Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1913-08-07

III q new countryl we foIkS out here
were compelled twice a day to hang on
by our eyebrows to strcct-cars in which
people are packed like sardines in can,
we would consider it an almost unen-
durable hardship. And the noise! 1t is
something terrific. When visiting Chi
cago the writer has always stopped at
the Briggs House, a one-timc famous
hostelry Of the war and ante-war periods,
and now a Family hotel" of reasona bic
charges. This trip we happened to get
an outside room in the fifth story on
Fifth avenue. tho old Wells street of be-
fore the fire. When went up to the
room at night ! thought had taken
lodgings in boiler factory; for even
with the second story on Fifth avenue
was the elevated railway, with until af-
ter midnight an almost constant process.
sion of trains, making thunderous
noise. Ugh! The peace and quiet of a
night. sleep here at home was never
properly appreciated by the writer until
Iilo It'uiii IIolit lIS ICSGIlt UP.
While in Chicago made trip ont in
northern Illinois about hundred miles
to Mount Morris, the village in which
first was cognizant of any of the affairs
Of this world, and which had not Wis
tied for iifty-six years. having left there
10, ~ o..
in 1851. The village has been college
town since its carly days. My father
was student there in 1854, when the
school was owned by the Mcthodists.
Aftcrward the members OF this dcnomi-
nation in the Rock River Conference sold
the school buildings to the Dunkards and
concentrated their effort. at Evanston.
The village has about 200 inhabitants.
The streets and the college square are
shaded by big trees, and the village is
composed almost entirely of fine resi-
dcnces, surrounded by trees. and the
yards are full of flowers, many of the
residences being occupied by wealthy
retired farmers II there is prctticr viii
lagc in America than Mount Morris, the
writer has never seen ii. found several
old men who had been my schoolmatcs
when my father taught the "district
school" in the village. One Of them
Johnny" Sharcr, a schoolboy chum-
took a rig and showed the visitor the
town. going out TO the farm my father
sold when he left for Kansas and then
Missouri in 1857, where the frame cottage
or a part of it-in which the family
lived is still standing. Land in that
garden spot OF lllinnis and OF the nation
is sold at $3.50 an acre, when it can be
bought; but there are few sellers. From
80 to $25 an acre was its price in the
fiftics.
1t does North Dakotan good in more
ways than one to visit the East. He is
sure to come back better satisfied than
ever with his present home. The east
crn cities are all right for visit of a
week or two; but. for quiet, comfort
able. independent life, there is no pop
ula,ion anywhere that holds an advan-
tage over the people OF North Dakota.
and we are just beginning to grasp its
possibilities as corn-raising and dairy
ing state. II is going through the same
experience that was the lot of Illinois in
its earlier years. Being like North Da-
kota paairic safe. with virgin land
easily made into farms. the first efforts
of Illinois settlers were almost entirely
devoted to the raising of wheat. with the
usual discouraging results in an almost
exclusively wheat-raising state. When
| lived there the Sucker State was known
like North Dakota at present-as 1.-the
bread basket of the world" II was only
with the adoption of diversified farming
that its agricultural population reached
the full measure Of prosperity. and few
acres became worth what a farm could
be bought for in its wheat-ra ising days.
AS sure as fate, this prairie state Of ours
is destined to duplicate the record of ILL
nois; and wish that with the pen of q
Macaulay and the eloqucncc of Web.
stcr could strive to impress upon the
readers of the Record the fact that the
farm home is something the value OF
which they are undertaking. Those who
sell out and 90 back to the ranks of the
wage orkcrs or shopkeepers of the
older states will better appreciate their
property after such property shall have
passed to the possession of people with
greater foresight
BY all means, hold on to your farm
homes.
ID, r. STREETER.