The Cecil Whig., 1882-12-30
Ihtptoplts Qolun,n
For The Cecil Wing.
WHISPERS FROM THE PLAINS.

CHAPTER ".
Resuming our "reminiscences of the
Plains, we find in the long ago, that the
manufacture of clay building bricks was
carried on to a considerable extent by
Messrs. Daniel and John McCauley.-
When they first began the business, they
employed Anthony krouss for season,
who was an experienced brickmaker, and
after gaining the necessary insight they
conducted the business for many years.
under their own p, rsonal supervision.
Several substantial brick dwellings re
main on the Plains as monuments to their
enterprise At a later date. Mr.. Jethro
McCauley burned several kilns of bricks
| Through the Summer the moulding and
drying process went on, and in or to-
wards Fall the kilns were set aud burn
| ing began. Around these kilns would
be an evening resort for the young, mid
die aged and sometimes the old: to eX-
change views upon the different topics
of interest or the day, with an occasional
tough story told by some one. Within
the last forty years all the farms on the
Plains have been conveyed and reconvey-
ed to different parties, except one, that
upon which Mr.. VIM. Simper, now re-
sides. known as "Uncle Billy" who is
one of the oldest and the best man Oh
the Plains, an assertion none dare gain
say. If there is one thing above another
beneath the broad blue heavens that
| claims our admiration and profound re,
spect, it is the upright, lifelong. con-
sistent Christian which Uncle Billy is.
Since coopering and brickmaking have
been abandoned the Plains has become
an agricultural district in the broajest
sense of the term, and the people are
prosperous contented and happy. Every
where the Industrious hand of the hus-
bandman is plainly apparent. Inland
lakes or ponds, which would float scow
of several tons burden. where the turtle.
tadpole and frog reveled in their native
element, have been drained and the soul
sediment changed into fertile soil, and
where the yellow sedge grass that once
partially covered the Plains, waving in
the Autumn wind like seas of molten
gold. have been turned beneath the soil
to deccmpose and furnish fertilizing in
gradients for succeeding crops. The
cedar and the pine that once waved in all
their native beauty have disappeared, ex-
cept few spared as shade and orna-
mental trees; and where once the lord of
the forest stood, grow grass and the gol-
den grain. Our farmers avail themselves
of all the modern appliances to tighten
labor, improve the soil and advance the
interests of the community in which they
live. In the buster seasons the laboring
man can always find plenty of work with
the farmers at fair wages and always is
sure of his money when the work is done.
The farmers of the Plains need have no
apprehensionS of the wages of the hire
ling rising up to condemn them. And
just here comes in the contrast between
them and some loud-sounding saints in
other sections who defer settlement till
the act of limitation steps in and the
helpless victim of Sleeps clothing is left
without resource.
What is considered one of the greatest
financial disasters that ever befell the
people of the Plains is the failure of the
Cecilwood Creamery. That bow Of
promise that spanned the Plains in early
Summer and shed it's lustrous rays even
to the Pennsylvania border, unfortu-
nately. is now numbered with the
things OF the past. And now some OF
those grHmbling old fogies who opposed
the scheme from its incipiency until its
final collapse, have been heard to sa,
that it would have been better for the
| people of the Plains had milestone been
hanged about the necks of the origiua-
tors of the movement and thev cast into
Harlan's sea (dam). RE-ECHo.