Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-09-15
POLLY STRADER THE TRAPPER.

Strader, Pollv's father. He had emigra-
ted from Pennsylvania in 1856, and had
made "claim" On the finest quarter-sec-
ton OF land within a circuit of ten miles.
According to the "pre-emption laws the
person who settles on unoccupied land
and observes certain formalities, has the
right to purchase that land from the gov
ernmep-at any time before it is brought
into Hfaarket, at one dollar and twenty five
cents al acre. But i he koes not buy it
before the day of sale, it is sold at auc-
ton to the highest bidder.
Mr.. Strader had three children, Harry,
his eldesr, Polly, and little Jimmie. All
the money that the father could make by
farming in summer and trapping in win
ter, he spent in improving his claim. AS
the land was not likely to be advertised
for sale for some years, he did not think
it necessary to make any provisions for
buying it at once. But MIR. Strader was
taken suddenly i'll and died, and the
burden of paying for the claim and sup
porting the family, came upon Harry,
then only seventeen years Of age. Not
wholly upon Harry either, for rom the
time her father died, Folly, who was just
fifteen, resolved to share every burden
with her brother. She was stronger than
many boys of her age, and had always
been fond of out door life. In fact, she
was what you would call tom boy,
brimfulI Of life, restless and energetic.
She had already learned to paddle
canoe, and as the prairie chickens would
come into the yard, she had become an
adept with the shotgun. The neighbors
used to say she was too wild, that she
never would be good for anything.
But within week after her father died,
she mad taken q hoe and gone into the
field by the side of Harry. All through
the hot days she did her part; and as
the winter drew on, she practiced with
the rife until she could shoot about as
we'll as her brother. And through the
long cold months she tied on her snow
shoes as regularly as Harry did his, and
by dint of helping her brother, and tax
ing lessons from him, she learned all the
craft Of the trapper. She knew the hab
it's of muskrat, mink and otter as we'll as
any man in the region. Harry used to
make her face grow red, sometimes, by
declaring that she was ''glorlous girl"
By the next spring came the COM
mencement of the war. | cannot stop to
tell you of all the discussions that were
held in the Strader's cabin, on the subject
of Harry's enlistment. They ended in
Polly's telling him to go, that she would
support the family, and that the land
wouldn't come into the market right of,
anyway. And whether right or wrong,
Harry enlisted. That summer Polly sue
ceeded in cultivating that portion of the
land that was broken and fenced in such
a way as to get tolerable crop. But
during the summer there came the sad
news that Harry was wounded, and must
lie for long time in the hospital, and
then, perhaps, be discharged, on account
of his disability to do further service. To
add to their distress, came the startling
intelligence that the land was brought
into market, and must be pre-empted be-
fore the first of January, or it would be
sold.
There was merchant, five miles away,
by the name of Van Dyke, who bought
furs of the settlers, and sold them pro-
visions. An utterly mean man, there was
no advantage to be taken that Van Dyke
did not take. He was delighted to hear
that the land in the neighborhood was to
be sold, for he was perfectly satisfied that
the widow Strader could not raise the
two hundred dollars necessary to pur-
chase her land, and he chucked as he
thought OF the prospect of buying 1t at
the government sale, and thus getting
all the improvements for nothing. In
deed, it Was shrewdly suspected that, as
Van Dyke had some influence with officers
ofthe land office, he had something to do
with the bringing of the land into the
market atso early day; for, as he was
moneylender and a speculator, there
were many ways in which land sale
would be to his advantage.
Polly applied to Mr.. Van Dyke for a
loan on & mortgage on the land, but was
refused. Hoping against hope, she went
to work to raise all the money she could
very early in the fall. Leaving her
mother ana little Jimmie to secure the
crops, she commenced to trap She
started out at daylight every morning,
and was picture for painter as she
pushed off her canoe. Her long hair lay
on her shoulders, her head was covered
with regular trapper's cap, made of
wolf skin, with the VOLTS tail hanging
down behind, She had been pretty sue
cessful, but at the prices offered by Mr..
Van Dyke, she had nothing like enough
to buy the land. Polly was very high
spirited, and she vowed that Van Dyke
should not have a single skin that she
captured. In vain he assured her that the
price he offered her was the highest that
could be paid. "Mr. Van Dyke, you
have not money enough to buy my furs.n
At last came the news that Harry was
about to start for home. He had been
discharged, and was scarcely able to walk;
but at any rate if was q comfort to know
that he was coming home again. 1t was
now the middle of November, but the
sky was yet clear, and the prairies, scared
with the frost, looked like fields of gold
beneath the autumn sun. And every
night, the prairie fires made the sky glow
in every direction. Polly had made a
careful account of her resources, and said
that at least she had enough to buy the
forty acres on which the house and the