Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1908-06-03
graves, tho messy lichens were
ancient on their tombstones.

the surrounding country crowded in
to hear the noted evangelists. Here,
too, of course, the principal papers Of
the county were printed, one Of them
having been published by the same
man for 50 years. A very ably edited
paper, too. It's editorials were full of
fire and energy. and it's makeup, and
selection of news denoted the posses.
sion Of ability and journalistic pre-.
science Of high order.
Here was also the hot-bed of politi-
cal intrigue, for here the plans for
the elections were consummated, and
here the Offices were distributed to
the successful aspirants. The county
seat had once been q manufacturing
point, but it's rival to the west had
long since outstripped it in material
power, and had manufactures that
sent their products to the ends of the
world. And each year this growing
rival perfected little by little it's plan
to wrest away from the present coun-
ty seat its Importance as the real
hub" and there was slow, insidious
feeling in and about the town that
eventually its hated opponent would
capture the coveted honor and leave
the present courthouse a mere bar
racks in the public square, a melan.
choly reminder of the days that were.
Every year the old soldiers held
their reunion at the county seat, and
their march past the courthouse, and
their meeting in the evening was one
of the occasions for oratory and the
revival of the days when the call for
volunteers came. But each year the
line grows thinner; each twelve-month
makes gaps in the ranks. And to the
| children of those who marched to the
front the recollections of those times
is dim indeed; to their grandchildren
it is holiday.
There is always, about a county
seat which is losing it's grip, some
sense of self-preservation, some spas
modic attempt to revive public spirit,
and send current of action along the
veins of the town. But no town can
advance without a restless activity
and a steady plane of public spirit,
and in our county seat the spirit of
Sleepy Hollow was rampant. Its
streets were unpaved from year to
year; it's sidewalks barely kept out of
the mud during favorable conditions;
it's electric service was sputteringly
inadequate; it's water works primitive
and subject to breakdown; it's rev.
enues uncertain and insufficient.
And yet from the clarion-voiced col
umns OF the one real paper in the
town there was always the note of
courage, the herald of warning, the
tocsin of encouragement. But as it
was in the beginning, so now, and so
it should ever be that this county seat
was doomed to dry out and disappear
from sight as an entity and a social
community, and sink into the shadows,
forgotten hamlet. It was off of the
main travelled tracks of the steam
highways, and it was far from any
river that might give it hint of re-
! viving power. 1t was Stunned of
manufactures, and it's commerce de-
pended largely on it's position as the
county seat.
And yet inch by inch the encroach,
ing advances of the nearby town came
seeping and gnawing at the founda-
lions of it's power, and month by
month it's citizens either heedlessly
or slothfully ignored the rising tide,
and issue by issue the sentinel at the
gate, the editor of the weekly paper,
sought in vain to arouse a healthy
flow of public spirit which should give
the town a renewed vitality, and
check the approach of it's impending
dissolution.
But with placid and cow-like com.
plaisance the citizens ate, slept and
put on clothes. They did not and do
not now know the doom that encom-
passes them around about. We saw
it with every day that dawned; for
the election which deprives it of it's
courthouse means the funeral of the
town.
For then will the shouting of the
captains and the tumult die" indeed
within it's precincts. Then will the
gaudy trappings of the county fair
and the spangled garishness of the
street fakirs wither and be not. Then
will the dust pile ankle high in the
streets, and no dabbling of occasional
jets Of water disturb it's mufled folds.
Then will the courthouse be boarded
up and left to the wind and rain. Then
will their inhabitants creep Rip Van
Wrinkle like from their gardens to
their houses. intent only on the al
MANAGES for their mental pabulum, and
the church bells for their final sum-
mons. Then will the glory of Icha.
bod" such as it was, be entirely de-
| parted, and legend and "Reminiscences
only be left to tell of the departed
activities of the deserted county seat.
Fire Dogs and Screens.
New fire sets are shown where the
screen fits inside the andirons, thus
preventing any log from falling out on
the hearth and smoking into the room.
The fire dogs" too, keep the screen
steady, while an empty fireplace is
always an unsightly thing, and the
inside screens seem to make it as
unobtrusive as possible.
The wire netting is plainly bound
! in rim of the same material, brass if
the screen is brass, iron if a castiron
set is used, and just below the frame
are two handles. At the bottom it
has Sits made and bound, which fit
over the andirons, and to keen it in