West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1901-05-02
"sCOTCn LAsSIE JEAN
Writes Another Spicy ami Entertaining
Letter From Her Western HOmeA
NEW WnATcoM, WAsHINcToN, !
April I, 1901.

a" VIZ "OaNS va Jul NOuHti man.
Bobby Burns, now deceased, this
may perhaps turn out song;
perhaps turn out sermon"
think you will appreciate either
magnificent possibility at its true
value. / don't want to neglect you,
Esaw, for in this glorious Republic
my relatives are few and badly
scattered-especially poor Sandy,
who was blown up in that awful
boiler explosion. Peace to his
pieces but back in the Arcadia
of the poets dwell divers persons,
of varying grades of responsibility,
whose family tree has a crooked
little twig representing our family.
Perhaps, at the neighborhood quilt
ings and "mat bookings" they yet
speak of our venturesome selves;
how we violated all the laws of
Scottish clannishness and event
out west"-that mysterious "out
west" that has been the grave of so
many golden hopes q threw in
that last clause merely as rhetori-
cal flourish; haven't any golden
hopes" buried here. If it were SO,
I'd play the role of Gabriel in an
amateur resurrection,) However,
we did, along with other sanguine
migrants, have some gorgeous air
castles erected on the shores of
Puget Sound, which We dreamed of
occupying when we should arrive.
Not complainingly, but as a matter
OF history, / will state that our
castle turned out to be log cabin,
10 II, chinked with moss. A
huge fireplace, with cranes to hang
pots on, and Clutch oven" to
bake bread in, two windows,
'1oft," one door and a "cat hole"
comprised the prominent features
of our abode. Our lamented cat
afterwards died because of too
continuous diet of potato Feelings,
and we nailed up the cat hole. CT
feel the attack coming on, and un-
less | switch off you will be inflicted
with a sermon on pioneer days in
Washington Territory with yours
sincerity for text
For the past week l have been
house hunting, and just between
you and me and the general public,
I'd prefer to be tiger hunting in the
jungles Of India. A few short sum-
mers ago, houses covered with the
halo of former occupancy by
member of our "4oo," could be
rented for song; now you can't
rent two-roomed cottage, minus
the traditional vines and roses, and
without the aforesaid social advan-
tages, for a whole concert. For
merry when you sailed forth to
interview the real estate man, he
would quite stagger you with the
excess of his geniality, show you
over the town, and let you take
your choice of dwellings; but
things have changed since Willie
di- started the "Commoner :"
That selfsame realestate gentleman,
IN response 10 your timid, "Have
you any houses for rent, Mr.. Real
Estate, Warrant Broker, Employ
ment Bureau, Notary Public, Loan
and Insurance Man, -quarrelsome
neighborhood, typhoid or measles
district, vermin or dirt no object
ion will give you an imperial
look as if the steel combine was the
smallest thing he controlled, and
say Haven't so much as a win
dow still vacant" Then it is you
go sadly hence end petition the
Great Landlord if for you there is
"a dwelling place there" that you
be given immediate possession.
The surrounding country is also
becoming rather thickly settled.
Almost every day after the train
pulls in, our streets are filed with
newcomers, mostly Dutch and
Germans, with six to fourteen
children in tow, late of the Dakotas
and the "purse proud, opulent
East" They scatter all over the
county, buying up all the old !
deserted ranches, where the mort
gagor long ago moved out at the
instance Of the mortgage. They
have stocked the pastures with
cattle and hogs, filed the chicken
yards with fowls, and turned their !
hordes Of noisy boys and girls |
loose through the rooms Of the old
farmhouses where for years the bats
and owls have been the only tenants
and the "deep aisles Of the dim
woods' echo back in Dutch. To
make a ranch self-supporting here
means the expenditure Of more
energy than is required to amass q
fortune under favorable circum. |