Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-04-04
A WONDERFUL DREAM.

"Oh Yes, sartin! Yes, yes-I be-
lieve in dreams, +" said old Si1as Tafton.
He took another Whit at his pipe. and
then added: lone of the greatest
speculations 1 ever went into came of a
dream-a wonderful dream. I'll tell
you about it,"
You remember, some of you, about
the great land speculations here in
Name thirty years ago. Poor men-a
very few of them-were made suddenly
:Ticlt ;and'riGh men xefes sSnddenlv naade
poor; ! WIS living; then in Grey. One
day old Sam Whituey. Of oxfords stop.
ped at odr plao4 ana Showed >us q man
OF : new town which had been laid out
in Segadahec:7> On. .the{map: it looked
beautiful; There were brooks, and
lakes, and broad plains Of pine and oak,
with streets all laid: out, and spots for
churches and school houses marked in
proper array. I had a cousin living
down that way and I concluded to 90
down and take look. I found the
town of Ellenville, which old Whitney
had shown me- on his map, to be q Wild.
worthless track, all rocks and swamp !:
but on the edge of this track in another
township, my cousin owned a piece of
land, ana i bought hundred and fiftv
acres OF it, and made me IN excellent
farm land for that purchase I was never
Meantime. .Ellenyille was nearly sold
in hundred acre lots, The Excitement
was at fever heat, and people bought
without once coming to look at the land
they were purchasing. But by and by
the new owners began to look up their
property, and You can rest assured that
they we're a blue set when they were
assembled on their territory. Within
all the limits of the mapped ont town
ship there was not an acre that could be
cultivated. On the side that bordered
my farm it was a craggy ledge Of rocks:
and beyond that to the eastward the
land settled under the mud and the
water of q sunken slough. Some of
these lots had been sold as.hi9ls as one
pound an acre, and few of them even
higher than that. One poor fellow.
named John Twist, from Vermont. had
paid one pound an acre for lot that
bordered> on my farta. 'On. the man it
had been set down as a magnificent
pine forest, with 2 river upon its bor-
der, upon which was a superb water
power. John Twist bought it and paid
for it, and when lie came: to look at it
he found it TO be a mass Of barren
rock: with here and there clump of
scrub oak and few Norway pines, and
for q river he found water course
which tumbled melted snow over the
crags in the spring, and which was dry
most OF the year. I did not see the
poor fellow when he came to survey his
property, but I can imagine how he
After while, however; the excite.
ment passed off and the sufferers of
Ellehville turned their bucks upon the
gray ye oftheir speculative hopes: on
my farm l prospered.: MY land was of
the very best quality; my wife was a
true helpmate; my crops were abund-
anti my stock thrived, and I fonnd
myself with goodly pile of money
tied'up in my stocking.
! One evening or in the earlv morn;no,
after our crops had been garnered. .
man riding a sorry-looking nag, pulled
up before our door. He was we'll
looking man, with a. sedate and solemn
face, and dressed in black. It was
safe enough to conclude that the man
was a minister, and so he announced
himself. He said he was the Rev. Paul
Meekmore he was o missionary, on q
home circuit, and asked shelter fo,
himself and beast for the night. Oh
course We welcomed him cheerfully,
and we were pleased with him. He
had Travelled extensively, and his con
versation was entertaining and instruc
tive. Before he went to bed he read 6
chapter in the Bible and made praye1
and Betsey said to me after he had re
tired that she had never heard such ,
beautiful prayer.
The next morning, at the breakfas
table, Mr.. Meekmore was very sedate
He asked blessing, and then only an
swered such questions as were asket
him: Finally Betsey told him she wa
afraid he had not slept well. H,
smiled, and said lie had slept very we'll
saving the spell Of a very curious dream
: which had visited him three separat
times during the night. Betsey aske,
him If hewould tell what it was. about
/" Il was the ola dream Of. hidtlel
wealth. he said, with a solemn look
: " L havn't dreamed :: such a dream be
lore, since by n wonderful dream i
I. South Africa 1 lud to the discovery I,
u = diamond mine worth mill,o.,s Of ,,o
= lars and it never proiited mc :, pc,,n,
But such wealth is not for me. 7 nc',