Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1907-04-18

Bought an Axe for "Mother.
In West Virginia many persons
have suddenly become well to do
through the finding of oil on their
barren farm land. The effects OF
wealth on these newly rich ones have
been curious.
one old section hand living near
Warrington owned a small plot of
ground. A firm of drillers made the
customary bargain with him, ana
planted their derrick right alongside
his house.
They struck oil, and they struck II
rich. The well developed an output
Of about 200 barrels day. The old
section hands share amounted TO
something like $3.50 a day. This is
not so bad for man who had never
earned more than s1.25 day IN his
life.
He threw up his job on the railroad,
and now he just sits on his porch day
in and day out and watches the slow
movements of the great wooden walk
ing beam of the pump that is drawing
for him from natures wealth sum
each day totally beyond his capacity
to spend. At his time of life there
is little likelihood of his acquiring
new tastes that would make his
money of use.
An old farmer living near Volcano,
on the Parkersburg branch of the
Baltimore and Ohio had few acres
of barren land, and he willingly al
lowed some prospectors to put down
a well on his property. A gusher was
struck, and the farmers share of the
oil soon amounted to $4,000 which
sum all in cash was turned over 10
him.
A dollar in cash had been an I'M
usual sum for him TO have at one
time. and the sudden possession of
so much money filled him with a de
sire TO spend some of it. He donned
his best suit of jeans and took the
next mornings accommodation train
for Parkersburg
After wandering about that city
all day looking for a suitable invest
ment he finally paid $1,5O0 for finely
bred bull. There was just about as
much use on his farm for a bull as
there would be in the proverbial china
shop. The sterile soil of his farm
did not produce enough blades OF
grass to furnish the bull with one
good feed. and the farmer had no
other food fit for his purchase.
When asked by his neighbors why
in the world he had made such use
of his money he simply replied:
"well, had to spend the money
somehow
At the bottom of piece of farm
land on the side of mountain lived
n snake hunter, as the West Virginia
mountain farmer is nicknamed. in a
little hut. The daily fare for this
man and his family had never been
anything other than the far-famed
"cornbread and SOW belly" In sum-
mer he went barefooted, while heavy
rawhide boots covered his feet when
cold weather came.
oil was struck on his farm in such
quantities that the farmers share
promised soon to make him the
wealthiest man for miles around. AS
soon as the first installment of cash
was paid over to him, he took short
cut across the mountains until he
reached the small railroad town that
meant metropolis to him, and the very
first thing he bought was a pair OF
patent leather shoes
Perhaps the best example of all the
embarrassment caused these folk by
the sudden acquisition of wealth was
the case of a family of mountaineers
back in Calhoun county. This family
consisted of father, mother and four
grown sons. Every member of the
household was six feet tall and large
and strong in proportion.
The mother was vigorous old wo-
man, almost as powerful as any Of the
rest OF the family and upon her de-
volved not only all of the household
burdens. but the work of chopping
all the wood as well. This latter duty
is not light task By any means.
The father and his sons we're good
examples of the West Virginia seng-
diggers-that Is, diggers of ginseng
roots. Between times they would
hunt with rifles sixty years old, with
barrels six feet in length and weigh
ing from fifteen to twenty pounds,
with which all of them were dead
shots: any one of the men could
easily knock out the eye of squirrel
at the top Of the highest tree.
But very little work Of any kind
did they condescend to do and year
after year they spent their time thus,
living in their old log house Of one
room. without seeing $40 in cash from
one years end to the other
Then wealth came.
Prospectors traced oil until II led
to the neighborhood of the old log
house. and a well was driven on
the place. upon the usual terms. A
gusher resulted, and when the money
for the first months output was
placed in the hands of the father the
very first thing he and the boys
thought of was that something must
be bought for mother"