Prairieland Talk . . .
Prairie Brings Visions of Past
By ROMAINE SAUNDERS. Retired. Former Editor The Frontier
LINCOLN—With two of my daughters I stood
on hallowed ground, each plucking a twig from
a tree planted by the hand of my father, that hand
long years motionless in death, one of six others
under the sod where O’Neill buries its dead.
Daughters—Mrs. L M. Rohrer and her hus
band of Los Alamos, N.M., and Mrs. H. E. Eno
and her husband of Lincoln— ' ~T T*
and I bad come to O’Neill to f
place a floral tribute to the
memory of our dead and stand
in silent meditation where their
remains now repose. One other
was in our group, Mrs. Alma
Jobst of Lincoln, a guest and
friend, who for the first time had
gotten away from the concrete
environment to look out across
the green robed vista of open
prairieland.
The six of us loading aboard Romalne
a late model car with New Mex- Saunders
ico license plates and Mr. Rohrer at the steering
wheel, the floral tributes laid as a token of respect
in memory of the loved and lost, we rolled east
tour miles and one mile north.
Seventy-odd years ago Prairieland Talker
went through the experience out there that none
but a pioneer homestead lad has ever known.
Standing out there looking over the vast open
prairie came visions of the past.
On the east section line lay the homestead of
my father, John George Saunders, a Civil War
veteran and member of the Grand Army of the
Republic. Just across the section line to the west
was the homestead of W. D. (“Doc”) Mathews,
who founded The Frontier in 1880. Where today
are the pioneers?
That open country lies today unoccupied as
it did a hundred years ago save for grazing herds
where buffalo and deer roamed in the long ago.
While daughters gathered each a prairie rose, the
lad of other years stood in silent awe and looked
out across the landscape robed in silken green as
memories of joy and pain, of privation and loneli
ness, of adventure and tragedy, of youthful tun
and budding romance flashed again in visions
out of memory’s treasured store.
__ tkn Uirfh
And a a Ug liters nave Hiving*. ^.
way again we rolled into Chambers, where Mrs.
Ted Platt graciously showed Mrs. Rohrer and Mrs.
Eno through the house that had been their home
40 years ago on our ranch 17 miles further on,
while Ted entertained Prairieland Talker.
Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Bly of Swan pre
cinct, neighbors when I lived out there, were in
Chambers that day and in greeting them it was
noted with pleasure that Raymond has survived
some 13 years assessing the taxpayers without
a scratch.
On the highway once more, mile-after-mile
was left behind and then another stop and Harold
Eno had his first experience opening a gate such
as the cow country fences have and we drove in
where herds now have taken over. Daughters got
out, set foot and walked about on hallowed ground
where their childhood had been spent and where
treasured memories still linger. Now again we
are back in the crowded haunts of men.
* • *
Since John McBride was elected O’Neill’s first
mayor there has been about everything from mar
keting lumpjaw beef to coining lead dollars for
city officials to deal with and now a sitdown strike
of city employees rates as a tame affair. The city
council voted that the demands of the “sit down
group could not be granted and the strikers were
dismissed as city employees. Seven local patriots
had been on the pay roll functioning as appointed
officials at a few hundred each a month doing what
Charley Hall once did as street commissioner, wa
ter and light and pump house roustabout and town
marshal for $50 a month. Meeting Mayor Schaffer
on the street when in O’Neill recently all was
calm and serene as we visited, the mayor con
demning no one but expressed regrets that the de
mands of the discharged group were such that
the city was unable to comply with.
The mournful call of the mourning dove
floats from tree-to-tree when daylight breaks
through the gloom of night. As if to arouse sleepy
heads the winged creature’s notes float out on the
morning air until sunrise, and as the orb of day
shines again upon the land the doves cease to
serenade, conscious of a duty performed or giving
it up as hopeless to route out the sleepers.
The capital city is to have a 12-story structure
combining the city administration and county
courthouse. Another city problem is where to
dump garbage. . . Terry Carpenter, the free lance !
in Scotts Bluff county, is a target for a ministerial
association whose members are out after the ter
rible Terry's scalp for alleged violation of state
liquor laws. . . One primary election candidate
spent over $2,000 and failed to win a place on the
November ballot. . . In the lion country of East
Africa over 40 natives have been killed and eaten
by lions, and the government calls for a prototype ,
of Teddy Roosevelt to come in and kill off the
maneaters. . . Over 500 cases of measles reported
in Lincoln the last week in May. . . A boy on the
Iowa side of the Missouri fell in the river, grabbed
a floating log and exclaimed, “Glad to see you!" j
when rescuers from the Nebraska side rowed out
in a boat to bring him to shore.
• • •
In the death of Bard Hanna another of the
pioneers of the Chambers community travels the
last mile. In the days of political struggles in Holt
county when partisan leaders were pawing the
air promoting their party interests, we always de
pended on Bard to deliver the republican vote in
his precinct. Mr. Hanna's business besides his ac
tivity in politics was moving buildings, one engi
neering fete recalled being moving a building on
Fourth street in O’Neill to Chambers. The building
in O’Neill had been occupied by a saloon but was
put to use in Chambers where no saloon has ever
been in operation as a hardware store. Bard took
an interest in collecting bits of relics of historical
interest, one such being a sliver from the whistling
post near Bassett where Kid Wade was hung a
night in February, 1884.
* * *
Five prairieland patriots down at Omaha
stand on their rights as American citizens and will
go the limit to demand the right to hold jobs with
out joining a labor union. Employed by the Union
Pacific railway, the railroad workers’ union has
sought bv means of a U.S. supreme Amrt decree
to have the men fired or force them to join the
union. The attorney for the five men seeks a re
hearing before the high court which has held
that state right-to-work laws do not apply to rail
road. The men say they have nothing against
unions but resent having union membership cram
med down uieir tnroats. the citizens or Nebraska
adopted the right-to-work amendment by an ov
erwhelming vote. Shall judicial decree annul the
voice of the people?
* * *
The group that has been active for years
promoting plans to revamp our Gregorian cal
endar and thus change or bring to an end the I
historic weekly cycle has reorganized under a
new name, now to be known as the International
World Calendar association. Its main office has
been moved from New York to Ottawa, Canada,
Arthur J. Hills, a Canadian, being the president
of the reorganized association, the former pres
ident, Miss Elizabeth Achelis, maybe giving it
up as hopeless, retiring to put up with the calen
dar week as it is.
• • *
Seated at a bus loading point on 48th street
with a friend settling world problems, when a
lady from O’Neill came up and greeted me and
we had a visit. Mrs. Fred Holsclaw was in the
city, bringing Mr. Holsclaw to Lincoln for med
ical care. He was in a hospital and she was
staying with her daughter, Mrs. Murdy, who
makes her home in Lincoln. At the time of our
street corner visit her husband was undergoing
a medical checkup and might have to remain for
a time in the hospital.
* * *
Topheavy government—national, state and lo
cal. Law makers piling up stacks of legal require
ments, public officials issuing directives, taxation
becoming a burden. Now here comes a group to
add to the topheavy load, proposing an amendment
to double the membership of our state legislature,
pay its members $25 a day and $1,200 expense al
lowance. If the group promoting the movement
secures the required number of names to its peti
tion the amendment will appear on the November
ballot.
• • •
Somewhere in the hills down in Howard
county a tusk of a prehistoric beast believed to
have been an elephant has been dug from the
earth. The specimen is placed with like relics of
the past at the state university museum.
Editorial . . .
Object of Education
Hon. Clarence A. Davis, Lincoln lawyer who<
has been acting secretary of the interior and cur
rently is undersecretary, this week addressed the
Nebraska university alumni assembled at Lincoln.
His talk appealed to us.
Incidentally, Undersecretary Davis and O’
Neill’s Rev. J. LaVeme Jay, Methodist leader, were
conferred doctor of divinity degrees by that uni
versity on the same platform.
Back to the Davis talk:
“If there is a purpose to higher education, it
is to enable people to live more satisfactorily,
more happily and more completely,” he declared.
The purpose of education is to give people
wisdom, he added. Although many search for this
wisdom, few find it.
The speaker declared that rapid technilogical
advances, the expansion of law and a striving
toward universal education have not decreased
crime, divorce nor economic strife.
Mere accumulation of knowledge is no guar
antee of a satisfactory life. The missing element is
the instinct of religious worship, according to Da
vis.
“The church colleges do not face the require
ment of being free from religious influences which
tax-supported institutions must meet,” he said.
Church colleges can clearly establish a curricu
lum for Christian education.
“This is in marked contrast to many institu
tions which have little, if any control of the influ
ences to which students are subjected or the phi
losophy which they are taught.
“To me, the infiltration of alien economic and
political philosophy and anti-religious teaching
„ nullifies the benefits which mere knowledge may
bestow. One of the manifestations of this diffi
culty grows out of that vague and undefinable
term called ‘academic freedom.’
“My question is, whose freedom?
“The freedom of a teacher to study as he
pleases, to think as he pleases and to speak as he
pleases? Yes.
“But his freedom to teach doctrines contrary
to the policy of his institution? Contrary to ac
cepted community standards? Contrary to and in
imical to the government of the United States?
No."
>-.. . ■'
On Roads
(From Dakota County Star)
Senator Carl Curtis of Nebraska made a wise
statement, we believe, when he said he does not
want a super interstate highway program which
will deemphasize the needs for primary and sec
ondary roads in Nebraska vital to our local econ
omy.
“Our normal business activities and good lo
cal communication must be preserved,” said Curtis.
“At the same time we must protect the future
welfare of thousands of small businesses in Ne
braska, so that large national networks cannot
pre-empt business opportunities along an inter
state highway system." —
The very same thinking was behind the move
to maintain highway 35 through the small towns
in West Dakota county.
Senator Curtis is working for the good of Ne
braskans if he follows that trend.
The Omaha World-Herald says the small high
schools are somewhat to blame for the fact that
many of the students entering the universities and
colleges need refresher courses on the three “R’s”.
The need for refresher stuides wasn’t as pronounc
ed a few years ago before the do-gooders began
eliminating the small high schools.
CARROLL W. STEWART, Editor and Publisher
ARTHUR J. NOECKER and ESTHER M. ASHER,
Associate Publishers
Entered at the postoffice In O’Neill, Holt coun
ty, Nebraska, as second-class mail matter under
the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. This news
paper is a member of the Nebraska Press Associa
tion, 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 subscriptions
are paid in advance
Audited (ABC) Circulation—3,530 (Sept SO, 1955)
Bride in Lynch Church Rite
In a 6 o'clock ceremony performed in the Assumption Blessed
Virgin Mary Catholic church at Lynch Saturday. May 26, Miss
Geraldine Courtney, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Courtney of
Lynch, became the bride of Sidney Frahm, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Floyd Frahm of Page.—O'Neill Photo Co.
When You and I Were Young . . .
‘Lumber Magnates’
O’Neill Visitors
Saberson, Gallagher
Circulate
50 Years Ago
Ray Saberson and R. E. Galla- |
gher, the Page lumber magnates, j
were circulating among friends;
and admirers at the Hub Satur
day. . . Miss Dorothy Testman!
and Miss Lenora Daly departed
for Kearney to attend the state
summer normal. . . Marriage li
censes were issued to Merlen A.
Richards and Jessie F. Brock,
both of Atkinson; John Harmon
and Hermena Preble, both of
Bassett, and Thomas Flannery and
Susan G. Crowley, Frank P. Dlu
gosh and Theodosia Hytrek, all of
Stuart. . . Dave Yantzie cut Mr.
Dodge a good big load of wood
Monday. . . A tornado near Ewing
reduced Ralph Butler’s house to
kindling.
20 Y ears Ago
Mrs. F. J. Dishner is head of
the ladies’ activities for the an
nual gold tournament at the
Country club. . . During the
month of May 63 new cars and
trucks wrere registered in the
county treasurer’s office. . . A
shower was given for Mr. and
Mrs. Harold Baker at the home
of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Da
vid Bellar of Pleasant Dale. . .
Mr. and Mrs. Bill Credle and Ju
dith and Hugh O’Donnell of Om
aha spent the weekend with Mr.
and Mrs. J. F. O’Donnell and
other relatives. . . Mrs. William
Nollkamper, 81, died at her home
in Omaha.
10 Years Ago
Robert Ott, formerly of the
army air force, has accepted a
radio operator’s post with Am
erican Airlines. . . Mrs. George L.
Fink, 44, of Page, W. R. (“Rafe”)
Shaw, 64, of Bassett, Anton Sou
kup, 87, of Page and Thomas
Connolly, 60, all died. . . Miss
Constance Biglin and Dale French,
Miss Ava Jones and R. V. Crum
ly of Page, Miss Betty June Wy
ant and Larry Bourne and Miss
Teresa Ramold of Emmet and
Raymond Schaaf of Stuart were
united in marriage. . . Jack Harty
submitted to an emergency ap
pendectomy in Sioux City.
One Year Ago
Rev. Glenn Kennicott of Cairo
has been assigned to the O’Neill
Emmet Methodist churches. . .
Miss Isa Brundage, 81, who was
reared in northern Holt county,
died. . . The Jaycees accepted
their charter from Hugh McKen
na, national president and a na
tive O’Neillite. . . Miss Dorothy
Donohoe was graduated from St.
Catherine’s school of nursing in
Omaha. . . Dale Garwood and
Miss Marvalene Cuatt, both of
Amelia, were married. . . Carolyn
McKenzie celebrated her eighth
birthday anniversary.
To Lincoln—
Mrs. Harden Anspash went to
Lincoln last Thursday. Mrs
Keith Anspach and boys return
ed home with her. Keith Ans
pach will arrive today (Thurs
day).
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Forsch of
Butte visited Mr. and Mrs. Har
den Anspach Friday evening.
Mumps Interfere—
Mr. and Mrs. George C. Rob
ertson, who had expected their
daughter and her children from
Caliilornia this week, received
news that their little grand
daughters had contracted mumps
and will not be able to come
when they had expected to.
Mr. and Mrs. Roy A. Worth en
tertained for dinner Sunday Mr.
and Mrs. Ben Wetzler and Mr.
and Mrs. Fred Lindberg.
Weds German Girl
in Clearwater
Church Rites
EWING— Miss Elizabeth Ver
hune, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Johann Verhune of Essen Ger
many, and Donald E. Spahn, son
of Mr. and Mrs. Ewald Spahn of
Ewing, were wed in a quiet twi
light ceremony at the Christ Lu
theran church of Clearwater, Fri
day, June 1, at 7 o’clock. Rever
end Martens, pastor of the
church, read the wedding vows.
Attendants were Doris Ann
Spahn, sister of the bridegroom,
and Henry Lange, jr., his cousin.
The bride wore a simple white
afternoon dress with a long fit
ted bodice trimmed with rhine
stones and a full gathered skirt.
She wore a small white hat and
a corsage of white roses. Her at
tendant was dressed in a pale
pink afternoon dress and hat and
wore a deep pink carnation cor
sage.
After the ceremony, around 80
relatives and friends honored the
young couple at a reception in the
church basement. Many relatives
from O’Neill and Norfolk were
present. During the reception
cablegrams of congratulations
and well wishes were received by
the bride from her family and
friends in her home town in Ger
many.
The newlyweds became ac
quainted while Mr. Spahn was
visiting relatives in Essen while
on furlough during his 17 months
service with the 66th ordnance
company in Salzburg, Austria.
After his discharge and return
home in April, 1955, the young
Mrs. Spahn immigrated to Amer
ica. She arrived here in April,
1956.
After a short honeymoon the
bride and bridegroom will reside
on the Ewald Spahn farm south
of Ewing. Mr. and Mrs. Ewald
Spahn and Doris Ann will soon
move to a new home being built
on the Spahn brothers’ ranch.
t
Willing Workers
Have Club Band—
The Willing Workers 4-H club
of O’Neill had its fifth meeting
Tuesday. May 22, at the court
house. Members answered roll
call with a Nebraska flower.
Mrs. A. Neil Dawes, general
club leader, said the club had
done good work ;n making $17 at
the International Harvester fair.
Ilene Nelson, health chairman,
gave a tip on health. Mrs. Dawes
announced that boys’ and girls'
singing would start soon in prepa
ration for achievement day.
The Willing Workers 4-H band
has had two practices and accom
plished a great deal. Twelve
members are in the band.
The Peacocks furnished recrea
tion Mrs Dawes served lunch.—
By Gary Gillespie, news reporter.
i O’Neill News
Mr and Mrs. Earl J. Rodman
and family met her brother and
family, Dr and Mrs. E. J. Bild
and children of Wausa, in Page
for memorial day. They visited
at the Charles Cronk home and
with other relatives and friends.
William J. Froelich, jr., and his
fiancee, Miss Kathleen Seymour,
left Tuesday; he to Georgetown
university, Washington, DC., for
the summer session, and Miss
' Seymour for Grosse Pointe,
Mich., her home.
Sunday guests of Mr. and Mrs.
Dwight Worcester were Mr. and
Mrs. Albert Suing and family of
Beresford, S.D., and Mr. and!
Mrs. John Janousek and family
of Gregory, S.D
Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Mathews
of Lincoln spent Sunday evening
; at Mr. and Mrs. Dean Streeter’s
home enroute to a vacation in
various points in South Dakota.
Mr. and Mrs Earl Wicker of
Seattle, W3sh„ came the first
part of the week and visited Mr.
and Mrs Roy Karr of Spencer
On Friday and Saturday they
visited Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Worth.
Gordon Watson accompanied
his cousin, Dale Watson of
Plainvicw, to the Sioux City live
stock market as spectators.
Memorial day guests of Mrs.
M J. Wallace were Mr. and Mrs.
Harold Connors and sons of Gree-;
ley. j
Venetian blinds, prompt deliv
ery, made to measure, metal or
wood, all colors.—J. M. McDon
alds. &
Mrs. Virgil Tomlinson and
daughters were in Omaha Friday
to see her father, Earl Watson
of Inman, who is a patient at
Clarkson Memorial hospital. He is
•getting along fine."
J. B. Grady w'ent to Ft. Dodge,
la., Saturday to get Mrs. Grady
and sons, who had been visiting
her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John
Prav, for two weeks.
The Sylvester Zakrzewski fam
ily attended the wedding Satur
day in Butte of their granddaugh
ter, Miss Shirley Pod any, and
Don Quick at Sts, Peter and Paul
Catholic church.
Mr. and Mrs. Bennie Dryak and
daughters of Verdigrc visited Mrs
Ethel Frisch and sons last Thurs
day.
Mr. and Mrs. Ed Campbell ex
pect to leave for Omaha Friday,
June 8 to meet their son, Edward
of Green Bay, Wise. He expects
to spend about a week here.
Money to Loan
— on —
AUTOMOBILES
TRUCKS
TRACTORS
EQUIPMENT
FURNITURE
Central Finance
Corp.
C. E. Jones, Manager
O’Neill Nebraska
SPRINKLER ‘ FURROW • FLOOD IRRIGATION
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Outlaw ImpL Co.
O’Neill, Nebr.
Royal Theater
—O’NEILL. NEBR. —
Thurs. June 7
Family Night
George Simenon’s searing novel
THE BOTTOM OF THE BOTTLE
Color by DeLuxe, Cinemascope.
Van Johnson, Ruth Roman, Jo
seph Cotten, Jack Carson with
Margaret Hayes, Bruce Bennett.
Family admitted for 2 adult tick
ets: adults 50c; children 12c
Fri.-Sat. June 8-9
Big Double Bill
The target of a gunman’s
vengeance
THE SILVER STAR
Starring Edgar Buchanan, Ma
rie Windsor, Lon Chaney, Earle
Lyon, Richard Bartlett, Barton
MacLane.
— also —
Giant spider—deadly accident of
science — and every second it
grows bigger!
TARANTULA
Towering over cities! Even dy
namite can’t stop it! Thousands
flee its terror. Starring John Agar.
Mara Corday, Leo G. Carroll,
with Nestor Paiva, Ross Elliott.
Adults 50c; children 12c; matinee
Sat. 2:30. All children under 12
free when accompanied by
parent
Sun.-Mon.-Tues. June 10-11-12
Twentieth Century-Fox presents
the entertainment event the world
is waiting for! Roger and
Hammerstein’s—
CAROUSEL
Color by DeLuxe. Beyond any
thing you have ever seen in a
theater! Starring Gordon MacRae,
Shirley Jones with Cameron Mit
chell, with Barbara Ruick, Clara
mae Turner, Robert Rounseville
and Gene Lockhart. You never
dreamed an entertainment could
be so wonderfully exciting as
Carousel—in Cinemascope 55!
Adults 50c; children 12c; matinee
Sun. 2:30. All children under 12
free when accompanied by
parent.
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