The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1911-02-03
Idaho Country Life
YESTERDAY, TODAY AND
TOMORROW
BY FRED C. REED
Tin Wendell Irrigationist)


than you can standing in pot-hole.
Some folks are predetermined than
others; some are born that way,
others acquire the habit.
AS a little chap / recollect the old
hell-fire and damnation doctrine that
was preached and beloved at us In
dear old New England. I recollect
how l used to cuddle up to my
mother when that boiling lake of
birthstone was portrayed. Why, If
the clergymen handed that kind OF
dope to the people of today, they
would not have a big enough con-
gregation to blow the lights out.
In the early days Of our country
nearly everybody was afraid of God,
and the reason was the ignorance of
the day. Today they are taught that
God is love and love is God, which
is comforting and appeals to our best
natures; consequently, We are getting
out Of the pot-holes and on to better
and higher ground. We are doing
one thing or another; we are either
growing bigger and better, and rap
idly, or we are not, and I assume we
are.
Why only a few generations back
in dear old Connecticut if man had
said that a piece of machinery could
be put down by waterfall and
wires strung across country humid
red miles, that man could, in his
house thirty or forty miles away,
press a button and instantly light
his entire building, those dear old
brothers in Ye Olden Times would
have proceeded in the name of God
to have mobbed him forthwith.
l think that we are rapidly be-
coming a wonderful nation. In the
New West especially our upbuilding
Is most astonishing and, our develop
ment is the very latest and up-to-
date-using in the accomplishment of
the finest creations Of the human
brain and assembling for mans use
the latest creations of the mechanical
sciences.
Last night as stood in the door
of my habitat and enjoyed the snow
covered country by moonlight. 1t
was a glorious and impressive sight.
Wendell was asleep because 1t was
past midnight. l could see the
electric tights of Bull, Twin Falls
and Jerome. could press button
in my own building and food it with
light, fit plug into the wall and
start an electric stove, turn on a
faucet and get drink of pure spark
ling water that is absolutely free
from any harmful ingredient to my
body.
And all this has occurred in three
years.
Prior to that time have stood on
the same section. There was not a
sound, save the howl of a coyote
or the whiz of a jackrabbit, not a
light, not home; just the mighty
loneliness of nature wrapped in ma
lures nightrobe. l would have slept
on the ground and cooked my food
over sage brush fire.
AS my eyes ranged over the great
stretch of shimmering whiteness,
dotted here and there by the first
bones of the pioneer settlers, I could
but think of the pioneer days, when |
first beheld this beautiful valley of
the Snake river, just mighty range,
and this night with the progress and
triumph of today, and of the great
tomorrow, the future.
Three years ago. If I had not had
water in canvass8bags or key, we,
my animals and myself, would have
been thirsty, because It was miles
and miles to water in any direction
that. could be reached. The splendid
conditions of tonight are the
result Of money, brain and Drawn;
and all insthirty-six months.
] refill my pipe, and as the smoke
floats away think of the future
of this favored land. Reed dreams
again of the land Of his adoption.
"As one, who at evening, DER an
" album all alone,
Muses. on the faces of the friends
that he has known,
So I turn the leaves of fancy, till
in shadowy design,
I find the smiling features Of an old
sweetheart of NINE"
The valley of the Snake.
AS I look forward. northward, the
majestic sawtooth range, with its
hoary peaks lonely sentinels guarding
the sleeping valley, stately trustees