The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-10-11
THE QUESTION OF HEALTH.

We, MlnnesOtians, scarcely appre-
ciate the magnificent boon we enioy
in the healthfulness of our climate.
There is no blessing comparable to it.
What is life worth in diseased and
disordered system, or in climate that
sweeps away those that are dear to
u.s.
The other day colony Of Philadel-
phians, under the inspiration of one
Doyle, went to settle in Texas, ex-
pecting to find paradise. Here is
the account given by one of their
number:
Il believe that if Doyle had come
along we would have lynched him. |
never heard man SO heartily cursed.
| On the second day some of us started
out prospecting. The land was moth
ing but prairie, land | guess dug fifty
places, and couldn't get decent soil
more than two inches deep anywhere.
1t was dry, sandy and worthless.
There was no water fit to drink and
the running stream was nothing but a
gully without an outlet and had water
n it only when the rain came. We
all knew that we were swindled. |
determined to give the country fair
better off if | had come home imme-
diately.
The writer and some of his compan-
ions then hired one hundred acres
and proceeded to plant it to corn and
lcccton. This is the result:
sit was February before we got
fairly under way, and we worked hard
every day from sunrise to sunset on
the plantation and then had to attend
to our little truck patches that sup
piled us with vegetables. Beef was
cheap-only five cents a pound for sir
loin steaks-and St. Louis flour was
: worth $l1 a barrel. We were getting
!, along pretty we'll, although, Of course,
we were living off the money we
brought with us until the first week
. in June. Then was taken down with
the swamp fever, which laid me in
bed. l was out OF. my head entirely. !
: had to have the doctor, and that was
expensive. He charged two dollars a
|
for night visits. He lived four miles
q away, and his bill for three visits was
. eighteen dollars. My wife and chill
! dren were next attacked by the fever
| and then Dan Kelly and his children
had to give.up. The poor children
would lie around, and wouldn't an
swer you, if you spoke to them all day
6 They were stupid, just as if they had
: taken opium. There were now only
three men left to work the plantation
! and by the 4th of July, / suppose the
), day made us little homesick, we
were all $50 thoroughly disheartened
that we concluded to let the crops 90
$ and come back home. Mr.. Benson
o tried to get us to stay, but Kelly knew
l. that II his wife was taken down that
r his little eight months old child must
die, and we made up our minds that
nome we must go, crops or no crops
q Kelly and Steel started first, on July
e Ii, and came back by water. My wife
Il and l followed the next week. She
:, was so sick that had to take sleep
:: ing car right through. The others
u came back in couple of weeks, and
T. right glad, sir, were we all to be back
!, in old Philadelphia.
a. ssYes, sir, / would have stayed till
:, fall and tried Northwestern Texas
y where they say it is healthy, but
lie felt that we would all die before that
b. time and we would have made M
re money, not more than 500 apiece II
= cash, for the years work out of thu
plantation. The landowners am
s. store-keepers swallow up the profits
O. s'Many of the colonists came hom.
"a before we did, and all that had none,
have come since. There were som,
Il sad sights out there. Mr.. Campbell
le broke up his house and went along
le He lost his wife and two children b,
8. the fever, The wife was 50 sick thai
:; she couldn't go to see the children
: buried. Leech buried his mother and
ID one OF his children and there may BIZ
Sc more that | didn't hear of. / dom
e. believe any Northern man can do thu
W work IN the part of Texas we were in
= They can't stand it. Even the old in
habitants and niggers get the fever
= Iu <avrd1 1rn