Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-01-30
II ~ I'd =
Rastless 1mi91ants.

Rsstless Emig1ants.
AcorrespondentSof the Tribune thus
describes the class 81 settlers of the new
territories, who never are contented to
remain in one place; The farmer him
self is the most fascinating adjunct OF
Kansas farm. It Is here that the con-
tented steadfastness of the population
of the far Eastern States has met half
way the disorder and turbulence OF the
far West, and the meeting has resulted
in type of character which I believe
has not it's counterpart elsewhere IN the
world. His history has usually been
somewhat as follows:
He was born and "raised" in Ohio.
| When he reached mans estate-tthef es"
tate, by the way, being lackiinr She 81 le
'sstruck OUT for The. West sand settled
perhaps in Indiana Thence when
fittings got too thick" he migrated to
Illinois, and after soiourn of few
years in that State he swept on with
the tide of emigration into Missouri,
where as he vii tell you, "the rebels
were to rank, ." and so he soon hltched
up the family schooner, embarked the
family goods and gods and crossed into
Kansas.
On his travels he has somewhere
picked up companion to whom q GER
tifcate, carefully preserved in frame
shows that he. has been married ny q
Justice of the P eace, and of whom ne
invariably speaks ass his woman"
He and bis woman" have managed
! % accunlia1ate i family more or less
! 1urn erous, and hungry in the superla-
tive degree.
The spirit of unrest that has con-
trolled him hithertofore has yielded TO
the desire of middle life for quiet, and
he feels as though he was settled now,
and looks forward only very vaguely to
to claim in Colorado or farm IN Iowa
when the Tendencies Of his earlier days
have az ain ,gathered force to stimulate
him to push on. There is no such
thing: however, as contentment among
a certain class Of the younger men they
intend to pre-empt that claim IN Coz
orado before the land is$all took up
While waiting at a"little way station.
IN the Kansas Southern Railroad, re-
Gently, T. noticed on the platform a
young farmer, I took him to he. who
with "his woman" and family Of three
the train.
well" T said TO him, y are you of
for Colorado?"'
"No," said he, "Ioway."
''Going to settle there?' I inquired.
Eyes, "he sreplied II was up there in
September and seed a nice little farm
that I took notion to, and SO thought
that if [ could sell out here for any
thing like what that farm would cost
me, I would go and buy. Wall, q TEL
low came along and offered me ten dol
lars an acre for my eighty, and that
eighty up thar in Ioway wasn't but
twelve dollars an acre, and SO / invested
"Well," said I, "ls the Iowa farm q
better farn1?"
II dunno as it is any BETTER" he an
swered "Maybe the buildens aint
quite so good but then me and my wo-
man WAS sorter tired Of Kansas, and
chen she had the shakes, she did, and
50 we thought that we'd move"
GLOW long have you been in Kanses -
give years going on next April"
"Where did you came from before
that?"
"Nepraska."
"Where were you rsised?"
illinois,"
"Well, my FRIEND" said T, "don't you
know that you are moving out
of the part Of Kansas which Nh.
Greeley called the Garden of Eden
Recording TO your own showing, you
won't better yourself any by going
your wife will be as likely to get the
chills in Iowa as in Kansas; you are
running III debt on your farm you have
all the trouble and expense of moving,
and the probability is that it Will be
years before you Will be as we'll oil
again as you are now"
! "Wall," said this specimen of west
ern GOA head-ativeness; ''nv folks dc
tell ME that a rolling stone don't gather
no moss; but then I tell them that 4
settin' hen don't git fat" I had no an
swer this, for I had never reflected on
the drawbacks which the setting her
may hare to encounter.
This restlessness is the most .charac
terist1c feature of the Western native
farmer OF the middle and poorer classes
Ile is always uneasy never satisfied any.
where. He is always going to-. settlE
somewhere, but can't find the place
where he is willing to admit thai b,
means TO live and die. He helps to de
yelop an immense amount of the coun
try, but can't bring himseifto settle any
where long enough to reap the full re-
wards Of his labor. y t3$ ~ > EtS.%3 IL vi