The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-11-01

etc., etc. But none OF my tours gave
me more Of surprise and OF pleasure
as well-than those about Beatrice
and Sultan. Near each OF these pla-
ces there is a colony of five hundred
Mennonites. These people, like Qua
kers, hold it wrong to serve as soldiers.
Their ancestors who were OF German
stock, four-score years ago immigrated
to the north shore of the Black sea,
with the promise of exemption from
military services. Being now denied
that exemption they have sought new
homes. They bring with them some
money though sheared, fieeced. and
sometimes hayed before they escape
Russian masters. But they bring
what is better than money alone for
building up country-skill in tillage,
in stOck-raising, in mechanic wits
frugality which buys nothing 1T can
do without, Judging how to buy as
we'll as an industry which never |
wastes minute. They will burden
Nebraska with no pauper, no drunk
ard, no criminal. Suicidal is the poll
CIV which expels them, and happy is
the state where most of them shall tx |
their abode.
Before them the wilderness literally
blossoms. for they all have flower
gardens. and feel that while grain is
Gods bounty flowers are his smiles.
One of them led me to the flrst peach
ripening on tree he had set out only
two years before. Another measured
for me a cottonwood OF equal age.
At four feet from the ground It's glrth
was fifteen and a half inches. 1t must
have been growing year or two be-
fore it was replanted. l am glad to
learn that their average wheat crop
here is twice as great as they have
harvested in Russia. 1t proves, that
we can undersell Russians in the Brit
ish market.
In Jefferson county one OF these ex-
lies for conscience sake has tried his
prentice hand on twenty-three hun
dred sheep. His feeding was critics.
, ed bv a principal sheep raiser OF Sew
ard. But the heeces of the Mennonite
turned out heavier than his critic S.
! Let him laugh who wins.
{ The Russian QuakerS often quote
, the text: .Prove all things; hold fast
: that which is good.'' When visited
+ their principal sheep ranch it's chief
+ manager had gone to Wisconsin for u
still finer class of buck. Our plOWs,
harness, horses, and Wagon-brakes
thew admit to be superior to theirs.
The Yankee who shall introduce into
!. Russia our Wind-mills for raising wa
a ter, they say, will become million
s aire.
| Nevertheless in some things we
t NAV learn Of them. One OF them Ill
!. quest of water privilege was told at
/ York that there was none there,
e though one had been much sought for
!. in that place, as there was no mill
s within eighteen miles. The poor out
e cast knew better. He perceived that
s Beaver creek was just like one near
r the Cuban river, where he had once
}. built a mill himself. He dared to act
3 on his convictions, and his mill-StOneS
o have already turned out flour for hall
a ayear. This mill-wright is aged-but
n his sons have learned his cunning, and
while adding a much deslderated ele
It ment to the prosperity OF York, they
n will do more lucrative business fol
r themselves than in Strengthening
e Turks. 1 hope they have learned the
couplet
e. How happy is the man who lives in the mill
Sc The mill turns round, he takes what he Will
IS Sure am | that they will feast OF
ut western turkeys, while but for emigra
in ton they would be suffering In thu
lie field.
Is But our greatest economical debt tt
is Russian refugees is for fuel. How
, ! much time, talent, and money have
m been expended in search of \ ebrask;
coal mine-a finding that is still In TIL
rs future. But something as good wa
rs detected by the Mennonites at
glance. It was my fortune four year
ne ago to travel with the deputies who
ed first examined Adams and Webste
Id counties. | endeavored to apologize
a for the treelessness land said that tin
to Der would grow: that coal was no
be dear, etc. My labor, as soon dlScoN
cred. was needless. Here is plent
is of fuel" said they, pointing toprairl
er, grass and straw heaps. with this.
Ist they added, 1--WE have always cooked
warmed our houses, and even burn
5e, brick Their words | remembered
ia but their truthfulness was rather bt
or yond relief. OF late, however, hay
eaten dinner cooked by grass, as we
OF as examined straw-furnaces IN house
nv VI DlSIlOD L ClClS AllO SSOA$o ~ AAi
lat flock. There has been no freezing
OF, his house (4Sx29) during the two veal
gal since it was built. Yet his only VII
MS ter fuel has been straw, and his III
On. nace-the ironwork of which cost
is heated only three times a da.
7as What Nebraska has wasted no
nd- warns q thousand Muscovites. Ru
he sian furnaces. notice, are already 81
ION up in the houses of Yankees, who Sc
that if their fuel shall be hencefor,
md costly or their dwellings cold. the TAU
the will be all their own.
as Near Sutton I entered the home
TO- another Russian exile. A thresh
was at work on stacks which won
turn out twelve hundred bushels. t
rs has twelve children, the youngest
mo years old, and all were at work abo
hle the place. The mother, not only
ar this dozen but of three others, seer
- still in her best wears Her elg