Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-03-14


Farmers Who Are Always On The
Move.
The farmer himself lis the most fasci-
mating adjunct Of q Kansas farm It is
here that the contented steadfastness Of
the population Of the far Eastern States
has met half way the disorder and tur-.
bulence Of the far West, and the meet
ing has resulted in i type Of character
which I believe has not it's counterpart
elsewhere in the world. His history has
usually been somewhat as follows: Il
He was born and raised in Ohio.
When he reached mans estate-the es-
tate, by the way, being lacking he
"struck out" for the West and settled
perhaps in q Indiana. Thence when
things got too thick" he migrated to
Illinois, and after sojourn ofa few
years in that State he was swept by the
tide OF emigration into Missouri, where,
as he will tell you, the rebels were too
rank, /" and he soon hitched up the fami-
~ schooner, embarked the family gods,
and crossed into Kansas. 49,
d On his travels he has somewhere
picked up companion to whom certi-
ticate, carefully preserved i'll q frame
shows that he has been married by a
justice Of the peace, and of whom he in
variably speaks as "his woman" He
and ''his woman" have managed to ac-
cumulate a. family more or less numer-
GUS and hungry in the superlative de-
gree, The spirit Of unrest that has CON
trolled him heretofore has yielded to
the desire of middle life for quiet, and
he feels as though he was now settled,
and looks forward vaguely to claim in
Colorado or farm in Iowa when the
tendencies Of his early days have again
gathered force to stimulate him to push
on. There is no such thing, however,
as contentment among a certain class of
young men; they intend to pre- empt
that claim in Colorado before the land
is all taken up"
While waiting at a little way station
on the Kansas Southern Railroad re-
Gently noticed on the platform a young
farmer, I took him to be, who with ethis
woman" and family Of three children
seemed to be also waiting for the train.
''Well, II said to him, :'are you off fol-
Colorado?"
s3No,' said he ttIoway.'
<tGoing to settle there?" Inquired.
eyes," he replied; 81 was up there
in September, and seed nice little
farm that I took notion to, and so
Thought that if could sell out here for
anything like that would cost me
would go and buy. Wall, q fellow
came along and offered me $40 an acre
for my eighty, and that eighty up thar
in lowav wasn't but $l2 an acre, and so
I invested"
"Well," said T, lis the Iowa farm a
better farm?"
Il dunno as it is any BETTER" he an
swered <'Maybe the buildin's ain tquite
so good, but then me and my woman was
sorter tired of Kansas, and then she had
the shakes, she did, and so we thought
we'd move"
''How long have you been in Kansas p
Five years going on next April"
"Where did you come from before
that ?"
Nebraska
"Where were you raised?'
''lllinois."
"Well, my friend" said T, "dort You
know that you are moving out of the
part of Kansas of which Mr.. Greeley
said that if the Garden of Eden was any
thing like it Adam and Eve were great
fools for ever leaving? According to
your own showing you won't better your
self any by going; your wife will be as
likely to get the chills in Iowa as in
Kansas; you are RUNNING in debt on
your farm; you have all the trouble and
expense OF moving, and the probability
is that it will be years before you are as
we'll off again as you are now"
"Wal, said this specimen of 60
ahead-activeness, "my folksdo tell me-
that rolling stone don't gather no
moss but I tell them that settin' hen
don't git fat" I had no answer to this,
for 1 had never reflected on the draw
backs which the setting hen may have
to encounter.
This restlessnessi is themes character
istic feature of the Western native
farmer Of the middle and poorer classes.
He is always uneasy, never long salts
fed anywhere. He is always going to
settle somewhere but can't find the
place where he is willing to admit that
he means to live and die. He helps
to develop an immense amount
Of country, but can't bring himself
to stay long enough to reap the re-
ward of his labor. I was riding
along q Kansas country road recently
in company with gentleman who was
we'll acquainted with the community.
OF twelve houses which we passed nine,
I was told, had been built less than five
years, and Of these nine, seven were
owned by other than the original build
ers. Four had changed owners twice.
OF course what has been said above
does not apply to very large number
Of farmers, who are either of foreign
birth Or have brought with them from
homes in the. far Eastern States tradi-s
tions of perseverance and contented in
dustry. The Germans are proyerbial
everywhere for taking the most unprom-
ising upland claims and sticking to
them till they blossom, if not with the.
rose, certainly with yearly crops Of In
dian corn, which are the admiration and
the envy of the possessors Of the most
fertile farms on the bottoms and along
the creeks. Burlington (Kan. Letter.
Burning Church Bonds.
New York World 81. s=s*}:'ia3 II: =# WI
A meeting Of the congregation Of the
First Presbyterian Church of Yonkers
was held Thursday eyaning, at which