The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1908-02-07


men. and it has every right to be
proud of it's sons. Some of it's citizens
names are closely linked with those of
Bible times and. as an Illustration, the
Writer gives few OF the names of the
men he met while travelling through this
quaint country There was Carlson and
Andrew Swenson. Andrew is a Bible
name Thomas Davidson. Both Thomas
and David are Bible names. Harry
Thompson and Nj. c. Johnson. Tradition
has it that the former ran for Sheriff
once upon time but got lost in a snow
drift and was never found. Johnson
was more fortunate for he is the proud
possessor of the title of NJ. c. before his
name
In regard to their hospitality too much
cannot be said in their praise. Every
thing possible was done to make one feel
at home and several days were spent at
HEDBERG and in touring through the
adjacent country surrounding it,
The next day after my arrival l was
waited upon by al committee whose spe-
cial duty it seemed was to take me to
taken to a black SMITHS shop to have
nv likeness taken for Van Dykes seemed
to be, as a rule, not in vogue with the
most of them They said they had heard
of Van Dykes ana wanted to know If
called mine Henry Some had the kind
ness to tell me that it looked very much
like garden vegetable known as spin
ach or obnoxious vegetation called
bunch grass. and took special delight in
giving it a pull now and then which was
a source of annoyance to the writer
After leaving the mighty SMITH. for
was informed that the pictures could
not be had for about four months we
took a trip into the neighbOring country
1t was "a most beautiful spot We wan
dered over MOORE and GLEN until they
were satisfied that / had seen the whole
WORKS. 1t was in the morning when
we set out for the trip to the country
| On n hn6 y1n fa hot xxyn
came to stream. / believe they called
it HOLBROOK We could not cross at
this point so after a half hours journey
we came to WILIISFORD where we got
over very easily. 1t was here that saw
a sight which l will long remember. Just
after crossing | saw two HEARTS
standing i'm the shade of PALMER
some other kind of a tree On the hip
of one was branded the initial 81 and on
the hip of the other TT. W. l was told
that they were tame and were allowed to
go where they willed. Being tired we
decided to stop a few minutes to rest
and for the amusement of those about
me l recited to them several verses of
nursery jingles which / had committed
to memory long ago. They ran like this:
Reese Thomas. the man of lather
VIII give you shave, but a haircut
rather.
Holbrook's the man to give us pills,
When we call on him to cure our ills.
To j. III. Moore let praise be given,
Who daily dyes to make a living.
S. d. Works of real estate fame
In politics now has made a name.
Straw who makes his dough i'm deals
Is one who helps take care of these
meals.
c. M. Palmer a busy bee
Has made success of famous Ardee
Hedberg and Thompkns the Insurance
grafters
Gets your premium, that's all they're
after.
1t is rumored that A. C. Gran
Keeps his size by eating BRAN.
Flowers grew in abundance. They
seemed to cover the earth as far as the
eye could scan. As | gazed at the count
less blossoms before me l could not re-
frain from exclaiming aloud isn't this
sight simply GRAM At my feet grew
a great number of them. but 1 noticed
one large one in particular. l thought l
wanted it. but | could not reach it from
where 1 stood, l drew FOOTNER
and reached to pick DeROSIA. but as l
did SO l found it TO be only "a STRAW
flower.
I>if1uulred of my friends what the peo-
pie of this wonderful country raised in
they way of fruits or vegetables to i've
on and l was surprised when | was told
that PEPPERS They are not of the red
cariety found in other countries, but are
white and as proof said that a young
man in the village by the name of
Clayton ate a KENNEDY.
We wandered on and whenever we
grew tired we would stop at the various
HOLMES of the Peasants. On the gate
post of one l noticed the initials &C. l..
which showed that they had been carved
there many years ago. just under them
were the initials "R. F. these had the
appearance of having been placed there
in more recent years. At one of these
places young man Joined us whom L
was told was a plumber by trade. They
nick-named him Charlie and l was told
that he was crazy. That he had an idea
that he was the only plumber in the VII
lage and believed he had 'lead-pipe
cinch. Be that as it may. Charlie was
pretty good pal. but he had an appetite
that certainly was not in it's infancy. 1t
was more than well developed for he
would eat everything in sight and call
for MOORE. Half of the time it kept us
GASINK i'm regard to keeping our stock
of provisions full so we could feed him.
One day while out on one of our trips
we cooked a big Teddy Bear" CLAUS
SEN all which he ate with great relish.
but you should have seen Charlie
NORTHROP when he had finished. Wen.
he did raise KANE when he found out
what we had done. but it did not do him
any HARMER anything else, for he was
soon himself again.
We were now not very lar from
KEITH'S hen farm. The hens all like
Charles because he has a very socialictic
way about him. and you will usually find
him at all the hen socials and functions
then wrote on the rear of his hen house
the following:
There was a man named Keith.
Who's head should be crowned with a
wreath.
He had hens that would lay
An egg every day.
And not do it by the skin of their teeth.
Just as | had finished who should
come around the corner of the chicken
coop but Homer Daniels was so sur
prised at finding him here. then | wrote
in my diary a verse as follows:
There was man named Daniels
Who's neck is as long as a camels
He looks like John d.
Tho not as bald as he
And his name is not down in the annals.
| then recalled the names of several
members of club of which / had been
member and ] could not refrain from
writing ar line two about each one
of them The first one 1 thought of was
our fellow townsman a.. c. Gran. This
is what / said about him:
Now there was our, friend "A. G. Gran,
Who was a Y. NJ c. A. man.
About nine feet around.
Weight two hundred pound.
You see he was good sized man.
Yes. there was Elmer Glen.
He was our SECRETARY then.
He was either crazy
Or Internal lazy
To get a book to keep his records in.
Then there was our old pal, Mr.. Lusk.
Ylx.~t. t. II hrrtp