Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1913-07-30
HUNTING THE HEIR.
She Was Located and the Set
ting Proved a Fine Opening
for a Hero.
BY BRYANT c. ROGERS.


! ern state man named Josiah Flint
took up eighty acres Of land. Thou
sands of other men took up land in
| the same state, but there was no par
ticular occasion that the act of so do
ing should pass into history
| Josiah Flint could have taken up for
est or prairie land-acres that would
double in value in year, but he passed
| them all by and selected the worst
| spot in four counties A portion of it
| vas hill and the remainder marsh.
! There wasn't even decent site for a
| cabin on the entire claim. Josiah
might raise hucIdeberries on his marsh
and blackberries on his hill, but men
said he could hope for nothing better.
If he had any explanations as to why
| he selected such a claim they were
lost as time went on, He and his fam
| lily lived in his moving wagon for a
| few months and then passed on.
In ten years almost all the land in
the county was settled up except
| F'lints Hill and marsh The nearest
farmer opened a gravel pit at the base
taxes each year, and constituted him
self the agent of the absent. The coun-
| ty wanted to drain the swamp and to
| cut roads, but no one could find Josiah
Flint The only information was that
he had gone further west
BY and by, in the village that had
grown up two miles away, there came
10 ~ s,,oh a thIna Sa~o rooI estate nf-
fice 1t was furnished with two chairs,
a table. Bible and Deacon Hardy.
| The deacon was one of the first set
tiers and good man.
In connection with the real estate
office was department for the sale of
Bibles and hymn books, and where one
might subscribe for Sunday school
paper or donate any sum he chose to
the welfare of the heather of Africa.
There was another department de-
voted to the sale of garden seeds and
roots and banks. and In this depart
ment key of root beer was always
kept on tap. Every caller was invited
to drink whether he bought land or
not. And lastly the deacon's wife held
herself ready to take orders six days a
week for notices of: mo Place Like
Home at very reasonable prices and
money back IL you were not suited
With all these departments in full
| swing the deacon ought to have been
a money-maker, but he wasn't Why he
wasn't was a matter that worried him
| a long time and was still worrying
when his wife said to him one eve
ming:
Josiah, you are honest and truth
| full and conscientious"
81 try to be. Martha was his reply
There are lots of other men who
are not as you are"
Eyes. and feel to pity en-"
II don't think yon need to. They
are getting new houses and barns, fine
bosses and pianers. and we are right
where we wasi"
yes" sighed Josiah.
And I've thought 1t all over. and
think l know what is the matter"
II hope you do didn't hardly earn
my salt this last year"
''You are too good"
He can. and you are living exam
pie of it. You've got to be like most
other men. You've got to get the big
end of the bargain
But the Bible commands"
Il know it does, but you've got to
take your chances, same as the rest
They are trading and selling spawned
bosses and ,holler-horn cows right
along and expecting to go to heaven
when they die.
''I've been thinking 1t over, too, :"
said the deacon, "but dunnow-I dun
no. / want to soar away on golden
wings when my time comes, but III
be summed IL want to live the rest
of my life in this tumble old log house,
and eat johnny-cake and fried salt
pork three times day"
The deacon was waiting for an OPP
portunity to be less good when keen
eyed young man of twenty-five blew
| into the village. His home town was
fifty miles away, and he wasn't saying
why he left 1t. After hanging about for
| four or five days and taking long
walks out into the country he entered
Deacon Hardy's real estate Office one
afternoon and flung a chunk of marble
on the table and asked:
do you know what that is p
Looks kinder like marble" was the
reply after inspection.
Kinder like? Why. man alive, it's
marble for sure. And maybe you can
tell what this is.
tits some kind OF sile.''
fYou bet it is, and it's kind worth
money! It's peat. And what Is that -
Il should say it was clay -
And you'd hit It. Fines kind OF pot
ter's clay. And what's thisg"
more clay"
You've hit 1t again. It's briekmak
er's clay and as smooth as silk. Once;
what's this?" 'ass
There's sand and there's gravel
tsfxood pilossar And where did all