Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1869-09-03
PEpPER's TAVERN, HOLMES Co., !
August %. 1869.

PETERS TAVERN, HOLMES Co., /.
August %, 1869. -
THE following epistle reached me yes
terdav I received it with mingled emo
shuns Ez gazed at the familyer stamp
onto the envelope, witch had yoozed SO
many times, / kissed it in extacy-eZ
thot that it wuy inflicted onto the paper by
the hand Nv a niger, indignashen seezed
me. But passin this l opened the enVel-
ope and read ez follows:
CONFEDERATE ROADS,
witch is the State NV Kentucky,)
August the 18th, 1861 }
My DEAR, DEAR FRIEND Absence II
is said conkers love, but that wont work
in voor case. he'd tried to forget 700 and
he'd well nigh succeeded, but in overhaul
in some papers yesterday, l happened 10
come across some of yoor notes OF hand
for small amounts borrowed NY me at diff
ferent times, and | realized to-wunst the
force Nv the old line
s'Tho lost to site to memry DEAR
And bust out into flood NV tears. But
enuff NV this. | sot out to give 700 the
news NV the Corners.
Crops is totle failyoor here. The sea-
son hez bin favorable, but we hev
bin so entirely without labor that
we put in but very little seed. AT
the time we ought to hev he'd our
corn plantid, Issaker Gavitt, Kernel
McPelter, Elder Pennibacker and our sons
wuz scourin the country to get enuff mig
gers to plant for us, but ez they each he'd
land NV their own, they woodent do it. So
NV course there wuz none NV any account
put in. The little that Wuz put in wont
amount to nOthin Ell we coodent get no
niggers to tend it, durin the CROWN season,
II, IL on
tireIy. Joe Bigler sejested that eft we'd
spend half the time plantin Nv it that we
did holdin meetins to devise ways to get
niger labor, we'd hev Dustin crop. But
WOO know Josef; he's lost carikter; he
works with his own hands, One uvthe
most tetchin sites | ever beheld wuz at
Bascom's early in May, jist after our com
mittee had returned from trootlis search
after hands to do our plantin. The entire
Corners wuz present; but there wuz
settled gloom onto ther faces witch even
the refreshments they wuz consoomlng
coodent entirely dissipate They wuz
grooped about the bar-room ez yoosual.
Elder Pennibacker wuz a leanin in
chair with his back to barrel; lssaker
Gavitt wuz on his back on table in the
corner, and the others wuz sittin on kegs
in various parts NV the room.
"Wo is usp sighed the Elder, putin
his feet onto keg, that he mite rest easier,
and pensively squirtin tobacco joose at
fly on the wall opposite, "where is the la
Dor to plant the corn? We shell starve."
"Alas |" sighed the Deekin, shifting his
seat to get SO that he Good cock his feet
agin the wall "Alas the minits is creep
ing on, day succeeds day, and no corn in
yet" -
eyes," replied Issaker Gavitt, rollin
over onto his belly, and histin hisself up
onto his elbows, "this is the froots Nv Alb
lishnism. Ten years ago when we he'd our
niggers we he'd our corn all in by this
time, and wuz ready to put EN- to plowin
on it out. Now that we are dependent
onto our labor"
And Issaker groaned and rolled over
onto his back
And so we sot and sot and mourned. l
The result NV witch is that there Amt an
acre NV good corn in the entire section
Wood that the Ablishnists, witch brot all
this onto us Good see the room they have
wrought.
The prevailin topic NV discussion sence
700 left us hez bin the trouble with Pol
lock and Ablishn friend Nv hizzen who
lives in Springfield, Illinoy, the restin
CROWN out Nv the bond question. 700
remember three years ago the Corpora
shen ishood it's bonds bearin per cent,
for $4,000 to bid a lock-up and yeer
later when it wuz found nessary to gravel
the road betwiXt the Corners and the sta
shen at Secessionville, so eZ to redoose the
freight on the whisky consumed by us, we
ishoOd bonds bearin eight per cent to
the amount of $4,000, both ishoos run
min twenty-five yeers. These bonds were
taken by Pollock and this friend Nv hiz-
zen.
Last yeer we paid the interest on these
bonds, but this yeer the people felt that
the burden wuz too heavy. They could
not reconcile themselves to the idea Nv
sweatin to support in idle luxury the
bloated bondholders, and the populis muir.
INJURED aginit Wat to do we didn't know,
till finally Elder Pennebacker, who Dor
rows my paper regulerly, remarked:
"Eureker-Tve got it." He he'd bin readin
the Dimocratic proposition to tax bonds,
and lite dawned onto him.
"We'n tax these bonds of Pollock's!"
sed the Elder, land thus relieve ourselves
NV this thraldom to the money power.
Thank Heaven the people hewitt yet part
ed with all their power"
The Council wuz assembled, and by yoo-
nanymus vote an ordinance wuz passed
levyin tax Nv eight cents onto the dollar
on all bonds ishood by the corporashun
for moneys borrowed NV all sorts.
Pollock wuz away when the ordinance
wuz passed, and it so happened that he re-
turned the very day that his interest wuz
due. Immeiitly he proceeded to the
Trezrer's office, witch is Captin Mop elter's,
with his coopons. Captin McPelter re-
ceeved him blandly, and, putin the
coopons away, rendered him in loo
thereof a receipt for $500 taxes on them
sed bonds.
"Wat is this?" ejakilated the astonished
Pollock.
"Taxesp' returned McPelter, smilinly.
eve hev assessed a tax onto our bonds NV
eight cents onto the dollar, witch, it hap
pens, is just what yoor interest is. We
skorn repudiation-we shell pay principal
and interest-but hev the rite to tax bonds,
and tax EN- we will"
"Is the tax eight cents on the dollar
on all bonds Nv the corporashen?" asked
Pollock
"Trooly it is" sed McPelter.
81 hold also the bonds ishooed a. wear
before these for buildin a lookup, but
witch only bear six per cent The tax pays
the interest and two per cent over-what
will you do with that two per cent?"
"Do with it?" exclaimed McPelter.
"Why, we shell apply it to the payment NV
the principal, Nv course. The entire rev.
enoo NV the corporation is pledged to the
eXtinguishment Nv its debt, and we shell
not be recreant to orr truSt"