Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-11-23
0ED EzaA's FLOATING FA6a
The Way a Yanbee Avoided Pay
ing Taxes-StOries of Floating
Islands.

the out and 0uteSt chap Tor avoiding
the demands OF the State, then | am
mistaken"
why didn't they sell him out2"
Because they couldn't get hold Of
the property. No, it wasn't A~ir-cas-
ties, and he didn't live in a balloon.
but on solid property, and every time
the tax collector came around in New
Hampshire Ezra and his property
were in Massachusetts,"
"0h, l see. He had the State line
on wheels and showed it about to
suit"
Not exactly, but he had his prop
erty fixed SO that he could shift it
anywhere he wanted. 1t was nothing
more nor less than a floating island
made up of bog and stuff, and for a
good many years it blew about the
pond, until finally the old chap putup
a hut on it, kept a COW, chickens and
ducks, and had a regular floating
farm. But one day he heard the as
SCISSOR was coming, so he cast of the
moorings that he had rugged to the
island, and before the next day the
wind had carried him wei the State
line that ran through the pond into
Massachusetts,, and when the collector
went out in a skif the old bog skip
per, as they called him, actually
threatened to have him arrested for
trying to collect the taxes Of a neigh
Dor State. He anchored the island
on the Massachusetts, side until the
seleetmen got after him there, and for
several years be lodged back and forth,
and didn't pay AGENT on his four acres.
But finally they put up a job on him,
and two assessors, one from each State,
went out in skiffs, the island being
anchored in the middle Of the lake
The old man said he was ready to pay,
only he wanted it just right, as he
lived in both States-the house was
in one State, and the barn in the
other. The collectors got so mixed up
trying to s~traighten it that | believe
they had to take it into court. Any
way, | don't think the old mans taxes
are square yet"
"a similar case might happen at
another place in New England" said
one of the group Of listeners. "On
Lake Monemenauk there is an island
that for a long time was called the
mysterious island. 1t belonged to the
town Of Winchendon, Mass. contained
about six acres, and was covered with
trees thirty feet or more high. Some
Of the people declared they had e
the island move years ago, but they
were generally laughed at, until one
morning they found it gone, and now
it is, or was a Short time ago, over the
State line in New Hampshire, nearly
three miles from where it first stood.
1t was originally bog held together
by roots, and the water had gradually
undermined it, until a good sharp
breeze took the trees as sails and away
il went.
MANY lakes have similar islands,
even in streams affected by tide. They
are found anchored by roots, rising and
falling With the water, aud swinging
by their vegetable cables. Some Of the
European lakes have such islands that
are used for pasturage, and they often
carry the island population to great
distances.
During the great food in the Mis-
sissippi in 1874, vast floating islands
we're formed IN the river, and carried
far out into the Gulf stream. One
that a vessel ran into 800 miles from
the delta was an acre in extent, and
populated with a great variety Of
snakes, frogs, and turtles, besides a
number Of land animals that had
sought protection there from the rising
waters, only to be swept out to sea.
The geographical distribution Of life,
it viii be seen, depends much upon
these floating Islands, fact proved
b. comparing the inhabitants Of
islands miles apart. Several years
ago 3 large snake vas picked up of
the Bermuda Islands clinging to 3
floating island that, without doubt,
had come from the Amazon. Miles
Of cordags float out OF the great
river in the same way, Carrying seeds
aud even animals far around the cir.
cult Of the Atlantic. The same is
true Of the Gauges. Great RATS, pop
ulstsd with animals from the interior.
have been found By vessels over 200
miles from the mouth Of the river.
The great mass Of seaEeed, occupy
ing an area Of many thousand square
miles 10 the Atlantic, better known
as the Sargasso Sea, is 6 vast Island
inhabited By q fauna entirely different
from that OF the surrounding waters,
and all the animals are in some way
peculiarly adapted OF modified TO their
surrounding; similar tracts occur 10
various parts Of the world, often so
thick that the passage Of vessels
through them is seriously impeded."
We'll, | declare" said the first
speaker, then old Ezra's floating farm
wasn't such a very singular thing after
al; but | reckon he made an original
use Of it."