The Green Forest tribune., 1910-04-08
John Buell's Trip
 Down ir1 < exas
His Reluctant Admissions Con- corning the Country Turns
 a Mover This Way

exact QdJe) JldI J0ilH buell, late
 president of the Bank of Green Forest,
 loaded all his earthly, possessions in
 cluding his family, into a small two
 horse wagon drawn by span of light
 weight donkies and emigrated to Texas.
 John was then a younger man than he
 is now and had the responsibility of
 raising family. The burden rested
 heavily upon his rather thin shoulders.
 He decided as quite 8 few people de- eide nowadays, that Arkansas is tri1e too slow for an ambitious fellow, and from what John had heard, Texas was
 the place he was looking for. The moaotony Of the long journey over rough roads had began to have its effect upon the movers, when John struck camp one night on the Red
 river bottom, well down on the border of the Lone Star state. Here John 'met up'' with some other movers, who like himself were hunting for a location, but who unlike John, did not know where they. were going. They
 had tried Texas and had decided the
 particular portion at least they had
 tried was good place to get away
 from
 After a supper of dry salt bacon
 fried to crisp, a coldwater corn pone,
 a little Arkansas sorghum and some
 black coffee, John dusted few crums
 of home-spun out from a small kit of
 tools he was carrying in his pants
 pocket, lit his old clay pipe and pro-
 ceeded over to his neighbor's camp to
 "gas" until bed time.
 John reluctantly admitted that he
 was from Arkansas, while he sought
 information about the country in which
 he was about to land He told his new
 acquaintance that he had grown tired
 and even sick at heart toiling among
 the rocks, grabs and stumps of old
 Arkansas and that he had decided to
 seek out a home on the broad, fertile
 lands of Texas, where he could ac-
 cumulata competency before old age
 should render him unfit for labor, for
 which character of exercise John yet
 shows preference at times.
 "What kind of country is that north
 west portion of Arkansas, anyhow?"
 asked one of the gentleman of John, as he stirred the ashes in the faded camp fire for coal to light his pipe, to join ia the smoke that seemed to be giving John some special satisfaction. "Oa, it's Q poor country, said John. ''It IS very mouatainous, most of the land is thin and rough. There is no market now for anything much and I can t see much future for it. '' ''Is it a healthy country?' persisted : the stranger.
 "Oh, yes, said John it is very healthy. People enjoy excellent health up there"
 'J1ow about the water is it good?" l "Yes, indeed, said John, the water is fine as can be, and that reminds me, v said John, "I am getting powerfully
 thirsty since 1 find no more water fit to drank cn this trip. would give dol : lar tonight, if had one, for gourd full of water from the we'll on my - fathers old place." added John as he yawned a little and punched up his pipe z which he had ceased whiffing so briskly ' ', for few moments.
 = DO they raise any fruit in that country? asked the gentleman, who :, : had already decided that there was an air of inconsistency somewhere about
 John's manner of conversation. e Fruit, well I should sngger, said q John venting a broad smile ''That ia f one thing can say for that country 2 and tell the truth. It i5 fruit coun-
 try unsurpassed. They raise fruit of . all kinds ia abundance.
 > 'Well, can you raise anything else?" "Ol, yes, the country will produce most any kind of grain or vegetables, and I reckon they do very well when properly tended.
 } "Well, stranger" said the fellow ; who had cross-cxamined John, so to speak, "my horses heads are turned
 for Arkansas tomorrow. A country where they have good health, good water, and fine fruit will look good to } me. l am willing to risk the balance. , After giving his pipe . few brief whihfs and stopping for Q little medi-
 taton John thought to himself, 'if he don t find things to suit him up there 1
 I swan l am not to bame
 } It was not until some months after that when he began to retrace his
 tracks back to Arkansas that John saw
 the real humor of the conversation in the camp on Red river that.night This trip to Texas must have been } good for John, for he has been quite , well satisfied ever since the day he landed back Having changed his
 mind about the possibilities of the
 country, he changed his manner of pro- ceeding and has gone to work and ac- cumulated nice competency, giving
 I I ~