St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-03-11
AN OLD STAGER.
Some of the Memoirs of the Sim
pier and More HomeIy Early

y
|. Times.
| Special Letter to the Globe
| FOUNTAIN, Mimi, March 2:-Did you
ever meet and form the acquaintance of
| one who was the son of an old pioneer
in the far-away East, and WHO was him.
self one of the pioneers of this vast
|. Western world? Always pioneer
among the pioneers: a gaunt, honest,
homespun man that knows all about
| farming, and all the ways of doing so
| many things with almost nothing
to do with in the. beginning,
but doing it well in spite of all obstacles
| that lie in his path. Such store Of
| homely knowledge of the do-without
| things and yet looking after better inn
Il plementS and aids to his work in his
Il fields as means accumulated to pur-
Il chase with, and, being very cautious in
Il all his purchases, everything he
Il did telling plainly the. past
/ history of his life and. deeds.
II Everything was tinctured by the many
II privations and the makeShifts of the
Il past years on the pioneer farm on
Il which he grew to manhood, from which
II he departed for his own. pioneer life
II with the young wife whose life had all
|; ways been, like his own, on a farm
Il amid the rfar-away hills, of Madison
Il county, in York State! How strange
i lit all seemsl >!
II And this old pioneer. of eighty-fve
II yearS, who was for almost: twenty-five
| yearS my neighbor, has gone over the
river, and will never recr0SS its dark
1 waters again.; Grandma Feliers,"
ltof PlainvieW.. MIMI, can. sympathize
1 with her old friend and neighbor.
It"Grandma Wood" as she sits in the
desOlati0n other widoWhood, and bear
ing the weight OF ..:
i EIGIITY-EEGHT YEARS.
! What sturdy, honest. simplicity these
old neighbors possessed, and were
shocked at SO much that seemed worldly
and most irreligiOus in many things as
worldly affairs Of city or town came
very plainly before them, and was not
always such as they had known sin
their day." But the apple trees in their
orchards were not more rugged and
thrifty they all were, and they
were content with the comforts
of the life they lived, and if their
farms yielded bountifullY they never
made their bodies show case of the
fine clothes their money could purchase.
Fashion could not allure them by her
display nor entice them from their only
strOnghold-the unauthorized religion
of their Puritanical forefatherS in the
years gone by.
Everything was in keeping with their
means; nothing unSeemly surrounded
or was with them in house or grounds.
For their ehildren's welfare they came
to the wild West with their primitive
ideas and onto farms that were
never mortgaged for money to cope
with any one who had more (or less
money than they possessed, for they
were not ashamed togo without what
they could not pay for when purchased,
and there are many others that have
the same sturdy. independence of cha
racter that will not be lured away from
| the right road that leads up the rough
way to the future home of many com
| forts in this life.
| If your home is small and lacks many
things. let it be all honest and as happy
"a home as you can make it. 1t is not
good policy to contract debts that you
do not see the way to pay, and if your
home has not been mortgaged, keep it
SO, for mortgage is as good as a gift of
your home to one that has no right to it,
and will not get it unless you let him
have a legal right to it.
Necessity may stare you in the face,
but stop and think the matter all over
and see if you can not do without just
little longer, until you can pay as you
go.
Debts and mortgages on ones home
used to be considered disgraceful
piece of business, except in rare in
stances, and when so considered people
would not commit that folly. That is
ientirely your own fault.
MRS MARTHA CRANDAII