8
:. adds:
9 "And yet, oh, reader, gentle but just,
as you should whisper that there is great C
er and little wool-alas! / cannot gains
Mt you"
5sf7T.r-tE. .5at.ils t=lsi