The Taney County republican. (Forsyth, Mo.) 1895-1992, 1911-04-13
Few Ideas From an Old Timer


oo;np to happen in Taney county at last,
~ the way people are talking about the
.,.st danc that is to be built on White
,;ver "near Hollister," and suppose
!. e not worth mentioning that it is
.,o,3 miles from Forsyth, it seems as
.houoh a lot of eminent gentlemen
n;,b more money than thev know what
. do with have come in here and took
Ink around and concluded that this
country had never been finished and
that they proposed to commence by
tearing the bed of White river up by
n. roots and working it over first and
an the foundation they will erect dam
Aoft high and that the water pouring
ov.r will awaken echoes that will never
cease and that it will cause great wave
oi industry to spread over this country
and that the inhabitants thereof will
rsh out into these hills and go to clear
mo off the brush and rolling the. rocks
,round and raise corn by the thousands
of bushels on land where corn never
orew before now this all sounds very
nice but I have lived in this county for
upaards of so years and we have not
contracted the industry habit yet to any
geat extent, not so you would notice
Il. AS to those awakened echoes, those
Of US who live in the immediate vicinity
Of the dam, unless we can collect
damages for shattered nerves and loss
of sleep may wish that they had never
started, some of us have become at
ttached to our possessions and don't
Ike to give them up but we are in a
bout the same fix as the American lndl-
ans,we will have to move. / have
been thinking that I would move to
the highest point I could find in the
Boston mountains, but I suppose it
would be no use for some fellow would
come sailing along in an airship and
bump me of, so I guess I will try and
get aiob on the dam. The time has been
when farming was uphill business in
Taney county, when Springfield was our
nearest railroad point, and when we had
no fence but the old rail fence, and
when We WASH: busy putting back
what the river washed away we were
busy putting back what the fire burned
on the ridges; we had no time to make
Improvements and I have been through
it all through fire and food sunshine
and shadow and through all the harrass
Of being candidate for county office
and was once elected but hope that
! may live that down in time, and
again become a respectable citizen Of
course We expect pay for our land but
whether we get anything or not de-
pends on whether they go after US with
the law or the gospel, the Bible says;
that 70 him that hath much should be
given but he that hath little just swipe
1t all or words to that effect, but ] don't
believe that they are that kind of
Christians, if they go after US with the
law think We will get about all that
Is coming to US it may be that we have
let nature take its course too long we
let nature do it all in times gone by
nature feeds our hogs cattle and other
stock and clothed and educated our
children mostly bu;inow,,we have school
houses and teachers we feed our stock
little and we thought we were doing
pretty we'll we don't have as much official
eonuption IN high places In the county
N our elections as they do in some
PAGES but We are progressing. It has
oeen said by some one that opportunity
KNOCKS once at every man door and if
ms dam proposition is the old lady
aefself knocking it is not only our
uuty to let her know that we are at
nome, but we should open the doors
sno give her hospitable instead of a
lOsuie welcome, now all the benefits
70 land owners caused by the building
y tlls dam are all in the future and
asser did deal in any futures. Some
people think that it is immoral if not
ullaWful to do so, but I am here to
remark that if there is any benefits