Prairieland Talk
"Bathing Was Fun"
By ROMAINE SAUNDERS, 4110 South 51st St., Lincoln 6, Nebr.
Today we step into the bathroom, close the
door, turn on the water by touching a little gadget
called a faucet, lay aside what we are wearing
and get into the tub. Sixty years ago we walked
that mile from the southwest
limits of O’Neill to the Elkhom
river; shoes, pants and shirt
with other bits of wearing ap
parel deposited on the grass by
the river brink, and as nature
framed us in the nude walked
into the crystal waters flowing
by, splashed and swam and
dived about for an hour or so,
got out clean and fresh to dress
again and walk home. We had
fun, Homer, Ed, Hank and I, Remain®
and then were surprised to dis- Saunders
cover we had been spied upon by two or three of the
gentler sex sitting over there by Hagerty’s lake.
Yes, bathing in the Elkhorn was fun. Bathing in a
bath tub is work.
* * *
For some SO years, from the days of Judge Kin
kaid to the late R. R. Dickson and then Judge Mounts
O'Neill was the home of the district judge. Now that
dignitary is at home in Brown county. And does
that native son of Holt county whose home the last
I knew was in O'Neill on Everett street between
Second and Third street still function as court re
porter?
* * *
Oklahoma authorities have a problem. Twenty
years ago a 17-year-old lad got mad for being re
proved for smoking on the schoolhouse grounds.
Sneaked up and set fire to the schoolhouse which
was burned down and a number of school children
tanned lo death. Twenty years later that former 17
year-old confesses his crime.
* * *
Sunshine following gentle showers of rain make
weather conditions the best yet in the Capital City
community. While a few spots out in the state have
been hit by destructive hail storms. But for the most
part Nebraska has had good summer weather and
a good crop growing season.
* * *
Sunrise and on to high noon; then a busy warm
day we see the sunset and evening star. A night of
rest for you and me.
* * »
For 50 years he walked it from his dwelling
place at Fremont and First street to his job, first,
at the U. S. land office, then a bookkeeper for a
private concern, then at the old courthouse and
then a little store of his own on Douglas street be*
tween 1th and 5th streets. Now he is under the sod
beside his life's companion in the al>ode of the dead.
We met by chance recently where the idle ones
park in the shade from time to time, she a refugee
fi-om Cuba with startling tales of life down there.
She was born in North Dakota but at two years of
age was taken to Cuba by her parents who sought
a warmer land than the Dakotas. Now a grand
mother she lived many years away from her native
land but retained through the years her American
citizenship. She now stays with relatives in Lincoln.
Told me that the communist bosses in Cuba have
taken over every thing, took all she had, and that
there is today hundreds of hungry starving people
down there. She had lived in the country and owned
a little farm, now hers no more. Speaks three
languages, English fluently, German and the native
Cuban talk Spanish. Yes, she thinks America is
the l>est spot on earth and Lincoln the choice place
to be.
* * t
The gent who tells us all about it via radio said
the other day that mankind has Ten Command
ments to order their lives by but there has been
added the eleventh by a considerable group living
today, Thou shalt not admit adultery!
* * *
July 30 sees them home again, my good daugh
ter and son-in-law, and they will look after dad as
usual. They had been on a three-weeks vacation
jaunt that took them to the Florida coast and a swim
in the ocean. Vacation time on full pay. Well, they
want you to come back and go to work so the cor
ixjration bosses give you a little lay off on full pay.
When a young teenager I was in luck to get my pay
from Jim Riggs if at the job press everyday, nothing
when away on “vacation.”
* * *
ivly good friend Lew Nissen who also holes up
now in our Capital City and I went on a 200 mile
auto ride recently, a hundred miles out to the village
>f Leigh in northern Colfax county, of which com
munity I was a part for three years in the 1890’s
and published the town’s newspaper, the World
which is still there but not in the building it was in
at my time of my life there, my office building
having been burned. The one business street one
block north and south still stands but no business
place of my day there now survives, some new
buildings but we found no one left there who were
there sixty or more years ago. The few we did
meet were friendly and extended a hand. We were
told that there is one lady in Leigh, the wife of a
businessman and that she came from O'Neill, but we
regret not having met her. The town of Leigh is in
the center of a rich farming district. As Lew and
I rolled along the highways we saw again the rich
green robed landscape of the Nebraska prairies,
Lew- remarking that it is good to be here. And now
back again in the crowded human haunts of our
Capital City.
Editorial
Labeling Consumer Credit
Christian Science Monitor
The attack on that old installment buyers’ neme
sis hidden costs and veiled interest rates — is being
mounted once more in Washington.
Senator Douglas's consumer credit labeling bill,
which failed to pass Inst year because of complexity
and lobbying, is having new hearings.
Once again, the main difficulty lies in extracting
a statement of simple annual interest out of the
confusion of various monthly payment plans. Edi
torial Research Reports cites a classic example:
If a consumer borrows $100 for one year, repay
ing in monthly installments of $9. the total repay
ment is 5108, and he thinks of the finance charge
as $8 or 8 per cent of the principal. However, he’s
actually paid interest at a rate of closer to 16 per
cent, inasmuch as for half the year his indebted
ness has been less than 550. And there is a good
deal of argument that the 16 per cent rate isn’t
accurate either, and that the time rate would be in
the neighborhood of 14.4 per cent.
Despite this confusion over what the "true in
terest label should read, the Douglas measure
ought to be passed. If amendment is needed to
solve the interest-calculating dilemma, all right.
But certainly the requirement that borrowers be
given an itemized total of all costs beyond the base
price of an article is a matter of indisputable justice.
American consumers, currently owing some
$54,000,000,000, have a right to see something clearer
than undecipherable small print on their loan con
tracts before they plunge any further.
KING FERRY, N. Y., TRIBUNE: “It has be
come apparent, after 322 major work stopages,
strikes and boycotts at 22 sites that have cost the
U. S. missile program 162,000 man-days of time and
extorted uncountable millions of dollars from U. S.
taxpayers, that new, clear-cut legislation is needed
to put the national defense program back on the
'rack. Only the most forthright and specific legal
restraints can put an end to the wholesale sabotage
that has even so, for the most part, violated exist
ing law.”
CARLSBAD, N. M„ CURRENT-ARGUS: “A
time-tested truism in the psychology of advertising
which says, ‘Repeat a statement often enough and
it will become a part of the thinking process of the
masses.’ ”
STERLING, ILL., GAZETTE: “ . . . it is when
you get into the real long-range projections of some
of these spending programs that potential trouble
begins to pile up. And the prize example in this
case is the . . . decision to try to beat the Russians
to landing men on the moon and bringing them
back alive .... The original cost estimate was $15
billion to $20 billion .... But James E. Webb, new
director of National Aeronautics and Space Ad
ministration and a former Budget Bureau director
under Pesident Truman, says the total cost may run
S40 billion over the 10-year period, which will be
cut to seven if possible”
— - - ,
Frontiers
Ago
39 YEARS AGO
The hay crop will be light and
of a poor quality in the Oppor
tunity locality. . .E. Lamb, B Ir
win, A Borg and Levi Goodfellow
will have a fair crop of oats of
good quality, something uncom
mon this year. . .Clifford Thomp
son, a spectator at the Meek
Honey Creek ball game was hit
a hard bump on the side of the
face by a hard line foul drive. . .
There was a social held at the
Eden Valley school house for the
benefit of the minister. . .Light
ning struck Joe Fesler’s house on
his homestead last Saturday,
causing a small prairie fire.
25 YEARS AGO
Mrs. J. Erb, 80, died at her
home about 10 miles northwest
of this city July 25. . .Blistering
heat wave is hot enough to fry
egg on cement. . .July 22 was
the birthday anniversary of two
pioneer residents of this county,
William Harvey and Clyde Hull.
. .Forty-six band members pre
sent concert Saturday eve
ning under direction of Professor
Durham. . .Arthur Tomlinson,
who farms three miles south of
Inman, recently threshed a crop
of oats and rye that made res
pectively 20 and 16 bushels to the
acre.
10 YEARS AGO
Ardene Anderson, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Ray Anderson,
Amelia, will receive her re^
gistered nurse degree August 19
. . . Sgt 1/c Dorrance C. Crabb
receives army discharge after
being recalled to duty October,
1950 as a reservist . . . Mrs.
Harry Sullivan entertains Pino
chle club at her home; prizes
were won by Mesdames Leo
Moore, Stanley Holly, F. A. O’
Connell and Ralph Beclcwith . . .
O’Neill golf team defeats Ains
worth in inter-city tourney; M.
J. Golden and Ben Grady turn in
lowest cards.
5 YEARS AGO
Lorene Ziska reigns as Hay
Days Queen at Atkinson . . .
Lorenz Fund closes at $7,573, for
Middlebranch farmer who lost
both arms in baler accident . . .
Lifelong Holt man, H. J. Harte,
dies at St. Anthony hospital . . .
64th Holt Fair soon to open; first
day will be August 13 . . . Lynch
paper is sold by editor publisher.
Aldon Zink, to Leo Thomson . . .
Frank Backhaus, 66, dies in O'
Neill hospital; funeral held in
Amelia.
The Long Ago
At Chambers
50 YEARS ACM)
George Major commenced work
for Charley Roberts on Monday
. . . Bom to Mr. and Mrs. Hender
son of Amelia, an 11 pound son
July 27 . . . The WCTU will meet
Thursday afternoon at the Bap
tist church . . Races will lx?
held August 10-12 in O'Neill and
entries are now being received
. . . Mr. and Mrs. F. H. Charles
are helping Mr. and Mrs. Oscar
Gim through haying . . . Smith
Brothers are paying 12 cents per
dozen for eggs . . . R. R. Dickson
was chosen temporary chairman
of the Republican county conven
tion July 23 at O’Neill.
25 YEARS AGO
Victor Harley sustains badly
mangled arm from electric saw
accident . . • Three prairie fires
of unknown origin started in the
Amelia vicinity last week . . .
Newt and Mary Wyant celebrate
their 63rd wedding anniversary
Sunday . . . Mr. and Mrs. Walt
Richard are building a new
restaurant in Chambers which
will be ready for occupancy
September 15 . . . The Methodist
aid will meet with Mrs. Alma
Farrier this afternoon . . . Mrs.
Zana Warren returned home re
cently from a week’s visit in
Chicago.
Warranty Deeds
WD-Katherine Engler to Paul
M. Engler 3-3-60 $4000- Lots 2 &
3 Blk 10- Hallock’s Add- Stuart
GUARDIANS DEED - LaVern
D Stevens to Raymond Klabenes
7-24-61 $11,400-NE y4(NE V4 33- SWV4
27-27-13
WD- Tim Read to Wayne
Smith & wf 6-20-61 $10,240- Wfc
SE%- & So 80 rods of WMsNDEy*
Part WV2E4NEV4 Sec 30-26-12
WD-Marie Nay to James Boyle
6-1-61 $l-Part of NEY4NWy4 31
29-11
WI>-Fred E. Boettcher to Fred
E. Boettcher and Florence R.
Boettcher 6-13-61 $1 SWMi 15 SV:
sy»Ny. N%Nwy4 21 Nwy4 wy2
swy4 22 SVi 23 swy4 24 WVi 25
all 26 SVi SW*4NWy4 27 all 28
NEy4 29 ev^ swy4 ssy4 sVt
NEV4SEV4NWV4 32 all 33 WM
NV2NEy4 SE *4 ne y4 NEy4SEy4
34 all 35 all 27-16 and NEV4NEV4
Sec 5-26-16
WD-Fred E. Boettcher to James
O. Boettcher 6-21-61 $1 17-64ths of
Vi int. SWy4 15 SVt and SViNWM;
NV4NEy4 2i Nwy4 wy>swy4 22
swy4 swy4Nwy4 27 an 28 NEy4
29 SEy4 Eviswy4 sEy4Nwy4 sy2
NEy4 32 all 33 W4. 34-27-16 and
NEy4NW *45-26-16.
WD-Florence R. Boettcher to
James O. Boettcher 6-21-61 $1
Same land.
WD-Fred E. Boettcher to Don
na Frisch 6-21-61 $1 6-16ths of Vi
Int. SVt 23 SWy4 24 Wy. 25 all
26 SEy. 27 Ny»NEy4 SEy4NEy4
NE*.4SEV4 34 all 35 Twp 27 Range
16.
WD-Florence R. Boettcher to
Donna Frisch 6-21-61 $1 Same
land as above.
WD-Mary Ann Sheridan to
Mary Ann Sheridan - William B
Sheridan and Emmy Lee Dahms
6- 16-61 $10 Vt Int. in SE*4 6 11
7- 25-10 and SW V, 31-26-10 and all
sec l E^NEMj SEy4 2 EV. 11
all 12 NEy4 13-25-11.
WD-Donald A. McKamy to
Harry A. Spall and wf 7-8-61
$6500 Lot 4 blk 25 O’Neill.
Phone Your News to
The Frontier
Phone 788
4-H Club Notes
P'rKM'hffift DLsowKd
The Electro-Motive 4-H club
met at the Marvin Stauffer home
July 18. Roll call was answered
by naming the kind of tractor
the members are taking in the
tractor project and the horse
power rating. All of the mem
bers were present. The tractor
division members discussed the
lesson entitled “What Makes An
Engine Run” and Operator's
Manual” in their tractor pro
ject book. The members of the
electricty division discussed their
lesson and the subject of making
a display board for the Holt
County Fair. The next meeting
will be at the Art Grass home
July 28.
Randall Stauffer, Reporter
Alice's
Beaut/ Shop
325 E. Douglas St. Phone 2*3
Complete Beauty Service
Slit.iliner Reducing Machine
Dr. H. D. GILDERSLEEVE
OPTOMETRIST
Eye** Examined—Glasses Fitted
Contact Lenses
Phone Mi7 — O’Neill. Nebr.
Ilnurs 9 5—Mon. thru Saturday
Closed Wednesday
1
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