The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1891-02-20
LETTER FROM UNCLE .SH.
No. 2
FIDDLER'S CREEK. f. 1

Editor Free Fress:
Fiddlers Creek, that runshrough
Deacon Goodwin's farm and Inc and
then winds on down througIhe val
ley to the southeast, is ratsr mar
row stream but is quite deep1 many
places. 1t has plenty Of wat(except
sometimes in the fall after ought,
then the current is very nil done
for, but the deep holes that he been
secured out by the great SwiIOf wat
ers during the freshets, alWs have
water in them the year rOu, and
there is just enough of strsm dur
ing the dry season to keep tswater
in the pockets sweet and cles. Con-
seQuently we have the bestf1shing
places over here you ever Sa. You
must come over sometime angO fish
ing with us and l will introice YOU
to the Deacon, say you comeoyer in
! the spring after the fresh. The
creek is well lined with timer and
we have plenty of firewood, nd the
Deacon and | have big firepces in
our houses regular old New ngland
fashion-and many is the lonWinter
evening the Deacon and / sit igether
! by the tireSide and argue on til issues
of the day as we see them.
| The Deacon is a rather Stot built
man of great breadth of chst, his
eyes are deep blue and full Cmean-
ing, he wears a full beard, noytinged
with gray, which he keeps wd trim
med, never allowing it to groWso long
as to float in the wind, sure syn of a
ways has clean well kept lppear-
ways take a second look at hin. We
are about Of the same age, wei along
in middle life, and this is thelearest
alike that we are in anythin, for
am tall and spare built, or whit you
would call raw boned. [ wea chin
whiskers, have dark eyes, and bushy
head of hair.
One evening, not long ago, tie Dea-
con came down the creek patl to my
house TO spend the evening. We sat
looking into the fire and enjoying our
smoke, neither of us saying anything
for long time. | had been reding a
good deal about the doings of he Al
lance lately. | had always zen a
strong Republican ever since he re-
bellion, but the Alliance blsiness
was gradually undermining my 4epub-
lican ideas; but as for the Delcon. I
could never make out to my entire
satisfaction just what his POLITICS
were, as we'll as | know him. lie was
riddle to one, when it came to talk
ing politics. One thing was dear as
day, he was down on politicians. but
when we got to talking about states
men, the Deacon would wax elo1uent,
he would stand up with one hand on
the mantel and the other used for
making gestures when the thumb was
not thrust into his vest pocket, and
there he would stand for nearly an
hour and such language as he used
when dwelling on the acts of great
statesmen, was simply wonderful.
This evening as we sat in front of
the fire as / said: [ was thinking
with good deal of pride of the great
strides the Alliance was making and
/ was determined to draw the Deacon
out an that subject. always suspect
ed that some day or other the Deacon
had been Democrat, still | couldn't
prove it by anything he had ever sa id,
l only felt that to be the case.
Finally / broke the long silence,
Deacon" said |, ''you have never
yet told me what your opinion was in
regard to the Alliance movement.
Whenever / have limited at the sub
ject you have turned it off with a
story or good natured laugh, but
now / want to know just how you feel
towards the Alliance; you know Dea-
con, that / am deeply interested in
this question, you know what my
growing belief is, and you also know
that value your opinion above that
of any other man. Come, let me hear
what you have to say, for or against
this great movement"
The Deacon sat gazing intently in
to the fire for two or three minutes,
then knocking the ashes out of his
pipe, he turned in his big easy chair,
and after looking me square in the
face for full minute, he said: "Un-
Gle Josh? can you tell me why it is
that in times of profound peace, men
are SO given to worrying about poll
tics! Have you not seen farmers leave
their crops INTENDED in the fields, to
go over to the village, spending half
the day, and long into the night, be-
fore their return, always coming back
with dollar or two less in their peck
cts, simply to learn whether this or
that candidate for Office was in the
lead? Did you ever know of pros
porous farmer doing this?" / could
see that the Deacon was warming up,
and that / was to hear something
worth listening to, and | will tell you
all about it in my next letter.
TTNCTE Tncu