The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-12-07
HOPEFUL HARRY.

HOPEFUL HARRY.
Talks Philosophically Upon Matters of In
terest to the Residents of This County.
A very sensible item appeared in the
Uni O recently in regard to teachers
being janitors for the school room.
There is a lack in the education of
anyone who thinks it is the duty of
teachers, and especially female
teachers in rural districts, to build
fires in the morning when the temper
allure is Is or 40 degrees below zero.
It savors too much of the ideas of the
aborigines Of America and there is
no place for such ideas among civil
lied people.
The farmers who own farms on the
banks of Estes Brook will soon be
confronted with a problem that will
be difficult to solve. It is the over
flowing of meadows for almost the en-
tire length of the brook. These mead
ows furnish large amount of first
quality hay, but during the last three
seasons they have been overlooked
on an average of about every month
from April to October, and the hay
has been badly damaged by the muddy
water. In number of instances the
meadows have been so soft that it was
impossible to get onto them and cut
the hay. Mile Laos county is noted
for its numerous swamps and sloughs,
and the town of Milo is no exception.
Many of these swamps lie adjacent to
Estes Brook and, if drained, would
furnish large amount of the best
grazing and hay land. They are so
located that their natural drainage
is into Estes Brook, and the farmers
owning the swamps have caught the
drainage fever and are now preparing
to ditch these swamps during the win
ter or next summer. This will tend to
raise the brook and cause it to over
flow it's banks more in the future than
in the past, but we think there is a
remedy for this overflow of water. The
present channel of the brook is like
most other streams, very crooked, and
these bends retard the free flowing of
the water. If straight or nearly
straight channel were made through
each man IS farm the water would run
off more freely and there would be less
trouble with our meadows. We have
seen it tried and know whereof we
speak. Such work will be attended
with some expense, and it will be diff
cult to convince men that it is advis-
able to do it, but the time will come
when this Strengthening of the chan
mel will be resorted to as the only
remedy, and, besides, there is a great
advantage in cutting hay along a
straight channel over a crooked one.
This draining of swamps and low
lands will be one of the most profit
able investments that the farmers of
Mile Laos county have ever made.
g g g
No complaints have been heard that
the amount of snowfall is too small to
make good sleighing. Some of the
mail carriers on the Princeton routes
were unable to make their rounds the
day after the storm and some of them
did not get in till 10 O'Clock at night
on the second day, and the carrier
from Foreston was about seven hours
late in getting home.
It was planned to have a gathering
Of the Smith families at S. j. Smiths
on Thanksgiving day, but the severe
cold caused some of the younger peo-
pie to remain at home. Notwithstand-
ing the thirty-two -degrees-below-zero
weather, however, old man Smith and
wife drove twelve miles and were on
hand for Thanksgiving dinner.
HOPEFUL HARRY.
M