Prairieland Talk
A Bit of Ancient History
By ROMAINE SAUNDERS. Retired, Former Editor The Frontier
LINCOLN—A few months ago I walked down
the north side of Douglas street from Fifth to
Third I had passed that way in the long ago
when a forgotten generation tread the highway of
frontier life .
Where now is John McCafferty, the hard
ware merchant and maker of hay burners; the
Mitchell hotel is gone, so is
John Mail's harness shop;
Crus Hanlon’s few boards he
called a lumber yard and
Pat Hagerty’s trading post
where a modern hotel now
stands’’
Acruas the street on
west a misfit in frontier life,
John McDonough, editing a
newspaper, Palmanteer and
Ed Kelly the frontier fi
nancial wizards in the bank;
J. P, Mann, the mercantile Saunders
prince of a village called Romaine
O'Neill; the Thomas drug store, M. M. Sullivan,
Neil Brennan, the Arcade hotel where tragedy
struck when cowboys flashed six shooters over
who was the favorite of a charming maiden of
the hotel dining room.
I go across to the south side of the street.
Where now is Jim Campbell and his shanty-like
structure where for twobits you got a meal such as
is never seen today? And Fred Gatz at the meat
block with carving knife to cut you a round
steak an inch thick for a thin dime, and the guy
named Grant with a few sticks of candy in his
show case, Billy Ryan’s thirst quenching empor
ium; on across Fourth street to the Holt County
Bank where Dave Derr cashed your check until
they ran out of funds; above the bank a strange
character from old Virginia, precise in dress and
ahoes polished. What did such as he find at
tractive in pioneer days? But he stayed, father
ed the section Kinkaid homestead law, lies under
the sod up on the hill.
Barnet and Freese lumber yard, Charley
Shram and Billy Slocum with a stock of cowboy
boots and hats and ladies’ shoes and where Billy
got a rap over the head with a shoe in the hand
o fa young miss whom he was fitting with new
shoes Frank Toohill was next in apron and
cleaver at the town’s other meat market.
A bit of ancient history.
• • •
The annual spring meeting of the Nebras
ka State Historical society will be held in Fre
mont, May 19. The Dodge County Historical
society will be in on the gathering in full force
and furnish much of the Interesting features
of the gathering history-minded patriots
• • •
Ft. Atkinson of the long ago up north of
Omaha before there was an Omaha on the map
will be a national shrine if Nebraska’s two Unit
ed States senators succeed in securing federal
funds for that purpose. It is the long dead and
forgotten men in military uniform and the head
quarters where they caroused 150 years ago that
our “history makers” build monuments for. Many
would like to see somewhere out on the prairie
land a monument where stands a figure of a wo
man in calico gown and sunbonnet and by her
.side the figure of a booted man dressed in shirt
and jeans, a homestead couple symbolic of pio
neers from whose toil-worn hands prairieland
dwellers of today have their heritage.
The question for the consideration of the ex
pert in such things was something like this: How
can husbands be made to understand the extreme
importance to women of tenderness and loving
words?
I don’t know what the expert thought of It,
but wives understand that it was "tenderness and
loving words” they fell for in the romantic court
ship days And it is of ancient days, as it has
been said that until Hyman brought the love-de
lighted hour “there was no joy in Eden’s holy
realm.” Out of far away China, centuries before
the bias-eyed Orientals turned red, came “lov
ing words” timeless in spirit in these lines:
The morning glory climbs above my head,
Pale flowers of white and purple, blue and red.
I am disquieted.
Down in the withered grasses something stirred;
I thought it was his footfall that I heard
Then a grasshopper chirred.
I climbed the hill just as the new moon showed.
I saw him coming on the southern road.
My heart lays down its load.
And this found written bn the wall of Pom
peii that was buried when Mount Vesuvius blew
up: If any man should seek my girl from me to
turn, on far off mountain bleak, may Love the
scoundrel bum!
• * •
California now has a population close to 13
million. Increasing annually in population more
than all other states. New York still stands at
the top with a population of over 16 million.
Pennsylvania comes next with a population of
a few thousand less than 11 million, and Illi
nois has 9‘/2 million. We still have elbow room
and breathing space in Nebraska.
• • • •
As is the habit of the “tightwad” I was re
luctant about reaching to the rear for the bill
fold, but was short two pennies in the pocket
purse to pay for the purchase at the grocery
counter. “Take it along—I believe in feeding the
hungry”, said the white-aproned proprietor of the
small store. But I reached for the billfold. Then
he told me he had just supplied a hungry fam
ily—father, mother and six children—with some
thing to eat, remarking “I’ll never be rich.” He
gives to the needy he learns about.
By late January there were 1,400 workers in
Lincoln out of jobs. Community chest supervis
ors, Salvation Army, other charitable organiza
tions and individuals know it continues today
as it was nearly 2,000 years ago when the Lord
said:
"The poor ye have always with you.
Maybe—no, not maybe, but definitely sup
ply the needs at home out of those billion-dollar
“foreign aid” funds before any is sent abroad.
* * *
Two Nebraska “corn country” farms, 160 acres
each, sold at public sale—the improved quarter
with habitable buildings selling for $32,000 and
the other with no buildings selling for $26,000.
A dry season or two has not reduced land values
in Nebraska’s farming districts.
• • •
Two men walking the desert trail. One sees
the cactus gorgeous bloom; the other sees the
thorn.
» * •
Guns that “were not loaded” are said to take
an annual toll in the U. S. of over 2,200 lives,
mostly those of teenage boys.
Editorial
Gallant Fight for Life
The heart surgeons offered only an outside
chance of success last week when Herschel H
Miles, prominent Dorsey farmer, entered an
Omaha hospital for surgery.
The operation involved the delicate heart
valve. Mr. Miles was aware of the gravity of
the situation because, he told his family, he had
been seriously ill since Christmas. He was aware,
loo, that the ailment dated back a number of
years.
In spite of all that medical science could do,
Mr. Miles dic'd at the age of 50 while under sur
gery.
Here was a man who was a fine father, an
esteemed neighbor, a successful businessman and
a lover of the soil. He tended his land as though
it were a sacred trust; he found those practices
profitable and he induced others to follow.
Here also was a man whose neighborly deeds
transcended ordinary bounds . . . aiding the wo
min who livmt alnnc down the road . . mercy
missions for friends in need.
Here was a man who had known bitter
tragedy and harShip in his own family . . . stead
fastly carried on . . . shared . . . worked con
stantly for finer things . • . only to succumb, gal
lantly and dramatically, in what turned out to be
a hopeless fight for life.
His death came on the eve of the start of the
annual heart fund drive.
The bereaved widow and members of the
family requested after his death that any
forthcoming memorials or tributes be made in the
form of contributions to the heart fund.
Lengthening Days
Already the days begin to lengthen. And a
few minutes more of daylight, plus the promise
of added hours of it to come, brighten our out
look disproportionately, be we ever so “realistic”
about the matter.
To be sure, grim uncertainties cast as lengthy
shadows as before. Half an hour more of sun
light or a longer twilight at the end of day won’t
end the cold war, restore free-world unity, or
beat inflation
/vnu yei, uae uie reverse oi some aarn
thought that troubles a happy day while remain
ing only half formed, so the consciousness that
days are getting longer steels into our forebodings,
making us doubt them without quite knowing whyj
Farmers everywhere take a practical view of
the longer day, but the view from the front porch
also becomes more important.
Longer days mean more or less to us accord
ing to our occupations and habitations. Ttuo'
tell the. New Yorker that there is something more
than an end of the day at the end of his subway
ride. The Londoner looks forward to twilights
that last till 10 or 11 o’clock. Parisians will
soon be strolling again through the varied vistas
of their city in that familiar coppery glow of a
warm day’s sunset.
It is not essential to know why we somehow
feel better about everything as the longer days
come. And it is a mistake to discount our feel
ings the moment we can trace them simply to a
few added moments or hours of light in a day’s
span. Feelings like this mark men as kin not
enly with their neighbors near and far but with
men of all time, too.
So let's just feel good about it—this lengthen
ing or tne days—as our kind have done for un
recorded ages
The Coaching Business
(Wahoo Newspaper)
A rash of coaching changes has broken out
in the major colleges of the country. We are
speaking primarily of football coaches.
The thought has occurred to us—in watching
the manoeuvering now in progress—that the
coaching profession is a highly precarious one,
not just as far as the coaches ate concerned but
also highly precarious as far as schools are con
cerned.
Most people know the coaching profession is
a tough one as far as the coaches are concerned,
i But consider the question from the other side. A
college gives a coach a contract for three or five
years and that is supposed to solve the coaching
problem of the college for this period of time.
But the contract does not always accomplish this
* end.
r_a._i 1 m a* _ _ _ i < . . . a
XUJIV.UU, li Hit tVKatll LVI1VCI 1U.U gcii Ct UtUVI
offer, he will go and talk with the officials of the
other school, get the best he can out of them,
and then possibly leave after staying maybe a
year, two years, or six months.
The college, meanwhile, cannot do anything
about the coach’s breaking his contract since there
is no way in which is can successfully enforce
the contract.
No Alternative
After discussing the relative merits of a
sales tax, an income tax and a combination tax,
the Fairbury Journal makes the following editor
ial comment:
The whole trouble is we just don't like taxes,
' but taxes will always be with us, so the only
thing to do is to adopt the system that will raise
1 a comparaively large amount of revenue as pain
lessly as possible. In times of crop failure and
depression the property tax is too frequently a
! tax on capital which is unjust.
The income tax is a tax on income and is
regulated by the amount of the income and the
tax rate. If there is no net income there is no
tax. The sales tax is a tax on purchases, and
this too is regulated to some extent by income.
What’s in a name? Two street names that
we’ve noted in our reading are Pumpkin Delight
Lane, in Milford, Conn., and Roast Meat Road, in
Killingsworth, Conn.
I
■
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
When You ind 1 Were Young . . .
Evans Gets Patent
on Rai! Door Lock
Mr s. G. C. Hazelet Off
for Alaska
50 Y'ears Ago
Ralph Evans, son of Mr and
Mrs. W. T. Evans, proprietors <,f
the Evans hotel, has paVnied a
grain door lock for railroad cars
. Mrs. G. C. Hazelet left for
New York to join her husband
They will leave for their home in
[ Alaska. . . Miss Addie Wrc-dc
and Clyde Miuman were married
Wednesday, February 6 . The
! infant child of the George Godel
| of Pheonix has been very sick
...LA. Simonson is doing a
cood business at horse shoeing
lately as the roads are rough
and icy. . William H. Biddle
comb and Pearl Swain, both of
Ewing, were granted a marriage
license. John Twyford aid
Colmer Ross called at Henry
Twyford’s recently. . . Za^h Wood
of New York, L. C. Wood ol
Page and John H. Wood ol
Ewing held a reunion in Ewmg
20 Y'ears Ago
Deaths: C D. Keyes of Inman.
Mrs. R. H. Murray. . . Fred Juhr
ing and Charles Ross told how
they got to town despite the
huge drifts. “It was easy," they
said. They drove u,p the Eagle
until they came to a bridge. They
took the bank until they passed
the bridge and then took to the
Eagle again . . Roy William
Carroll* received his master’s de
gree from th» University of Ne
braska. . . Coldest temperature
this week: 15 degrees below zero
. The O’Neill Recreation club
consists of the Dramatic club.
Art club, Boxing club and Handi
craft club.
10 Y’ears Ago
Betty Marie Storjohann and
Helen Marie Hagensick received
bachelor degrees at the Univer
sity of Nebraska. . Deaths:
Mrs. Clara Ellen Bell of Cham
bers; Walter Scott Mordhorst, 65;
Mrs. Edward Fees, 82, of Cham
bers; Judge Robert R. Mullen, sr.,
69. of Alice, Tex.; Mrs. James
O’Donnell of Hamburg, la.; Wil
liam Gumb, 86, of Chambers.
Jean and James Hickey, twins,
celebrated their eighth birthday
anniversary at a theater oarty
for 28 guests
One Year Ago
Deaths: Levi Yantzie, 66; Mrs.
Ray Kurtz, 74. “Jim” F. Regal.
81; Leo M. Hanna, 57, of Cham
Echoes from the Valley
‘Mom, a Tumbleweed!’
By -MRS. MERRILL ANDERSON
The following incident happen
ed in the pioneer days. This ac
count was taken from an old
scrap book belonging to the late
r'ioyd Crawford of Lynch.
In the early seventies, C. P.
Berry and wife moved to Niobra
ra from Iowa. They came by
covered wagon and brought their
milk cow.
Mr. Berry died a short time la
ter, leaving Mrs. Berry with sev
eral small children.
She kept the cow picketed on a
rope on a nearby hillside. It was
the duty of the seven-year-old
to watch that the cow didn’t be
come tangled in the rope.
One day' she called to her
mother from the yard where she
was playing, telling of a big tum
bleweed near the cow. The moth
er, thinking nothing of the ex
clamation, replied: ’’Run on and
play. A tumblew’eed is nothing to
ne afraid of."
Sometime later, Mrs. Berry no
ticiwi th** cnvir w9c onnp thp turn
bleweed was found over the hill
and tracks showed an Indian hac
moved the tumbleweed slowij
along, hiding behind it.
The sly visitor had pulled the
picket pin arul gradually led the
cow' over the hill.
Cow and captor were ‘.racket
some distance but were nevei
found
Mr. Crawford related many in
teresting facts concerning brushe;
with Indians when he was s
youngster, living with his pioneei
parents in northern Holt county.
He recalled the Indians invad
ing their home three diffren
times, taking all the furniture
each time.
A favorite tactic was to threat
en cutting off the little girl’s
braids with a butcher knife, or
similar threats to frighten them.
Children in those days didn’1
need TV or mystery stories for
excitement, but coped with i‘
about every day.
City’s Founder
Colorful Leader
By OR. JAMES C. OLSON
Supt.. State Historical Soc.
One of the most colorful lead
ers in early development of Ne
braska was Gen. John O’Neill,
founder of O’Neill.
Born in Ireland March 9,
1834, he was only about six
weeks-old when his father died
of the plague. His mother soon
went to America, but John re
mained in Ireland •with his
grandfather until 1848. During
his youth in Ireland he became
imbued with the ideas of the
Irish Independence movement.
In the United States, O’Neill
started a military career, join
ing a cavalry' regiment and vol
unteering for duty with Gen.
Albert Sydney Johnston in the
campaign against the Mormons
in 1857. He was disappointed by
the lack of action on this cam
bers; Mrs. Paul C. Young, 53, of
Doniphan; Charles Montgomery,
59. of Venus. . . Mr. and Mrs.
Anton Nissen of Page celebrat
id their golden wedding anni
. versary. . An explosion occur
j ri d at the Atkinson paint fat
j tory, causing damages of about
$1000.
paign, but he was in the army
stationed at San Francisco. Calif.
in the spring of 1861 when the
Civil war broke out.
O'Neill went East and parti
cipated actively in the war un
til 1864, compiling an out
standing military record.
When he retired from the army
he received a government ap
pointment and lived in Nash
ville, Tenn., until he became
involved as a leader in the Fen
ian movement His Fenian act
vity’ was a manifestation of his
feelings for his Irish fellow
countrymen which was perhaps
the most outstanding aspect of
his life. In 1866 and again in
1870 and 1871 he led Fenian at
tacks on Canada. These failed
and he lost his place as a leader
in the Fenian movement; he be
came interested in the idea of
colonizing immigrants and Irish
from tho eastern mines and cities
on western farms. It is this as
pect of his career that brought
him into the orbit of Nebraska
history.
After extensive travel through
the midwest, he decided that Ne
braska was the ideal location for
such colonies and he started pro
moting Irish colonies in Nebras
ka. In many ways, General
O’Neill was a typical land pro
moter and colonizer. He spent a
considerable amount of time and
, energy' lecturing in Eastern cities
to attract settlers.
He also wrote and published
descriptions of the area that
he was promoting to present it
in very glowing terms, sueh as
his “Northern Nebraska as a
Home for Immigrants.'*
He was a better and more suc
cessful promoter than most,
however. He was sincerely in
terested in the welfare of his
colony and colonists and unstint
ingly put his own resources in
to the projects he sponsored He
also expressed his Interest by
living in the colony that he
founded
In general histones of the
United States, O'Neil! is alto
gether ignored or his name is
made a synonym for foolish fu
t.tity in relation to the ill-fated
Fenian movement In Nebraska
history, however, he has a much
more secure place as a colonmr
and promoter. He had the ma
jor hand in the settlement ot
JIM
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