Part 3

IN our boyhood, we had little use for meadows, we could go out in the prairie and on the low land we could cut from three to four tons of good hay per acre. A big boy could cut five tons per day, which would now be worth at least fifty dollars. When we was a boy, we went out to mow some hay, and we found our good neighbor John Hall out there mowing, and he showed us where to mow, where the grass was very good, and he said there was all the grass in that place we would both cut. When it was near noon and pretty hot, we were wanting water very much John called us to come to him, we went, and he brought out a very large, long watermelon from under some green hay beneath his wagon, and we got in the shade of his wagon. I do not think I have ever enjoyed a melon with more relish than I did that one.

The Deer on the Ice.

THE Deer is the most beautiful of all animals, very timid and harmless, has no disposition to fight any thing, unless it is wounded or hemmed in, it aims to save itself by flight; but hunters say it kills every snake that it finds, by jumping on the reptile with all its feet placed close together, thus cutting it to pieces with its sharp hoofs.

It was, maybe, in the winter of 1844, it had been very cold for a long time, my elder brother would go to the spring for water every evening near sunset, and there was a large buck drinking in the spring, as the water was frozen up other places; my Father said “wait and I will see if I can kill him,” and he loaded up his big rifle and went down to the big locust tree South of the house, in plain view of the spring, and we saw him draw up against the tree and take aim, and “bang” went the rifle, and he ran to the spring, directly we heard him hollering, and the two big boys ran with all their might; the bullet had struck him on the horn, just where it joined his head, and stunned him, and he lay there until my Father caught him by the hind leg, when he sprang to his feet; there was a solid sheet of smooth ice, about fifteen feet across, and the deer could not hold very good on the ice; my Father said he had him down a dozen times, but could not keep him down; he got his front feet to the dry land once or twice, and my Father would jerk him back, but when my brothers got there they got hold of his horns and threw him down and they all piled on him and held him down until they cut his throat. My Father was a large, stout man, and he said that was the hardest scuffle he ever had. Such was pioneer life in Illinois.

Ben Overton.

IN early days, Ben Overton kept a little grocery store in the woods, and when James Mitchell quit making whiskey, Ben went to St. Louis and bought a barrel of whiskey and put out the word that he would not sell it in any other way but by the drink, a picayune a drink. The men did not like him very well, they said he was mean. When Ben got home, on the Saturday after, the men gathered there from ten miles around, and now Ben thought he would have a big day. The men had their jugs hid in the bushes, and soon one of my uncle’s and Bill Doyle got into a fight, just out under some trees, then while Ben’s attention was diverted, the men run in at the back door and filled up their jugs, also one for each of the combatants, and when the last jug was full some one hollered: “Part ’em.” They did not hardly leave Ben whiskey enough to “drown his trouble.”

The Spelling Match.

IN our early boyhood we hardly ever saw a buggy and there were not many farmers who owned a wagon. At one time there was to be a spelling contest between our school and one five miles East and we was bothered to decide how to get the girls there; but a day or two before the time for the spelling, there came a deep snow, and then we knew what to do; we had a very large yoke of oxen, we would hitch them to the big sled and we would have room for all, and when the day came, soon afternoon, we hitched up and started around to gather up our load of boys and girls, and when we got them crowded closely into the sled, we found we had room for all only two, but we knew how to manage that, and I got on the back of old Pete, while cousin Frank got on old Mike and we struck out; but before we got there we had a long hill to go down, and on one side there was a pretty deep ditch washed out and when we started down the hill the steers got to going faster and faster, and when we saw that we were running into that ditch, we hollered “hoa”, and the steers stopped very suddenly, while we “scooted” over their heads into the deep snow; we jumped up as quick as we could, and looked back, the sled was standing up on one side, while the boys and girls were piled up in that ditch three feet deep, but there was no one hurt much, and we brushed the snow off, and got there just at dark. Our boys and girls kept laughing so, that we found it necessary to ask leave to get up and explain what they were laughing about. I told it as funny as I could, and I was in practice then for telling things funny; I also tried to show how old Pete was standing, when I looked around, but I did not have legs enough to show it just right; when I got through, it took a long time to restore order. When we had spelled for a long time and all were “spelled down” on both sides, except our brother Albert on our side and Manda Johnson on their side, and when they had spelled for two hours, and neither one had missed a word, the judges decided to call it a “draw” and dismissed.

The Prices.

AT one time, in our early recollection, my Father bought a number of yearlings early one spring, and the highest price he paid was three dollars a head. He kept them until they were over two years old, and I think there were sixteen steers among them, and he sold the steers to Irvin Melton for eight dollars a head. One spring, when I was a small boy, he sold to Wilson Perryman, his cousin, eight cows and calves for eight dollars each—sixty-four dollars for all. He got that all in silver half-dollars, and put it in an old tin bucket and sat it up on the cupboard, and the same year, about September, he sold to John Selby one hundred head of hogs for one hundred dollars, all in silver, and he put it in the same bucket, and when the neighbor’s children would come over, we would get it down and pour it out on the floor, to show them how much money we had. Finally John Hodson borrowed it and entered three forties of land, where New Hope now stands.

The Eggs.

SIXTY Years ago, when we were at work in the field, and would hear the cranes, out on the prairie, making a great noise, we knew they were nesting. They would go into the lakes and gather the rushes and pile them up very much like a large shock of hay, so that it would come above the water, then they would make a little flat place on top and deposit two eggs on that flat place; the eggs was a little larger than a goose egg, while they were shaped just like a quail’s egg, they were white in color with small brown specks all over them. When we could get a hat full of prairie hen’s eggs, and we believe no better flavored egg can be found, when they were boiled, then with a dish of fresh butter, a boy was surely fixed.

Good Friends.

THE Author feels very proud of having had the good influence of such good friends as Pascal Hinton, James Rhoads, Berry Turner, Jasper L. Douthit, Anthony Thornton, Henry Carpenter, John Kitchell, Sylvester Cosart, and many, very many others. Some of them are gone, but we have not given them up. The influence and friendship of such men has made our pathway brighter, and has made life worth living; and all we are we owe it to the influence of such good friends.

Love.

LOVE is the greatest attribute of God and the noblest trait of man.

Love redeemed the world and brings salvation to men.

Love casts out all fear, and purifies the heart.

Love rocks the cradle of virtue, and brings peace to the nations.

Love tunes the song of the lark, and paints the rose.

Love indites the prayer, and speeds the answer.

Love tempers the storm and hallows the calm.

Love smiles in every swelling bud, and whispers in every passing breeze.

Love softens the pillow and sweetens the dream.

No pen can ever write, No mind can ever span The length and breadth, the depth and height Of the love of God to man.

When I and Betsey Married.

WHEN I and Betsey married first, We both was very poor; When work was very scarce, sometimes The wolf got near the door.

And Betsey said: “Let’s buy some hens— “The papers say ‘it will pay’; “I think you had better look around “And buy the kind that lay.”

I bought a dozen plymouth hens And put them in a pen; When Betsy went and looked, she found An egg for every hen.

“Whoopee! I know just what to do; “I’ll buy a dozen more— “And when we get that many eggs, “We are not so very poor.”

We raised a hundred hens that year; Next year, three hundred more— And Betsy, with a knowing wink, Said, “We have struck it, sure.”

We don’t care much what kind we have— There’s not much in a name; If people treat their chickens right, They “shell out” just the same.

We have eleven hundred now, Blue, yellow, black and white; And Betsy says: “Old man, I think “They are mixed up now just right.”

And late, like in the evening We get our baskets off their pegs, And “hike out” in the chicken yard To gather in the eggs.

We ship two cases every day; Oh, my! but aint it funny? I sit around and read the news, And Betsy counts the money.

Discontent.

THE Human family is restless and discontented; constantly in quest of something, and know not what that something is. There is an aching void in the mind, which men are constantly seeking to satisfy, and very many remedies have been tried and failed. Some have tried great wealth and it has failed; some have tried great learning, and it has failed; some have tried fame, and it has failed; some have resorted to strong drink, and it has failed; also, many other things have been tried to satisfy that void and failed. Man is out of his element, consequently unhappy. Take a fish out of the water and it will perish and die, because it is out of its element. Man was created for peace and harmony with his God. When he had violated the law and was put out of the Garden, he lost his element; hence this restless, unhappy condition. Now, he may be represented as being blind—in utter darkness, in quest of something and knows not what it is. But God, in His Great Mercy, has put a remedy within our reach; an efficient antidote is prepared and brought to your door, and not only so, but It knocks and asks admission; It comes in the person of a gentle, loving Spirit, whispering in accents of pity: “Oh! come to me, and find rest”; ever, ever calling, calling: “Believe, on me, and find peace.” That dear Holy Ghost comes to your pillow at night. “Oh! trust in Me and I will restore you to your proper element; believe in Me and I will drive away all this restless discontent”. Our fathers and mothers, in their day, heard and obeyed this same loving call, and found peace, by being placed in their native element—peace with God.

Out on the mountain, cold and bare, With restless feet we roam; But now, we come with humble prayer: Lord, lead us safely home.

Three Powers.

THE Human family owe allegiance to three great powers—their God, their Country, and their Home; and the three are so inseparably connected that a person can hardly be true to one without being true to all; there is a connecting link that binds them together. We owe our allegance to God because He is the author of our existence, and gives us all the untold blessings that we enjoy, and to Him we look for the hope of a blessed immortality beyond this life, and by Him we enjoy the blessings of our Country and our Home. We owe allegiance to our Country because by it we enjoy protection in our life and property; it guarantees to us the right to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and be protected in our Home. And to the Home. Oh! how shall we begin the Home? The most sacred place on earth, around whose hearthstone the foundation is laid for the weal or woe of the Nation. Oh! say not the Home is not a power of all earthly powers; the Home is the nucleus, the Alpha and Omega, the biggest, biggest word pertaining to earthly things, spelled with four letters, the hand is too feeble to write, and the tongue is too feeble to tell, and the brain is too feeble to conceive all the meaning there is in that short word—Home. With its joys and its sorrows, its toils and repose, its smiles and its tears, its births and its deaths, its cradle and its altar, its Bible and its pillow, its bitter and its sweet, its precepts and its examples. When orators and poets undertake to tell all the meaning of that short word, let them pause and think, and think, and think; and when it shall have been declared that Time shall be no more; and when the last trumpet shall have sounded and when Angels shall have tuned their harps anew and shall have struck up the ever new glad song of redemption, through the Blood; and when the pearly gates shall have been thrown wide open, to welcome the redeemed and blood-washed throng from earth: Oh! then, Home, Home. Home forever-more.

The Effect of Influence.

DEEP In the heart of every individual is an inclination to be good and to do good, but sometimes that good desire is so counteracted by some evil influence, that the poor individual unfortunately drifts into ruin. The doctrine of total depravity is all a mistake. The poor criminal often becomes so by the influences which are brought to bear upon his mind; and the good people are often, more or less, responsible for his ruin, for their indifference and lack of diligence in trying to win him back to the path of honesty and justice. The people who are good need not take the praise to themselves, for they do not know what they would have done under certain other environments and influences; and often the poor criminal is more to be pitied than blamed; often in an unguarded moment he does things which he had no thought of doing, and he would then give his life to call it back. And when our neighbor goes to the bad, let us, instead of exulting over his fall, rather shed a tear for him, and think, maybe, I have not done my duty to save him. But, fortunately, in our country, the good is so much greater than the bad, and the good influence so prevails over the bad, that God still deals with us in mercy, and sends the seedtime and harvest, and our people are a prosperous and happy people.

Jesus Cares for Me.

I KNOW that my Redeemer lives, I know He cares for me; I know He full salvation gives, I know He sets me free.

Why should I murmer or repine, While on life’s stormy sea; Since God is with me all the time, And Jesus cares for me.

Even in a dark and stormy night Though threatening clouds I see; This thought brings comfort and delight That Jesus cares for me.

Each day I hear His gentle call: Saying, “Believe on me”; And since He notes each sparrow’s fall I know He cares for me.

Greed for Wealth.

THE Extreme greed for wealth comes nearer threatening the overthrow of this Government than any one thing. The disregard for law is the result of greed. The saloon is the child of greed. Money sharks have been very diligent in agitating all the party prejudice they can, for they know that if the voters lay down their love for party name, they will work and vote together intelligently to overthrow the great wrongs, and there will be a leveling up, and that class legislation will have to go, and the liquor traffic will have to go, and equal rights will prevail. The people are intelligent enough to know their wrongs, but they are so completely bound hand and foot by their party name, that they cannot help themselves. They know that the issues, which the leaders of the parties, have kept the voters divided upon for many years, was only “sham” issues, and not the real issues at all. The voters of this country are intelligent on every other question, but almost hopelessly insane on the question of party. There is no question now for which lecturers are needed so much. If you kill the foolish blind party prejudice, the same stroke will kill every public wrong which exists in our land. We think we have some pretty good reasons to hope that the great wrongs will be righted within a few years; but there are no good reasons why they should not be righted within a few months.

Christ will Wipe.

IF traveling through this vale of tears, We saw no better world than this; If looking on through endless years We caught no ray of Heavenly bliss.

Where could we go, to comfort find, Or what could then our spirits cheer; Still groping on in darkness, blind With sin and sorrow, everywhere.

But, oh! our destiny is not sealed In bitter anguish, death and gloom; For God, has in His word revealed A better world, beyond the tomb.

This thought, will give us joy and peace, While plodding on, in toils and cares, Knowing well we’ll have a sweet release; And Christ will wipe away our tears.

Then goodbye sorrow, goodbye pain, Goodbye to all our doubts and fears, For He, who died and rose again Will smile and wipe away our tears.

Let storms arise, and billows roll, We’ll battle on, our three-score years— This thought’s an anchor to our soul, That Christ will wipe away our tears.

So glad, our destiny is not sealed In bitter anguish, death and gloom— For God has, in His word revealed A better world, beyond the tomb.

The Family Altar.

GOOD Men and Women study and counsel, what is best to do for the good of our people. And after a good deal of thinking, the writer concludes that there is nothing more potent for the safety of our Nation, than the family altar. Wise men have written on every other subject, and writers have seemed to overlook the family altar. The strength of the Nation is derived from the homes; and if the homes are good, the Nation is good. If the homes are bad, the Nation is bad. It is hard for the homes to be right good without the family altar. So the safety of the Nation depends greatly upon the family altar. It is a guard against the temptations which surround us. It prepares the mind for that which is good, and is an efficient antidote for our sins and our sorrows. The future life of the child depends very greatly upon the family altar. God bless the family altar.

Self Sacrifice.

IT WAS one of the characteristics of the early settlers to love one another, and we love to think of the many noble men and women who made great sacrifices for, their fellow-man; but none could ever come up with Jasper L. Douthit. Having been brought to Illinois, by his parents, when a very small boy, one of the first things he seemed to learn was self-sacrifice for others. He caught the Spirit of Love to others, and outstripped any man in Illinois. No man in Illinois has made such self-sacrifice for others as Jasper L. Douthit. He has given his whole life for others. He is a Unitarian preacher, and he is not only Unitarian in name, but if people serve the God whom his mother taught him to serve, whether Methodist or Baptist, or any other denomination, he loves them just the same. So he is a real Unitarian. When he has been persecuted by the people, who did not understand him, he worked on, and his actions said: “Father forgive them, they know not what they do”; and his great big heart overflowing with love, he sought to do them good. Few men have had better opportunities to know him than we have; and Jasper is as able to cope with the intricate problems of statesmanship as almost any man in the land, and yet simple as a child. If he sees you in trouble, his eyes will fill with tears. Now, in his old age, he is the hardest working man we ever knew. He is no lover of money, and when he makes money it just goes, with the overflowing of his heart, for the good of others.

Party Prejudice.

WE BELIEVE there is no wrong in our good country so potent in perpetuating evil, as the party prejudice of the voters. The prejudice for political party is what makes possible every great wrong which exists in our land. The voters would vote together, intelligently, to correct every wrong were it not for their prejudice for their party. When one political party takes a stand for a good thing, the other party makes it their business to oppose them. The corruption which existed in the state of Missouri, never could have existed only for the party prejudice. The disregard for law, which has given the President so much trouble, and cost so much money, would have been nipped in the bud, only for the party prejudice. The American voter is intelligent on every other subject, but on the subject of political party, he is deplorably insane. They do not vote so much for men and principle, but are blindly governed by party name. You kill the foolish blind party prejudice and the same stroke kills every great political wrong in our land. Each party will go down into the dirt to court the friendship of every low, dirty element who has a vote. Kill the party prejudice and lawlessness and anarchy will have to hide their deformed faces. When it is found that a man is not willing to obey the laws of this good country a committee should wait upon him and tell him that the sooner he packs his trunks the better. We have a class of rich, aristocratic anarchists who want to run this Government; then we have a class of low, ignorant and dirty anarchists at the tail end, and the country would be better off without either. The American people are a country loving people, and they want to do right and vote right; but their love of party has such complete control over them that they cannot always do right; but they must say and do what their party leaders say for them to do. The party leaders give us issues to contend over and keep us divided, which we know are not the issues. So the love for political party is the mother of every great public wrong which exists, and it is the only thing which makes possible every public wrong.

Intemperance.