Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1897-07-08

CotcI0u DugSioS. uo udu hoi iSui"S ~o~
galore; fortune smiled upon the gran
ger; all his cows were giving milk, all
his hens were laying daily, aud MS
girls were wearing silk. ALI his
meadows were productive, all his bills
repaid his toll, aud a blessing straight
from Heaven seemed to rest upon his
soil.
Other people looked with envy on
the things he had around, saying
Better luck than Rusty's in this
| world cannot be found.'
But an immigration agent hove
upon thescene one day, and he sneer ed
and hemmed anG snickered in quite
sardonic way; not with wholesome ad'
miration was the bilious agent fired,
but he plainly intimated that Kansas
made him tired, and he said that men
were suckers who would stay in such
land, where IL g wales were made of
gumbo and the hills were made of sand,
and the rain. was hot aud dry; where
skies were never cloudei, but were hot
enough to fry. And he said he'd be
jimdasted and kerhummexed if he
knew why the grangers staid and suf-
fered where the cycling cyclones blew
And he sang his song to Rusty avery
time he had chance. and the latter
listened wildly to the dervish song and
dance; and he heswallowed all the legends
as the Briton swallows ale, till the
comforts all abont him aud his very
home seemed stale.
Come exelaimed the willy agent,
''to tie southland, where the rain, like
a gentle benidietion, falls, refreshing
all the plain; where. the, large and
crimson apples hang alluring to the
bough. where the corn and sweet pota-
toes never cease to thrive and grow;
where the winter Is like summer. void
of frost and chilling blast, aud the
spring is still more charming when the
winter time is past. Fortune waits
yau in the southland. wealth uasold's
at your command: come and gather ia
your treasures; leave this harsh and
barren land. leave this eeantry where
the teiler does his wearF task in vain;
leave this coantrs where you never see
the color of rafn.r
Rasty sold hts farm and cattle, sold
his bDggies AMI his hogs, sold his hens
that laid 50 hlfthlg. sold or gave away
his dogs. and he started fer the south
land, there to start his1ife anew, there
to gather In the treasures which were
scattered like the dew-
oh, the halms. sunny southland is a
place of swamns and lakes, where they
breed two pouad mosquitoes aud the
smaothest sort of saakes, where they
have the southern agae till they shake
their maiars loose. where the women
are weh-feeted ike the stately northern
goose: where the mists and reeking
Fvanoriag hide fram sight the merning
Isun, where the zephyrs breathe miasma
frem the morn till day is done. Where
/ the farmers I've in'shahties that wenld
cause a cav u blush: where the hills
are fringed with timber and the mean
est kind of brushs where the juicy
crimson apples grow. as tTathfuiIy
they tell. and fall fost1ng from the
bran cHes. as the farmers cannot sell.
/ where the hags are thia and scfawpy
and the Rark is always toughs where
/ the men have no ambition. aHi the
women live on snuff, where the faces
are al yellow ana the teeth are all
9decayea, aud the men aye old attwenty
FOR in the graveyard laid; where the
dark eolored brother is as frequent as
the chills; where the farmers live on
credit and forget to pay their bills;
| where the rain is long and dreary,
sloushing downward by the week,
making lakes OF every river, making
ponds of every creek.
Poor old Rusty stood it bravely for
a season, then he said: 81 have but one
ambition, it's to see that agent dead;
though I'm brok en- down and weary,
though I'm suffering and pale, until
I've run across him, I'll be camping on
his trail. !"
On his weary search he started. like
Evangeline of old, broken down aud
sore and weary. but determined, stern
and bold; all through Kansas and Da-
kota did he dog the agents track, till
he found him in Nebraska, where he