Prairieland 1 alk—
‘Dugout’ for Hancock's Father
KOMAINE SAUNDERS, 4110 South 51st St., Lincoln 6. Nebr.
t I NODI A Th> store hi- appeared in print
A native son irni daughter of Holt county for the
past quarter century .*it there in the crowded hu
•
Dus Angeles, where Mr. and Mrs. Claude Han
cock made their home
They have traveled the highway ot lift togeth
er for a half century, starting
in the village in the charm- ■**
ing Inman community where
flows the silvery Elkhorn. And
I wonder if at times there
comes to Claude and Stella
out there in those crowded
haunts visions and longings
for the scenes of their youth
on green rolled prairies of
Holt county?
(to to the north Ixjundary
section line of O'Neill, travel
that section line sixmil <? Saunders
east There more than 7U
years ago the father of Claude Hancock holed up ;
in a “dugout” holding down a homestead^ A few ,
others in a wide radius did likewise and four kids
of these homesteaders were taught from the school
books of that remote period, my respected sire
wearing a GAR badge being the teacher, and bis
homestead atxxie two miles or more northwest of
school treasurer’s dugout being also the school
It was my assignment at the end of the month,
just two comprising the school term, to mount a
horse and ride over to Treasurer Hancock’s trea
sure vault and get tlie two ten-dollar bills and
take them home to dad, his month s pay.
Claude hadn’t at that time appeared on the
prairieland scene. And now may I reach a hand
across prairieland, mountains and deserts to
grasp the hand of Claude and Stella and express
congratulations of ancient Prairieland Talker.
• • •
The brief but bright December days have gone
(pm the wings of time and now we write it 58. As
this is typed Into words the sun glows with radiant
splendor out of the bright blue heavens above.
All is calm, not a wind to put the warm sun
bathed air in motion and the nude arms of stately
oaks reach heavenward as if to express our grat
itude for the summer like day as December fades
away. Any who had folded their tents and left
prairieland for distant winter resorts know not
what grand days they left behind Word from a
daughter of mine now in the distant Southland is
fl»at temperatures sunk below zero down there.
An O'Neill patriot or two who have spent their
winters in the south we trust have remained at
home to bask in the sunlight of bright Decembei
days. Hut now we step across the Ixirder into
January. Will there lie another 12th of January
such as hit us 70 years ago. loot's see, who was
it that said everybody talks about the weather but
oolxxly does anything about it. Nice day!
• • •
It was in July in the year 1903: O'Neill dug up
anotiter thousand dollars to reduce the Short Line
bonds by that amount Mrs. Henry Zimmerman
ami three children were spending a few days at
Spencer. . . Rev. M. F. Cassidy departed for Buf
falo, N. Y., and other eastern points to be gone
three weeks. . . A daughter was born July 15 that
year to Mr. and Mrs. John McManus. . . Mr. and
Mrs E. J Mack ,md little daughter were up Horn
Inman. Henry Mills returned home from Page,
where he had served as nurse for John Walker,
Mr Walker being about well again. . . Charles
Wrede north of town found four dead horses in his
pasture, hit by lightning. . The death of Michael
Mullen i pioneer of the community, was report
ed n day in July of that year . . Miss Mary Hor
iskey went to Lyons, to spend a few days with
friends. . . Sam Howard was having a building
built near the bank at the comer of 4th and Doug
las where he will open a meat marked. . Dr. J
1> Gilligan installed X-ray equipment in his med
ical center, the first such in O'Neill. . The Bos
ton Bloomers came to town and defeated the home
town team on the baseball field.
• • •
The national congress convenes January 7.
This is another election year that may bring about
Die retirement of some members of congress. Sen
ator Hruska of Nebraska has mailed me his first
Washington report for this year. The past summer
the senator had a first hand look at situations in j
Europe. 1 quote his closing words:
"Happily for both of us, Mrs. Hruska accom- !
panied me on this trip (though not at the expense
of the U. S. taxpayer). Both of us are children of
immigrants (Czechoslovakia) who came here just
liefore and shortly after the Civil War. Upon re
turning to America, vve found ourselves grateful
for the allies in Europe, who are making such a
sturdy stand against the advance of Communism.
"But we also found ourselves supremely grate
ful that our ancestors, by coming to this country,
made it possible for us to have a life and a fam
ily in a country possessed of real freedom, liberty
and promise.”
• • •
Wally Mullen, a native of O'Neill and brother
of Leo, but now a Wrest coast victim, sent me
Christmas greetings from his home in Los Angeles
and mentions the thinning ranks of those we had
known in the O’Neill community. The onward
sweep of time writes the obituaries of those we
had known, had loved, had esteemed, had hated;
then comes into the picture out of the highways of
time others who take over and await the day they
too hear the drumbeat of eternity. Yes, Wally,
many of those we had known are gone; on earth’s
last camping ground they now lifeless lay, but
memory will ever cherish their thought and the
spot that marks the bivouac of our dead.
• • •
They went east, they went west, they took off
for the north, they headed south—man and his
mate to the home of their youth, grandfather, j
grandmother to see and embrace another yearend
year beginning season. College and university stu
dents to their home communities for a brief two
weeks. Home! How it is written on these human
hearts of ours. Life’s sacred ties, memories,
where life begins, where it is lived and where it
will end our home. And out of the storms and
struggles of this early pilgramage the immortal
life may lie yours to dwell throughout the endless
ages of eternity in that home that shall never more
record a death. !
• • •
A moment's thought from I Timothy 6:6-8:
But godliness with contentment Is great
gain. For vve brought nothing Into this
world, and it is certain we can carry nothing
out. Anil having food and raiment le us be !
therewith content. j
Editorial—
‘Odd Balls’ Who Talk Peace
Everyone is for peace.
During the past few weeks we’ve been hear
ing a lot of "Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward
Men."
Most practical people are caught up in the
cold war and are convinced the only way to peace
is by being first in hydrogen weapons.
Edwin A. Lahey, veteran newsman of the
(Chicago Daily News, knocked out a piece the day
before Christmas. The effort is a bit late in being
reproduced, but the article, written with a flip
pancy that has a touch of sadness and is poig
•yuit, follows:
WASHINGTON—There are people in Wash
ington who talk peace.
But they are the odd balls. They picket the
white house, hold prayer vigils, write pleading let
ters to the H-bomb rattlers. But they don’t have
much of an audience.
Of late they have been making my office a
ftxjp joint, for no reason that I can determine. They
feave their overcoats here while they go through
the National Pres3 Building with their pleas and
pamphlets.
They have even taken to using my typewriter
to compose letters to President Eisenhower.
They all have two things in common.
First, they have a look in the kisser that is
possessed only by the clean of heart.
Second, they absolutely refuse to be discour
aged in Washington, where the "sense of urgency,”
meaning more missiles, is the only correct pos
ture.
One of these people pushing peace is John
McConnell, publisher of the Rural Toe Valley View
in the highlands of western North Carolina.
John periodically leaves the paper with rela
-SVes and staff to get out and runs to Washington
in hope of selling his idea to make the first U. S.
satellite “a star of hope and a vigorous good-will
crusade."
Another visitor is young and beautiful Patricia
Murphy of Philadelphia, Pa.
She left a convent during her novitiate to work
In the world, then left a wealthy parental home
to live in voluntary proverty with the Catholic
Worker movement in New York.
There was a wide-eyed young man with Pat
Murphy who wanted to sail a boat into the Bikini
testing range in the Pacific, and force the U. S.
government to blow him up the next time they
tested a hydrogen bomb.
Another visitor is named Peter Hill, an ear
nest young man who has some connection with the
Quakers, and who is determined to crack the "shell
of cynicism" that envelopes the world in its cold
war
Then there is Ammon Hennacy, an oldtime
Ciristian anarchist, who never stops pushing pa
cifism Ammon never knows where his next meal
is coming from, and can put his socks on from
either end.
But he has the poise and self-assurance of a
man who owes $500,000.
They come and go, passing out their pam
phlets, writing their appeals on my typewriter, and
refusing to see they are liv ing in a brutal world.
A theologian would probably say these peo
plo are afflicted with invincible innocence.
Their incurable love of their fellow man both
ers me. Sometimes I wish they’d go away.
But enough of this mish-mash.
I must dash out and buy a toy Sputnik and
flame thrower, to help some underprivileged tot
observe the joyous feast of innocence.
—
Looking Ahead with Confidence
O'Neill has closed the books on another year, j
and the citizenry once again can look back with j
pride on substantial strides that have been made j
in several directions.
Sparkling new homes have cropped up in
all sections of the city7, occasionally supplanting
>ld kmdmarks. The homes, understandably, vary ;
in hue, dimension and architecture. Some are
ambitious, fine homes; all are assets to our city.
Most dramatic, perhaps, has been the domes
tic construction on the north side, both inside and
outside the city limits. This has been an area of
continuing development in the post-World War II
years. New dwellings now dot the landscape
where in yesteryear a few bold coyotes and
prairie wolves occasionally would venture.
Within the memory of many townspeople the
dwellings north of St. Patrick’s Catholic church
j could be counted on your fingers.
Three church groups have built substantial
| structures within the past year. Christ Lutheran
has a new 70-thousand-dollar Gothic-type edifice
tow in final stages of construction. First Pres
byterian church has a new Sunday-school and
Fellowship hall unit, now in abundant use. The
Nebraska Methodist conference dedicated a com
bination office-residence for the district super
intendent.
Seger Oil company during the summer mov
ed into a spacious new headquarters at the east
edge; e:dsting buildings have been extensively
remodeled and renovated, notably the Lohaus
Motor block (formerly Mellor), soon to be the
new home of Safeway; the Shriner building, for
merly Harry R. Smith Implements, has been re
modeled by Lohaus; the cavernous new Hunt
building, constructed several years ago, now
houses north-Nebraska’s finest bowling facility.
Other business buildings have had face-liftings.
In spite of tensions in the world, O’Neill can
look ahead wth confidence and pride.
i&LJ Frontier
CARROLL W. STEWART. Editor and Publisher
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, £150
per year: elsewhere in the United States, $3 per
year: rates abroad provided upon request. All sub
scriptions payable in advance.
JAN. 2 TO JAN. 11, 1958
» (CLOSED TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31)
CLOTHING & MEN'S FURNISHINGS
Shoes For The Entire Family
Greatly Reduced Prices
150 SUITS
to Choose From
c
Blue, Grey, Brown
Regulars, Shorts and Longs
Sizes 34 to 48
KEY Overalls
Blue or Stripe
198
TOPCOATS
All New Patterns. Sizes 36 to 46
34.50 Topcoats - Now - 19=50
37.50 Topcoats-Now.. 22.50
39.50 Topcoats - Now.. 24.50
44.50 Topcoats - Now.. 29.50
49.50 Topcoats-Now.. 34.50
JACKETS &
SHORTCOATS
I
SHOES
Men’s Oxfords.1 /4 OFF
Men’s Work Oxfords -1/4 OFF
Women’s Style Shoes -1/3 OFF
Special Table
OF WOMEN’S SHOES AT
1.98 2.98 3.98
OVERSHOES
for the Entire Family at
W holesalef Prices
McCAR VILLES
I
O’Neill, Nebraska
