Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-04-23

run away, and in the course of few
days the bottom Of the creek would be
dry, except in the few places where past
foods had scooped out buffalo holes"
Some of these never went dry. There
was one place where, for a number of
rods, the channel was deep enough so
that the water remained in it, and the
shade of overhanging trees to some ex-
tent prevented its evaporation. These
waters do not readily spoil as they
would in the more eastern States, and
thirsty man frequently finds little
difficulty in drinking them.
| MIR. Tykel went down to the creek,
and after taking draught of water,
stretched himself out on the bank to
cool off. He needed no pillow, for the
bank inclined toward the water, and
the shade of an elm was all the canopy
he craved. He lay there thinking over
and over again the thoughts we have
already recorded. Suddenly he seemed
to hear a tremendous splash, and
seemed to himself to spring up and ruiz
up the bank out of the ravine. Reach
ing high point, he looked all about
| him in aStOniShment. deepening into
CONSERVATION, and no wonder, for all
about his little farm was waste Of
waters. The truth flashed upon him
that all the surrounding country had
sunk, leaving his farm an island. He
was literally the monarch of all he
surveyed" Nothing but his farm was
left, only that the irregular water-line
had spared bluff On one of the adjOin-
ing farmeS, and on another a flock of
sheep stood huddled together on point
| of land on the other side of the line
fence.
Mr.. Tykel stood and endeavOred to
take in the situation. In every direc-
ton beyond the newly-formed island
nothing appeard but the trackless
waters. The timber-line at the hOri-
zon in some directions, and the prai-
rie-line in others, were alike gone.
The stand-pipe above the town, two or
three miles away, and all the other
familiar landmarks were no more.
The problem of life appeared now in
a very different light. How now
should he maintain himself and family,
| with all the rest of the world gone?
He stood still and began to take an in
ventory of resources. There, to be
sure, was his farm, just the same as it
always was, and all he had ever had to
live on came from that farm. Besides
he had small slice from the farms of
| two of lis neighbors,. who would never
need them any more, and one of these
slices contained few sheep that might
be useful, though the other was but
stone hill. The ground,7 he sOlilo-
quized, will still yield crops; we can
grow crops just as well as we ever
could. The garden, and the fruit trees
that 1 have taken so much pains with
will do as well as they ever have-per-
haps better We shall, of course, have
to take pains to save the seeds as we
out of seed there will be no seed-stores
to apply to and pay our money to for
what we ought to have saved at home.
Besides, have no money, and it l had,
of what possible use would it be?
There is no one to whom to pay it, and
nothing l can get in return for it..
There will be plenty of grass and feed
for our stock, though it is the fact that
we have nothing to sell. But what
could we do with nobody to sell any
thing to? For anything [ can see,
there will be plenty to eat, both veget-
able and animal food, if we only are
careful to keep up our stock, that is, if
L only knew how to save and prepare
what we have. / am no miller and no
butcher. If [ only knew how. What
shall we do for tools when the present
ones wear out? True, there is
iron enough to last for years,
if l only knew anything about
blacksmlthing, and there is wood
enough in the ravine, and some of it is
good enough for woodwork, if L only
knew how to dress and use it. This
rGmlQQS U6 Oh Iucl. we nave WOOQ
enough for present purposes, if L only
had put out some timber for the future,
for we can grow better timber than that
we now have. If l had only set out a
grove five years ago! l wanted to
erect some buildings on my place, but
where will they come from now!
There is plenty of stone in Patterson S
bluff yonder. if l only knew how to
dress and lay it. And then the Ques-
tion Of clothing. That's the worst.
Oh, there is that hOck of sheep yonder;
their wool would make nice cloth, if |
only knew how. Yes, there is a good
deal left to do with, II ice only kne,t
hOaU!"
Mr.. Tykel's meditations were cut
short by his waking at this point to find
, that in his slumber he had slid down
the bank until his feet were in the
water, and it was running in the gap
inp holes in his WOrQOut boots He