White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1935-06-27

caught my eye was the lawn and the
white house with maple trees around
1T, and the green shutters. It looked to
us just about the best place to live
IN the county. and we think so still
That fountain wasn't in when we got
it, and the rose garden-we did that.
too.
Curious, isn't it, how many farmers
never get around to making themselves
home? Just scraping to buy the piece
OF land next to them. Driving them
selves and denying themselves, and
telling themselves that some time, way
oil in the future, they're going way
oil someWhere-maybe to the coast
and have an awful good time!
My father was a miller in Vermont
He fought in the Civil war; five years.
When it was over, he came out here,
homesteading-I often think about t.
Then came IA and the grasshoppess
| drove us out. It drove out quarter
of the settlers that year. Not many
came back. But we did.
There were eight of us children,
all born in log house. We rode bare
back to school-a frame building, about
fourteen by twenty, set up on the
rocks; all open under. There would be
as many as sixty-one scolars some
times in winter. All the way from five
to twenty-five years old. Three long
benches; a low in front for the little
hackers; then high one, for the older
ones to write on, then another for them
| to sit on. And stove. And one teach
| cher-but good one. Sarah McNaugt-
| ton was the first teacher I went to
| school to; she was fine. But the one
remember best was Jacob j. jackson,
He boarded with us, and got me to
go on, more or less, with my books.
There wasn't any high school in the
county when got through school.
I'VE used to go barefoot all winter.
Never had head colds, either The only
thing that seemed to get us was con-
tagious diseases, like diptheria. When
was thirteen it went through the
family and the three youngest died.
Il herded cattle from the time
was eight. Then worked out quite a
little. worked for Henry Elias, the
best farmer that ever farmed out
doors. When l was twenty-four I
bought my first farm; 100 acres. $14
an acre, 5000 down. 1t was good river.
bottom, but got hit by the panic
Il patched it two and half years
10 ;oJ
sold load of cattle at $685. a hun
dredweight on the Kansas City mar
ket. I'd paid SIS head for them. The
price got was Is cents above the mar
ket that day; they were small cattle
That deal put ME out of debt, and r.
haven't had what you could call any
real trouble since"
On the QUESTIONABLE sent him by
the Department of Agriculture space
was left for Anything else you con-
slider important" In this space Elkins
wrote:
my family, my home, my neigh
bors. The enjoyment get from watch
ing my crops and live stock develop.
Our orchard, kitchen garden, vineyard,
shade trees, flowers, rose garden, etc.
II was married December Is, 1895.
We have four children, three girls and
boy. The two eldest are married.
The two youngest are attending Kan
sas State Agricultural college. (The
other two went to college, tooO
II have prospered beyond my widest
dreams. have accumulated a million.
But only small part of this can be
counted in dollars and cents. The rest
OF it comes from the satisfaction of
seeing an unbroken country, dotted
only here and there with the home
steaders' dugouts, develop into a pros
porous, settled country with beautiful
modern homes. And the feeling that
have been part of it,