The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1915-10-14
FROM COLONEL SWAIN OUR COLORED SOCIETY
U. S. Consul to England Is Sorry
BE Could Not Be Here.

lOMA--
"The affections of her people, Xix
the rivers on her borders, ow o
to an inseparable union. "--Eas
man.
"Her valleys stand so thick wit
corn, that they laugh and sing.
Fact! a5adi Eags .h1 j
The Anchorage, Hulse Road, South
ampton, Sept. "a, 1915.-Home-Con
ing Committee Come We back t
Old Mahaska!" is the question yo1
send to me on a sheet as yellow as
golden pumpkin-and / answer tina
| would like to more than / can tell
but circumstances forbid it, yer.
much to my regret. / should like Il
get back with the rest of the boys
those who were boys about fifty year!
ago in the cid town and county-anC
| would only want to meet the ole
boys and old girls! That sounds self
ish, but they are the ones that attract
me in these times of reunion and re
visit-and / am just old-fashioneC
enough to say so. | should like tC
meet up" with some of the boys o.
the old town who were enterpTisine
enough to spend an afternoon or
Spring creek, when it was clean
inviting stream and full of clubs
gathering bait-and then walk out tc
the Upper Mill"-Duncan's mill
and be on the bank on the north side
by 8 o'clock! We had to cross the
river on a rope ferry, above the dam
and the ferryman never charged us
boys. Had he done so, it would have
caused US to stop on this side, for
none of the line were such million
aires as to be able to carry five cents
so far from home! Gee! but what
nice fishing we had in those days!
What strings we used to get, and it
made US weary to tote" them home
with no chance for lift in pass
ing wagon, as they we're all coming
'tother way. Those were good days,
full of hard work, fine enjoyment
and cold corn bread! When the roast
ing ears came in we used to get some
-?-well, ! am not going to tell now
but we did not pay for them, / am
afraid Roasted on an open fire-how
very, very good they we're!
In the past year / have hungered
for many things of that old time-for
look at the grain fields when a
breeze was rolling over the crested
heads and bending all gently as a
wave coming in over the bar. making
no sound; for the smell of the ripen-
. = CuIA, ana to hear the rustic of the
long leaves of those great stalks
crowding the fields like a forest!
/ wonder whether, with all the fall
lals of modern farming, the chip
hunks have been given a shelter, and
saved as one of natures graceful lit
tie thingsI How l should like to see
a pair scampering along on a rail-
real rail-fence, and not one
of those barbed affairs, full of cruelty
and a lightning conductor! Then
again, suppose that there is never a
"perary chicken" in the whole ball
Of wax known as Proud Mahaska"
commemorated in Jim Ed
gift in bronze. Those old
days, when buttermilk was the hon
est product of the Old-fashioned churn
with little hunks of butter floating
around in a quart cup! / wonder
there is any fried chicken in
the county, such as our mothers used
to dish up to appetites keen as the
north wind! wonder, too, whether
all this modern fip-fapping has killed
out the old neighborliness - the old
unselfsh action that led to the send
ing around bit Of the first hog killed
just by way of remembrance, and a
skillet greaser" or is it now at
price pound bigger than the bloody
butcher would charge? Yes-those
old days. and the mature folk who
we're "a-doin' o. things doing
them welI-they were of the kind that
leave a remembrance continually q
sweet SAVIOR unto the soul. Then !
wonder how the new religious frills
compare with the plain days of a
great faith, held by simple Christian
folk, who trusted God and all the
promises, and did not need any fancy
cranks TO make them know and un-
deTstand things with peace unspeak-
able" | suppose all these modern
things are for the benefit of the pres
ent sort of world we have, but you
are not breeding up any better, brav-
er, or more self-sacrificing lot of men
and women than those which crept
out of the holden grey of the home
made buds of that golden time. /
should have liked to have been with
you adjust as a tired boy coming in
from long days tramp-and rejoice
with you in all good things, and bid
you God-speed in the development of
things that make for the Kingdom
that Kingdom which really does count
now and forever.
With thanks for remembering me,
am, Faithfully yours,
ALBERT w. SWAIN.
p. 81 wanted to say that | am
for peace, and for the erection of a
great peace monument somewhere"
] want that monument embellished
with, in its support, say a fine bunch
of real, simon-pure Americans, 100000
strong, and about 10000 in the brush
waiting the piper's call. Then in
hardware Of the kind that can talk
500 times a minute-say one to every
fifty men. Then all the other furni-
ture necessary to make that monu-
ment to take on all the form and
force needed to make the world re-
spect it. Having seen things, ! am
for peace, and willing 10 fight for 1t
under heavenly conditions of amplest
preparedness-u the law!
San Francisco, Cal, Oct. 4. 1915
Dear Oskaloosa;- II am sorry I can't
come 10 the Mahaska Fall Festival,
but | hope to visit my father, S. j.
Button, some DAY.