Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1889-01-25
A Peculiar Western Chorac'er.

There is character in the west
that is good for contemplation. Not
one Of your taking heroes for the ad-
vanced schools of novelists; true, he
has the attribute OF realism, but he just
as much lacks elements that awaken
the sympathies of the philosopher.
You can't possibly surround him with
any classical associations, nor place in
the graveyard OF his past days the ivy
grown tombs OF pathetic story. You
must simply accept him as he is-the
spontaneous growth OF the pioneer bus
mess world There were no real estate
agents during the dynasties OF the
Ptolemies to place options upon modern
article, and the real estate agent of
Boomtown is the subject of this
sketch. Here he is in his costume of
Jeans, seersucker and cloth CATERS; his
whilom white shirt is without collar
and the feather-edged imprints OF time
fringe his wristbands. He is tall, bony
and lean. You always follow his keen
grey eye TO his long, rough index fin
ger as it traces imaginary town lots
upon the palm Of his opposite hand. At
your leisure observe his pointed nose as
the barren apex of a peak up the sides
OF which a thin growth of whislSers
struggles. The mouth is never in a
disposition indicating silence and al
| ways is lower on one side than the
other as the weight of fine cut within
falls. The trickle of tobacco
juice on the chin, the sun-em-
Drowned complexion, and the bushy
head of hair over brow furrowed
with schemes, make the picture COM
plete. There is "a perennial let-you-in-
n-the-ground-foor smile upon his
countenance that often proves irresti-
BILE. You are in Boomtown for the first
time. The hotel is crowded and there
is a moving about somewhere and some
how; that you can't make out The boom
is in the air; property's going up; there's
an avalanche of prosperity coming that
will sweep around corner lots and sub
urban additions like n hurricane of
golden fortune; you can't miss it. He
(the aforesaid 'jeans and seersucker is
gloriously full of the inspiration; he has
just made "a large transaction with a
large syndicate; is just about to make
large one with a larger syndicate, and
always has only few choice thing left,
You are with him in his carriage to
view Boomtown and its rising and
coming star of metropolitan promise.
The struggling houses and stores are
hurridly passed as mere acorns from
which oaks Of eleven stories will grow;
you are among the green fields. You
are talked to every moment OF the time
The journey is panorama Of factories,
colleges and railroads. Boomtown
stretches out before you into many
square miles of solid structure. On you
ride and on he talks. Here is TO be a
system of electric travel that will ena-
bic n business man TO say grace at
sharp 1915 p. m. and resume his attacks
upon mankind at precisely 12:15i p. III.
Here it is system Of clean waterworks
that will automatically scrub your floor.
wash your babies, and, in the heat of
! summer, send cooling streams down your
agitated spinal. Here is 10 be pyro-
technic-galvanic light that will make
old electric look black and will, of it
self. follow you to your neighbours
woodpile and distinguish the largest
sticks; that will pilot you safely home
| from the most distant lodge on the
darkest and most uneven night; that
will pry into every secret in the street
and unfold even the mysteries of your
wards politics. Here is TO be car
shop that will work men at night and
here a packing house that will ''raise"
the price OF hogs like four caught aces
against pat flush. The things begin
to swim before your eyes, but he goes
on driving and talking in the same
strain. Universities ascend before
| your mental vision, monuments and
towers, gardens, boulevards and-a
soldiers home. At last you stand upon
the choice bargains and Boomtown is
like speck npon the distant horizon.
No; you do not buy. Our real estate
man is not daunted. He's hardy. Back
you go into Boomtown and then the
cars send you away TO your real
| friends. At the depot the last object
you see is the gaunt figure in jeans and
seersucker with index finger in argu-
mentative attitude. Yes, the ''boom
subsidies" Our character" never.
| Time goes on and Boomtown is yet
village. He still tells the same story
only to fewer. In the fall he knows
there will be a great awakening com
ing spring" Years afterward your
] journey west takes you through Boom
town. As you roll on by the platform
there he stands, gray perhaps, but just
as certain, just as relentless. and, If
not soul leaves the train to swell the
population of his fair town, he goes
back to his dingy Office on the hill and
marks an imaginary sold" in blue
pencil across Farmer Sipe's twenty
acre piece" BITTER.
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