Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1894-04-19
A BACKWARD GLANCE

tributor. II. s. KeeIe There are no
doubt many admlring readers of MIR.
Keene's letters To the undersigned
they bear a charm--I will not say alto
gether pleasant, but if sorrowful l will
say with Longfellow:
Which only resembles sorrow
| As the mist resembles rain
The charm referred to is their retro
spective character. This feature is
perhaps not so prominent 10 his last as
in some previous letters. The writer OF
those Letters, as well as the writer OF
this, has reached the age when the gray
begins to predominant amongst locks
of a once darker hue, and when the
mind begins to turn backward TO view
the pathway already trodden, as il
stretches across the fields Of youth and
manhood, with more interest than the
remnant-it may be long or short
which be in vain tries IT, trace, as 1t
stretches its uRceit4in length down the
western slope OF life towards the ey-
erlastiDg sunset.
The kindly references to characters
and incidents of ..Oid Grant" awake n
pleasant memories. no doubt, to many
within lis limits; and to many who
have wandered from its still loved for
ests. fields and glens, aud are scattered
strangers in strange lands, as vel as
others more forum ate, who have e'se-
where found pleasant homes and asso-
Citations, they will when read, bring a
thousand memories of the past, filled,
let us hope, with far more of pleasure
than of sorrow or vain regret.
MIR. Keene's we'll known ability with
his pen, his memory of char aeters and
events of early life in Grant County.
and his wide acquaintance with its
citizens. fits him more than almost any
other for such work.
The mention OF p V. Wise calls to
my mind one of the characters of my
earliest recollections OF the hurricane;
for too wandered in the classic shades
of its primegsl forests in childhood's
DAYS. Henry Wise | also remember,
and his other brother Eugene, whom |
last saw on his way to the war. Henry
sleeps in soldiers grave beneath the
sunny skies of the battle SCARED south,
and did not know till Mr.. Keene tod
me in previous letter, that Eugene
now resides in Washington, prosperous
and, trust, happy
The Poet, of whom he tells so humor-
ously, whose success was threatening
the laurels of Lopgfellow, Bryant and
Holmes, should. if he ever reaches the
dignity to have his name inscribed in
the book of Heraldry, have emblazoned
on his coat of arms the figure, a swine
rampant. The story might be enjoyed
even by the squelched poet himself, if
he knew some prying eye had not seen
him in the ridiculous and dangerous
plight described Surely he would
not feel offended over the kindness
displayed in the telling, if so be it his
eye should chance to view The Herald
who can tell what service TO those
poets whose laurels we're in danger, was
done by that valiant swine mother in
Israel or some other place. Ah, it may
have been this dreadful and uupoetic
adventure with the swine which drove
the music of the spheres from his soul
If so, let those who have no love for
poetry provide each Grant County poet
with motherly swine of fighting pro-
clivlties. They will find more profit in
cutivatlng the swine than the muse no
doubt. And yet it may have been the
heartless grind the eternal stiife that
comes of present economical and social
conditions, which are not calculated to
inspire the soul with poetic thoughts.
Ii may have been the Earring discords,
the unkindy thoughts and words that
sometimes arise in life's useless war
fare. sundering the kindly associations
of kindred natures. which caused him
to become estranged from the muse
who smiles only on hearts filled with
love and kindness There are tragedies
which leave all the participants living
There are comedies, as in this case
which. to oversensitive souls. such as
poets are said to possess, sometimes
amount to ragedies-poetic tragedies.
Midst the host of thronging recolec-
tons recalled by Mr.. keene's letter,
peoplng the mental vision with old
time scenes and characters, see among
those characters the Bonhams, who.
bringing with them their patriarcbal
father and mother, came to the Hurri-
cane. some of them as early as 1SS4-5
There were five brothers of them, Jas.
Joseph. Harvey, Frances and Martin
nBN were nibB. some Oh luen FSmdtks
ablc for great strength of character and
strong individuality Martin. the
youngest. owned in the Hurricane. q
splendid farm. Ambitious and adven-
turous By nature. he concluded to found
city on the banks OF the Mississippi,
which appeared at that time predes-
tined rs the great commercial high
way of the west for all time 10 come
Not even his indomitable energy could
prevail NJ ainst the combined DEGREES of
commerce and nature. Sickness in his
family, the loss of his wife by death
and finally his own death. early in the
50s, ended the scheme; aud Martin and
his wife, along with the old father and
mother, sleep in a lonely counirs
grave yard in east Hurricane DE
VINO threads the now tortuous current
of the Mississippi, looking toward the
Iowa shore some miles below Cassville,
sees small cluster of buildings. |
think called Wahpeton. locally known
as Wappytown, where Martin Bonham