Prairieland Talk . . .
Hornless Blacks Will Fight
By ROMAINE SAUNDERS. Retired. Former Frontier Editor
LINCOLN — One of those belligerent black
Angus sold at the 4-H club fair at Fremont for
$30 the hundred pounds, down $10 from the price
paid for the champion a year ago. The fancy
price paid for a champion at the livestock shows
is more of a gesture than an indication of real
value. The prize package in that
black heifer hide this year came
from Colfax county.
Having roped and branded
some of those black beauties and
then cl:mbed to the topmost post
to escape a knockout blow from
a hornless head, I have wonder
ed at the growing popularity of
the Angus. Maybe it’s because
we like anything that will put
up a fight if imposed upon.
Maybe down in Colfax coun
ty, where I once had a newspa- Romaine
per, they don’t use branding g^der,
irons.
• ♦ *
Mv friend since kneepants days, L. G. Gilles
pie, has been nominated as the republican candi
date to represent some of the city on the county
board. Lloyd has been in O’Neill since childhood
and probably now can claim the title of the city s
citizen of longest continuous residence. And
probably no citizen of Holt is so well informed
as to past, present and probable future condi
tions prevailing in the county as Mr. Gillespie.
While his choice as a candidate to represent the
city wards on the county board is commendable
and understandable, it is something of a mystery
why so many of the otherwise well-poised Holt
county republicans should have voted to give the
nomination for U.S. senator to a political freak
(meaning Terry Carpenter).
* * *
In a letter from Will McNichols to the ed
itor a month ago, we learn that Mr. McNichols,
living at Hollywood, Calif., plans to visit O'Neill
next month. As I can scoot up there by bus or
otherwise most any time I will try to arrange
the agendum to land up there at the time Will
does, thus making amends for missing a visit
with a native O'Neill boy while out in his part
of the world last winter.
• • *
I was one of some two or three thousand who
had gathered in the auditorium to hear what the
speaker had to say and the songbirds reach the
high notes. A young mother came down the long
aisle and took a seat beside me, lifted a little girl
to her lap and bestowed a kiss upon her sweet
childish face. I do not recall a thing the speaker
said but what I saw as an expression of human
tenderness as that mother and child sat beside me
remains a vivid picture. Of the human emotions
that arouse either love or hatred that playing up
on the heartstrings of a young mother as she looks
upon her child transcends in height all other
earthly ties.
• * *
The Nebraska cornbelt has been sufficiently
wet up during August, and this has revived much
of the corn fields that had wilted during July
and now stalks of corn stand 10 feet high with
ears half the length of a man’s arm reaching
across to those on the next row as though they
would shake hands in congratulation over the
revival. One farmer from Gage county with whom
I talked said in a recent week they had 13 inches
of rain in his community and his corn yield will
be an average crop.
Out beyond the city with its clutter of build
ings. its forest of homes and shrubs and trees—
out across the length of prairieland to the setting
sun as the ebbing light of day fades away before
the gathering shadows of approaching night, the
evening star will soon look down upon a peace
ful people in a favored land stretching to the
foothills of the Rockies. The day has ebbed away
and the hour is here when we seem to rise upon
the full flowing tide of eternity. With senses at
tune to life’s poetic impulse for one brief hour
there comes to us the music of immortals and we
seem to hear the pulsations of the heart of the
Infinite. It is the hour to step aside from life’s
pressing cares and to meditate, to pray, to com
mune with your own soul, to gather strength for
the days ahead.
* * #
A farm woman informs me she gets 21
cents a dozen for the eggs her flock of hens
produce. A white-aproned food market propri
etor tells me he gets 49 cents for those same 21
cent eggs.
• • •
The political itch that broke out into a rash
this summer was pretty expensive for some pa
triots of prairieland. One unsuccessful candidate
for the U S. senatorial nomination spent $17,575,
and it cost another gent over three thousand dol
lars to go through the struggle and lose just be
cause he had the ambition to be known as a
United States senator for two months. With fail
ure to achieve your ambition comes disappoint
ment; maybe it sours you. A lifetime of loyalty
to your party and money put into it is rewarded
with crushed hopes. The effect may be envy,
jealousy, casting aside political allegiance. Let it
be hoped such results did not flow from the late
primary, but such is the weakness of our whole
primary system.
* * *
Having talked with patriots from Falls City in
the southeast and from Chadron in the northwest,
from McCook in the southwest and a gent from
South Sioux City in the northeast corner of the
state, who have gotten to the capital city this lOOh
anniversary of an organized territory, I have
had the picture of prairieland. The hot July
brought a golden harvest in the wheat belt; out
across the livestock country grass spread its silk
en gown, cattle have grown fat and stack upon
stack of prairieland hay is ready for winter feed;
the com belt was brought back to the usual state
of fruition by August rains. An over-ruling Provi
dence again smiles on prairieland.
* * ♦
The Hon. Mr. Curtis, former member of
congress and now Nebraska republicans’ candi
date for a seat in the United States senate, in
an address I was privileged to hear said the
United States, its people and its government, can
not bring peace to a snarling, snapping world by
handouts. He thinks peace can be assured to the
world only through a change in the hearts and
minds of men, but cannot be bought.
• * *
Beating up on your wife is not such a repre
hensible trick, according to the judicial estimate
of a Lincoln court in which a gent was fined $10
for slapping his spouse. But if you try it on some
other fellow’s wife—that’s different. The same
court soaked a gent who did $100. It’s forever un
gentlemanly to land one on the chin of a lady,
but, of course, there are specimens of the genus
homo who are anything but gentlemen.
Editorial . . .
Right to Rejoice
At Ainsworth Monday evening Holt county
was represented at a dinner fittingly honoring
Rep. A. L. Miller (R) of Kimball, Nebraska’s
Fourth district congressman. The affair was spon
sored by officers and directors of the Niobrara
River Basin Development association, whose mem
bership has worked long and hard to bring fed
eral recognition and attention to the basin.
Doctor Miller, who heads the house insular
affairs committee, conducted a congressional
hearing in the basin last fall and one in Wash
ington, D.C., this spring. He introduced the bill,
HR 8520, which, during the just-ended 83rd con
gress, received the blessings of both the house and
later, just before adjournment, the senate.
The bill, as enacted into law, formally provides
for the inclusion of the Ainsworth, Lavaca Flats,
Mirage Flats extension, and O’Neill irrigation de
velopments into the Missouri river basin overall
project, also known as the Pick-Sloan plan. The
Pick-Sloan plan came into being back in 1944.
The law directs the secretary of the interior
“to cause these units of the Missouri river basin
project to be coordinated and integrated, physical
ly and financially, with the other federal works
constructed or authorized to be constructed under
the comprehensive plans approved December 22,
1944. amended and supplemented.”
Construction is not to be undertaken along
the Niobrara until a full report, “demonstrating
physical and economic feasibility,” has been com
pleted. reviewed by the affected states and ap
proved by congress with necessary appropria
iinnc
Monday night’s feast at Ainsworth culminated
eight years of work by the Niobrara basin en
thusiasts who have been bent upon bringing to the
area irrigation, power, wildlife and recreation
benefits.
It would be impossible to fix credit for this
long time a-comin’ milestone of success. But cer
tainly the names of Congressman Miller, Senators
Butler and Griswold (both deceased), Former As
sociation President E. A. House. Former Secretary
Vem Lindholm and President Roy Raitt must be
mentioned.
The Frontier is happy, indeed, to chronicle
this good news from capitol hill in Washington
and we predict irrigation will come to pass, on a
big scale, sooner than many of us think. For the
comfort of apprehensive taxpayers, we’d like to
point out that reclamation spending, great as it
might seem, is a drop in the bucket compared to
foreign aid, for example. Moreover, feasible irri
gation projects can — and will — pay for them
selves bv increasing income and thereby the tax
potential. We have notable examples, that com
pare in many ways, right here in Nebraska.
Once again the thud of the football is in the
air—a sure sign that autumn is near.
The swimming season is about over.
O’Neill Story Coming
The Sunday, August 29, issue of the Omaha
World-Herald will feature in the magazine section
a tale about O’Neill. Through this centennial year
—1954—Nebraska’s biggest newspaper is featur
ing magazine stories concerning the cities with
three thousand population and over.
Readers can look forward to a color photo
graph of several typically Irish colleens, black
and-white photos of interesting persons and pic
tures and places of interest.
We have had the opportunity to see the proofs
on the story written by the World-Herald’s Robert
Houston. It is a well done piece, touching on the
redoubtable Gen. John O’Neill, who founded the
town, and tracing history up to the present day.
In doing the research, Mr. Houston told us
he was not at a loss for material or subject mat
ter here. Instead, the O’Neill story becomes a
problem of choice—what to incorporate and wThat
to omit.
‘‘Some towns are absolutely without color,”
he complained. And then he mentioned a few.
We dare say many O’Neillites will learn a lot
about our little city they didn’t previously know
wrhen they consult their World-Herald magazine
section come Sunday morning.
The paper will be available at the usual
newsstands. The World-Herald’s circulation man
ager here is Mrs. Leona Shoemaker, phone 403-W.
If you’ll be wanting extra copies, we suggest you
contact her right away.
We wonder what next Terrible Terry will
turn his attention toward. We surmise his recent
stint in the state legislature was intended to be
a springboard to the U.S. senate. We were disap
pointd he ran a poor third in the primary. We
should like to have seen him run a miserable
fifth.
I .
CARROLL W. STEWART, Editor and Publisher
Editorial & Business Offices: 122 South Fourth St.
Address correspondence: Box 330, O’Neill, Nebr.
Established in 1880—Published Each Thursday
---—-*
Entered at the postoffice in O’Neill, Holt
county, Nebraska, as second-class mail matter
under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. This
newspaper is a member of the Nebraska Press
Association, National Editorial Association and
the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Terms of Subscription: In Nebraska, $2.50 per
year; elsewhere in the United States, $3 per
year; rates abroad provided on request. All sub
scriptions are paid-in-advance.
Audited (ABC) Circulation—2,335 (Mar. 31, 1954)
J===%
M
News, Views
and Gossip
BY THE EDITOR
^ . *
Strictly First-Class
When I registered Friday eve
ning at the Grand Hotel” they
literally rolled out the welcome
mat. This in spite of the fact that,
at the desk, I was a little indefi
nite with them hew long I’d be
around. It was a b'triness staj'.
I was escorted to a cheery,
comfortable room, a single, by a
courteous uniformed person. Im
mediately I was impressed with
the excellent taste in the decor—
the soft pastel colors, the big
windows with sleek aluminum
frames, colored asphalt tile
flooring, radiant heating fixtures
(I wouldn’t be needing), colorful
drapery. It was a fireproof lay
out.
Strictly first-class, I thought.
That first evening I marveled at
the luxury of the place without
venturing outside the room. All
necessities were provided in
grand style by this ‘‘Grand Ho
tel”—a relatively new addition to
a lusty, growing Nebraska city.
Next morning I awakened and
peered down on a lush and spa
cious formal garden being bathed
in brilliant sunshine. The neatly
manicured hedgerows stretched
southward to a quiet residential
street. Lofty trees some three
hundred feet away reached sky
ward. Occasionally one could
catch a glimpse of beads of
autumnal moisture glinting in
the sun on the leaves of the
plants.
My memory told me the land
scaping was something under
two years old. Wonders already
had been worked.
The more than ample breakfast
served to me in my room disap
peared and I was on my second
cup of coffee. I meditated on the
proposition I had been in the ho
tel about 12 hours — each filled
wim luxurious rest ana sleep,
good food and sheer comfort. I
massaged my sore neck and
thought to myself:
People living in the O’Neill re
gion and others within reach of
the compassionate arms of St.
Anthony’s hospital are among the
most fortunate people in the
whole world.
Maybe it isn’t charitable of me
to call St. Anthony’s the “Grand
' Hotel.” Being no sicker than I
was and never before in my adult
years having been hospitalized,
1 was overwhelmed by the won
derment of it all.
* * *
Needle Points
The “routine” treatment, of
course, began at the time 1
cleared the reception desk the
night before. They (nurses and
their aides) issued you a white
gown, delivered pills to you, fre
quently asked you to wear a
thermometer in your mouth.
They held you by the arm at
short intervals and stared at
stopwatches, completely unmind
ful of whatever you had to say
along conversational lines. They
asked you to roll over and pres
ently you absorb a long, sharp
needle in your lower hip. After
awhile the hip might turn cher
ry red. Still later they’d bring
you another glass of water and
ask you, at needle point, to turn
the other cheek.
But I enjoyed it all.
My first visitor was my good
physician with whom, tradition
ally, I can stir up a lively dis
cussion. This time he let the
sparks fly, apparently more in
terested in getting on with the
diagnosis and the cure. (Later
we discussed the most recent
election, the forthcoming elec
tion, Ike, Mendes-France, high
ways, railroads. On things polit
ical neither of us has to probe
long to launch an argument.)
-—--.
Bemie Allen popped in that
first morning. He was or. a trou
ble-shooting mission, complete
with pipewrench, pliers, hammer,
etc. Bemie is the building engi
neer and draws a variety of “fix
it” assignments. Incidentally, he’s
a saddle club enthusiast.
Sister M. Fara, the culinary
expert, stopped to say hello. First
met her in the days before the
hospital was opened — back in
1952—when we were her guest
for a trial cup of coffee and an
experimental piece of pie from
the glistening new ovens. New
gas ranges are now being in
stalled in her basement domain,
where food for the patients is
sent up via the dumbwaiter. Sis
ter Fara came to the U.S. from
Cologne, Germany, in 1930.
I told her I saw Cologne the
day the war against the Hitler
crowd was grinding to a halt.
She said the cathedral had been
reconstructed and repaired.
Rev. Karel Kucera, the chap
lain, brought me a printed vol
ume of excellent photographs
pertaining to his native city of
Prague, Czechoslovakia. Father
Kucera is a recent refugee from
r.is red-oppressed homeland. Ho
was ordained 10 years ago. Fa
ther Kucera said that Prague, . a
city of a million people and the
capital of Bohemia, first came
under the iron rule of the Ger
mans (in 1939) and the Russians
later (in 1945).
“The nazis were bad enough,”
he remembers, “but reds—they’re
much worse!”
A half-million Czechs are im
prisoned and their whereabouts
lc unknown.
A soft - spoken fellow, light
complexioned and slightly on the
cherubic side, Father Kucera has
done very well with the English
language.
“I concentrate on what I’m
saying and I never permit myself
to lapse into a translation (even
to myself).
"It’s no good,” he proclaimed
with a typically American inflec
tion and accompanying gesture.
“No good at all to give up and
not work it out in English.”
He speaks Bohemian, German
and French and, of course, Latin.
« * »
Thanks, Everybody!
We’ve printed hundreds of
cards of thanks in the columns of
The Frontier for 50 cents a throw.
After an experience in this
place I am compelled to ask this
question: Where does one begin
to thank people for kindliness,
courtesies and care? There is
such a thing as space limitation
for these bits; certainly there’s
got to be a limit on how much
50 cents will buy.
Probably one should thank the
good folks who shelled out to
make the hospital the extraordi
nary physical plant that it is. I
wouldn’t want to overlook Ig
natz Heumesser, whose incessant
work out front with hose, hoe,
rake, lawnmower and other gar
den tools has enhanced the beau
ty and comfort of the hospital.
(You don’t fully appreciate the
beauty, either, unless you look
down on the winding ribbon-like
sidewalks, stately young trees
and lush grass.)
The Sisters of St. Francis? One
would be doing an injustice not
to write a book about them.
Sister M. Clotildis, the X-ray
technician (she came from Ger
many about 30 years ago), sum
med up her work this way:
Insure Your Future . . .
. . . with a Gc:J Education
ATTEND
WAYNE STATE
Fall Semester Opens September 6
Nebraska State Teachers College
Wayne, Nebraska
“There is so much misery and
suffering in the world there is
much satisfaction in being able
to help relieve some of it.”
There’s little Rev. W. B. Lamb,
the retired Protestant minister
w ho regularly trundles over to
the hospital, his arms laden with
gorgeous gladioli.
You’re in a different world up
here; maybe a little bit of heav
en.
■ ..
Mickey Stewart (no kin), who
lives out in the Phoenix neigh
borhood, on Sunday eveninjg was
in the room next door visiting
his wife, Betty, and their new
son, Jay Evan, weighing 7
pounds 4 ounces.
“Cal Stewart is in the next
room,’’ I heard her say in slight
ly raised voice. “Honey, I don’t
know what HE HAD, but we
have a darling baby boy!
“I don’t think Cal knows it.
But,” she continued, "he and I
are the only ones in the materni
ty ward!”
I exploded from the sickbed.
Somebody had made a horrible
mistake! How come the materni
ty ward with sinus trouble?
Finally I collected myself and
thought: What’s the difference?
Only one new mother on the
ward; only one baby in the
nursery; there’s lots of room;
these people aren’t about to make
a mistake like that.
When Mickey and his wife fi
nally came into my room I was
ready for HER!
I handed her a clipping torn
from the Sunday World-Herald,
The story told about an African
mother who gave birth to triplets
and within the hour was up and
about doing the family washing.
After Betty had read it, I crit
ically observed that modern Am
erican women are spoiled and
soft in this automatic, pushbut
ton age.
“Why, here at the hospital
you don’t even go down in the
basement and prepare your own
meals!” I said.
Whereupon she exploded.
I finally went to sleep trying
to give a maternity ward birth to
an idea that would improve The
Frontier.
Instead I came up with this
edition of News, Views & Gossip.
Fortions of it read like I’ve just
.aid an egg
—CAL STEWART
O’Neill News
Mr. and Mrs. A1 Hamik spent
Sunday in Pickstown and Ft.
Randall, S.D.
Mrs. Lorena Duffy and daugh
ter, Marilyn, of Casper, Wyo.,
arrived Saturday and will visit
for a week at the home of Mr.
and Mrs. Ralph MeElvain and
other relatives.
Mr. and Mrs. George Hammond
returned Saturday from a vaca
tion trip through the Black Hills.
Miss Delores Hamik spent the
weekend visiting her parents, Mr.
and Mrs. Frank Hamik, sr., in
Stuart.
Monuments of lasting beauty
made by skilled craftsmen ol
the J. F. Bloom Co. . . monu
ments from the factory to the
consumer. — Emmet Crabb, O'
Neill. phone 139-J. 37ti
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Fox and
Mr. and Mrs. Dever Fox were
Sunday visitors of Mr. and Mrs.
Robert Fox of Atkinson.
Cletus McGraw of Chicago, 111.,
and Miss Ruth Foley of Chicago,
I Your car is worth ■
hundreds over market
at Hudson Dealers
on powerful new
HORNETS, WASPS, JETS
products of American Motors
■ Enjoy instant-action power, low-built hug-the-road
B ride> beauty, luxury in any price field you choose.
H Standard trim and other ipeclficatlona and icceuoriei lubject to chanie without notice.
■ BIG TRADE-IN JAMBOREE AT
I GONDESINGER MOTOR CO.
B — Atkinson —
111., were Sunday night guests of
Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Carroll.
Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Froelich
returned Friday fom Chicago, 111.
Dr. and Ms. L. A. Burgess
plan to leave Saturday for Ro
chester, Minn., where they will
visit their daughter, Miss Joanne,
until Tuesday.
Friday overnight guests of Mr.
and Mrs. F. S. Brittell were Mr.
and Mrs. Lafe Culver, jr., of
Lusk, Wyo. They were on their
way to Ottumwa, la., where they
both will enroll in Christian Bi
ble college. Mrs. Culver, who is
Mrs. Brittell’s niece, is the for
mer Anita Vargason.
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Bow
ker and Mrs. H. J. Hammond left
Tuesday for a week’s vacation in
Colorado. In Denver they will
visit Mrs. Bowker’s aunts, the
Misses Grady. They plan to take
a few1 side trips.
Venetian blinds, prompt deliv
ery, made to measure, metal or
wood, all colors.—J. M. McDon
alds. tf
Mrs. D. A. Berg and family
returned Saturday to their home
in Mandan, N.D. They had been
visiting for three weeks with her
mother, Mrs. W. J. Biglin.
Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Miller
and family returned Saturday
from a 10-day vacation trip
through the Black Hills and Col
orado.
Mrs. James Donlin, Miss Mary
and Mr. and Mrs. Dale Curran
spent Tuesday in Sioux City.
Jack Everitt spent from Friday
until Sunday in Valentine where
I— —
0
o
he entertained with his guitar
and vocal selections at the rodeo
held there over the weekend.
Richard Graham left last
Thursday for Wayne where he
will enroll for the fall term at
Wayne State Teachers college.
He will be employed part time
by the Wayne Herald.
REX W. WILSON,
M.D.
ROBT. M. LANGDON,
M.D.
PHYSICIANS &
SURGEONS
128 W. Douglas St., O’Neill
Phone 138
-----.
-■ . - l
ANGUS BULL
SALE!
30 REGISTERED ANGUS
Top Breeding . . . Top Bulls
Reference Sire: Revolution's Bandolier Uth 1330339
Reference Sire: Bandolier 220th 1697407
O.
Reference Sire: Black Prince 7th of Angus Valley 1000512
Reference Sire: Effimerian 748004
Two - Year - Olds
These are the top bulls from our good herd and are the type
we feel will not only suit the ranchman but the Angus
breeders as well. These bulls are two years old and will
weigh from 1400 to 1600 lbs.
C
September 4, 1954 — 2:30 p.m. „c
LIVESTOCK AUCTION CO.
Valentine, Nebr.
EVERGREEN STOCK FARM
Marshalltown, Iowa
c*®5®$g»c
f‘ <**„ilt
H'e recom mP°rtant—
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your gas L°,Ural Gas Cn C°nf,oc'or or J’at
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eC^' **••«« ,M
°nrf p,o0e°, 0“'omof,( _
7-L o// °e* filters * °'led- ofo">ed
5. Inspect automatic control operation. An
electrical storm may have burned out transformers
or controls.
6. Have pilot lights lighted ahead of the rush
season, and have burner adjustment checked.
These six measures will help you enjoy
better heating.
In fairness to all, we service calls on a "first come—first
served ' basis. Naturally, we can't serve everyone on the first
cold day. So . . . /or your own comfort. . . call your favorite
heating contractor or local Kansas-Nebraska Notural Gas
Company manager today.
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e/veL cmt
I pay fool Uc-Qrf\d dome/ *
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For Dependable GAS Service
