The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1884-02-15

Minnesota arg,,s.

didn't reckon to git round agin this week,
but you see hogs hez took a right smart ov
rise an thought I'd turn off lot o. pigs as
will git thinner an thinner on that pesky
soft corn. So l thought I'd drop In an ''re-
SOON my discoors," ez our parson sez. How
time arter come West thet bergun to hev
doubts about the right o. perfection. | was
born an raised down in Massachusetts an
worked in fact'ry till i was ov age, an
everybody was for perfection there in them
days. The bosses talked 1t an told us how,
eff we he'd free trade, they'd hev to shut up
the mills: an so, what with thet an a
readin' of Horace Greeley's paper, jest got
chuck full ov it. When / come out West
here, the ole woman an the boys an the girls
an me, We brung them notions with us.
The idee thet IL was our dooty to make our
kentry Independent ov all them furrin ken
tries was purity sound doctrine, tho't, an il
was putin this idee inter practis ON my own
hook thet first set me ter thinkin' if after all
perfection was jess what the Almighty in
tended fer US. Logic Is logic, yer know,
clear shru ter the end, an tigered thet If 1t
was good fer q hull lot o. folks ter be inde-
pendent O. their nabers, ben' so was good
fer emmy one ov them. Thet's common
sense. What's good fer one Is good fer all
an wisy wersy, as our schoolmaster seq.
An it stands ter reason thet, eff the nashun
yto uh akaoo al - h,,,
nuthin', then the right way fer man to git
rich is doin ov the same. Me an the boys
was purity handy with the tools an the wo-
men folk he'd bro't loom an spinnin' wheel,
an We went at Il in airnest ter make our
selves independent. The cloth we spun
wasn't hansum, but IL hedn't emmy Alabamy
wool in, an it wore like iern. Our hum
made linen was good If 1t was little ruffish.
Our boots an shoes weren't hansum, nuther
we didn't git jest the right tan on the
leather, an we didn't quite git onter the
best way ov fittin' ov 'em, but they kept out
the wet an cold, an then we he'd made 'em
ourselves, an tibet made us feel rale inder-
pendent like. / hain't got time ter tell you
how we done it all, our blacksmithn' an
wheelwritin' an all, but the fact was we
didn't buy much ov ennything 'cept our gro
ceries a. such things as we couldn't make
ourselves. But what struck me most at the
end ov the year, when ! got ter figerin' up
what they call "the balance Of trade" tibet
we hedn't sold ennything. The fact was
thet we he'd put in so much time maxim
other things thet we hedn't he'd much time
ter put onter the crops. Our land was new
an rich an Civ US jest the biggest kind ov a
return fer the work put onter 1t, but we he'd
been tryin' to beat the mills in maxim cloth
an the shops in maxim shoes, an though we
he'd made both we hedn't made our crops.
As sed, we didn't count our time wuth
much then, but when got to thinkin' what
thet work would Bev brought us If put into
thet land, 1t struck me, sudden like, thet be.
ing independent didn't pay. So we talked
it all over, an the old woman she sed she
he'd all along told me-she hedn't, but she
takes power o. comfort In sayin' 81 told
you so," an do enjoy seein' her comforta-
ble-thet it was mighty foolish fer us ter be
tryln' ter make things thet other people
could make better an cheaper nor we could,
'stid o. putin our work onter somethin' tibet
we could make big profit in doin'. So we
quit thet kind o. foolshness arter thet, but
In turnin' the matter over In my mind an
measurin' it with the same kind o. logic l
started with, began to hev my doubts thet
the doctrine about bein' independent o. fur
riners was sound. An the more sartain l
got thet if emmy o. them furriners hev got
ennything they ken make cheaper nor we
ken, an we want It, we'd better a durued
sight make sumthln' 'thet they want, an we
ken make cheaper nor they ken, an jest
swap, lookin' out, ov course, thet we git the
best O. the bargain.
An then 1t come along, kind o. nat'ral
like, thet got to thinkin' thet the gov'ment
was hinderin' me from gittin' the most fer
my labor If 1t stepped in between me an the
furriner an told us thet must pay the gov
'ment anywhere from 80 to 90 per cent. o.
what the stuff was worth afore l could bring
It home.
An thet's the way come TO be a free
trader.
Not n Diflsreuoe. Iut N Dfstfnet{on