Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1895-12-04
A PRIVATE OPINION
OF MCKEE CITY
Thoughts Before and Hitter
the Trip.
EXPERIENCE OF A VISITOR AND HIS Wife.
A DIVORCE WAS AT FIRST TAI KED OF BY
THE Z" BETTER HALF, But FOR GOOD
REASONS 1T WAS NEVER APPLIED FOR.
HOW OPINIONS ARE CHANGED.

THE BETTER HALF, But FOR GoOI
REASONS 1T WAS NEVER APPLIED FOR
HOW OPINIONS ARE CHANGED.
Mr.. EDITOR read your paper every
week, and | notice that none of my
neighbOrs are writing about Mckee
City. | don't like the idea of our place
being behind the times; therefore, with
your permission, | will tell your readers
what | once thought of the place, and
what l think now.
In April, 1895, | saw Mr.. Risley s
advertisement In the paper, about the
five acre farms. | thought they were
cheap and went to see Mr.. Risley about
them He told me could buy five acres
for 500, and pay for it at 81 per week.
The terms suited me, and | resolved to
provide home for my family, be 1T ever
SO humble. With this resolution | hur-
ried home to tell my wife about the good
fortune | had struck, and what do you
suppose she said.
"Why, Jed, are you crazy? Do you
suppose for one moment that | am going
down in the Jersey pines 10 live the life
of hermit? Never! If you go, you go
alone! 50 ifyou think seriously ofgoing,
you had better get a b IL of separation. y
Ny spirits didn't do thing but drop
about 80 degrees. | tell you felt very
blue. One moment felt as though |
had discovered a gold mine, and the next
minute the bottom had fallen out. How
ever, I resolved to see the place, and
made arrangements with the agent to
take me down. l persuaded my wife to
go with me by telling her the country
air would brace her up and bring the
color back to her cheeks. Ofcourse my
wife is only woman and likes to look
young, so she decided to go providing
would not buy farm. promised, yet
| hoped she might like the place, as | had
no notion of divorce. Well, we arrived
at Mckee City one morning and felt like
choking the agent for taking me to such
a place. | saw nothing but the station
and few small houses. The picture
was all background. 1t was woods as
far as the eye could see, and the eye can't
see very far through the woods, and to
make matters worse my wife asked me
if this was my farm. l made a dismal
attempt to look pleasant and said: 1t
might be somebody's farm in a couple of
centuries"
The agent did not seem to notice that
| was displeased with the place, and
when | asked him where the farms wer1,
he said: my dear boy, you are standing
on some OF the best farm land in New
Jersey"
noticed the soil was very good, "but"
said |, little inclined to be disdainful,
What sort of vegetables are those?"
pointing to the trees.
"Weli," said he, ''you must recollect
that we have just opened a large tract
of land here, and divided it into five and
ten acre farms. The place, of course,
looks wild to you now, but if you could
see it in five years from now, you would
not believe it ever looked like this. At
present we have rich soil, a healthy
salt air climate, and elegant water.
Just come over and try the water
He led the way to pump near the
station. and let us sample the water. l
was obliged to admit that the water
was elegant, and my wife drank freely.
l think that is what did the business.
The agent then proposed to drive US
over the land. l told him l was about
as tar in the woods as cared to go, but
my wife insisted on going. She said
there was no use of sitting in one place
all day. and we might as well see the
place while we where there, SO we start
ed up English ave. was surprised to
find quite a number of men cutting
streets through the woods, and putting
numbers on the farms. We had not
gone far before the madam began to
point out interesting features, and l
saw she was becoming interested. In
fact, the further l went the better L liked
it, but did not say SO.
On our way back my wife had me out
of the wagon about a dozen times gath
ering wers, moss, and small shrubbery.
We had a fine collection but were obliged
to leave about half OF it for tear the con-
ductor would want me to charter a
brush car.
The distance seemed much shorter
when coming back, and was really sorry
when saw the train coming. On the
train the agent showed us map of the
placp. and asked me which farm l would
select. told him | would not select any
at present, but | might consider the
matter later on. | thought my wifelOOk-
ed a little disappointed when told him,
but she said nothing.
After " left the agent at the ferry we
did not exchange word on the subject,
although | was sure she wanted to say
something about it, but kept from the
subject entirely. So nothing was said
until the next evening. L was sitting
reading the paper, and my wife came and
sat on nv knee, and asked me if l was
looking for more farms. | told her l
xYosn,t looking for more farms or woods
either.
"Well," said she, what do you think
of Mckee City?" :,
.sOh, don't know, l suppose it is all
well enough for the people that like It,
But don't you like it. jedi"
sWell, suppose did, what difference
would it make; | am surely not stuck on
the place sufficient to warrant divorce
proceeding"
But" said she, suppose / should be
willing to go with you?"
"Ob. well, that might make esome offer
ence, but of course you would never con.
sent to 90 down in the Jersey pines to
live"
'Wouldn'tI? You had better ask me. .
"Would your"
.Yes. led. I have come to the conclu
sion that the city is no place for pool
neople. We might live our lives out here
and never get start, while at Mckee
City we could soon pay for our home ano
stop this paying rent, and as far as thu
woods are concerned, rather like them
There is really something fascinating
about the place. Don't you think Vol
had better go down to Mr.. Risley's ofiic'