Prairieland Talk
"Greetings from Friends"
By ROMAINE SAUNDLrtS, 4UU South fust S?.. Lincoln 6. Nebr
Birthday and Christmas greetings and kindly
words come from friends in and around O’Neil] as
well as those from far distant places. And again my
young friend Trudy out in the charming Eagle creek
country wrote to me her warm
childish greetings and told of
her activities witii tier school
mates preparing for the Christ
mas celebration in their com
munity. Yes, Christmas is a
joyous occasion for children and
it was so nice that Trudy and
the other children could do as
tiiey did. Their parents, too
were no doubt happy in seeing
their children having a lot of
fun. The One for whom Christ- ma ne
mas is a memorial took up Saunders
children in Ilis arms some two thousand years ago.
“Suffer,” He said, “The children to come unto me
and forbid them not.” Thank you Trudy for your
kindly childish greetings.
* » *
One more Christmas season has come and gone,
with its joy and pleasures as time moves on. Another
year ends its onward march and the New Year now
blows its joyous harps. A year older, many with the
stooped shoulder. And what has 61 in store for you
and I just about what we had in the years gone by.
But we may do our duty along life’s lengthening way,
aware that we c<m not here forever stay!
« * *
A lovely letter comes to me from Mrs. William
O. Wilson of Sparks, Nev. Some twenty years ago
we knew the lady as Miss Dierking, who taught our
district school in the Berry district in Swan precinct
some twenty miles south of Atkinson. Mrs. Wilson
has treasured memories of life in Nebraska that
seem to beckon her to return to Prairieland. She
reads The Frontier and expresses her pleasure in
so getting all the news from “back home,” with a
iHHjquet handed to Prairieland Talker when she
says that is the first thing she turns to when her
paper from O’Neill arrives. The papers in her part
of that western state are poor, she writes, little of
interest in them. Besides her lovely letter the gifted
lady gives me the story she had written of a camp
k ing trip beyond their home community that took
\ them to Death Valley in California. So hot there
| they did not tarry long hut took off for the cooler
fe regions of their home community . . . Death Valley
f and there was a Death Valley Scotty, a notable
gent of other days out there who came to O’Neill
to get in on the Rosebud land drawing and look us
over. He returned to Death Valley where he ended
his days. Nice to get your letter and story, esteemed
lady. Come and see us again, Prairieland homes up
in Holt county are ever open to you.
* * *
We knew our retiring president as Ike. Are we
to know the incoming chief executive as Jack and
have the White House painted green.
For more than 2,000 years they had enjoyed life
peaceably in far away Ethiopia, but now the rumble
of unrest that seems to be shaking all of Africa
strikes in peaceful Ethiopia. One section of this
troubled world lies yet undisturbed—Australia. I can
understand it. Sixty years ago a gent from that
peaceful land and Prairieland Talker were printers
in a great institution in a California city. Bert was
a good printer, always at work, friendly but think
ing of the day he would take off for his native land,
as I dreamed of my return to beloved prairieland.
Bert had never seen snow, but at one time snow
fell on the distant hills and Bert with other Cali
forians went to a window and stretched his neck and
fixed his gaze on the distant mountain side robed in
a blanket of snow, old stuff to a gent from Nebraska.
* * *
So O’Neill will no longer be the home of the
district judge, the recently elected judge being a
citizen of Brown county. The first of the district
judges I recall was M. P. Kinkaid, later congress
man. When Kinkaid first became judge there was
no Brown county.
* * *
It is said that highway patrolmen and O’Neill
cops are kept on the alert to catch him driving a
car without a driver’s permit. And who is it the
guards of the peace and dignity of the community
arc after? Not one of the lawless tribe forever on
the side of deviltry. No not such a one, but rather
a patriot of north Holt county, a substantial and law
abiding citizen who has spent a long life of useful
ness among us. And what did he do so terrible—just
a little mishap while traveling the 1 ighway in which
no one was badly hurt. But he has the money and
can pay the fine those highway and city cops are
ever so eager to see turned in.
* * *
A cold morning in late December. Off of the ice
bergs in Artie regions the wind moans across the
land, little or no snow and streets and land in the
Capitol City dry and iceless. Just ahead January of
’61. Will it bring a day like January 12, 1888? Well,
what has been could be again. That terrible winter
73 years ago my mother, brother, sister and I lived
in the house just across the street to the north that
had been the home of the General O’Neill family,
that house now cast aside and the memory of the
great patriot who started things here about forgotten.
My father had died the summer before so we moved
in from off the prairie to return there no more. I
took our horses from the shed they were in to the
George Jones livery and feed barn a block south
and some west. The two church bells, one at St.
Patrick’s Catholic church and the other at the Metho
dist church, were kept ringing to help any who had
to get out to find their way around. You could not
see in that storm but could hear. And that terrible
storm inspired an O’Neill printer, Old Bates we cal
led him, to coin the word, Blizzard.
Editorial
A Shining Example
Christmas is a time to restore our faith in fellow
men, ourselves and our future ... a time to ponder
the past and plan for the future.
Therefore, it was little short of inspiring Sunday
morning to read in the World Herald that students
of Dana college at Blair had determined to finance
the building of a $100,000 swimming pool with pri
vate money. THEY DIDN’T ASK FOR FEDERAL
AID. , » -
They used vision and guts too often lacking in
the modem American. It is a tribute to the students
and college staff and faculty members that they
decided to get the money “the hard way” by raising
it themselves instead of running with outstretched
hand to the Federal Government.
The modem American seeks help from the U. S.
Government ... an institution rapidly becoming a
welfare agency for all who do not want to solve
their own problems.
Little knowing or caring what the consequences
of his solicitations may be, the seeker of Federal
Aid keeps asking for checks written on an already
overdrawn bank account.
Too often the critics—lambaste the elected re
presentatives for Federal Aid. This is not wholly
justified. The lambasting should begin on the local
level, for here is where the request originates. Our
representatives (if they plan to seek re-election)
must do as most of their constituents desire. When
aid is requested efforts are made to get it.
In the recent school bond issue arguments in
O'Neill statements were made that we should “get
federal aid” or wait until January after the Pre
sidential inauguration and let the new president give
us the funds.
The point that federal aid monies must come
from federal taxes (yours and mine) is intentionally
overlooked.
It would seem that most of our people have
come to look to Uncle Sam for anything expensive
or difficult to obtain. But, thank God, not all are like
that. Look at the shining example of the Dana college
students.
Higher Tax—Less Revenue
The median age of the American people is about
45. This means, among many other things, that a
great majority' of today’s motorists have never
bought a gallon of gasoline without paying a sales
tax on it. To most of us, the gas tax is, and always
has been, an established and substantial element in
our overall cost of living.
But the fact is that the first gasoline tax was
passed in Oregon in 1919—and it was a mere cent a
gallon. Loyal M. Graham, the legislator who in
troduced the bill, is still living. On reaching his
1001 h birthday, he was interviewed by James Lattie
of the Portland Oregonian. And, writes Mr. Lattie,
hP is wondering if such a tax “was such a good
idea.”
The reason for this is that to Mr. Graham, "The
last straw was the Federal gasoline tax.” In his
words, “It is a tendency of a Yankee tc ride a free
horse to death.”
Well, the gasoline tax horse is certainly being
ridden to death. It has reached the point where, on
the average, it amounts to some 50 per cent of the
retail price of gas before tax. No other necessity,
or even any luxury, bears a tax within shooting dis
tance of this figure. Worst of all, there is a con
certed movement underway to make permanent the
last one-cent increase in the federal tax, which was
supposed to be a temporary boost that would expire
next June. And some, in addition, would add on
another half-cent of federal tax.
The upshot of all this is that the gas tax is be
ginning to demonstrate the workings ot the law of
diminishing returns. People are buying the economy
cars, or are driving less. So, unless the trend is
checked, we will see a ridiculous anomaly—a tax
that, as it goes higher and higher, brings in less and
less revenue.
Like Weeds in the Spring
There are certain hardy political perennials
which appear as surely and as regularly as the
weeds in the spring.
The proposal to extend the coverage of the
federal wage-hour law, as well as the proposal to
increase the legal minimum wage, is one of these.
It is brought forward in every Congressional session,
and the next will be no exception.
The exempt workers—and they have been
exempt ever since the law came into being—are in
certain local service industries, of which retailing is
the most important. It is significant that a highly
organized effort was made to extend coverage to
them during the last Congressional session—and
that, after extensive deliberation, the plan was
shelved. And one reason for that, according to ob
servers, was a strong tide of grassroots opposition.
This opposition, to say the obvious, didn’t arise
because people are opposed to higher wages for
anyone. It did arise for a number of sound reasons.
One is that the proposal would set off a whole new
wave of wage increases—which means a whole new
wave of inflation. Another is that if we need legisla
tion affecting local businesses, which must compete
at the local level even if they are part of national
chains, it should be applied by state and local action.
A third is that retailing, like other service trades,
offers unusual employment opportunities for un
skilled, marginal, teen-age, part-time and other
workers whose value to the employer is severely
limited. An arbitrarily high wage would cause wide
unemployment among these groups. And a fourth
is that no more federal fingers are wanted in local
affairs.
The last Congress, like its predecessors, set a
sound precedent in this.
Frontiers
LI
50 YEARS AGO
William Pinkerman of Scottville
and Miss Edna Higgins of Lynch
were united in marriage by county
Judge Malone at the County
Court room on December 22 . . .
Mrs. E. D. Henry and children
of Disney, went down to Ewing
Tuesday morning to spend a
couple of weeks visiting at the
home of her parents, Mr. and
Mrs. B. P. Smith . . . The
peculiar properties of Chamber
lain’s Cough Remedy have been
thoroughly tested during epide
mics of influenza, and when it
was taken in time we have not
heard of a single case of
pneumonia. Sold by all dealers
. . . Frank Clark, who has been
holding down a claim near Buf
falo, S. D., the past year, ar
rived in the city last Saturday to
' spend Christmas with home folks
. . . Miss Nellie Ryan came home
from her South Dakota home
stead to spend Christmas with the
folks at home.
25 YEARS AGO
Oar Indian summer took cold
last Tuesday afternoon and
Christmas morning the ther
mometer registered 8 below. With
a north wind blowing about thirty
miles an hour the average citi
zen imagined it to be around
forty or more below. The wind
moderated somewhat Christmas
day and the mercury did not
get as low as it did the night be
fore, registering 6 below this
a. m. . . . J. D. Cronin left
Wednesday night for Lincoln,
where the Nebraska Bar Associa
tion is holding their annual con
vention the last three days of
this week . . . Clothes may make
the man, but make-up makes the
woman. Make the eyes as dra
matic as possible. Keep eye
brows faint and unobtrusive. Use
rouge lightly to leave the em
phasis on the eyes . . . Word was
received here by friends of the
death of Mrs. Jason Smith, of
Lincoln, Saturday. Mrs. Smith
was an early resident of Inman
and was well remembered by the
older people of this community.
10 YEARS AGO
Leona M. Kramer became the
bride of Charles Kubart in a
recent rite at St. Joseph’s Catho
lic church in Atkinson. Rev. A.
A. Lehman officiated . . . Miss
Mary Lou Duffy, of Casper,
Wyo., is visiting relatives in O’
Neill for the holidays.. .War has
taught us a good deal more about
geography than the average per
son knew. But did we have to
learn it the hard way? . . . Mr.
and Mrs. Harden Anspach de
parted Wednesday for Missouri
where they will spend several
days . . . Arthur Allen and son
Ted, returned Tuesday, Decem
ber 19, from a 12 days’ trip to
Texas . . . Paul Forsythe, for
mer Celia resident now living in
Dixon, Wyo., came Tuesday,
December 19, for a visit with his
uncle Alex Forsythe. He left
Thursday, December 21, to spend
the holidays with his parents in
Iowa.
5 YEARS AGO
Mrs. Hazel Coulter of O’Neill
was declared the winner in the
mink stole contest sponsored by
the New Outlaw in West O’Neill
it was announced by manager
Phil Cohn. The presentation was
made Wednesday afternoon . . .
Herbert Nielsen retumsd from
Omaha Tuesday morning, Dec
ember 20, where he spent a week
in the Methodist hospital recover
ing from surgery . . . Mrs. Carrie
Holloway observed her 93rd birth
day anniversary at the home of
her son-in-law and daughter,
Mr. and Mrs. Louis Nelson. Din
ner guests were Mrs. John Winter
mote, Miss Eula Wintermote, and
Mr. and Mrs. Herman Cook. Af
ternoon callers were Mr. and
Mrs. G. H. Grimes . . . Mr. and
Mrs Edward O’Donnell of Wichi
ta, Kans., are to leave today
(Thursday) after spending the
holidays with relatives, including
Miss Anna O’Donnell, Mrs. Sue
Deaver and Frank O’Donnell.
The Long Ago
At Chambers
50 YEARS AGO
Mr. Van Deevender, and his
granddaughter Miss Stevens of
Valisca, la., who have been visit
ing his sister and niece, Mrs.
Wm. Lell and Mrs. Robert Starr,
left for his home Thursday. Miss
Stevens will remain with Mrs.
Lell until spring ... We will pay
the highest market price for
your produce and receive :t the
same as cash. We are here to be
a help to the town and community
as well as ourselves and are will
ing to co-operate with the people
in every legitimate manner for
the good of the community. Ray
mond Atwood ... Ed Porter and
Fern Smith went to O'Neill Mon
day to order material for the
new opera house . . . The Odd
Fellows have the new addition to
Smith Brothers store nearly com
pleted . . . Walter and Herman
Holcomb are husking com for
Oscar Dorothy.
25 YEARS AGO
We can’t imagine how those
pioneer farmers of a hundred
years ago cleared the forest,
drained the swamps and laid out
those lovely farms without the
aid and advice of the Depart
ment of Agriculture . . . Bern
ard Cavanaugh who has been in
the CCC camp at Gering, arrived
Saturday night to spend the holi
days with home folks . . . R. J.
Graves and Mrs. Katie Potter,
both of Chambers were united in
marriage by Rev. Doc. Aitkcns
of the St. Paul church at Lincoln,
while enroute home from Mis
souri . . . The County Board of
Supervisors accepted a bid of
$200 for the Holt county jail, at
their meeting last Tuesday. The
purchasers were Jake Harley and
Ed Pavel.
"The
EDITOR"
At the risk of being branded an
enemy of the people and a hater
of little children, we’ll have to
admit that we enjoyed the inter
ruption in TV viewing during the
last storm. In fact, we view with
anticipation the prospect of addi
tional storms throughout the win
ter as possible means of stopping
this monster from invading our
home. Although it is a difficult
thing to admit, our family is ad
dicted to TV, and only an act of
nature which is beyond our con
trol can help us “kick the habit.”
For years we have watched as
the “Wagon train” has inched
its way across the tube in one
corner of our living room. “Raw
hide” has driven the same herd
of starving, tick infested, stam
peding cattle past our chairs, and
at least 1,460 outlaws have drop
ped in front of Marshall Dillon’s
six gun.
How many times have we heard
these lines on TV?
(Small boy with tears in his
eyes looking at his pa) “You’re
not going to let Bad Bart call you
a nester are you pa? Sure he’s
killed 26 men, but you’re not
afraid of him are you?” Pore ole
“Pa” usually looks like he would
rather turn tail and run but he has
to face up to “Bad Bart” at least
twice every evening. Just once
we’d like to see him admit to
the little smart-alec kid that he
is scared and get in his buggy and
go home.
Or how many times has this
famous line been repeated by the
hero? “I’ll admit it looks bad
but you’ll just have to trust me
for the time being.” Usually these
lines are uttered just as the her
oine has discovered the good gay
standing over the body of her old
pa with a smoking six-shooter in
his hand.
Dear “Ole Pa” seems to be the
one who suffers most in the epi
sodes we’ve watched. “Ole Pa”
is the one who is always getting
Even after opening . . .
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shot, swindled, soused or framed
and whose demise would leave a
beautiful young daughter with no
one to protect her from a num
ber of fates worse then death.
However the helpless daughter is
usually equal to killing at least
one bad guy to protect the hero
from being shot in the back.
But while the casting depart
ment seems to be in a rut in fill
ing the parts for “Ole Pa” and
his daughter, the hero now comes
in several styles, ranging from
an illiterate, red-eye drinking sad
dle tramp, to a ruffles on his
shirt type. Both extremes, how
ever, must be able to recite at
least several verses of poetry.
And a prime pre-requisite is the
ability to make a graceful ex
it when the prospect of matri
mony enters the picture. After
seeing what marriage has done
to “Ole Pa” it is no wcnder the
hero takes such a dim view of
family life.
We have watched as “Bachelor
Father” struggled through many
an episode during which neither
he nor his niece apparently learn
ed anything by their experience
because the following week they
were wallowing through a similar
episode. Laurence Walk has used
our living room for his dancing
party so many Saturday evenings
that I feel that perhaps I should
have asked his permission before
planning a New Year’s eve party
this Saturday.
Perhaps with the help of sev
eral more blizzards we’ll be able
to “kick the TV watching habit”.
In fact, we’ve cut down a little
on our viewing. I’ve been kicking
the lead-in wire a little each
morning when I leave for work
and I noticed the picture is fad
ing a little already. How long has
it been since you read a good
book?
Venus News
By Mrs. Ralph Bronkhou wr
Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Waring
went to Grand Island Sunday
where they met their son, Arlie,
who arrived there that day from
Fort Ord, Calif.
Mrs. George Jeffrey and Paul
Lee drove to Niobrara last Sun
day where they visited relatives.
Mr. and Mrs. Irvin Held visit
ed at the Robert Woods home
Sunday. Mrs. Woods is under a
doctor’s care.
Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Brookhou
ser attended the Christmas pro
gram at the Verdigre Methodist
church Sunday evening. They vis
ited at the home of Mr. and Mrs.
Joseph Sokol later that evening.
Vicky Kinnison, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Floyd Kinnison, was
admitted to the Creighton hos
pital Sunday.
Richard Cook underwent major
surgery on his back December 10
at the Clarkson hospital at Om
aha. Mrs. Cook is with her hus
band.
Last Sunday dinner guests at the
home of Mr. and Mrs. Gene Wein
rick were Mr. and Mrs. William
Wellman of Orchard, Mr. and
Do You Know Your Neighbor?
"Know Your Neighbor” is not a contest. There are no prizes given
for correctly identifying the person pictured. The only reward is the
satisfaction of knowing your neighbor.
Last week’s Guess Who was Winnie Barger of the Apparel Shop.
Here’s an O’Neill businessman you’ve met.
Mrs. Keith Kennedy and son of
Page and Mr. and Mrs. Vernie
Walters of Creighton.
Mr. and Mrs. Larry Brookhou
ser of Grand Island were Satur
day night and Sunday visitors at
the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph
Brookhouser.
Mr. and Mrs. Francis Boelter
and Loren were Wednesday eve
ning visitors at the home of Mr.
and Mrs. Ralph Brookhouser.
Mrs. William Wellman visited
at the home of Mr. and Mrs.
Ralph Brookhouser Monday after
noon.
Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Porter
were Friday, Dec 16 visitors at
the Ora Caskev home.
Mrs. George Jeffrey called at
the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph
Brookhouser Friday morning.
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