Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1897-12-30

fer that sixty. 1t want half its value,
every body sed Wall, we sold off
most o. our stuff-good 'eal of it we'd
gene keepen house With first, nd 1t
like ter used Tidy up ter see it go--'nd
hitohed Dan nd Nan here inter this
old wagon, put in bout what ye see
here now nd started.
Il wuz SO sure I'd got a good bargin
that | couldn't wait ter sit thar.
aedn't more'n $3.50 in my pockit nd
thar wuz the $4,000 debt ter be all paid
inside o six years, though eff failed
on the first payment o $500 at the
end o two year ia lose the hull thing
The crops were all harvested when we
got thar, nd the first diskivery | made
wuz that there wuz a pile more poor
land ner one would think fer when
everything was green in the spring;
but still | wuzn't troubled, nd pitched
inter fall seeden with vim. Tidy
fixed up the house ez best she could
with what We he'd, but we greed not
ter buy much till the debt wuz paid
1t war an awful lonesome place md
no meetens handy, but Tidy sed
nuthen nd | didn't
But the winters are short thar nd
fore we knew it, it wuz time fer spring
work ter begil. hired q man nd part
o. the time q team, nd Jest hustled
The season wuz jest contrary from the
last un, 10 rain, nd everything
parched nd died on the highlans,
! though them ez lived in the bottoms
didn't suffer much. | wuz beginner
ter think I'd been lettle bit sold,
when who she'd come long one day
but the old oWner-the man ez the
agint bought of nd he sed ez I'd been
done up by land shark; that the
dgint only paid him $4,000 instead Of
81 500. Further he sed ez the high
land wouldn't produce in a dry season.
when | told what | wuz payen fer
The place We both felt mad, fer both
he'd been swiuCled. He sed bottom
/ land WIZ safest, but it wuz still safer
/ to hev nuthcn ter do with land sharks;
/ nd told plenty of yarns, true ones, of
3 the cheating nd deceiven carried on
I by the fellars year after year. He'd
gone ter smash on the place nd wuz
now renten
I Wall there amt no use maken a
long story outen a short un. Two sea-
sons q failure brought me ter the tine
I fer the second payment, md 1 hadn't
bread fer us two. | didn't ask fer
more time knowd now jest what
the agint knowd in the first piace-no
IMAM could make liven on that farm
unless it happened ter be rainy times
nd sech times are mish,y sCe..t IA
Kansas. He'd got my $1,000 though
nd I'd do1e nay hes. ter improve bis
land Now he wuz readg ter take il
beck nd play the game all over agin
Durin the time ia hoard so much
about the doins of these land sharks
that | want so much surprise at my
own perdicameht.
Yes, we Jest sold our COW nc
chickens: piled our few things inter
the schooner nu once Iloie LllthSu ""
cid Dan nd Nan md hero we be amoct
to the III noy line. What be | goin ter
do? Wall first I'm goin ter tell my
sperience, nd warn others from BEN
ez big fool ez I've been. I'll tell EN-
to go hunt land by themselves nd fer
themselves, nd ter buy direct from the
man ez wants ter sell, not from mer
who Jest go bout 'doin good. Mex
III advise old men ter do ez Tidy sed:
Let well 'nough alone nd lastly III
Rev to hire a bit O land somers' nd
see eff / kin manage ter keep outen the
poorhouse. Thar comes Tidy now
She's been ter that house over thar tel
buy a sup o. milk. Mebby Wimmen
haint no head fer business, but | wish
ia listened ter Tidy stead o that lane
bark.
20, yer haint nothen ter be obleeged
fer. stranger; nd l only hope yel
never hev ter buy yer sperience ez dear
ez Slas Kellar hez."
FED TWO HUNDRED FAMILIES