Orangeburg times. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1872-1875, 1873-06-26
THE wOMDERFUL DREAM,

took another Whit at his pipe, and then
added Gone of the greatest spccula-
tions | ever went into came Of dream
n wonderful dream. I'll tell you about
it, 20 40
"You remember, some of YOU, about
the great land spcculations here in Maine
thirty years ago. Poor mcn-a very
few of them-were made suddenly rich i;
and rich men were suddenly made poor.
i was living then in Grey One day oil
Sam Whitney of Oxford stopped at our
place, and showed us q map of new
town which had been laid out in Sagada-
hoe. On the map it looked beautiful !;
There were brooks, and lakes. and broad
plains ofpine and oak, and streets all
laid out, and spots for churches and
school-houses marked out in proper ar
ray. L had cousin living down that
way, and concluded to 30 doHn and take
look. ! found the town OF Ellenville,
which old Whitney had shown me on his
map, to a wild worthless tract, all rocks
and swamp; but on the edge of this tract
in another township my cousin owned u
piece of good land, and bought hun
dred and fifty acres of it, and made NE
an 2 ..'s' excellcnt farm and for tlnsp"rchaso
was never sorry.
Meantime Ellcnvillc was nearly all
sold in hundred acre lots. The excite
ment was at fever heat, and people bought
without once coming TO look at the land
they werqapurchasing. But by and BY
the new owners began to look up their
property, and you can rest assured that
they were blue set, when they were re-
assembled OH that territory. Within all
the limits of the mapped-out- township
there was not an acre that could be cul-
tivatcd. On the side that bordercd my
farm it was II craggy ledge Of rocks; and
beyond that TO the Eastward the land,
settled underFtho s:ad and the water Of
a slunken Slough. Some of these lots
had been sold rs high us 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 Il lot that .bordered on my
farm On the map it had been SET down
rs magnificent pine forest, with river
upon its border, upon which was n superb
water-powcr. John Twist bought it and
paid for 1t, and when he came to look at
it he found it to be mass Of barren
rocks, with here and there clump OF
shrub oak and n few Norway pines, and
for water course which tumbled melted
snow over the crags i'll the Spring, and
which was dry mcst Of the year | did
not see the poor fellow when he came to
survey his property, but | can imagine
how he felt.
After q while, however, the excitement
passed off, and the sufferers of Elenvilc
turned their backs upon the graves of
their speculative hopes. On my farm j
prospercd. My land was of the very
best quality my wife was true help
mate; my crops were abundant; my
stock thrivcd, and | found myself with a
goodly pile Of money tied up in my stock
ing.
One evening in the carly autumn, at.
ter our crops had hccn garncrcd, a man
riding sorry looking nag, pullcd up be-
q
fore our door. He WAS well looking
man, with Il scdate and solemn face, and
dressed i'll black. 1t was safe enough to
conclude that the man was minister.
and so he announced himself. He said
he was the Rev. Paul Meckmorc; he was
Il missionary, OH home circuit, and ask
ed shelter ior himself and beast for the
night. OF course we welcomed him
checrfully, and were pleased with him.
lie had Travelled extensively. and his
conversation was entertaining and III
structiVc. Before he went TO bed he
read Il chapter in the Bible and made n
prayer; and Betsy said to me after he
had retired that she hadncvcr heard such
n beautiful prayorin her life.
III" next morning ut the breakfast ia
bic, Mr.. Nlcekmorc was very scdatc. He
asked Il blessing, and then only answered