The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1912-04-04
THE DAYS

Days in South Dakota - could sure
ly have been given to some one filter,
for I can hardly consider myself be-
longing to the class of noble men and
women, who, in the early eighties,
left the comfort and safety Of their
eastern homes and went forth to
brave the hardships and dangers OF a
new life on the untried prairies. And
yet, as l look back and compare the
condition Of things as they existed
twenty-five years ago., with what we
find today, I thought perhaps could
do no better than draw a few COM
PARSONS, many of them favorable, l
think, to the good old pioneer days.
Take the dangers, for example. In
the old pioneer days the Indians were
the chief menace, and, occasionally
we would hear Of a tomahawk having
been used to remove a settler from
this vale of tears. The Indian has
become an ag%riculturist. AS yet the
government hasn't been doing out
money for him to buy autos, so Is
harmless. 0aughter.) What DANCE"
confronts us now? We get run over
by railway trains or crushed IN
wrecks of same; bumped into king
dom come by motorcycles and auto
mobiles; fall out Of flying machines
or run thru corn ~shredders, and our
husbands and sons get stuck on live
wires and other mems wives. (Great
~applause.) Only a few of us die ma
tural deaths-the rest are operated
on for appendicitis! Continued ap-
plause.)
As for hardships-In the piooeer
days very little was said about hard
times-for the people used their
money to buy the necessities of life,
instead of diamonds, and willow
plumes as long as your arm, and
monographs. And then in those
DAYS talk was cheap-n0w it is Csc,
and up, for three minutes. Cloud ap'
plause.) Telephones a benefit: l
should say not. Maybe we have
stacked our dinner dishes and gone
to town and just got nicely settled
discussing our neighbors with some
congenial friend, when - "whir-r-r'
goes the telephone, and an irate voice
injuries: as my wife there? Tell
her to come right home and get my
support" The men couldn't come
that on us in the blessed old pioneer
days. Continued loud %applause.)
In the pioneer days we hadn't been
informed that countless millions of
de~ath-dealing microbes lurked in
everything, from loves first honeyed
kiss to a hunk of limberger cheese.
(Applause.) And if one had a pin
scratch, or a sore toe, it was not
deemed necessary to send for three
doctors and two trained nurses, and
sterilize everything on the place.
Uaughter.) No stree, We just
clapped a piece of salt pork on the
spot and remembered it no more.
daughter and %applause.)
In the pioneer days the farmer
found sufficient exercise rubbing
down the horses, milking the COWS,
and saving up firewood, instead Of
chasing the Elusive dollar as he does
now; Qaughter) and when the boys
got o~bstreperous he didn't write to
the editor of the query column of
some paper and ask plaintively:
What shall I do with my boys?'
No. Father and ons retired to the
woodshed or the stable, and the ons
got what was coming to them! cloud
applause.) All, me! Everybody
worked then-including father. (vo-
ciferous %applause.)
here tonight, will say just a few
words about the dandy way the
counting was done in the pioneer
days. Laughter.) Sleighloads
would start out and go miles to a
dance, mot the kind of dances we
have now, which are mostly steps,
but dances with some class to them
like Old Dan Tucker, Arkansaw
Traveller, Turkey in the Straw; and
when they got tired of dancing they
would play games-Spin the Plate,
Clap In and Clap Out, and best Of
all, Mules Ear, where the boys al
ways got a kiss. ~(Laughter.) The
more the girl wished to be kissed, the
harder she would struggle, and (when
no one was looking) some of the
brave boys would lead their sweet.
hearts back into a dark corner, sit
Iou- hzc;l1 hA, r,I hold hA~ hand