Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1893-02-23

4 tOAu uSO IVY dLnUltlOu. u.
set out to tell you how the people
OF early times got little of the idea OF
the phonograph. One Of those stage
drivers was, one cold day in the winter;
it was awful cold when he came to the
place on the road where he always COM
menced to play, he put his lips to the
horn and commenced blowing, but no
sound could he make come out of the
horn; but for all that, he kept on try
ing until he drew up to the tavern door.
AS he got down from his high seat on
the stage and went in the tavern, he
set his bugle by the fire, while he went
to the bar to get his dram. All at once
his horn commenced to play the tune
he had been trying to play for the last
mile. You see it was SO awful cold the
tune froze up in the horn as he played,
but as soon as it got thawed out, it
played the tune clear through from be-
ginning to end. That's the way heard
it when Twas but bit of chap,
about as big as a hop toad. But then
1 have never forgotten the good old
old stage days, and what good old
time those drivers had. Why, the rest
of the world was no where.
I remember our Eph coming into our
town one day, and he had in his stage
as passengers, two congressman,
Green and Cillery. Afterward, they
fought a duel, and one of those men
was killed. remember Eph, our
driver, was bigger man in the sight of
the small boy than Green or Cillery
either, and well remember, that to go
down to New York or up to Boston,
was enough to make one subject of
envy. Every winter some man in our
neighborhood would hitch up his
horses to good double sleigh and
take in a load of dried apples, or some
other kind of farm stuff, and go up to
Boston and exchange his farm produce
fish, when he reached home, would
be frozen as hard as piece of wood.
All of us neighbors would buy all we
wanted or could afford, and tell you
a good fresh fish from the ocean was
not to be glinned at by those who had
no teeth. Those fish were good. At
ter that man had been to Boston and
got home, he was the great attraction.
You would find him at the tavern with
a gaping crowd around him, to hear
him tell of the wonderful sights he had
seen. Why, it was as good as trip to
Mecca. Yes, sir, he was a bigger man
than the Governor.
Well, we'll! How those things will
come back to us, after all these many
years! and how odd it seems to con-
trast the things of that distant day, to
the things of the present! At that time
it was more of a feat to go to Boston or
New York, than at the present day to
go around the world. Things that we
called wonderful at that time, are as
nothing now. can remember any
accident would be talked of for weeks
and months; for man to commit some
crime. or if person committed suicide
or some person was killed by accident,
it would be the all absorbing topic for
months.
/ remember going to Hartford one
day, passed marble monument, al
most in the road; on reading it, it said,
..here lies the bones of boy" Git gave
his name and age) "who fell off a cart
and wheel rolled over his head and
killed him" If monuments were put
up at all the places where such acci-
dents occurred one would never be cut
of sight of them. Now every day you
see, not only of one, but hundreds of
persons being killed, one way and an
other.
remember one spring evening, just |
about the time the little peep frogs be-
gan to sing, the sky was overcast with |
thick clouds. just as the darkness had |
we'll set in, all overhead began to turn
red like blood, until the the whole |
heavens were just as red as blood.
Every now and then it would culver as
if something had shaken the clouds. I
Everybody was out looking at it and
wondering what it was the, forerunneri
of. Those things are, in one sense,
awful. I remember a great many were
as badly frightened as they weren't the
sight of the meteroic storm, about that
time. No one seemed to have any idea
what caused those sights, or what they
meant But I remember, it caused a
good deal of fun and wonder. But we
can't explain these things, and it Is just
as well we can't. is the opinion OF
T. r. r.
The Appreciation Of Gold-What it
On various occasions quite recently I
and in the past the Constitution has