The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1904-08-26


enough. was this wild home of his in
the wilderness Of the MessaseDe.
The smoke Of the new settlement
rose 5'cadil! day by day. but 1t gave
signal for no watching enemy All
about stretched the pale green ocean
Of the grLsses dotted by many wild
flow "rs. huGding and having like bits
Of fragile llotSam on the surface OF a
continually rolling sea. The little
groves Of timber, scattered here and
there. sheltered from the SKINNER sun
the Wild cattle OF the plains. The
shorter grasses hid the rOyeys of the
prairi" hens and on tn" m1rSh-grown
bayou banks he wild du,h bed her
brood A great land. "A rich. fruitful
one was this that lay about 'h,se adj
ventures.
4 subcrnris had come over the habit
of IN" master mind of this little col
ony His hand took mp j"" aN and
forgot the sword and gun Day after
Hay he stood looking about him, exam
ming and studying in little all the
strange things which ne saw, seeking
T." l"arr as much MS might be- Of the
timOrnus sayages. who IN time Ucgan
to stragGc back to their ruined VII
lagos talking, as best he might,
through such interpreting rs was pos
sihle, with sayagcs who came from
the west Of the Mrssasrhc. and from
the south and from the far southwest,
hearing. and learning and wondering
of land which seemed as large as
all the earth, and various Is all the
lands that lay beneath the sun that
west so glorious, SO new, So bound
less, which was yet to be ihp home of
countless helrlh-llrcs and g." sites of
myriad fields oi corn Let others hunt
and fish. aud rob the Indian" of their
furs, after the accepted fashion of the
time. A. for John LAW, ne must look
about him. and think. and watch This
growing Ut the corn.
lie saw It fairly from It's beginning,
this growth of the maze, this plant
which never yet had grown on Scotch
pr English soil, this tall beautiful,
broad-bladvd. tender Tree, the very en-
blcm 81 all uuimIncss. lie saw here
and there, dropped 10y the careless
, hand Of some departed Indian woman,
the little gnrmiuutinE seeds. Just
lhrusIing their palc-grccn heads up
through The soil half broken by the
, tumahawk. He saw the clustering
green shoots numerous, in the sign
of plenty all rrowding together and
"lamurine for light. and lie, and air,
and room He saw the prevailing of
the tail and strong upthrusting stalks.
after the way OF life: saw the others
dwarf aud whitcu and yet cling on at
the has" Of the holder stem, parasites,
worthless. yet existing. after the way
OF life
lie saw the great central stalks
spring boldly up So swiftly that It al
most seemed possible 10 count the
successive leaps OF progress He saw
the strnng-ribhrd leaves thrown ont,
waving a thousand hands of cheerful
welcome and assurance these blades
Of the corn. so much mighticr than any
blades uf steel Ne saw the broad
Reckoning banners OF the pale tasscls
bursting Oul atop Of the stalk token
Of fccundity and Of the future He
caught the widc-drivcn pollen AS II
whltcnrd upon the earth. borne by the
parent west wind. mother of increase
He saw tho thickcning of the green
leaf at the base. its swelling, It's
growth and expansion. tin the iudcf-
mite enlargement showed at length the
incipient eat
lie noted the faint brown Of the ends
If the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES silk OF the
ear puIo-grccn and often underneath
the sh,llorng and protecting husk.
lie found the sweet and milk-white
tender kernels, row upon row. forming
rapidly beneath the husk, and saw At
length the hardening and darkcning
Of the husk at It's tree end, which told
that man might pluck and eat
And then he saw the finding of the
tassrls. the darkoning Of the silk and
the Grinding OF the blades, and there.
borne on the strong parent stem. he
noted now the many full-rowrd ears.
protected 10y their husks and hcraldCd
by the tassrs and the blades Come.
come ye. all y" people, Enter IN. for
will feed We all" This was the song
of the maize, its invitation, its coun-
sell its promise.
Under tho warped lodge frames
which the fires of the lruqnois had
spared, there were yet visible clusters
of the ears Of last years corn Here.
under his own eye, were growing yet
other ears ripe for the harvesting and
ripe for the coming growth A strange
spell fell upon the soul Of Law
Visions crossed his mind. born In the
soft warm air Of these formulating
winds, OF this strange yet peaceful
scene.
At times he stood and looked out
from the door of the palisadc, when
the prairie mists were rising in the
morning at the mandate Of the sun. and
to his eyes these waving seas Of grasses
all seemed reckoning fields of corn.
These smokes, coming from the broken
tepecs of the tmid tribcsmcn, surely
they arose from the roofs of happy
and Contented homes! These wrcaths
and wraiths of the twisting and wide
stalking mists, surely these were the
captains OF general hushandry. All.
John Law, John Law. Had God given