The Iola register., 1891-01-23
rrlhu,. TO . Gooa ana pr.re Map.
CAPE COP, MASS, Jan. II, '9l


EDITOR lola REGISTER: One o.
your citizens has sent me a copy o.
the REGISTER, and whatever We
eastern people may think of Kansas
being sunk under beyond redemp
ton with farm mortgages, held
by eastern capitalists" certainly
taking our observations from the
standpoint of your paper, lola is moi
dead but all alive and on stop o
ground.n Such is the influence of a
wide awake local paper. But it was
not of the paper Of which l desired te
write, SO much, as of the difference
between east and west and other mat
ters.
I have lived in the west, Iowa,
Wisconsin and Illinois, many years;
but for the last IL years have lived in
the east. There is q marvellous differ
ence between q live town in the west,
and quiet village in the east, and on
the sea-coast at that, away out on the
elbow of Cape Cod; where we can &c
out, and in five minutes, be digging
for CLAIMS, or raking in oysters; and at
this hour, within so rods of where /
write, men are spearing for eels and
getting plenty. This is the land OF
sea-faring men and bright women;
but they are very peculiar to an in
lander. Their semi-isolated position
renders them quite clannish aud, as a
whole, not well versed upon inland
matters. But of seafaring and foreign
countries, peoples and habits, they
are running over with information,
both men and women; for many of the
wives have made voyages with their
husbands of from six months to five
years long. We are 20 miles from
Boston, southwest, and from being so
near and easy of communication,
many of our popular folks smack of
Boston a good deal. But, to a Cape
Cod-ite, there is no place like Cape
Cod. Such is loyalty to home and
locality.
But as to the land here; a western
man would starve on its sterile, sandy
acres; although there are spots where
people get good living, their being
so near an eastern market helps them
very much. Prices here will sound
high to you westerners. For instance,
butter 30 cts, beefsteak 25 cts, eggs
2s cts, milk Z cts. quart, potatoes
S1.25 per bushel, apples 60 cts. a peck;
oats and corn each T5c a bushel, hay
SIS a ton, etc. Clothing, boots and
shoes, dry-goods, groceries, etc., etc.,
no doubt are cheaper. We have had,
strange to say, for here, days good
sleighing, which is very uncommon at
the sea shore, LII this locality; while
10 miles from here, inland there is
plenty.
But, my dear sir, lola has q charm
for myself and family because of one
of her citizens. In 1864 early in that
year, our first born enlisted in the
Union army, and early in May he was
ordered into that fearful BATTLE of
the Wilderness" and on his second
days fight was wounded and taken
prisoner and lodged in a rebel hos
pital. The only man from whom we
ever heard word direct, of our be-
loved son, is Lieut.. William Davis, of
lola, Kansas, who lay beside him %
days.
Mr.. Davis learned his history, they
became friends; and when they part
ed, Mr.. D. being able to be moved, he
promised that if he ever lived to get
into the Union lines he would write
to us all about our boy, who must
surely die. How well Mr.. d. fulfilled
his promise, our gratitude alone can
but feebly tell; for what he wrote us
Is all we ever knew, and none but
those who have been similarly sit
uated, can thoroughly appreciate.
He spared no pains, nor tired of an
swering inquiries; and while we have
never seen each other, we are holding
constant correspondence, and no let
ters come TO US that are received with
greater gladness, or a warmer well
come, nor could there be, except the
man himself. He seems like one of
our own. Long after he gave us all
the information he could in such an
intelligent and kindly way; he helped
Us to get little from the government,
in the form of pension, so that his
kindly offices came to us in both low
ing, brotherly kindness, and i'm practi.
cal shape; the former by far the most
lovingly appreciated of the two.
Would that we could welcome him
and his to our humble home, and per-
sonally thank him while we shook
him by the hand.
REV. b. Drumming.
THE MID-CONTINENT
PRESBYTERIAN FAMILY JOURNAL.