The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1893-07-21


Were some SO mortgage rid,
Meath old seed liens, back taxes,
Hail insurance dues, 90 hid,
That before the drouth began,
The tillers show for bread was slim;
Too slim to stand another deal
At Hecla on the Jim.
"Tell your brother, that in farming
DE had better not engage,
Though he was aye farmer lad,
And thinks the shop q cage.
Yes, tell him, when you write,
That he had best stick to the shop,
Or 60 where farmers amt Obliged
10 gamble for crop.
That farming, in this country,
Is game where work and skill
Don't stand no show. whatever,
When the sun sets out to kill.
so he'll steer clear of Dakoty,
II he knows what's good for him.
Nor tempt his fate by farming
At Hecla on the Jim.
"Tell my sister that she'd better
Keep on teaching till she's grey,
Than hitch, as you did, to man
That haint no better way
VI feeding her, and half score
OF babies, more or less;
Than betting on the weather
With the odds against success.
And it hay seed hangs around,
charge her, in my name,
10 send hum bout his business,
Or never me to blame,
Unless he'll swear by all that's good
And great, that as for him,
He'll take no stock in Heca,
At Hecla on the Jim.
There's Bob Perkins, lucky feller?)
In all seasons, wet or dry,
You would know him by the look
VI speculation in his eye:
Too stuck on books for business,
Too easy-like for shrewdness;
We'll, vile, sometimes the unlikeliest chaps
Show most horse sense; Why goodness!
lie sold out morn month ago,
Without no ryme nor reason,
Before the weather pointed out
Like 'twould be drouthy season.
jest falr, twas then, but now it's great,
And we're all envyiDg him,
We farmers here round Hecla
Round HecIa on the Jim.
"SOme call it luck, some call it sense,
It's some of both SEE l,
lie played to win, while he held trumps;
We let our chance slip by,
Content, in this here lottery,
His luck no more to try.
lie sold his ticket while he could;
Now no one wants to buy.
The man that bought Bob's crop
For three an acre, jest last May,
won't give pair OF yearling colts
For my hull crop to-day,
Next week, I'D take this springs calf,
Unless these fields jest swim:
These blasted fields round Hecla,
Round Hecla on the Jim.
''Yet I've got sneaking liking
For Dakoty, just the same
Taint the weather half so much
AS tits the men who are to blame
Wheat's forty cents. We'd stand our drouths,
And never want to sell out
Ii to iced swarm OF heightened drOnes,
We didn't have to smell out;
Ii we didn't have to spread their bread
With butter quite so thick,
we could stand hot winds and hail-stOnes,
Now and then, and come through slick
But tWlxt drOuths and money sharks,
Our chance is most too mighty slim;
SO We'll farm no more at Hecla,
At Hecla on the Jim.
II s'pose the man that sticks right here,
liz bound to get on top,
When the weather manufacturer
Sets up his little shop.
have no doubt, they'll get the science
Down SO mighty fine,
That each day will get it's due amount
Of we'll mixed rain and shine.
But then l don't expect to live
More'n mans allotted span,
To wait for that ERE time IL better
Suit some younger man.
1t needs young, long-suffering man,
10 hang by, sink swim,
10 a mOrtgaged quarter-section
Here round Hecla on the Jim.
"Yet own, it yanks my heartstrings
Some to think of pulling out;
wouldn't swap this quarter
For another here about
Heavy land and smooth and bad,
All, in time, it needs is rain
And in time, maybe twill get it,
And twill ante up the grain
built this house above our heads,
You helped to drive the nails;
A bride as bright and blooming
As a rose before it pales,
Set round with buds, whose brightness
Wakes as it's own grows dim.
All wife, we'll leave our youth behind,
At Hecla on the Jim''
His voice grew low and husky,
He sighed and ceased to speak,
He lit out with his family,
In something like week.
His wife sought not to stay him,
For the crops all round were dead,
And the farmer of Dakota