Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1909-11-25
Copyright, by Short Stories Co.. Ltd.)

me physical appurtenances an intel
lectual we'll bein', / took hold OF a
buffalo be the tail. Me tracks were a
mile an three-quarters apart an l
covered three states in less'n thirty
minutes. Not that l made protracted
stay in either; me conveyance didn't
hesitate sufficient
at happened in Kansas. All things
of consequence in me career happened
in Kansas for a space of five years. ]
was holdin' down government claim
out there-an' when l say holdin' IL
down / mean just that. had to hold
1t down. What with cyclones an other
evil-minded persons, coincident with
the great an glorious state Of Kansas
it kept fellow busy.
"Bein', as l may say, the only hui
man bein' in the precinct except the
boss, haS things pretty much me
own way for a time. was the mayor
an the chief of police, an the fire de-
partment, an the board of aldermen,
an the most imminent citizen. But
all this grandeur was oppressive after
dispensation l liked solitude, an here
was miles of it, the most solitudinous
solitude l ever sat down in the middle
of. But 1t was too much. l useter get
that lonesome sometimes I'd go out
an swear at the sun just to see if I'd
lost me voice. An / hadn't.
About the time was gettin' line
on the fact that couldn't raise any
thing on my claim but an umbrella, l
decided that l needed company, so
stint for me brother-a mere lad, as
said. had to ride sixty miles to mail
a postal card, rural delivery not hav-
in become an established instigation
at that time-an' if it had been | guess
| was too rural for it to reach mean
then he had to come all the way from
Newark, New Jersey. 1t was five
weeks before he arruv. Newark was
glitterin' an pageantraceous metrop-
oils compared to the place where
was.
well, l druv me brother out to the
farm. The good Lord may know what
he expected. | don't. Anyhow 1t
wasn't anything like what he found
He was young an frivolsome, an had
just about reached that age whin a
man takes real pride in the way he
combs his harlan spinds all his time
at 1t. So naturally the claim didn't
make any hit with him. | think he had
girl--or maybe his liver was out of
order.
"Whin we druv up to the dug-out
where l lived, l says:
Here we are says l.
'Where?' he says. Where's the
house,? says he.
That's the house. says l, p'intin'
to the dug-out, that's the mansion
wherein we shall be domiciled, | says
THAT little hole in the ground !?
says he, with the brushes over it?' he
says.
That's It, me lad says l. 'Drorin
room, parlor, liberty, dinin' room, bed
rooms, bath an kitchen / says. The
boss sleeps in the Kitchen says /.
well, me brother didn't say any.
thing, but l could see that his men
tai requirements were wrestlin' with
that.
1--WE whit in an had dinner.
Sunset says me brother, yer
didn't put the butter on the table, he
says.
mo, says I. 'Yerll be surprised,
Ifsays, how well yer can get alonf
without it. says l. me not havin
looked COW In the face in so long I'd
forgot whether 1t was animal or veg
etable.
"'Oh,' says he, an he ct in siIenc,
while he thought it out. DO yer ever
have any company out here? he says
after awhile
Sure says I. The best in the
world says. Me- An | lighted
me pipe with that degree of superior
ity which is natural with the mos
imminent citizen, one of whom / was
which, as it were.
"But who do you talk to?' hs
says.
Talk to?' says I. I talk to meself
whin | have time to stop an listen,
| says.
rAn' thin he had to think that out
He had a lot of things to think ou
after that. / had to do II meself
Despite these splindid intellectual ex
ercises me brother didn't seem happy
an, faith, didn't blame him at that
poor lad. Yer see, there wasn't {
thing to do but work, an nothin' I,
see but miles an miles of prairie
an nothin' to eat but corn bread an
SOW belly, an nothin' to drink bu
water, an we had to haul that fiy
miles. an 1t tasted like morta
sin. That's the sort of a place Kan
sas is, or was.
"Once or twice me brother kicked
over the traces, an declared he wa,
goin' back TO New Jersey-an' We
know a man must be desprit whiI
he says thing like that. Thin h,
was that discontint that he refuse,
to work. That was a vital conse
quence. But | got around il. be m,
notorious diplomacy. discovere,