Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-01-11
TERMS--S2.OO PER YEAR
ssE s.--VOL. q, NO. %.
Letters from the Shore-The Weather
Shooting Matches and Auction Sales.


The predictions of an early winter
and cold one have proved untrue.
A few cold snaps in November made
people think of their winters wood
and coal, and the windows and doors
were listed, and the rain water hogs
heads werc emptied and turned away
from the spouts; but it was prema-
tute. Winter il treating us kindly !;
and to-day we look out upon the face
of the earth and only few daffles of
snow remain. The meadows and
bills are of drab colon. They have
an old, seedy look, and are entirely
out Of fashion. Now is the time for
Auction Sales aud for shooting
Matches" Posters in red and yell
low and white. on the parish post,
on button ball trees and on the road
end of barns and sheds, call tie at
ten zion of the villagers aud the rus
tic people to these amusements. At
shooting match the other day the
chickens cost, on an average, 90 cents
apiece in powder and shot, not to
reckon time A poor man, that can't
get money for new frock for his
wife at home, or shoes for his child
rem to go to meeting in, can find
money for such amusements.
But auction sales call together no
such class. The men who 90 to
auctions have money in their breech-
es pockets. They are men that
know "what's the matter" every
time. Men that can't be fooled they
are. The day of the auction you
will see them coming Oh all the roads,
footing along with their heads up
and their big, hard hands thrust into
their coat pockets. They represent
real estate-theY are the holders of
the soil, and lofty contempt they
have for those people who aie so be-
nighted AS to settle down in close
lot 5Oxl0O it,, in some village or city.
They always go to auctions and they
always bid "By gosh, what's the
use money nuffl Amt goin to auc-
ton for nothin," One Of these indi-
viduals recently returned from auc-
ton with 3 jars (cracked), q couple
of rusty scythes and 5 milk pans that
the tinsmith and the man who trav-
els with soldering irons had success
sively given up. Such was his con-
tempt for those who go to auctions
to look on. "Don't yer spose I'm
goin to help 'em sell out. Gosh, it's
putty works goin to auctions and
gripin yer money SO tight. Auctions
is to help folks out when they get in
tight place" This lover of the
poor and the Strengthened, it was as
certained, gave just 10 cents for his
bargain. An inspection Of his corn
house, over head, would reveal the
fact that at different periods in his
eventful life he has felt the impulses
of benificence towards his species
and he has as evidence thereof,
stock of old scythes, broken jars,
dust pans, looms, OK bows, and six
pairs Of bellows, the latter O little
asthmatic and wheezy. From each
auction he brings home something,
and leaves for the bettcrment OF the
family who are obliged to sell, sum
OF money varying from q ninepence,
in the good old days of hard cash, to
a twenty-five cent piece in these de-
generate days. Every family that
breaks up here and goes to the
Northwest has to go through an
auction. Many such families are
leaving every spring for Wisconsin,
for Minnesota, for Iowa, for Kansas,
and the auction season is at its height
10 the winter months. 1t seems mel
ancholy, that young couple, alter
10 or 10 years of married life, are
compelled TO give up the little con-
veniences and furnishings which
they have accumulated, and shops
and corn houses take them up. 1t
becomes a mania with some people
to buy these things and store them
away. In almost every old New
England homestead you will fnd one
Of these museums Of broken up FAM
lies The articles thus acquired are
seldom used, but there they lie in
dusty heap, limbo of all broken
things.
There is no spectacle so melan-
choly, unless it be broken down
men, men who have been politicians,
or lawyers, or doctors, or ministers,
or teachers; men who have been mer-
chants; men who have been in bust
ness and who have cracked in their
calling and are cast aside for newer,
fresher men. Es Everywhere in the
Eastern States, and in some places
IN the Western, may be seen these
melancholy looking characters, bro
ken, laid aside, dusty specimens of
men.
The weather is fine for winter, the
year has been one of abundance, and
the hearts Of the people are full of
thanksgiving. The hand OF God is
acknowledged in our national affairs
and in the plenty of the fields. New
er, since the administrations OF the
earlier presidents of tho Republic,
have the hearts of the people been SO
light.
Let US work while we live and keep
whole hearts in the service of the
times. No man should be laid aside.
There is something for us all to do.
ALLAN.