able farmer might fail to appreciate the
picturesque qualities of the bullwhaokers
and emigrants sufficiently to desire olose
and constant intimacy with them , and
so might withdraw to a little distance
before undertaking to raise crops and a
family. But one does not at first sight
understand why the freighters objected
to the propinquity of the settlers. That
they did so is evident from editorials
found from time to time in the contem
porary newspapers , which may be called
the official organs of the freighting
business. Good enough reasons appear
on closer inspection. The settlers
claimed property rights in what had
hitherto belonged freely to all comers ;
hence arose controversies , painful to the
bullwhackers" sensitive natures. The
farmer would not allow them to camp
in their accustomed spot , if it was on
his ground , nor turn their cattle loose in
his high grass ; he was apt to cut the
grass and put it in his barn when they
most needed it , and his stock would
often make trouble among their beasts ;
disputes as to ownership would also
arise at times ; and he had furthermore
a villainous way of fencing in and
ploughing up the sacred soil of the trail.
For these reasons and many others there
was no love between them.
So the settlers kept away from the
roads when they could , and their
schools , postoffices and towns sprang up
at a distance from them.
A peculiar result of the changes that
attended the passing of the old order of
things , and one especially misleading to
the investigator , is the occurrence of
the old historic names attached to other
settlements than those which bore them
first. Instances of this are very numer
ous. There is Kearney ; before Kearney
was , there was a Kearney City , which
was some miles away and across the
river ; before that were Fort Kearney
and Old Fort Kearney , all separate and
distinct. There is Julesburg , which is
the third of that name. All the way
along the river from Kearney westward ,
one can find the names of old stage-
stations and land-marks , familiar in the
itineraries of the early days , but all
transferred to places some distance
away and across the river to the north.
The instances of this are too numerous
to be entertaining , but it is noteworthy
that the name is more likely to be found
attached to a township or precinct than
to a postoffire. This suggests the method
which undoubtedly operated in such
cases. The name of the old station
would spread itself over the surrounding
country , and when next a name was
wanted as organization went on , it
would be the first to come to men's
minds.
There are plenty of instances of these
changes , and of the ups and downs in
/general to which the early settlements
were liable , in oar own county.
Wyoming woa a river-town , which at
one time had hopes , but is long since
dead. It gave its name to its precinct ,
and when a few years ago the Missouri
Pacific had a station to name , it called
it Wyoming. Palmyra was a town laid
out in the 50's a mile south of Douglas ,
where there is now a grave-yard. The
present Palmyra is many miles away.
Worralton was a postoffice on the
Nomaha southwest of Nebraska City ;
its location is now forgotten. Even
Syracuse , proud city of the salt waters ,
which wore to be the foundation of its
wealth and greatness , fell so low as to
lose its postoffice in 1859 ; but it was
afterwards reestablished at the same
point.
Riders of edit-
OUR -SECOND
WASHINGTON. " ° rlal nlld ° thor dls'
missions that go
on in THE CONSERVATIVE , will doubtless
agree to the "strenuous" and stubborn ,
and not always suave , way it has of con
serving the truth upon all public ques
tions that receive its attention , and also
that these subjects are always of im
portance and wholesome variety. I re
spectfully ask it to let me say a word
upon the vast and monotonous outbreak
and output of Lincoln literature and
oratory , that Alex. McOlnre's contribu
tions in the Saturday Evening Post may
not escape attention , wherein two or
three things about the Great Emanci
pator who , in truth , never emancipated
a single s ive , and who , moreover , in
his first inaugural , boldly proposed to
bind closer his shackles by amending
the fugitive slave law to make it more
effective in securing the return of es
caping slaves "fugitives from justice
or labor , " are mentioned.
Colonel McClure makes it plain ,
1. That Mr. Lincoln was a very am
bitious and shrewd politician , and that
he was a very human being.
2. That he was scared half to death
for fear he would be defeated for a second
end nomination , after he had secured ,
by the use of every agency , civil and
military , to compel his own nomination ,
and even after ho had definite irnforma-
tion that he had a clear majority of the
convention. "Well , McClure"said the
president , "I don't quite forget that I
was nominated in a convention ( the
Chicago 'mob convention' ) that was
two-thirds for the other fellow , " ( W.
H. Seward ) , a confession and a fact
which shed a whole flood of lurid light
upon the real character , conscientious
ness and methods of Mr. Abraham Lin
coln as "a second George Washington. "
Within two weeks of the nomination he
is said by Colonel McOluro to have been
as a child who had lost a toy. The Col
onel "had to admit that he had been
nominated by a convention that was
two-thirdu for Seward , " says MoOlure ,
"but no such condition could arise at
Baltimore. "
3. Ool. Alex. McOlure says that , do-
spite the bad platform of the democrats
which General McClellau repudiated as
the opposing candidate , Mr. Lincoln
himself , Mr. Horace Greeley and most
of the republican leadership , conceded
his defeat in August , 1864 , and the only
things that prevented it were two
things : Sherman's victory over Hood
at Atlanta , and Sheridan's over Early
in Virginia.
4. The late Francis P. Blair , Jr. , as
gallant a man and as brave a patriot
and hero , civil or military , as this coun
try has ever known , once accompanied
President Lincoln from Washington to
City Point on a visit to General McOlel-
lau , who was then commanding the
Army of the Potomac in front of Rich
mond. During General Blair's service
as United States Union Pacific Railroad
Commissioner , he related the following
incident :
General Blair was asleep in his state
room on the boat as the visiting party
was returning to Washington. A loud
rap on his door aroused him , accompan
ied by the president's call , "Frank !
Frank ! " The president entered his
state-room and said : "Frank , McOlel-
Ian wants to be president , but he won't
be ; " and , after this delivery , left the
room. This statement was made by
General Blair to a citizen of Nebraska
City , with whom the editor of THE
CONSERVATIVE has something more than
a passing acquaintance , and the same
story was told by General Blair to a re
sponsible citizen of Omaha , whom the
writer knows very well.
What Washingtonian connection that
comment on McOlellan's ambition had
with the refusal to send McDowell for
ward with 40,000 men at the moment of
the attack , as had been promised Mc-
Olellan , a force which was depended
upon for the right wing of McClellan ,
God alone may know. See Elaine's
"Twenty Years in Congress. "
8. But with these military triumphs in
the field , Mr. Lincoln was still in very
grave danger of defeat , and was only
saved by bringing from the commands
of Meade and Sheridan 10,000 soldiers
to overcome the democrats of Pennsyl
vania , and to carry his own election by
the little majority of 20,075 in that
great state.
GEORGE L. MILLER.
Omaha , Feb. 15 , 1900.
THE MISSION OP THE FLOWER.
I found ri flower , a little starry thing ,
Close down beside the margin of a brook.
A shady plane , a dim and silent nook
Where vines with slim tenacious fingers cling
To the gnarled trees , and the wild ferns swing
Their graceful branches to and fro. One look
Revealed its beauty unto me. I took
It and it made mo happy all the spring.
It faded witli the summer and the leaf.
The nutumn winds walled sadly o'er its tomb ,
Yet gratitude was mingled with my grief ,
It filled my life awhile with sweet perfume.
And though its day of lingering was brief ,
A soul is nearer God for that dear bloom.
ISABEL RICH BY.