People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1898-06-30
SOUTH HAVEN TOWNSHIP.
Confined from Sixth page

living in close proximity, as we Dor
rowed and loaned everything from a
box Of matches to an ovarcOat, and
must say in passing that no better
neighbor or more honest man ever
trod the soil of Sumner county.
1t is fact, however, that the early
settlers Of those days were much
more Hospitality inclined toward each
other than are the people Of the pres
ent day. A certain interdependenct
was then universally felt among the
early settlers that would have, if con-
tinued, gone far toward the practical
establishment Of the universal broth
erhOod Of man,
Envy and jealousy in communities
were unknown. All were willing to
90 to the relief Of a neighbor in dis
tresS. When one wept all wept, and
when one rejOiCed all rejOiced. They
banded together for the mutual pre-
lection Of all against the thieves and
murderers who would occasionally
emerge from the territory to prey
upon the poor settler. They were
never known to act rashly but always
and ia every instance gave the ac-
cuSed the benefit of careful inyesti-
CATION and when found guilty there
was but one penalty,
I can never forget the first Fourth
Of July celebration l witnessed III
( South Haven; it was in 1872. There
Z were present about 300 Indians and
200 whites, old and young. l was told
in the morning by Cap. Hunt, the
only merchant in the town, that great
preparations had been made that
there would be all kinds Of fine music
there, that a man by name Of Hall
living over on the meridian line was
managing the affair and thatit would
be a grand success. 1t had rained
very heavily the night previous and
it was a question in my mind as to
where the dancing would be done
that was seemingly uppermost in ev-
eryOne's mind. All parties began to
wonder why Mr., Hall had not shown
up yet, imp! ing that everything de-
pended on him, but presently an OK
wagon hove III sight, containing Mr..
Hall and wife and two other men
with their wives. Hall was the only
man l had yet seen who had seeming
ly made any effort to dress up for the
occasion. He had a ceat, vest and
pants Of very fine material, but about
fifteen years behind the times in
point of style, his pants COlled up hall
way to the knees, a cOenskln cap on
his head and a coarse pair of COwhide
shoes that had never seen either
.,.4l!rease or backing. AL hands fol-
lowed this master OF ceremonies to
large tent that enclosed about forty
feet square; this without floor con-
stituted the dancing hall. The music
was furnished by single violin in thu
hands of man who could play bu'
three tunes: Soapsuds over the fence
The Arkansas Traveller, and Cram!
will your dog bite. Dancing com
menced before noon and continued
with short intelmissionS until tn,
morning Of the 9th.
The party selected to read the dec
laratiOn OF independence was to-
drunk to tell his name and the mai
who made the speech had to do both
This was decidedly the crudest cele
bration ever witnessed. Boys OF I'll
teen danced to that music in cOtil
lions in which danced men whose hal
was snowy with age, one especially b
the name of Boucher who had half
dozen grand children on the ground
Colonel Hunter was about the Onl
man present whose appearance wOul
indicate that he had ever seen the in
side Of church.
NOTES BY THE WAYSIDE.
Chance Smith was listing corn.
L. L, Hol pes was listing corn.
US. Watcher was listing corn.
C. NJ. Ludy was hauling manure.
J. V. Mckee was at South Haven.
4 S. S. Sheltr was cultivating c0rn,
Ell. Ricl mond was away at wOrl
|. B. Elistn was breaking for corr
Geo. Cochran had all hands listiD
corn.
H. NJ. Blue had gone to Sout
Haven.
Louis Fetters had gone to Sout
Haven.
John Sanders was working for ]. !
Greenwade
Phi. SolliGay had the boys at wor
listing corn.
~, II Dln.l. ,o,t;nc q