Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1903-12-15

" walked forward till lie stood tac.
ing tho audience. Immediately quiet
reigned. for he was u man who was in.
variai,ly listened to.
"Ge,iticlnen an ladies'" he began,
clearing his Ii,cat and wipiEg his
mouth with his long hand. This amt
no put in o. mine. gracious knows.
hain't got nOthin, an don't expect to
lose or gain by what is done in this
matter, but want to do what kin
fer what think is right an proper.
Fer my part. don't tli',k we kin do
without railroad much io,gcr. kolks
is a-pokin' fun at lis, tell you. It's
Gods truth. I'o,hcr day was over
at barley awalilin' along ti.a railroad
nigh the turnin' table, wlar :.y fiirt
engines round Ike children on = flynn
jimmy. when all at oace big s.r. ppin'
Teller with Il rcd flag in his land nm
up an knocked me cG'n the trick Il r.
whallop in ditch. Ii was lust III
tine to keep me from ben' run over by
a switch engine. He was as mad us
Tucker 'Loo.:y' heer, Sc, he. did you
think that thing was piay.n' tag with
you an I'D tap you on the shoulder
an ran an hide behind tree? Say,
amt you from SEcrt Pine tiestrlct this
side O. the mountains" ted i'm he'd
guessed right, m he said. i lowed so.
fer thar amt no other spot on the
whirl:n' globe that produces folks as
green MS sourds.' Well. gentlemen.
that fioored me 1t was bad CROUCH to
be jeracd about like rag dell. but it
was tough TO hccr my section :icerel at
What makes YOU say that?' axcd
i'm rs stood thar tryin' to ct pas
sic O. wet giass out O my hip pocket
without cuttin' my fingers. laugh
ter, led by Pole Baker, who sensed the
meaning of the rcfcrence.l 'Beca Sc
ses he. you mossbacks over thar don't
know the wars over. 4 Niger from
over thar come in town t'other day nm
heerd fer the fust time that lie was
free Two men over thar snapped
wives without KNOWN thar was law
ag.n it. Half O you uns ne.cr laid eyes
on railroad an wouldn't havn one as
free gift turned eff an |. TT i'm
an went up on the main street. Up
thar barber ketchcd me by tie arm
an said, ses he: Come in an le' me
cut that hair. You are from Short
Pine, amt you" axed him why he
thought so, an he said. SEES he, 'Beca Sc
you got Short Pine hair cut What's
that? SEES l. An he laughed at Teller
cooked up in cheer an said: It's
cut that is made by the women out
yore way. They Jest turn a saucer
upside down on the mems heads an
trim around the edges. could tell
one mile. They make man look
like bobtailed mule daughter
loud and prolonged.l
eyes. as said, they are a-pokin' all
manner O fun at us. an it's chiefly be-
case we hain't got no railroad. The
maddest ever got on this line was
down Mt Filmore's store one day. A
little, slick chap come along sellin'
maps Of the United States of America.
They was purity things on black sticks,
an wanted one fer the wall O. my
room. was about to buy one, but
thought I'd fust make shore that our
county was on 1t. so I axed the peddler
to pint 1t out to me. Well, after some
s'arch he put his knife blade on what
he called this county, but, 10 and be-
hold, 1t was mighty nigh kivered with
round dots about the size of fyspecks.
What's the matter with itY axed i'm.
oh. You mean them dots ses he, an
he turned to q lot of reference words in
the corner Of the map. Them ses he,
'them's put thar to indicate the amount
o. ignorance in locality. You'll find
'em In all places away from the rail-
roads. A body kin say what they
please agin railroads, but they fetch
schools an. books an enlightenment.
You've got good many specks,' SEES
he, kinder comfortin' like. but some O.
these days railroad will shoot out
this away. an them brainy men
amongst you will git the chance God
intends to give EN- Gentlemen, I
didn't buy no map. wouldn't "a had
the thing on my wall with the specks
a-starin' me In the face. 1t wouldn't
"a done any good to scrape 'em of, fer
Their traces would "a been left. No,
friends, citizens an wellwishers, thar
amt but one scrnper that will ever
rake our specks Oh, an that's the cow
catcher Of steam engine. say let
'er come. Some objection has been
raised on the score o KILN cattle.
That reminds me of story they tell
on old Burt Preston, who has a farm
on the main line beyant barley He
was always a-gittin' his stock killed so
fast an a-puttin' in heavy claims fer
damages, until folks begun to say he
made his livin' by buyin' scrub cattle
nm sellin' mashed beef to the corpora
ton. One day the road sent out a de-
tecttve to watch i'm, an he seed Burt
drive a spindlin' yeerlin' out o. the
thicket on the track Jest in time to get
It knocked OF by through freight. The
detective went back an reported, an
they waited to see what Preston I'D do.
By the next mail they got claim in
which Preston said the yeerlin'
weighed 800 pound an was fine four
gallon milk COW. They threatened to
Jail i'm, an Preston agreed to with
draw his claim. But he got downheart-
ed an traded his place fer farm on
t'other railroad. an the last I heerd O
him he was at his old trade ag'in. I
reckon that's about the way wen be
damaged by gettin' our stock killed.
That's all I got to say, gentlemen.
Let's git this road an scrape our n.y.
specks or"