The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-08-29
Life in Dakota
Letters in Rural New Yorker.

Letters in Rural New Yorker.
1t is pleasant to turn from these
drunkards to a class who have been ov-
ertaken by some calamity and come out
here to retrieve their fortune-steady-
going, plucky fellows who make the
most Of everything, and are determined
to succeed. Their mode of living is *
ceedingly frugal, and in that they are
largely indebted to their wives. They
tax their ingenuity to accomplish much
with few tools, and in every way posi-
BILE get along with as little expense as
possible. A neighbor of mine went to
town last Winter with his good lady in
side a large packing case set on two
runners made of assembling. Had their
friends back in Michigan seen them IN
such a rig, they would, no doubt, have
been Mortified; but they did their jour
neys quite comfortably and saved the
expense Of a sled. Then that class APP
pear to have faith, n quality very much
wanted nowadays; faith that their
Creator will not fail them in the
hour of trial. Their tools, what
they have, are we'll cared for, and
their stock is we'll housed, especially in
winter. Things prosper with them SO
vel! that the ~inprovident class wonder
how they get along 30 well. They
ascribe their success 20 good luck, but
l., for one, firmly protest in season and
sometimes out of it. that there is no
such thing as good or bad luck. If
stock or crops do we'll, it is the direct
result of care and attention; if they
don't, it is the result of carelessness.
That is o belief that nothing can shake,
and it would be we'll if it we're more
generally acted on. Only this last win
ter, I have seen some striking examples
of its truth. But to return to the class
of which I have been speaking:-These
men are the salt of Dakota, and I look
for great results from their painstaking
and systematic labors.
Nature is exceedingly lavish with hel
resources here, and poor farming lives
on her bounties; but the time will come
when these poor farmers will have tc
mend their ways, or, like the Indian
move further west. Every month sees
some shiftless fellow sell out, and il
some cases a better man takes his place
so that before long we shall have a goot
farming community. Most people ar,
going into stock as fast as their means
will allow, and the fact that heife,
calves cannot be bought, shows how
things are tending. Then there is TIL,
young man who "baches it." He ha
either been Tilted by his girl back East
and has come out to make his fortune
and go beck and have his revenge il
marrying some one of her friends, o
his girl is true to him, and he has com,
out here to make a home for. her. Liv
ing half Indian, half civilized, h
leads a strange life. His shan.
ty is very primitive. and hi
mode of living very simple; but he ha
a stout heart and great expectations
He sees everything through a rose col
ored medium, and has no doubt of th'
future. Dyspepsia and disbelief OF,
unknown to him; he is possessed of
sound body, and if he has no great sou
he is at least generous-hearted He
the favorite at the store, as he is a larg,
consumer of tobacco and other thing
on which there is q profit, and he neve
tries to beat down. My sketches Q
character would be incomplete withou
the "school-marm." Here she is veri
table queen, and rules her admirer
with adespot's sway. She has no emf
of lovers, and has escorts, buggy rides
firtations and fun ad libitum, but ] ma.
ask to what proft?-Clarke Co., OAK