The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1902-07-16

BY INNocE NCE ABROAD
While out this week / called at
the experimental farm formerly
owened by Frank II lland, editor of
the Texas Farm and Ranch. Two
years ago he sold it to Mr.. j. IF.
Alexander. About thirty acres of
this farm are covered with young
| vigorous pecan trees and they are
heavily laden with nuts this season.
Mr.. Alexander plants most of the
ground they occupy in cotton and
he says pecan trees shade and in
jure cotton very little. After haul
ing water IA year Mr.. Alexander
| bored down twenty-eight feet and
| struck an ineXhau stable supply of
water and he is indeed proud of 1t.
| This is a splendid farm and Mr.. Alex
ander has twenty-five or thirty acres
| of corn that will this dry year make
| fifteen or twenty bushels to the acre.
| He is an industrious farmer. He
| attended the Farmers Congress last
| year and he says he cannot afford
/ to miss it this season and will 60 on
| our excursion. Adjoining tins eX-
perimeutal farm with a road between
| is Uncle Nat Wise's posses ions con
sistiug of a we'll improved farm Of
| l7I acres. He came to Texas in 1893
and has made the state one among
| her best citizens. He is now 50
years old and aside from AN attack
of rheumatism which just at this
time causes him to use a stick and
crutch, he Is a stout man for his age
This was my first trip to his home,
and after a few moments CONVERSE
ton | remembered having heard
that he was a very fine musician
and still fond of it and l asked him
if he would consent to play tune
on his violin. He at once wheeled
his chair To a corner of his room and
raising the lid of a violin case
showed us a handsome violin that
he has owned for sixty years and 1t
is yet a very fine instrument. Lift
| ing the lids of two other cases he
produced from them as pretty vio-
| Inns as | ever beheld, and the sur
prise came when he told as he made
! both of them in the last few years.
| From one Of these he played me
several selections. He prefers sa-
cred music and no fiddler In Texas
| today can draw his notes clearer or
Imorc distinct His daughter, Mrs.
Bush. accompanied him Oh her pj-
auo and this was indeed delightful
treat. Mrs. Sid Farley ct WaXaha-
chic, who is his daughter and who
was visiting there, assisted her sis
ter ia singing some beautiful old
time pieces. Nat Wise, Jr.. his
son, feader of the Wise Orchestra,
| is himself a musical prodigy and
know that he, by this talent, hon
estlv inherited il from his father.
Mrs Benton, another daughter from
Missouri, is visiting her father this
summer. Her husband has been
prominent member Of congress from
| that state for six years and has
been again nominated by the demo-
cratic party of his district. | have
heretofore said that Uncle Tom
! Johnson Is the father of more fine
| looking young men than any other
man in Ellis county and / will now
! say that / believe Uncle Nat Wise
| is the father of more pretty daugh-
| ters than any man in Ellis county.
| He has one other married daughter
| In Missouri and it is said she com
pares favorably with the cnes |
have met.
| Mr.. Cash Wakeland of Nash in
vited me to appear at his house last
week and take dinner. On my way
| to the eastern part of the county /
was detained at the office till IA late
hour and it took hard driving to
| reach there, but then / am driving
that mustang of Buie's my partner)
now. Ny better half says it is too
| hot for me to drive the three thous
aud dollar horse and l asked her
how about the heat ON this delicate
siX-foot four-inches and two hun
dred and fifteen pounds l carry
around and her reply was that had
lived so long in Arkansaw that it
Itoughened me, and | did make that
mustang Of Buie's fly to that good
dinner. After | had devoured it
MIR. and Mrs. Wakeland showed me
their fish tank close by their house
and as he tossed one ball of bread
after another into the water ii was
exciting to see the myriads of fish
rise to the surface of the water and
gobble that bread as quick as l do
chicken pie at picnics. Mr.. Wake
land came from Kentucky several
years ago and now owns between
400 and 500 acres of land and he, his
industrious wife and boys have made
it. Mrs. Wakeland is an expert at
piecing quilts and owns some of the
prettiest / ever looked at. She has
pieced fifteen this year and has a
stack of pretty quilts waist high.
Her niece, who resides with her,
also has learned the art and she had
some beauties, and though a very
small girl, she is fond of the work.
Mr.. Wakeland may die of disease
but he will never freeze to death.
! Water from that fish tank is piped
all over his premises.
Boss Williams, brother to Hon. IT,
B. Williams, is considered one of
the most successful farmers of the
Nash community. He owns l75
acres of as fine land as can be found