The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-08-20
Walter Br0wnfeld !:
THE MYSTERY OF PRESTON FLAT
BY JOHN r. MusIcK
uC0PTRI0Hf. 1855. BY THE A. N. KELLOGG
NEWSPAPER COMPANY.1

BY JOHN r. MUSIcK.
aCoPrR1aHr. 1854 BY THE A. N. KsrLoo,
NEWSPAPER CoNPANY.l
CHAPTERL
THE NEW FARM HAND.
~'Do you want a farm hands"
81 don't KNOW" answered Mr.. Miles
"A well-to-dO farmer in the unassumins
neighborhood known as Preston Flat
The farmer who was engaged in re
pairing a broken whippletree restet
his axe upon the large chopping block
and gave the speaker a searching
glance from head to foot. The appli
cant was a slender, delicate young
man, with mild blue eye and auburn
hair. He was not over twenty OF
twenty-one years of age, and his soft
white hands contrasted strangely with
the hardened, sun-burned palms of the
farmers two sons, who stood near by,
one with a wagon whip and the Other
with a bride in his hand.
81 don't know" repeated Mr.. Miles
as he scanned the youth still more
closely. You don't look as if you
ever did any farm work"
Il can learn" replied the pale
youth, his face showing a despairing
look as his eyes fell on his only earthly
possession-a small budget of clothes
tied up in red handkerchief. and stick
run through them.
On approaching Mr.. Miles he had
taken the bundle from his shoulder
and carried it in his hand.
The applicant was dressed neatly,
though not extensively. His clothes,
however, as well as the bundle, were
covered with dust. He raised his des-
pairing eyes 20 the farmers face, with
a look that at once appealed to his heart
Ibid you ever work on the farme''
asked the kind-hearted MIR. Miles.
''But very little, sir, can soon learn,
though. and am willing to do all can. :"
'Have You long been seeking en-
ployment?''
''Yes, sir, have been travelling from
house to house, for more than week, :"
and the young man, or youth, for he
could scarcely be called man, gazed
down the long dusty road up which he
had so recently come.
Preston Flat was strip of country
oH UlC CstSl SiuC VI IcStOu CItch
about a dozen miles in extent, and
four or five miles in width. 1t was a
settlement completely shut in by sur
rounding hills and bluffs. The valley
was undulating and very fertile.
The valley had a small village at the
head of it under the significant name
of Bushville. In Preston Flat the I'M
ambitious farmer was born. grew old
and died, little knowing or caring
about the great conflicts which agitated
the outside world.
He raised his corn, oats and wheat;
he fed his corn to his hogs, horses, cat
tie and sheep; his wheat was ground
into flour by the miller at Bushville,
and furnished him bread.
Nearly every farmers wife was a
weaver. and the bang of looms and the
whirr of wheels could be heard from
one end of the valley to the other. :,
The women made the Jeans for the
The other necessary clothes were
purchased at the store in Bushville,
which also afforded miserable market
for the products of the farm and what
livestock the farmer had to sell. We
are not speaking of Preston Flat of to-
day. but as 1t was many years ago, at
the opening of our story.
Every tribe has chief, so every COM
munity head man, and Preston Fiat
was not an exception. Aside from the
''great mogur' who owned the village
store and post Office at Bushville and
with whom every body liked to show
their familiarity by calling him Dave"
was Mr.. James Miles, the farmer His
farm was larger. in better condition,
and better location than any other in
the entire fiat. The great farmhouse
which stood upon a slight elevation,
fifty rods or more from the broad, hard
beaten road, was pointed to with pride
by the other farmers of the neighbor-
hood, and every portly dame in the
valley regarded it as the highest honor
to ''take her kitten and spend the
day with Mrs. Miles.
The farmhouse was surrounded by
stately elms. maple and oak. The barn
lots and barn attachments to the same,
and the vast fields lying beyond filled
with ripening corn stretching away for
two miles, indicated wealth and COM
fort
1t was to this thrifty farmer Walter |
Brownfield, with pale face. dust-cov-
cred, worn-Out and disheartened APP
piled for work. Day after day had he |
tramped from house to house seeking |
employment, to be turned aside with |
the assurance that no hands were
wanted.
He did not understand that his white
face and soft hands were the chief
cause of his being turned away. What
spare change he had was spent in pay
ing lodging bills, and the last night he
had been compelled to sleep in a barn.
No wonder his pleading soul was in
his face as having waited Long and
earnestly for an answer, and it coming
not. he said:
"Will you be so kind as to give me a
trial?''
The stout farmer BOYS who had been
attracted by the young man, stood tit
tering. as they compared his slender
form with their own muscular frames.
Il don't know" was the hesitating
answer of the farmer. ssYou see the
season is nearly over. There
is IA lily not much to do now
'.You certainly can give me work
enough to pay for my board and clothes
any way" said the anxious young ap-
plicant
The farmer took his foot down from
the chopping block, drove the axe deep
into it, then with his elbow on his knee,
and his head in his hands. seemed to be
the matter over.
GU say We never did much farm
In - Il