Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-02-19
ALL OWING TO THE SOIL.
JOHN MOsSBAcK, OF WAYBAcK,
TELLS SOME TALL STORIES.

One Night and everything Else Kept
Pace-A Flock of Sheep Grew So Mys.
teriously That j ohm Had to Leave.
"Why. hello, john" said man who
CHANGED to be passing along the road tc
John Mossback, of Waybacl, whom he
met, chow came you in this section OF
the country? The last I heard you was
in Aroostock county, Ne, and here
find you way down here; what caused
you to leave that place? hear that it Is
the garden of Maine"
''Well. you see, mister, that it got too
healthy for me up there, and I had to
leave"
TOO healthy! How do you make that
out? I did not suppose that you could
find a place that was too healthy to live
in"
"Well, yer see, mister, at it is this
way, although don't hardly like ter tell
yer, for fear at yer will think at I'm a
lynn; but I'll risk it anyway, and tell yer
a few facts, and then yer'l diskiver wo't
mean by bein' too healthy.
NOT BUILT WITH HANDS.
''W'en | fust went up there [ tuck up
a farm on w'ot I supposed was about
tn richest soil in the county, and found
arter while that my Judgment was not
far out O. tn way. TIL fust day at
got there I looked around and selected
tn spot where I was goin' to build my
house, and as I couldn't find any stones
for underpinin' I thought at I would
build my house, which was log one,
on tn ground, hoping that it would
stand until I could build a better one.
It was pretty late when [ got at work,
and [ only got the four bottom logs to-
gether when | had ter quit, an had ter
go about 2 mile ter tn house where ]
was boardin' until [ could get my house
ready ter move into. TIL mex mornin'
I started ter go ter my work, an w'oi
was my surprise ter find tn four logs al
I had laid for tn foundation fer my
house had taken root an grown into a
two story frame house, with ell and out
buildings attached, all shingled and
clapboarded and ready to move into.
mentioned the fact ter my host, an he
said that was nothin'; at tn soil alters
did that when it was fust broke, but that
I'd get used ter it arter while.
81 sent for my family the next day,
which consisted of my wife an 10-year.
old boy, an in about two weeks they
come up there, an all went we'll until ]
set my boy ter harrowin'; he bein kind
O lazy, lay down and went to sleep on
tn fresh grown. In about two hours he
come up ter tn house an we didn't know
him. Grown? Well, | guess so. Wen
he went away he was about the size O
any 10-year-old boy, and wen he come
back he was plump six foot tall and
weighed 225 pounds.
"W'en it come time ter shoot deer my
hired man started out ter see if he
couldn't get one. Well, sir, he started 3
drove and drew 'em out inter one O my
fields and shot three of 'eIn, an every
one Of 'em fell on piece Of broke up al
we had plowed that week, an as he
couldn't get 'e1n ter the house alone he
came for help, an my son and I to,
gether with a warden who had Just got
there ter my house started back ter get
them, an sir, you may believe it or not
but wen we got there we found that
them three deer had grown into three
moose. an it cost that man 500 apiece
for the two moose which he had, more'n
the law allowed him.
GROWTH OF RAILROADS AND MORTGAGES.
care they goin' to build that railroad,
did you say? No, l don't think they
will, for jest as soon as the sleepers strike
the sile the blamed things would glow
until the whole country would be GOV.
cred with railroads. I member one OF
my neighbors held a mortgage on one OF
the farms an he happened to lose it.
and didn't find it for two days, an when
he did find it it had grown until it had
given him a mortgage of a whole town
ship, and they sent him down the river
for forgery, even it was all the falt O.
the sile
Oh, yes! Aroostook county is a nice
farmin' country; all yer have ter do is
ter plant yer crops and they will grow
ter beat thunder. Why | have known
men to go there without a cent ard clear
$500, 900 the first year all often potatoes,
an they didn't have only one potato to
start with, and that being small one
weighed only 600 pounds
Everybody would be rich if the debts
didn't grow equally with the profits. |
member one man went ter sellin' ma
chinery, an he didn't pay up for year,
an by that time the debts had grown sc
big that he never has been able ter pay
it since.
"Wot made me leave? Well, I'll tell
yer. l turned my flock O. Sheep out one
night, and the next mornin' they had
grown so at 1 had bout fifty norn'n ]
turned out tn night afore, and one O
my neighbors he'd lost his whole flock,
which, strange to say, had drowned, as
he never found em, but he said that ]
got 'em, and he made it so uncomfort-
able for me that l had ter leave. Well,
good day. mister, I've got ter leave. ;ts
got ter strike the next town afore night,
as my time for leaving the state expires
then. "-Blngor News.
DEAD BY THE TRACK.
While His Loving Mother Waited and