Prairieland Talk
"Publishes O'Neill History"
By ROMAINE SAUNDERS, 4110 South 51st St., Lincoln 6, Nebr.
In 1886 or 1887 the George Jones family carm
to O'Neill from somewhere near the northeasten
limits of Holt county. Mr. Jones acquired the Wan
livery and feed barn which he conducted success
fully for a few years on east
Douglas street, a half block
beyond what is now Fifth street.
The family lived to the extreme
east on that street while I
know them. One son of the
family and I were pals in our
youthful days. In later years
Charley located in Colfax
county and I next saw him in
Lincoln, I at the time living
there and State Senator Jones _
, , . . Romalne
having come down to the Capi
tal City to serve, in the state Saunders
legislature. I ran onto the senator in a bank on C
Street where we both had come to draw on the
hank’s cash resources. Understand Charley has pas
sod out of the picture, having Hied sometime ago. A
daughter of the George Jones household, Mrs.. Dave
Lo.v, and a son, George II. Jones, remain in O’Neill
Mrs. has long been a member and active worker ir
the Presbyterian church. She and Mr. Loy make
their home on east Everett street, a street namec
for my revered grandsire who died in O’Neill in 1891.
George II., her brother, is interested in local history
;ind we understand has published a little volume re
eounting early day events of the O’Neill community.
* * *
The poet tells us that April showers will bring
May flowers. Most of the first half of April this
year clouds hang overhead dropping snow or rain.
Now down the lane ahead we get a glimpse of the
floral bloom that comes to prairieland in the merry
month of May.
I look out my window and there it stands, a
tall stately walnut tree its nude arms reaching up
toward the blue above. A few days more, then tree
and bush will be adorned again in summer green,
the velvet leaf on tree and twig fluttering in the
summer breeze.
<•- * *
The State Library Commission, now housed in
the high tower at the State House, is supervising
a number of gatherings in the state this spring
promoting interest in reading among our citizens.
The gathering nearest to the O’Neill community
will be in Valentine the first week in May. Valentine,
the county seat town of that great cattle ranch
country of Cherry county. If Sam McElvie were
still a part of the picture up there he would doubtless
invite the high brows of library centers to come
out to his holing up place and see the boys rope and
brand the yearlings. The Library Commission which
I served as a member at one time is doing a great
work promoting interest in reading of worthwhile
books by our citizens. The Commission had over a
million hooks at its disposal some years ago and
may have more today.
Editorial
■ Even the great of our land like to have their
i fun. President Kennedy goes in for baseball. Former
I President Ike takes to golf. Teddy Roosevelt was
a South Dakota cowboy and a mighty hunter. The
Russians tells us they circled the globe in a few
minutes with their "space traveling wonder.” A
Muscovite did it by standing at the south side of
the North Pole and walked around it.
* * *
From a far distant Asiatic country there comes
to my son, Ned, here in Lincoln, a call that he come
to that distant land and supervise the erection and
lay out the architectural designs of a hospital build
ing, a school and a mission station structure. The
institution here in Lincoln that he serves in a similar
capacity does not want to release him for that job
in the Orient, nor does Ned care to leave his home
and family for such an undertaking. But to think
over there in ancient Asia they are looking this way
for my son to come and take over puffs Dad up a bit.
* * *
It was a week in April 55 years ago.—Mrs. John
Olson and children departed from O’Neill to join Mr.
Olson in Idaho, where the family established their
future home . . . Mrs. W. T. Evans, accompanied
by her father, Mr. Potter, were visiting relatives in
Iowa . . . Mrs. D. H. Cronin was spending a few days
with her people in Randolph . . . P. J. McManus
was back from a trip to Chicago where he ordered
some summer goods for his store . . . Tim Hanley
was limbering up his good right arm preparing for
the ball games . . . Mrs. Lucie Matheson of Los
Angeles, Calif., was visiting at the home of her
niece, Mrs. Rose Saunders . . . Mrs. C. E. Hall ac
cepted a position as clerk in Mann’s store . . . Dr.
Gilligan was called to Butte to treat a sick citizen of
that community ... Dr. Corbett “extracted” my
aching tooth.
"On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
the emblem of suffering and shame ... To that Old
Rugged Cross I will ever be true, ‘til at last my
trophies I lay down and exchange the Old Rugged
Cross for a Crown.”
* * *
The recent number of the State Historical
Society’s quarterly magazine has the story of pio
neer undertakings along the upper Missouri river
region, touching Fort Randall a bit, but does not
tell the story of Holt county’s Kid Wade who could
out do any soldier at that fort as a marksman, even
let fly a bullet from his six gun and split that bullet
on the blade of a hunting knife stuck in a piece of
wood. The upper Missouri river region was a
hunters paradise and skins and robes taken from
animals were boated down the river to St. Louis and
other points, some getting no farther than Oma
ha. along with chunks of buffalo meat.
* * *
Nebraska had six congressional districts 60
years ago. Today we have four. Population of the
state shrunk again and our state legislature has the
job of redistricting, making but three. Plenty of
elbow room on prairieland now.
Taxing Your Opinion
Are you in favor of the government taxing your
ideas?
If your answer is YES, please don’t read any
further. But if it’s a loud NO, consider this:
The Federal government presently denies a tax de
duction for expenses involved if you express pub
licly your views on matters that can affect your
business—or your right to stay in business.
It takes the position that if you promote your
opinions to the public on economic matters that af
fect your business, then you’re guilty' of lobbying
and propaganda and you can’t write off incurred
charges as an ordinary business expense.
Not so long ago a newspaper editor found this
out the hard way. Editor Alex Washburn of the
Hope (Ark.t Star spent $6,000 to seek a referen
dum on a sales tax a matter which he felt had a
direct bearing on the welfare of his newspaper.
But the Tax Court—relying on a Supreme Court
ruling—decreed that he couldn’t charge it up to
ordinary' business expenses and claim it as a de
duction in figuring out his income tax.
The government is still resting on those oars.
How about joining hands and squashing this cen
sorship by taxation? Right now, there are nine cor
rective bills pending in Congress—eight in the House
and one in the Senate—that guarantee your consti
tutional rights without tax reprisals. The bills are
sponsored by Senators Hartke of Indiana and Kerr
of Oklahoma and by Congressmen Boggs, La.;
Byrnes, Wis.; Miller, N. Y.; Herlong, Fla.; Teague,
Tex.; Mason, 111.; Wilson, Calif.; and Dooley, N. Y.
Get a letter off today to your Senator and Con
gressman -and tell ’em that you, for one, don’t want
your opinion taxed.
BURLINGTON. WIS., STANDARD PRESS:
-We’re putting students in classes according to
their ability.’ This was a statement made by local
Principal Frank Hanrath in a speech to Burlington
Rotary . . .It’s the kind of thing so many people
have been advocating for years. It’s the kind of
thing that will keep us ahead of the Russions in
education—for. the idea of trying to make the same
thing of all children is ridiculous—it can’t be done.
“What we are trying to say is simple. Don’t
try to make college w'hiz kids out of all our stu
dents.”
TULELAKE. CTLIF.. REPORTED: “Ameri
cans concerned with the maintenance of a strong
competitive rail system . . . would do well to heed
a warning sounded in recent new s reports from Eng
land.
“The government there announced that debts of
the British railroads—which have been piling up
steadily since nationalization in 1949—will be wiped
out with the taxpaying public picking up the tab.
“To prevent the expensive results of government
operation in Britian from happening here, it seems
obvious that the American railroads must be freed
from the costly burdens of restrictive regulations
and stifling labor practices from a bygone era.”
4
GREAT FALLS. MONT., LEADER: "No more
logical argument could be given to teenagers con
templating quitting school than a report by the U.
S. Employment Service. In the midst of a recession
in which 5.5 million workers are unemployed, nearly
18,000 jobs went begging last month for lack of
qualified applicants. They included engineers, social
workers, draftsmen, skilled trades of all kinds, ac
countants, librarians, to name only a few.”
CARLSBAD, N. M„ CURRENA-ARGUS: "There
have been complaints in the Soviet press about the
fact that many proposed improvements never get
off the drawing board because the time necessary to
install them would cut into the required quotas of
factories where quantity comes before quality. Low
paid workers also object to plant modernization be
cause the time required cuts into their bonuses.”
MYRTLE CREEK, ORE., MATT.- “The exten
sion of the ‘helping hand’ of state funds to those in
difficulty not of their own choosing is certainly most
praiseworthy. And we should not wash it otherwise
for those who have suffered ill fortune. But it should
be made neither so comfortable nor so continuous
that the recipients should wish to wallow in it. As
sistance in time of need is one thing. Continuous sup
port of the lazy and the indigent is another. And
those who deliberately prey upon the public coffers,
one way or another, need to be discouraged.”
CLARISSA. MINN., INDEPENDENT: ‘‘We be
lieve the education of our children should remain in
our hands and not be placed in some far-off bureau
in Washington, where standardization is the watch
word and dictation of what, and how to teach would
be the inevitable result.”
CUERO, TEXAS, RECORD: “It must be hoped
that, somehow, the small independent farmer, and
business man, will be able to find a place in this
country—a place where he can work and prosper
and retain that independence and individuality that
forms a priceless safeguard against regimentation,
sameness and loss of individualism.”
HARTLAND, WIS.. REPORTER: “There has
been a great deal of talk that the new administra
tion may well be advised to make some temporary
tax cuts as one means of getting the economy
‘moving’ again . . . The dissident thought occurs:
Is this what taxes are for? Are they meant to pro
vide the necessary costs of government, or are they
intended to be a magic wand that will change or
cure, speed or retard our economic and social en
terprises? A tax cut, even though temporary, would
of course be welcome. But it would be far sounder
and more beneficial if it reflected a reduction in
government expenditures.”
Frontiers
50 YEARS AGO
O’Neill high school baseball
team went up to Atkinson and
dropped a game to Atkinson, 1 to
0 . . . William Gill and Attorney
J. A. Rice of Stuart were in the
city last week . . . Methodist
church ladies will serve supper at
the parsonage on Friday evening
and there will be a very enjoy
able time with plenty of good
things to eat . . . J. P. Mann &
Co. advertises ladies fancy
dresses of white lawn and dimity
in blue, pink and lavendar lace
and embroider, $3.50 and $5.
25 YEARS AGO
L. G. Gillespie and F. J. Brady
get nominations for the uni
cameral legislature ... H. R. Al
len is now operating a horseless
farm . . . Nancy Dickson will
teach at Norfolk . . . Harold Shoe
maker and Ramona Margaret
Haun are married April 13 in St
Patrick’s church . . . Mrs. Bord
son of Spencer purchases the
Chapman Style Shop . . . Miss
Constance Golden entertained
sixteen of her little friends with
a dinner party at the Bakery and
later at her home with games.
10 YEARS AGO
Claryce Johnson is named as
Girls Stater . . . New traffic
signals installed by O’Neill . . .
Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Russell of
Page will celebrate golden wed
ding April 22 ... All personal ef
fects of Orville Neal family lost
in fire which destroyed their
frame house . . . Funeral services
held April 10 for Sadye Brion
Jones of Ewing . . . Virgil Pock
sells Atkinson greenhouse to Ray
mond Grofs.
5 YEARS AGO
New Seger Funeral Home
under construction in Atkinson
. . . Evangeline Daugherty, 3,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John
Daugherty of Inman, has
fractured left leg as result of
tractor accident . . . Mr. and
Mrs. Frank Cranford of Lynch
celebrate golden wedding anni
versary April 22 . . . J. B. Dono
hoe, 86, pioneer settler of O’Neill
community, dies April 17 . . .
Mrs. Mark Muff is elected presi
dent of Friends of SMA . . . Dr.
J. W. Lambert, son of Mrs. Carl
Lambert of Ewing, is enroute to
Sweden for plant breeding re
search.
The Long Ago
At Chambers
50 YEARS AGO
Smith Bros, open new Store in
Odd Fellow building. . .The grad
ing being done on our streets by
Road Overseer Graham is a fine
improvement and will be very
beneficial when wet weather
comes. . .The dipping vat at the
Robertson Ranch will be running
April 18-20 if the weather is good.
. .Will Holcomb caught three
coyotes in traps last week. . .
Mr. and Mrs. J. E Doherty have
moved from the McGowen hcuse
to their home north of town. . .
Asa Hubbard bought a saddle
horse of Dr. Bernard Saturday.
25 YEARS AGO
John Widman was kicked on
the leg Tuesday morning by one
of his horses; no broken bones. .
. Largest class to graduate in
Chambers. . .About 60 people at
ted miscellaneous shower at the
Johnson Bros, home in honor cf
Mr. and Mrs. Albert Harkins. . .
L. V. Cooper gets new All-pur
pose Ford son tractor, first in this
part of the country. . .Mildred
Carter is elected president ttf
turkey club.
Homemakers
Corner ...
By Catherine Indra
Home Extension Agent
Bit by bit spring and summer
vegetables will be or are appear
ing in the markets.
You might say “haste makes
taste” if you follow approved
methods of vegetable cookery.
Too, you save time and fuel as
well as nutrients, texture and
flavor.
Cat vegetables into small pie
ces. This cuts cooking time of
turnips, potatoes, carrots, etc.
Shredding cabbage makes it cook
more rapidly.
The quanity of water needed
depends on the cooking time and
mildness of the fresh vegetable.
The less water you use, the more
quickly it will reach the boiling
point.
Covering the saucepan speeds
up cooking, but whether to cover
or not to cover depends on what’s
cooking. To preserve the green
color of vegetable, cook it uncov
ered for two or three minutes,
then cover. Or cover from begin
ning of cooking time, but raise
the lid three or four times dar
ing the cooking period. This little
trick gets rid of evaporating gas
es in green vegetables which fade
color.
Cook fresh vegetables with liv
ing care and their natural good
ness will make them good with
out sauces. Butter, cream, a
squeeze of fresh lemon juice, or
a little minced parsley, chives, or
onion will be all that’s needed.
These general directions apply
to most vegetables. Here are
some speed-up hints for a varie
ty of fresh vegetables.
After you’ve washed and rinsed
green beans, take a small hand
ful of beans and jounce them a
bit to line up the ends. Lay on
a cutting board and trim with
one oat. Trim opposite end the
same way and cook whole.
Broccoli cooks more rapidly if
you start cut-up stems in boiling
water to cover about five minutes
before adding the buds. Same
thing applies to asparagus.
Cabbage is a fast cooker and re
quires a minimum of advance
preparation. Cut in eights and
cook uncovered for five minutes.
Then cover and cook about 10
minutes longer.
Don’t peel or scraipe fresh car
rots—and that means most car
rots sold today. Add a scant tea
spoon of sugar and a good piece
of butter r maragarine to the
cooking water. Sprinkle with
chopped chives or parsley before
serving.
Corn-on-the-cob needs to boil on
ly until the milk in the kernels
has set about five minutes. Cook
just before serving.
There are several little speed
up tricks with potatoes. French
fry them whole. They’re quick
and perfectly delicious. Heat deep
fat to 350° F. Wash and dry small
to medium potatoes (about 1% to
2 inches) but do not pare. Pierce
with a fork 14 inch deep into
each end of potato. Cook 20 to 30
minutes in hot fat, depending on
size.
Scalloped potatoes take only a
few minutes in the pressure cook
er. Place rack in 'bottom of a 4
quart cooker and layer sliced po
tatoes and other ingredients as
you would in a baking dish. Hold
cooker under cold water as soon
as potatoes have cooked about
1 minutes under pressure. This
is to prevent over-cooking.
To cut the baking time of But
ternut, Hubbard and other win
ter squash, cut in serving-size
pieces. Place in a large sauce
pan with 1-inch boiling water and
xk teaspoon salt. Cover and cook
12 minutes or until almost tender,
remove from water and dot with
butter, brown sugar or other sea
soning and bake an additional 10
minutes in a moderately hot ov
en.
Lettuce, romaine, escarole and
other leafy greens are done in a
minute. They are especially good
cooked in bouillon, or dressed
with crumbled bacon bits, minc
ed onion, salt and pepper and a
sprinkling of fresh lemon juice
A Poem
From Mrs. Eby ...
—AT CALVARY—
A pilgrimage transformed my
life and overwhelms me still.
The centuries rolled hack, I
walked on a wind-swept hill;
I looked beyond and lo: a scene
of horror met my eye.
Three crosses stood in silhouette
against a laden sky;
Upon each cross a form, but one
alone I seemed to see.
And tho I stood afar. I sensed
His eyes were l>eckoninb me.
I blindly ran across the rocks,
and as I neared the place,
My heart stood still when I Ix*
held the anguish on His face;
Upon the ashen thorn-clad brow,
sweat-drops of hlcxxl had
dried;
Great gaping wounds in hands
and feet, and a sword wound
in His side,
But in His eyes a glory shone, a
holy radiance sweet,
I threw myself beneath the cross
and clasped the bleeding feet.
‘‘Oh Lord” I cried (I knew t’waa
He) “What fiend did this to
thee?
Had they no shame, no trembl
ing fear, no love, no sympa
thy?”
“How dared they touch the Son
of God” but as I cried He sjxtke
In voice so passionately sweet
my slumbering soul awoke,
My erring child, you placed me
here, by His grace divine,
"Because you came in faith, I
gladly gave my life for thine.”
Lillian Meiners
Phone Your News To
The Frontier
Phone 788
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