Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1898-03-15
o.. way 70 rsavsl.

III N + q.
Probably, The champion fakif Of The
d,ay, an honest and worthy fakir. too. i
N. E. A. Lasley. the man who with his
family has crossed the American CONT.
nent in . wagon, or house ON wheels, =
Is he ,prefers to. call il. He supported
bis family a. he went along, Visiting tho
leading places Of interest in . territory
extending from San Francisco and Tex.
as on the south to Chicago and Buffalo
ON the north. 81
The journey began March a., 1894,
1T Port Angeles, on the strait Of Juan
de Fuca. 100 miles northwest Of Seat
tie 1t reached its chief stopping place
the lat Of January, 1898. in New York
city. Not'that il ended there Lasley
must be the reincarnation Of the Wan.
dering Jew. for he says he Is going still
on, and that the house on wheels ana
the tow headed children and the dog
will turn up at the Paris exposition in
1900. The only concession he will make
to the conventionalities will be involv.
ed in the necessity Of crossing the A..
lantic in ! ship instead Of q wagon
Undoubtedly this original American
family will make a holy show rolling
along over the smooth highways Of
France in their unique homemade vehi
ole. ~. ''''l ~. I5@.tb ''ft'i' ~
The house on wheels was built by
the versatile Lasley himself. It is Of
cedar clapboards and is feet high and
IL feet long. It has a stove in one cor
ner and can be divided into two COM
partments. The clapboard walls are
lined with cloth and heavy paper. Two
babies have been born to the couple in
their house on wheels. 'f !: W s.3&j1st1
The plan Of campaign was this: Las
ley is jack Of all trades, and wherever
he is, can turn his hand" to almost
anything. Mind reading appears to be
the lowest depths he reached. When he
stopped in q neighborhood, the queer
outfit always attracted crowd. Then
Lasley's eloquence prevailed He sue.
oeeded generally in getting work OF
some sort, either at farming or at some
mechanical tinkering. Besides that he
always had on sale his little book, the
history Of his travels and photographs
of the outlandish rig and the whole
family. In, selling these he sometimes
took in money at the rate of "a. dollar a
minute. Not the least attraction was
the tow headed children peeping like
birds out of the little window in the
wagon and displaying radiance OF
complexion and health. absolutely daz.
cling. Many millionaire would give
untold sums to have his pampered chill.
dren look like the Lasley young ones
In California the family lived awhile
on grapes and green .walnuts- very.
good food writes Lasfey, "but after
two weeks it clides. - Naturally it
would :'clide. - ,@ -. .$... ,,,..~ A..
The house on wheels travelled 1896
miles on its journey from Port Angeles.
Wash, to New, York city. Lasley says
be never shoes his horses in summer,
and they never get tender footed. 1t is
necessary to be truthful, however, and!
say that two pairs Of horss have sue
oumbed to the arduous lapors Of hauling
the Laslsys by crisscross routes over this
continent and have lain down and died.
Was it because they had no shoes in
summer? T.. .A. I.t;g,,.. %t.+g< ,s,ss.
Il Some of the fakir'si observation Of
travel are gems in their way He says
III little descriptive pamphlet that
during the nearly four years they have
been ON their journey the Lasleys have
been invited to attend church only six
times. or California he writes ''Ranch-
men are close listed, they believing q
poor man curse to the earth---better'
be dead" OF Texas, Texas people are
the most religious we ever met, also the
poorest. - Do the two facts belong to-
gether. Again, 1T causes us to smile ts
see the pomposity Of some city officials: :"
Many another has had occasion to re-
mark the same. ,i ,5,. .l..,;. ,f.:lf l.ga
Lasley is a spare man with 9 fresh
complexion and shrewd, bright eye.
It is said the people Of New York city
thought he really might have put on 9
clean shirt when he reached their town
and not worn, the same one in which he
started from Seattle. Still, New Workers.
are apt to be oversensitive in these lit
tie matters.
Somehow at this distance it looks
oueer that the Indian national congress.
60 called, of Great Britain is to erect at
arcost Of $4,000 a monument in London
expressive Of gratitude to the people OF
the United Kingdom for their generosity
il subscribing to the famine fund Of