Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-10-10

inlgnt there.
Many used TO live in town and 20 to thei
pre-emption and stay all night every thirt!
days, which was held TO be actual residencp
under the provision of the law allowing tn,
pre-. emptor to be of his claim a certain
length of time, if it was necessary for him :,
do so, in order to make living.
A story is told of German who took ,
claim and who, about the time he wanted L
"prove up" dug hole Just large enough Il
contain jug, which he put therein, coverinG
the jug and hole with broad shingle. Oh
being asked what kind of house he had OF
his claim, he replied:
"0h, have shug out"
Has it shingle roof?" was the next ques
tion.
What you say?" was the reply.
What keeps the rain out?" was the samt
question in a new form.
"Oh, he haf shingle over him." was the re-
ply.
He actually 'proved up" with nothing but
a jug In a hole with shingle over it, for q
house. But such times came to an end When
Commissioner Sparks took charge at Wash.
ington during Cleveland's administration.
Besides claims are so scarce that one must
be very careful to carry out the full intent OF
the law or he will find his claim contested.
Life on claim is very monotonous at
best, but is much more so to the pre-emptor
when he expects to remain but the required
six months, for in that case, unless he has
more money than the average pre-einptor, he
does not buy team and does as little as the
law will allow. Consequently he has to de-
pend upon his neighbors for all hauling and
for transportation to and from the nearest
town.
If he is good walker he can vary the mo-
notony by pedestrian expeditions to various
points within reach. But however lonely it
may be for a man it is even more 80 for his
wife. for she will have to stay at home all
the time save for the rare intervals when she
can get chance to ride to town with some
accommodating neighbor. Yet, one finds
wives accompanying their husbands to the
lonely cabin on the claim and not only un-
complainingly staying the allotted time,
whether it be six months or five years, but
often actually living alone for weeks and
months at time, while the husband is of at
work earning enough to feed and clothe them.
Many ladies of refinement and education
and accustomed to the best society are living
on claims and in one-room sod houses or dug
outs, too. 1t would be great surprise to
one from the east and unaccustomed to things
which are considered quite matter of course
out here, to enter little one-room house or
into door apparently leading into the
ground, and there be received by one whom
he instinctively felt was lady, whose hard
and lonely life on the prairie had robbed of
none of her grace and courtesy.
know of lady who is living alone with
her three children, the eldest boy 12 or 13
years of age, while her husband is in Colo
RADIO at work, with no team but two COWS
which have been trained to the harness. She
and the boy put in the crops, tend them, do
the necessary marketing in the nearest town,
eight or ten miles distant, and attend to
everything with courage and cheerfulness
which has never failed. She is teacher,
woman of education, and has lost none of
her refinement by her hard life.
know of another lady who lived alone,
save for the company of one little girl, for
more than IL months, while her husband,
who is superintendent of schools, was at
tending to the duties of his profession.
This same woman assists her husband in all
work requiring two to make it 60 faster,
such as planting corn with two-horse plant
er, etc., when he is at home farming, and
withal is rs bright, refined and as accom-
plished lady as can be found anywhere.
Claim life developes self reliance and cour-
age of the highest kind in the women of the
west, and taking all into consideration, they
are we'll deserving of the right of municipal
suffrage which was bestowed upon them two
years ago. Claim life, too, renders people
very unconventional, and things which would
excitea storm of adverse criticism in the
east are thought nothing of here.
gentleman we'll known in Kansas edu-
cational circles, took pre-emption and left
his wife and sister to "hold it down" while
he did institute work. Learning that friend,
who also is we'll known in Kansas school
work, was going to his claim in the same
county, he asked him to call on the ladies
and see if they were in need of anything. He
accordingly did 30, arriving about dark on
his way back from his claim. On invitation
he staid all night, they making him bed in
the corner of their own room. In the morn
ing he was awakened by peculiar and, once
heard, never to be forgotten noise. the rattle
of rattlesnake. The ladies were sitting up
in bed throwing their shoes at the intruder,
which was just inside the open door. He
Joined in the sport, aud his snakeship con-
cluded to beat retreat.
Syracuse, Kan, Sept. 9th, '89. Gle.
CONCLUDED KExT WFEK1