Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1911-07-14

by subscriptions of the town mer
| chants-a spacious room made out OF
| the old Methodist chapel on ST Jo-
| seph street | knew this for place
of town gossip, and hoped | might
| hit upon something to aid me in my
Grand which was no more than be-
gun. it seemed Entering the place
shortly before noon, made pretense
of reading, all the while with an eye
and an ear out for anything that
might happen.
AS stared in pretense at the page
before me, fumblcd idly in a pocket,
with unthinking hand, and brought out
to place before me on the table, an
object of which at first l was %ncon-
scious-the little Indian blanket a'asp
AS it Law before me | felt seized ca q
sudden hatred for it, and let 1all Oh
it a heavy hand. As | did so, he2fo
a voice at my ear.
Mem Colt, man, do not. 4"u
break it, surely
| started at this. l had not healo
any one approach. | discovered no"
that the speaker had taken a seal
near me at the table, and could ho'
fail to see this objoct which lay De-
fore me.
Il beg pardon" he said, in broken
speech which showed his foreign
birth but it ISIS so beautiful 10
break it ISIS wrong"
pushed the tr!nket along the taDie
towards him.
IT'S of little value" l said, and Is
always in the way when l would hnd
anything in my pocket"
But once some one bass made IL
once it bass been value. ItH ne
where you get it,
North OF the Platte, in our west
ern territories, l said. Il once tTad9d
in that country
You are Americana
yes"
80" he said thoughtfully, 50.
great country, very great county
Me, also live in it.
"Indeed?" | said. In what part?
1T ISIS five years since l cross the
Rockies"
You have crossed the Rockies?
envy you
You meesunderstand me. | live
west Of them for five years am now
come east
I was afraid my eyes showed my
interest; but he went on.
II hat been in the Columbia coun
try and in the Willamette country,
where most of your Americans are
settled l know somewhat of Cantor
mia. Mr.. Howard, of the Hudson Bay
Company, knows also OF the country
of California. He said to those Eng
lish gentlemans at our meeting last
night that England should hat some
thing to offset California on the west
coast; because, though Mexico claims
California, the Yankees really rule
there. and will rule there yet more.
He ISIS right; but they laughed at
him.
"Oh, l think little will come OF all
this talk" 1 said carelessly. 1T is
very far out to Oregon" Yet all the
time my heart was leaping. So he
had been there, at that very meeting
OF which | could learn nothing!
You know not what you say. A
thousand men came into Oregon last
year 1t iss like one of the great MI
grations of the peoples Of Asia, OF
Europe. | say to you, it ISIS a great
epoch There ISIS a folk-movement
such as we hat not seen since the
DAYS of the Huns, the GOths, the Van
dals, since the Cimri movement. 1t
ISIS an epoch, my friend. 1t ISIS fate
that ISIS in it"
so, then, it is a great country" |
asked.
1T ISIS so great, these traders do not
wish it known. They wish only that
it may be savage; also that their
posts and their harems may be undis-
turbed That ISIS what they wish.
These Scots go wild again, in the
Wilderness They trade and they trav-
ell but it ISIS not homes they build.
Sir George Simpson wants steel traps
and not plows west of the Rockies.
That ISIS all!
They do not speak SO of DR.. Nc
Laughlin, [ began tentatively.
My friend, great man, McLaugh-
lin, believe me! But he ISIS not Nc
Kay; he ISIS not Simpson; he ISIS not
Behrens; he ISIS not Colville; he ISIS
not Douglas. And I say to you, as |
learned last night-you see, they
asked me also to tell what l knew Of
Oregon say to you that last night
Mclaughlin was deposed. He ISIS in
charge no more-so soon as they can
get word to him, he loses his place at
Vancouver"
After a lifetime in the service!"
commented.
"Yess, after a lifetime; and Nc
Laughlin had brain and heart, too. If
England would listen to him, she
would learn something's. He plants, he
plows, he hass gardens and mills and
houses and herds. Yess, if they let
Mclaughlin alone, they would hat a
civilization on the Columbia, and not
a fur-trading post. Then they could
oppose your civilization there. That