The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-10-28
CHAPTER MI.
A DCRSTED BOOM.

boom at Paradise Park received sud
den check a railroad line was located
through that section of Kansas, but 1t
came not to or through the place. II
ran within five miles of the town, and
the company located a depot and laid
out townsitc at the point nearest to
Paradise Park.
AS soon as this fact became known as
a certainty the great boom burst and
the embryo western metropolis lay tiat.
The sale of lots stopped short, and
within three days the value OF real
estate ran down until it was impossible
to sell lots at any price. The noise OF
the saw and hammer ceased, and un'
finished buildings were left so.
Then a new town on the railroad was
started under the name of Magic City.
Scraggs, the inevitable, shook the dust
of Paradise Park from his feet and
went down to Magic City to inaugurate
2 boom there; and he succeeded so
well that within a few days there was
a grand rush Of people to the new
town, and real estate craze riraling
that of Paradise Park began to rage.
The people who owned houses at the
old town moved them to the new, and
thus within couple of weeks the
famed town of Paradise Park-the
once proud infant wonder of the world
was blotted out of existence, and
nothing save few old foundations and
the painted corner stakes remained to
mark the spot where the embryo
metropolis had stood.
The collapse had been sudden and un-
expected, and hundreds Of poor settlers
who had invested their little all in the
hope Of making a raise awoke sudden
ly to the fact that they were ruined, and
that their hopes and their money had
gone down together in the great wreck.
Some who had a small amount of means
left invested in the new town in the
hope of retrieving what was lost in the
old, but hundreds had nothing left to
invest, and all they could do was to
mourn the departed, and curse Scraggs.
This latter pleasure, however, was
denied John Green. He could mourn
the fall of Paradise Park, but he had
no occasion to curse Scraggs, for
Scraggs had warned him and had made
every effort to get him to save himself.
John took his loss seriously to heart,
and many were the wakeful nights it
caused him. The sum of money was
small, but it was all that stood between
his family and want if he should fail
on his crop the coming season, as there
was a fair prospect of him doing
since the season had opened up exceed
ingly dry.
Mary, ever patient and long suffering,
deplored the loss of the money equally
as much as John did, but made pre-
tense of considering it mere trifie.
True wife that she was she was willing
to bear her own bilnders alone, and be-
sides shoulder large part of her hus-
bands. She saw nothing in the future
outlook to encourage her, yet for Johns
sake she affected to see great deal,
and the more he regretted, the more
cheerful and hopeful she became, and
the more lightly she treated their loss.
81 am glad, Mary" John remarked
one day, that you take such a happy
view of the situation. The loss of the
money, and the knowledge that it was
my fault, is enough to make me despise
myself almost, even at best, and if yor
had blamed me as I deserve to be
blamed, believe I'd have gene mad"
John, there is nothing for which tc
blame you," Mary replied. "You in
vested the money, as hundreds of others
invested, and tried to act for the best.
It was a mistake, and nothing moSe.
Such mistake as anyone might have
made, and as almost every poor settler
did make. There is no use to condemn
yourself, or make yourself miserable
with vain regrets. The money is gone
let it go. We can live over the loss,
and in short time won't feel it,
"I hope so," replied John, "but it is
hard to raise expectations where there
is so little to base them on. There are
poor prospects for crops this year, for it
is already late in the season and there
is not moisture enough in the ground
to sprout the seeds. If it does not rain
soon we will raise nothing, and again
we shall have to 60 through the expe-
riences OF year ago. Sometimes feel
like turning loose and cursing this God
forsaken country from end to end. l
wish we had never set foot On Kansas
soil. There is nothing here for US but
suffering, hardships and disappoint-
ments. From year to year we have got
to contend against drought, hot winds,
chinch bugs, grasshoppers, greedy
Shylocks and swindling schemes, and
the settler has poor showing among
them"
ut is discouraging, John" said Mary,
"but where can poor people do better?
The east is overcrowded, and the poor
man cannot hope to get a home there.
He cannot go into business for himself,