Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1890-01-01

Drln0le muley cow, Tor three grunt1ng
pigs, six shaggy sheep, and DASH" q
spirited colly. Take it all in all, re-
markedly interesting family circle,
where the bipeds at least did enjoy their
rich Inheritance of sunshine and SPLEEN
did scenery, and see God in the glory Of
His works.
1t was very useful for Mitzell to have
Hogan at hand to work for him, at his
own price, when needed; and so when at
last there came time when Hogan's
wife fell sick, when the heavy and con-
tinuous rains widowed the hay, when
the hogs died of cholera, and the cow
feasted SO greedily in Mitzell's field that
she swelled and burst, and the sheep
alone survived-then Mitzell lent of his
substance to Hogan enough to keep him
from starvation for the winter, gener-
ously taking mortgage on the home
stead, and ten per cent interest on the
loan. Mitzell said he ''iked the man,
and meant to help him along"
We have heard it said that this mode
OF giving assistance was not peculiar to
the mountain top; but of this we know
nothing.
Be that as it may, this loan acted
somewhat as some doses of medicine are
apt to act that they are intended to
cure, but in the process make the pa
tient desperately ill. Indeed, it was no.
ticed, after this, that the cabin in the
woods stood in gloom and shadow, and
needed some of it's old sunshine.
However, before these murky clouds
hung so low, there had passed away
some pleasant years for the two chill
dren. For Reynold and Emma never
took any particular count of the respect
i've acres owned by their parents. How
sweet the harmless joys of these curly
pated ones!
Often, at break of day, hand-in-hand,
and light of foot, they sought the
higher reaches of the rocks, to watch
the flooded glory of the earth and sky,
innocent-hearted worshippers at His ma
jestico altar; or, guided by the faint
sounds of tinkling bells, brought home
their COWS, with fragrant udders, to be
MIXED; or, aided by the joyful colly
circling round and round, led the gentle
sheep from clambering heights to ingle
dell. There, while the pleased Great
ures nipped close to the velvet sward,
would Reynold adorn the little maiden
with curling circlets of the dandelion,
with parasol of May-apple leaf, with
wild rose and eglantine, or blow her
fleecy thistle-down, sending it with a
wish to fairy-land.
And thus these two grew apace, not
like noxious weeds from out of seeth ing
refuse, as city waits are doomed to do,
but they blossomed into splendid ear
~ youth, pure, free, true and warm
hearted.
And even when the sad day dawned,
and the cabin home was darkened by
sickness and want, the light of Emma's
heart was kept aflame by Reynolds
love. But a dark, dark cloud camo at
last, when their fathers had angry
words; and then these young people
were forbidden to speak to each other
these cruel parents seeming, for the
first time in all these years, suddenly
to wake up to the fact that possibly
their children might care for each
other.
The difficulty originated in contest
ed boundary line.
Now this happens to be, among farm
ers, and especially in remote and Sc
cluded places, a most frequent and
pregnant cause of bitter dispute.
The occasion arose in the attempt to
cut down majestic oak, to which both
parties claimed ownership, and the tree
grew out of cleft of big rock called
in the titled deed ''Security."
The alteration had It's humorous side,
and might have been comical enough,
except in the unfortunate result, both
men standing on the rock, gesticulating
and vociferating violently.
81 tell you, Hogan" sh outed Mitzell,
'syour line runs outside of Security
"No, it don't, nather," yelled Ho-
gan; ''your line runs t'other side of Sc
curity; there's no Security, man, in
your deed"
And so they quarreled, with one good
result-that the tree was spared, and
stands to this day, curious freak of
nature, springing out of the stony
fissure.
Soon after this controversy poor Ho-
gan's note fell due, and he, not being
able to pay either principal or interest,
trifle as it was, Mitzell determined to
foreclose the mortgage and compel Ho-
gan to leave the mountain.
It was hard and cruel thing to do,
and after Mitzell got Hogan's farm ad-
vertised to be sold at sheriff's sale on a
certain day, intending to attend the auc-
ton and buy it in, Reynold persuaded
his father at least to offer to continue
the man as tenant.
Thereupon Mitzell, rejecting that he
would probably be left without any
tenant for his new acquisition, conceded
the point to his son, with a great show
of magnanimity.
1t went hard with Hogan to become /.
tenant under the man who had so I'M
kindly deprived him Of his home, but
for the sake of those depending on him
he concluded to swallow his pride, a
process of enforced deglutition not I'M
known to the down trodden.
Every one knows, who knows any
thing, that the mountaineer loves his
freedom and his native soil, with love
SURPRISING that of other men for their
homes. To uproot them is to kill them.
But how hard and bitter HOGAN fonnd