Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1881-11-10

49," vi o'ohes anu roCks, and was next
to worthless. He paid rent of three
shllllngs an acre for it. During his life
tlme the land was partially reclaimed,
} the rocks and boulders were taken out
OF part of one field, and the rent wa,
advanced to seven shillings His father
further improved it and raised some
little crops, and the rent went up to
10 shlllings. When the present tenant
succeeded toit, it was in comparatively
good shape, and with the improveme nts
he had made, building the house or
rather howell, the value of the land had
increased enough in the mind of the
landlord to justify him in placing the
rent at f2 or 40 shillings.
That tract OF land in America, if one
were to go to the few districts where
such abominably bad land can be found,
would be thought extremely high if it
were sod at dollar, or four shilhngs
an acre.
well, how in the world can you
raise enough on such a holding to pay
such an exorbtant rent?"
81 can't do it. I've tried my best, but
it is absolutely impossible"
Suppose you don't pay the rent,
then what?'
'Tll be thrown out in the road, with
all my family and the little furniture
we have gotten together"
''In case you refuse to be thrown out
of the house you have built, and of the
land you and your fathers before you
made from utterly worthless fields of
rocks ?"
"Then those fellows would come
down upon ME"
As he spoke he pointed to flying
squadron of $50 men, who were riding
back to Mitchellstown after having
evicted number of tenants who had
been unable to pay the rack rent. They
were fine looking body of men, well
mounted and well armed, each one car
rylng loaded carbine, while dangling
at his side was a sword bayonet.
But our business in hand was not
specializing upon results so much
as to see the actual conditions that led
to and still sustains the agitation. So
we plodded on, through the drenching
rain that was coming down in torrents,
up the bleak and desolate hillside.
WHAT Is DONE WITH THE STONES.
Along the side of the road were huge
stone fences, from four to seven feet
wide at the top, rather good fences for
so poor country.
"Why, you see," said Mr.. Duggan in
reply to an inquiry as to how they
found time to make such sohd, sub
stantial fences, chose stones were
every one taken from that field there,
and having no other place to put them
we made fence, and our rent was
raised on us for doing IL, worse the
luck
We looked into the field whence these
stones were taken. 1t was as uninyit-
ing piece of ground rs can be mag
ined, still full of huge powders, rocks,
weeds, and the never-dying heather.
1t was not capable of supporting
sparrow, yet for the slight improve
ment that had been made the rent had
been raised. Great inducement that
for man to work
ANOTHER CADIN.
Seeing a little, low, matched cabin
just off the road, we asked in all SIM
plicity if it had any history, for by this
time it was beginning to dawn upon us
that almost everything in that vicinity
had some story connected with it. But
we We're totally unprepared for the re-
ply:
"No, there's no history about it. 1t is
simply the dwelling place of family of
people who are daily expecting 20 be
evicted because they can't pay the
rent. the father having been unable
through sickness to work all of the sea-
SON."
The idea that human beings, made
in Gods image, having the power to
think, to reason, and to act, could live,
even exist, in such howell as that was
so incredible that we insi5ted ON going
over and seeing how it was done.
Wading through mud and slush COM
ing over our shoe-tops, we bent our
heads and entered. The room, if so it
could by a stretch of the imagination
be called, was SO low that we could not
stand erect. The cold bare earth that
constituted the floor was damp and
slippery as the rain came trickling
down through the broken thatch, and
formed little pools on the ground. Near
suggestion of fire were huddled a
woman and four children, the eldest
not more than eight years of age. As
we entered they all arose. We were
Mortified to see that they were, as usual,
without stockings or shoes, and their
clothing was so torn and ragged that it
afforded no warmth whatever The
mother and her little girls were blue
with cold. Their features were pinched
hunger. Their whole appearance indi-
Gated the want and suffering they had
been patiently enduring for years.
Over in one corner of the room was
what they called bed, it consisted of
four posts driven in the ground. On
stringers were laid few rough boards.
On these boards were dried leaves and
heather, covered by a few old potato
sacks. There was where this family of
six persons slept. There was no win
dow in the house, the only light and
ventilation being furnished by the
door and the cracks in the matched