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diff --git a/39237.txt b/39237.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..69d7252 --- /dev/null +++ b/39237.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8542 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Conquest, by Oscar Micheaux + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: The Conquest + The Story of a Negro Pioneer + +Author: Oscar Micheaux + +Release Date: March 24, 2012 [EBook #39237] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONQUEST *** + + + + +Produced by Cathy Maxam, Glen Fellows and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + + The Conquest + + _The Story of a Negro Pioneer_ + + BY THE PIONEER + + 1913 + THE WOODRUFF PRESS + Lincoln, Nebr. + + + + +Entered according to the Act of Congress in the year 1913, + by the Woodruff Bank Note Co., in the office of the + Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C. + +First Edition, May 1, 1913 + + + + +_To the_ +_HONORABLE BOOKER T. WASHINGTON_ + + + + +_INTRODUCTORY_ + + +_This is a true story of a negro who was discontented and the +circumstances that were the outcome of that discontent._ + + + + +INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + + Became number one in the opening 56 + + Everybody for miles around had journeyed thither to + celebrate 113 + + Made a declaration that he would build a town 128 + + Although the valley could not be surpassed in the production + of grain and alfalfa, the highlands on + either side were great mountains of sand 133 + + On the east the murky waters of the Missouri seek + their level 140 + + The real farmer was fast replacing the homesteader 145 + + Everything grew so rank, thick and green 160 + + Had put 280 acres under cultivation 177 + + Bringing stock, household goods and plenty of money 192 + + Were engaged in ranching and owned great herds in + Tipp county 209 + + As the people were all now riding in autos 241 + + A beautiful townsite where trees stood 251 + + Ernest Nicholson takes a hand 256 + + The crops began to wither 289 + + The cold days and long nights passed slowly by, and I + cared for the stock 304 + + + + +LIST OF CHAPTERS + + + PAGE + + I Discontent--Spirit of the Pioneer 9 + + II Leaving Home--A Maiden 18 + + III Chicago, Chasing a Will-O-The-Wisp 24 + + IV The P----n Company 34 + + V "Go West Young Man" 48 + + VI "And Where is Oristown?" 54 + + VII Oristown, the "Little Crow" Reservation 61 + + VIII Far Down the Pacific--The Proposal 67 + + IX The Return--Ernest Nicholson 72 + + X The Oklahoma Grafter 74 + + XI Dealin' in Mules 79 + + XII The Homesteaders 86 + + XIII Imaginations Run Amuck 91 + + XIV The Surveyors 94 + + XV "Which Town Will the R.R. Strike?" 104 + + XVI Megory's Day 108 + + XVII Ernest Nicholson's Return 117 + + XVIII Comes Stanley, the Chief Engineer 123 + + XIX In the Valley of the Keya Paha 126 + + XX The Outlaw's Last Stand 132 + + XXI The Boom 134 + + XXII The President's Proclamation 140 + + XXIII Where the Negro Fails 142 + + XXIV And the Crowds Did Come--The Prairie Fire 148 + + XXV The Scotch Girl 153 + + XXVI The Battle 164 + + XXVII The Sacrifice--Race Loyalty 168 + + XXVIII The Breeds 175 + + XXIX In the Valley of the Dog Ear 182 + + XXX Ernest Nicholson Takes a Hand 186 + + XXXI The McCralines 193 + + XXXII A Long Night 201 + + XXXIII The Survival of the Fittest 208 + + XXXIV East of State Street 216 + + XXXV An Uncrowned King 233 + + XXXVI A Snake in the Grass 241 + + XXXVII The Progressives and the Reactionaries 251 + + XXXVIII Sanctimonious Hypocrisy 265 + + XXXIX Beginning of the End 273 + + XL The Mennonites 280 + + XLI The Drouth 284 + + XLII A Year of Coincidences 294 + + XLIII "And Satan Came Also" 297 + + + + +The Conquest + + + + +CHAPTER I + +DISCONTENT--SPIRIT OF THE PIONEER + + +Good gracious, has it been that long? It does not seem possible; but it +was this very day nine years ago when a fellow handed me this little +what-would-you-call-it, Ingalls called it "Opportunity." I've a notion +to burn it, but I won't--not this time, instead, I'll put it down here +and you may call it what you like. + + Master of human destinies am I. + Fame, love, and fortune on my footsteps wait. + Cities and fields I walk. I penetrate + Deserts and seas remote, and passing by + Hovel, and mart, and palace--soon or late + I knock unbidden once at every gate. + If sleeping, wake--if feasting, rise before + I turn away. It is the hour of fate, + And they who follow me reach every state + Mortals desire, and conquer every foe + Save death; but those who doubt or hesitate, + Condemned to failure, penury, and woe + Seek me in vain and uselessly implore, + I answer not, and I return no more. + +Yes, it was that little poem that led me to this land and sometimes I +wonder well, I just wonder, that's all. Again, I think it would be +somewhat different if it wasn't for the wind. It blows and blows until +it makes me feel lonesome and so far away from that little place and the +country in southern Illinois. + +I was born twenty-nine years ago near the Ohio River, about forty miles +above Cairo, the fourth son and fifth child of a family of thirteen, by +the name of Devereaux--which, of course, is not my name but we will call +it that for this sketch. It is a peculiar name that ends with an "eaux," +however, and is considered an odd name for a colored man to have, unless +he is from Louisiana where the French crossed with the Indians and +slaves, causing many Louisiana negroes to have the French names and many +speak the French language also. My father, however, came from Kentucky +and inherited the name from his father who was sold off into Texas +during the slavery period and is said to be living there today. + +He was a farmer and owned eighty acres of land and was, therefore, +considered fairly "well-to-do," that is, for a colored man. The county +in which we lived bordered on the river some twenty miles, and took its +name from an old fort that used to do a little cannonading for the +Federal forces back in the Civil War. + +The farming in this section was hindered by various disadvantages and at +best was slow, hard work. Along the valleys of the numerous creeks and +bayous that empty their waters into the Ohio, the soil was of a rich +alluvium, where in the early Spring the back waters from the Ohio +covered thousands of acres of farm and timber lands, and in receding +left the land plastered with a coat of river sand and clay which greatly +added to the soil's productivity. One who owned a farm on these bottoms +was considered quite fortunate. Here the corn stalks grew like saplings, +with ears dangling one and two to a stalk, and as sound and heavy as +green blocks of wood. + +The heavy rains washed the loam from the hills and deposited it on these +bottoms. Years ago, when the rolling lands were cleared, and before the +excessive rainfall had washed away the loose surface, the highlands were +considered most valuable for agricultural purposes, equally as valuable +as the bottoms now are. Farther back from the river the more rolling the +land became, until some sixteen miles away it was known as the hills, +and here, long before I was born, the land had been very valuable. Large +barns and fine stately houses--now gone to wreck and deserted--stood +behind beautiful groves of chestnut, locust and stately old oaks, where +rabbits, quail and wood-peckers made their homes, and sometimes a +raccoon or opossum founded its den during the cold, bleak winter days. +The orchards, formerly the pride of their owners, now dropped their +neglected fruit which rotted and mulched with the leaves. The fields, +where formerly had grown great crops of wheat, corn, oats, timothy and +clover, were now grown over and enmeshed in a tangled mass of weeds and +dew-berry vines; while along the branches and where the old rail fences +had stood, black-berry vines had grown up, twisting their thorny stems +and forming a veritable hedge fence. These places I promised mother to +avoid as I begged her to allow me to follow the big boys and carry their +game when they went hunting. + +In the neighborhood and throughout the country there had at one time +been many colored farmers, or ex-slaves, who had settled there after the +war. Many of them having built up nice homes and cleared the valley of +tough-rooted hickory, gum, pecan and water-oak trees, and the highlands +of the black, white, red or post oak, sassafras and dogwood. They later +grubbed the stumps and hauled the rocks into the roads, or dammed +treacherous little streams that were continually breaking out and +threatening the land with more ditches. But as time wore on and the +older generation died, the younger were attracted to the towns and +cities in quest of occupations that were more suitable to their +increasing desires for society and good times. Leaving the farms to care +for themselves until the inevitable German immigrant came along and +bought them up at his own price, tilled the land, improved the farm and +roads, straightened out the streams by digging canals, and grew +prosperous. + +As for me, I was called the lazy member of the family; a shirker who +complained that it was too cold to work in the winter, and too warm in +the summer. About the only thing for which I was given credit was in +learning readily. I always received good grades in my studies, but was +continually criticised for talking too much and being too inquisitive. +We finally moved into the nearby town of M--pls. Not so much to get off +the farm, or to be near more colored people (as most of the younger +negro farmers did) as to give the children better educational +facilities. + +The local colored school was held in an old building made of plain +boards standing straight up and down with batten on the cracks. It was +inadequate in many respects; the teachers very often inefficient, and +besides, it was far from home. After my oldest sister graduated she went +away to teach, and about the same time my oldest brother quit school and +went to a near-by town and became a table waiter, much to the +dissatisfaction of my mother, who always declared emphatically that she +wanted none of her sons to become lackeys. + +When the Spanish-American War broke out the two brothers above me +enlisted with a company of other patriotic young fellows and were taken +to Springfield to go into camp. At Springfield their company was +disbanded and those of the company that wished to go on were accepted +into other companies, and those that desired to go home were permitted +to do so. The younger of the two brothers returned home by freight; the +other joined a Chicago company and was sent to Santiago and later to San +Luis DeCuba, where he died with typhoid pneumonia. + +M--pls was an old town with a few factories, two flour mills, two or +three saw mills, box factories and another concern where veneering was +peeled from wood blocks softened with steam. The timber came from up the +Tennessee River, which emptied into the Ohio a few miles up the river. +There was also the market house, such as are to be seen in towns of the +Southern states--and parts of the Northern. This market house, or +place, as it is often called, was an open building, except one end +enclosed by a meat-market, and was about forty by one hundred feet with +benches on either side and one through the center for the convenience of +those who walked, carrying their produce in a home-made basket. Those in +vehicles backed to a line guarded by the city marshall, forming an +alleyway the width of the market house for perhaps half a block, +depending on how many farmers were on hand. There was always a rush to +get nearest the market house; a case of the early bird getting the worm. +The towns people who came to buy, women mostly with baskets, would file +leisurely between the rows of vehicles, hacks and spring wagons of +various descriptions, looking here and there at the vegetables +displayed. + +We moved back to the country after a time where my father complained of +my poor service in the field and in disgust I was sent off to do the +marketing--which pleased me, for it was not only easy but gave me a +chance to meet and talk with many people--and I always sold the goods +and engaged more for the afternoon delivery. This was my first +experience in real business and from that time ever afterward I could +always do better business for myself than for anyone else. I was not +given much credit for my ability to sell, however, until my brother, who +complained that I was given all the easy work while he had to labor and +do all the heavier farm work, was sent to do the marketing. He was not a +salesman and lacked the aggressiveness to approach people with a basket, +and never talked much; was timid and when spoken to or approached +plainly showed it. + +On the other hand, I met and became acquainted with people quite +readily. I soon noticed that many people enjoy being flattered, and how +pleased even the prosperous men's wives would seem if bowed to with a +pleasant "Good Morning, Mrs. Quante, nice morning and would you care to +look at some fresh roasting ears--ten cents a dozen; or some nice ripe +strawberries, two boxes for fifteen cents?" "Yes Maam, Thank you! and O, +Mrs. Quante, would you care for some radishes, cucumbers or lettuce for +tomorrow? I could deliver late this afternoon, you see, for maybe you +haven't the time to come to market every day." From this association I +soon learned to give to each and every prospective customer a different +greeting or suggestion, which usually brought a smile and a nod of +appreciation as well as a purchase. + +Before the debts swamped my father, and while my brothers were still at +home, our truck gardening, the small herd of milkers and the chickens +paid as well as the farm itself. About this time father fell heir to a +part of the estate of a brother which came as a great relief to his ever +increasing burden of debt. + +While this seeming relief to father was on I became very anxious to get +away. In fact I didn't like M--pls nor its surroundings. It was a river +town and gradually losing its usefulness by the invasion of railroads up +and down the river; besides, the colored people were in the most part +wretchedly poor, ignorant and envious. They were set in the ways of +their localisms, and it was quite useless to talk to them of anything +that would better oneself. The social life centered in the two churches +where praying, singing and shouting on Sundays, to back-biting, +stealing, fighting and getting drunk during the week was common among +the men. They remained members in good standing at the churches, +however, as long as they paid their dues, contributed to the numerous +rallies, or helped along in camp meetings and festivals. Others were +regularly turned out, mostly for not paying their dues, only to warm up +at the next revival on the mourners bench and come through converted and +be again accepted into the church and, for awhile at least, live a +near-righteous life. There were many good Christians in the church, +however, who were patient with all this conduct, while there were and +still are those who will not sanction such carrying-on by staying in a +church that permits of such shamming and hypocrisy. These latter often +left the church and were then branded either as infidels or human devils +who had forsaken the house of God and were condemned to eternal +damnation. + +My mother was a shouting Methodist and many times we children would slip +quietly out of the church when she began to get happy. The old and less +religious men hauled slop to feed a few pigs, cut cord-wood at fifty +cents per cord, and did any odd jobs, or kept steady ones when such +could be found. The women took in washing, cooked for the white folks, +and fed the preachers. When we lived in the country we fed so many of +the Elders, with their long tailed coats and assuming and authoritative +airs, that I grew to almost dislike the sight of a colored man in a +Prince Albert coat and clerical vest. At sixteen I was fairly disgusted +with it all and took no pains to keep my disgust concealed. + +This didn't have the effect of burdening me with many friends in M--pls +and I was regarded by many of the boys and girls, who led in the +whirlpool of the local colored society, as being of the +"too-slow-to-catch-cold" variety, and by some of the Elders as being +worldly, a free thinker, and a dangerous associate for young Christian +folks. Another thing that added to my unpopularity, perhaps, was my +persistent declarations that there were not enough competent colored +people to grasp the many opportunities that presented themselves, and +that if white people could possess such nice homes, wealth and luxuries, +so in time, could the colored people. "You're a fool", I would be told, +and then would follow a lecture describing the time-worn long and cruel +slavery, and after the emancipation, the prejudice and hatred of the +white race, whose chief object was to prevent the progress and +betterment of the negro. This excuse for the negro's lack of ambition +was constantly dinned into my ears from the Kagle corner loafer to the +minister in the pulpit, and I became so tired of it all that I declared +that if I could ever leave M--pls I would never return. More, I would +disprove such a theory and in the following chapters I hope to show that +what I believed fourteen years ago was true. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +LEAVING HOME--A MAIDEN + + +I was seventeen when I at last left M--pls. I accepted a rough job at a +dollar and a quarter a day in a car manufacturing concern in a town of +eight thousand population, about eight hundred being colored. I was +unable to save very much, for work was dull that summer, and I was only +averaging about four days' work a week. Besides, I had an attack of +malaria at intervals for a period of two months, but by going to work at +five o'clock A.M. when I was well I could get in two extra hours, making +a dollar-fifty. The concern employed about twelve hundred men and paid +their wages every two weeks, holding back one week's pay. I came there +in June and it was some time in September that I drew my fullest pay +envelope which contained sixteen dollars and fifty cents. + +About this time a "fire eating" colored evangelist, who apparently +possessed great converting powers and unusual eloquence, came to town. +These qualities, however, usually became very uninteresting toward the +end of a stay. He had been to M--pls the year before I left and at that +place his popularity greatly diminished before he left. The greater part +of the colored people in this town were of the emotional kind and to +these he was as attractive as he had been at M--pls in the beginning. + +Coincident with the commencement of Rev. McIntyre's soul stirring +sermons a big revival was inaugurated, and although the little church +was filled nightly to its capacity, the aisles were kept clear in order +to give those that were "steeping in Hell's fire" (as the evangelist +characterized those who were not members of some church) an open road to +enter into the field of the righteous; also to give the mourners +sufficient room in which to exhaust their emotions when the spirit +struck them--and it is needless to say that they were used. At times +they virtually converted the entire floor into an active gymnasium, +regardless of the rights of other persons or of the chairs they +occupied. I had seen and heard people shout at long intervals in church, +but here, after a few soul stirring sermons, they began to run outside +where there was more room to give vent to the hallucination and this +wandering of the mind. It could be called nothing else, for after the +first few sermons the evangelist would hardly be started before some +mourner would begin to "come through." This revival warmed up to such +proportions that preaching and shouting began in the afternoon instead +of evening. Men working in the yards of the foundry two block away could +hear the shouting above the roaring furnaces and the deafening noise of +machinery of a great car manufacturing concern. The church stood on a +corner where two streets, or avenues, intersected and for a block in +either direction the influence of fanaticism became so intense that the +converts began running about like wild creatures, tearing their hair and +uttering prayers and supplications in discordant tones. + +At the evening services the sisters would gather around a mourner that +showed signs of weakening and sing and babble until he or she became so +befuddled they would jump up, throw their arms wildly into the air, +kick, strike, then cry out like a dying soul, fall limp and exhausted +into the many arms outstretched to catch them. This was always +conclusive evidence of a contrite heart and a thoroughly penitent soul. +Far into the night this performance would continue, and when the +mourners' bench became empty the audience would be searched for sinners. +I would sit through it all quite unemotional, and nightly I would be +approached with "aren't you ready?" To which I would make no answer. I +noticed that several boys, who were not in good standing with the +parents of girls they wished to court, found the mourners' bench a +convenient vehicle to the homes of these girls--all of whom belonged to +church. Girls over eighteen who did not belong were subjects of much +gossip and abuse. + +A report, in some inconceivable manner, soon became spread that Oscar +Devereaux had said that he wanted to die and go to hell. Such a +sensation! I was approached on all sides by men and women, regardless of +the time of day or night, by the young men who gloried in their +conversion and who urged me to "get right" with Jesus before it was too +late. I do not remember how long these meetings lasted but they suddenly +came to an end when notice was served on the church trustees by the city +council, which irreverently declared that so many converts every +afternoon and night was disturbing the white neighborhood's rest as +well as their nerves. It ordered windows and doors to be kept closed +during services, and as the church was small it was impossible to house +the congregation and all the converts, so the revival ended and the +community was restored to normal and calm once more prevailed. + +That was in September. One Sunday afternoon in October, as I was walking +along the railroad track, I chanced to overhear voices coming from under +a water tank, where a space of some eight or ten feet enclosed by four +huge timbers made a small, secluded place. I stopped, listened and was +sure I recognized the voices of Douglas Brock, his brother Melvin, and +two other well known colored boys. Douglas was betting a quarter with +one of the other boys that he couldn't pass. (You who know the dice and +its vagaries will know what he meant.) This was mingled with words and +commands from Melvin to the dice in trying to make some point. It must +have been four. He would let out a sort of yowl; "Little Joe, can't you +do it?" I went my way. I didn't shoot craps nor drink neither did I +belong to church but was called a dreadful sinner while three of the +boys under the tank had, not less than six weeks before, joined church +and were now full-fledged members in good standing. Of course I did not +consider that all people who belonged to church were not Christians, but +was quite sure that many were not. + +The following January a relative of mine got a job for me bailing water +in a coal mine in a little town inhabited entirely by negroes. I worked +from six o'clock P.M. to six A.M., and received two dollars and +twenty-five cents therefor. The work was rough and hard and the mine +very dark. The smoke hung like a cloud near the top of the tunnel-like +room during all the night. This was because the fans were all but shut +off at night, and just enough air was pumped in to prevent the formation +of black damp. The smoke made my head ache until I felt stupid and the +dampness made me ill, but the two dollars and twenty-five cents per day +looked good to me. After six weeks, however, I was forced to quit, and +with sixty-five dollars--more money than I had ever had--I went to see +my older sister who was teaching in a nearby town. + +I had grown into a strong, husky youth of eighteen and my sister was +surprised to see that I was working and taking care of myself so well. +She shared the thought of nearly all of my acquaintances that I was too +lazy to leave home and do hard work, especially in the winter time. +After awhile she suddenly looked at me and spoke as though afraid she +would forget it, "O, Oscar! I've got a girl for you; what do you think +of that?" smiling so pleasantly, I was afraid she was joking. You see, I +had never been very successful with the girls and when she mentioned +having a girl for me my heart was all a flutter and when she hesitated I +put in eagerly. + +"Aw go on--quit your kidding. On the level now, or are you just chiding +me?" But she took on a serious expression and speaking thoughtfully, she +went on. + +"Yes, she lives next door and is a nice little girl, and pretty. The +prettiest colored girl in town." + +Here I lost interest for I remembered my sister was foolish about +beauty and I said that I didn't care to meet her. I was suspicious when +it came to the pretty type of girls, and had observed that the prettiest +girl in town was oft times petted and spoiled and a mere butterfly. + +"O why?" She spoke like one hurt. Then I confessed my suspicions. "O, +You're foolish," she exclaimed softly, appearing relieved. "Besides," +she went on brightly "Jessie isn't a spoiled girl, you wait until you +meet her." And in spite of my protests she sent the landlady's little +girl off for Miss Rooks. She came over in about an hour and I found her +to be demure and thoughtful, as well as pretty. She was small of +stature, had dark eyes and beautiful wavy, black hair, and an olive +complexion. She wouldn't allow me to look into her eyes but continued to +cast them downward, sitting with folded hands and answering when spoken +to in a tiny voice quite in keeping with her small person. + +During the afternoon I mentioned that I was going to Chicago, "Now +Oscar, you've got no business in Chicago," my sister spoke up with a +touch of authority. "You're too young, and besides," she asked "do you +know whether W.O. wants you?" W.O. was our oldest brother and was then +making Chicago his home. + +"Huh!" I snorted "I'm going on my own hook," and drawing up to my full +six feet I tried to look brave, which seemed to have the desired effect +on my sister. + +"Well" she said resignedly, "you must be careful and not get into bad +company--be good and try to make a man of yourself." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +CHICAGO, CHASING A WILL-O-THE-WISP + + +That was on Sunday morning three hundred miles south of Chicago, and at +nine-forty that night I stepped off the New Orleans and Chicago fast +mail into a different world. It was, I believe, the coldest night that I +had ever experienced. The city was new and strange to me and I wandered +here and there for hours before I finally found my brother's address on +Armour Avenue. But the wandering and anxiety mattered little, for I was +in the great city where I intended beginning my career, and felt that +bigger things were in store for me. + +The next day my brother's landlady appeared to take a good deal of +interest in me and encouraged me so that I became quite confidential, +and told her of my ambitions for the future and that it was my intention +to work, save my money and eventually become a property owner. I was +rather chagrined later, however, to find that she had repeated all this +to my brother and he gave me a good round scolding, accompanied by the +unsolicited advice that if I would keep my mouth shut people wouldn't +know I was so green. He had been traveling as a waiter on an eastern +railroad dining car, but in a fit of independence--which had always been +characteristic of him--had quit, and now in mid-winter, was out of a +job. He was not enthusiastic concerning my presence in the city and I +had found him broke, but with a lot of fine clothes and a diamond or +two. Most folks from the country don't value good clothes and diamonds +in the way city folks do and I, for one, didn't think much of his +finery. + +I was greatly disappointed, for I had anticipated that my big brother +would have accumulated some property or become master of a bank account +during these five or six years he had been away from home. He seemed to +sense this disappointment and became more irritated at my presence and +finally wrote home to my parents--who had recently moved to +Kansas--charging me with the crime of being a big, awkward, ignorant +kid, unsophisticated in the ways of the world, and especially of the +city; that I was likely to end my "career" by running over a street car +and permitting the city to irretrievably lose me, or something equally +as bad. When I heard from my mother she was worried and begged me to +come home. I knew the folks at home shared my brother's opinion of me +and believed all he had told them, so I had a good laugh all to myself +in spite of the depressing effect it had on me. However, there was the +reaction, and when it set in I became heartsick and discouraged and then +and there became personally acquainted with the "blues", who gave me +their undivided attention for some time after that. + +The following Sunday I expected him to take me to church with him, but +he didn't. He went alone, wearing his five dollar hat, fifteen dollar +made-to-measure shoes, forty-five dollar coat and vest, eleven dollar +trousers, fifty dollar tweed overcoat and his diamonds. I found my way +to church alone and when I saw him sitting reservedly in an opposite +pew, I felt snubbed and my heart sank. However, only momentarily, for a +new light dawned upon me and I saw the snobbery and folly of it all and +resolved that some day I would rise head and shoulders above that +foolish, four-flushing brother of mine in real and material success. + +I finally secured irregular employment at the Union Stock Yards. The +wages at that time were not the best. Common labor a dollar-fifty per +day and the hours very irregular. Some days I was called for duty at +five in the morning and laid off at three in the afternoon or called +again at eight in the evening to work until nine the same evening. I +soon found the mere getting of jobs to be quite easy. It was getting a +desirable one that gave me trouble. However, when I first went to the +yards and looked at the crowds waiting before the office in quest of +employment, I must confess I felt rather discouraged, but my new +surroundings and that indefinable interesting feature about these crowds +with their diversity of nationalities and ambitions, made me forget my +own little disappointments. Most all new arrivals, whether skilled or +unskilled workmen, seeking "jobs" in the city find their way to the +yards. Thousands of unskilled laborers are employed here and it seems to +be the Mecca for the down-and-out who wander thither in a last effort to +obtain employment. + +The people with whom I stopped belonged to the servant class and lived +neatly in their Armour Avenue flat. The different classes of people who +make up the population of a great city are segregated more by their +occupations than anything else. The laborers usually live in a laborer's +neighborhood. Tradesmen find it more agreeable among their fellow +workmen and the same is true of the servants and others. I found that +employment which soiled the clothes and face and hands was out of +keeping among the people with whom I lived, so after trying first one +job, then another, I went to Joliet, Illinois, to work out my fortune in +the steel mills of that town. I was told that at that place was an +excellent opportunity to learn a trade, but after getting only the very +roughest kind of work to do around the mills, such as wrecking and +carrying all kinds of broken iron and digging in a canal along with a +lot of jabbering foreigners whose English vocabulary consisted of but +one word--their laborer's number. It is needless to say that I saw +little chance of learning a trade at any very early date. + +Pay day "happened" every two weeks with two weeks held back. If I quit +it would be three weeks before I could get my wages, but was informed of +a scheme by which I could get my money, by telling the foreman that I +was going to leave the state. Accordingly, I approached the renowned +imbecile and told him that I was going to California and would have to +quit and would like to get my pay. "Pay day is every two weeks, so be +sure to get back in time," he answered in that officious manner so +peculiar to foremen. I had only four dollars coming, so I quit anyway. + +That evening I became the recipient of the illuminating information +that if I would apply at the coal chutes I would find better employment +as well as receive better wages. I sought out the fellow in charge, a +big colored man weighing about two hundred pounds, who gave me work +cracking and heaving coal into the chute at a dollar-fifty per +twenty-five tons. + +"Gracious", I expostulated. "A man can't do all of that in a day". + +"Pooh", and he waved his big hands depreciatingly, "I have heaved forty +tons with small effort". + +I decided to go to work that day, but with many misgivings as to +cracking and shoveling twenty-five tons of coal. The first day I +managed, by dint of hard labor, to crack and heave eighteen tons out of +a box car, for which I received the munificent sum of one dollar, and +the next day I fell to sixteen tons and likewise to eighty-nine cents. +The contractor who superintended the coal business bought me a drink in +a nearby saloon, and as I drank it with a gulp he patted me on the +shoulder, saying, "Now, after the third day, son, you begin to improve +and at the end of a week you can heave thirty tons a day as easily as a +clock ticking the time". I thought he was going to add that I would be +shoveling forty tons like Big Jim, the fellow who gave me the job, but I +cut him off by telling him that I'd resign before I became so +proficient. + +I had to send for more money to pay my board. My brother, being my +banker, sent a statement of my account, showing that I had to date just +twenty-five dollars, and the statement seemed to read coldly between the +lines that I would soon be broke, out of a job, and what then? I felt +very serious about the matter and when I returned to Chicago I had lost +some of my confidence regarding my future. Mrs. Nelson, the landlady, +boasted that her husband made twenty dollars per week; showed me her +diamonds and spoke so very highly of my brother, that I suspicioned that +she admired him a great deal, and that he was in no immediate danger of +losing his room even when he was out of work and unable to meet his +obligations. + +My next step was to let an employment agency swindle me out of two +dollars. Their system was quite unique, and, I presume, legitimate. They +persuaded the applicant to deposit three dollars as a guarantee of good +faith, after which they were to find a position for him. A given +percentage was also to be taken from the wages for a certain length of +time. Some of these agencies may have been all right, but my old friend, +the hoodoo, led me to one that was an open fraud. After the person +seeking employment has been sent to several places for imaginary +positions that prove to be only myths, the agency offers to give back a +dollar and the disgusted applicant is usually glad to get it. I, myself, +being one of many of these unfortunates. + +I then tried the newspaper ads. There is usually some particular paper +in any large city that makes a specialty of want advertisements. I was +told, as was necessary, to stand at the door when the paper came from +the press, grab a copy, choose an ad that seemed promising and run like +wild for the address given. I had no trade, so turned to the +miscellaneous column, and as I had no references I looked for a place +where none were required. If the address was near I would run as fast as +the crowded street and the speed laws would permit, but always found +upon arrival that someone had just either been accepted ahead of me, or +had been there a week. I having run down an old ad that had been +permitted to run for that time. About the only difference I found +between the newspapers and the employment agencies was that I didn't +have to pay three dollars for the experience. + +I now realized the disadvantages of being an unskilled laborer, and had +grown weary of chasing a "will-o-the-wisp" and one day while talking to +a small Indian-looking negro I remarked that I wished I could find a job +in some suburb shining shoes in a barber shop or something that would +take me away from Chicago and its dilly-dally jobs for awhile. + +"I know where you can get a job like that", he answered, thoughtfully. + +"Where?" I asked eagerly. + +"Why, out at Eaton", he went on, "a suburb about twenty-five miles west. +A fellow wanted me to go but I don't want to leave Chicago". + +I found that most of the colored people with whom I had become +acquainted who lived in Chicago very long were similarly reluctant about +leaving, but I was ready to go anywhere. So my new friend took me over +to a barber supply house on Clark street, where a man gave me the name +of the barber at Eaton and told me to come by in the morning and he'd +give me a ticket to the place. When I got on the street again I felt so +happy and grateful to my friend for the information, that I gave the +little mulatto a half dollar, all the money I had with me, and had to +walk the forty blocks to my room. Here I filled my old grip and the next +morning "beat it" for Eaton, arriving there on the first of May, and a +cold, bleak, spring morning it was. I found the shop without any +trouble--a dingy little place with two chairs. The proprietor, a drawn, +unhappy looking creature, and a hawkish looking German assistant +welcomed me cordially. They seemed to need company. The proprietor led +me upstairs to a room that I could have free with an oil stove and table +where I could cook--so I made arrangements to "bach". + +I received no wages, but was allowed to retain all I made "shining". I +had acquired some experience shining shoes on the streets of M--pls with +a home-made box--getting on my knees whenever I got a customer. "Shining +shoes" is not usually considered an advanced or technical occupation +requiring skill. However, if properly conducted it can be the making of +a good solicitor. While Eaton was a suburb it was also a country town +and this shop was never patronized by any of the metropolitan class who +made their homes there, but principally by the country class who do not +evidence their city pride by the polish of their shoes. Few city people +allow their shoes to go unpolished and I wasn't long in finding it out, +and when I did I had something to say to the men who went by, well +dressed but with dirty shoes. If I could argue them into stopping, if +only for a moment, I could nearly always succeed in getting them into +the chair. + +Business, however, was dull and I began taking jobs in the country from +the farmers, working through the day and getting back to the shop for +the evening. This, however, was short lived, for I was unaccustomed to +farm work since leaving home and found it extremely difficult. My first +work in the country was pitching timothy hay side-by-side with a girl of +sixteen, who knew how to pitch hay. I thought it would be quite romantic +before I started, but before night came I had changed my mind. The man +on the wagon would drive alongside a big cock of sweet smelling hay and +the girl would stick her fork partly to one side of the hay cock and +show me how to put my fork into the other. I was left-handed while she +was right, and with our backs to the wagon we could make a heavy lift +and when the hay was directly overhead we'd turn and face each other and +over the load would go onto the wagon. Toward evening the loads thus +balanced seemed to me as heavy as the load of Atlas bearing the earth. I +am sure my face disclosed the fatigue and strain under which I labored, +for it was clearly reflected in the knowing grin of my companion. I drew +my pay that night on the excuse of having to get an overall suit, +promising to be back at a quarter to seven the next morning. + +Then I tried shocking oats along with a boy of about twelve, a girl of +fourteen and the farmer's wife. The way those two children did +work,--Whew! I was so glad when a shower came up about noon that I +refrained from shouting with difficulty. I drew my pay this time to get +some gloves, and promised to be back as soon as it dried. The next +morning I felt so sore and stiff as the result of my two days' +experience in the harvest fields, that I forgot all about my promise to +return and decided to stay in Eaton. + +It was in Eaton that I started my first bank account. The little +twenty-dollar certificate of deposit opened my mind to different things +entirely. I would look at it until I had day dreams. During the three +months I spent in Eaton I laid the foundation of a future. Simple as it +was, it led me into channels which carried me away from my race and into +a life fraught with excitement; a life that gave experiences and other +things I had never dreamed of. I had started a bank account of twenty +dollars and I found myself wanting one of thirty, and to my surprise the +desire seemed to increase. This desire fathered my plans to become a +porter on a P----n car. A position I diligently sought and applied for +between such odd jobs about town as mowing lawns, washing windows, +scrubbing floors and a variety of others that kept me quite busy. Taking +the work, if I could, by contract, thus permitting me to use my own time +and to work as hard as I desired to finish. I found that by this plan I +could make money faster and easier than by working in the country. + +I was finally rewarded by being given a run on a parlor car by a road +that reached many summer resorts in southern Wisconsin. Here I skimped +along on a run that went out every Friday and Saturday, returning on +Monday morning. The regular salary was forty dollars per month, but as I +never put in more than half the time I barely made twenty dollars, and +altho' I made a little "on the side" in the way of tips I had to draw on +the money I had saved in Eaton. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE P----N COMPANY + + +The P----n Company is a big palace, dining and sleeping car company that +most American people know a great deal about. I had long desired to have +a run on one of the magnificent sleepers that operated out of Chicago to +every part of North America, that I might have an opportunity to see the +country and make money at the same time, and from Monday to Friday I had +nothing to do but report at one of the three P----n offices in my effort +to get such a position. One office where I was particularly attentive, +operated cars on four roads, so I called on this office about twice a +week, but a long, slim chief clerk whose chair guarded the entrance to +the Superintendent's office would drawl out lazily: "We don't need any +men today." I had been to the office a number of times before I left +Eaton and had heard his drawl so often that I grew nervous whenever he +looked at me. That district employed over a thousand porters and there +was no doubt that they hired them every day. One day I was telling my +troubles to a friendly porter whom I later learned to be George Cole +(former husband of the present wife of Bert Williams, the comedian). He +advised me to see Mr. Miltzow, the Superintendent. + +"But I can never see him" I said despairingly, "for that long imbecile +of a clerk." + +"Jump him some day when he is on the way from luncheon, talk fast, tell +him how you have been trying all summer to 'get on', the old man" he +said, referring to the superintendent, "likes big, stout youngsters like +you, so try it." The next day I watched him from the street and when he +started to descend the long stairway to his office, I gathered my +courage and stepped to his side. I told him how I had fairly haunted his +office, only to be turned away regularly by the same words; that I would +like a position if he would at any time need any men. He went into his +office, leaving me standing at the railing, where I held my grounds in +defiance of the chief clerk's insolent stare. After a few minutes he +looked up and called out "Come in here, you." As I stood before him he +looked me over searchingly and inquired as to whether I had any +references. + +"No Sir," I answered quickly, "but I can get them." I was beside myself +with nervous excitement and watched him eagerly for fear he might turn +me away at the physicological moment, and that I would fail to get what +I had wanted so long. + +"Well," he said in a decisive tone, "get good references, showing what +you have been doing for the last five years, bring them around and I'll +talk to you." + +"Thank you Sir," I blurted out and with hopes soaring I hurried out and +down the steps. Going to my room, I wrote for references to people in +M--pls who had known me all my life. Of course they sent me the best of +letters, which I took immediately to Mr. Miltzow's office. After looking +them over carelessly he handed them to his secretary asking me whether +I was able to buy a uniform. When I answered in the affirmative he gave +me a letter to the company's tailor, and one to the instructor, who the +next day gave me my first lessons in a car called the "school" in a +nearby railroad yard placed there for that purpose. I learned all that +was required in a day, although he had some pupils who had been with him +five days before I started and who graduated with me. I now thought I +was a full-fledged porter and was given an order for equipment, combs, +brushes, etc., a letter from the instructor to the man that signed out +the runs, a very apt appearing young man with a gift for remembering +names and faces, who instructed me to report on the morrow. The thought +of my first trip the next day, perhaps to some distant city I had never +seen, caused me to lie awake the greater part of the night. + +When I went into the porter's room the next day, or "down in the hole," +as the basement was called, and looked into the place, I found it +crowded with men, and mostly old men at that and I felt sure it would be +a long time before I was sent out. However, I soon learned that the most +of them were "emergency men" or emergies, men who had been discharged +and who appeared regularly in hopes of getting a car that could not be +supplied with a regular man. + +There was one by the name of Knight, a pitiable and forlorn character in +whose breast "hope sprang eternal," who came to the "hole" every day, +and in an entire year he had made one lone trip. He lived by "mooching" +a dime, quarter or fifty cents from first one porter then another and +by helping some porters make down beds in cars that went out on midnight +trains. It was said that he had been discharged on account of too strict +adherence to duty. Every member of a train crew, whether porter, +brakeman or conductor, must carry a book of rules; more as a matter of +form than to show to passengers as Knight had done. A trainman should, +and does, depend more on his judgment than on any set of rules, and +permits the rule to be stretched now and then to fit circumstances. +Knight, however, courted his rule book and when a passenger requested +some service that the rules prohibited, such for instance as an extra +pillow to a berth, and if the passenger insisted or showed +dissatisfaction Knight would get his book of rules, turn to the chapter +which dwelt on the subject and read it aloud to the already disgruntled +passenger, thereby making more or less of a nuisance to the traveling +public. + +But I am digressing. Fred, the "sign-out-clerk" came along and the many +voices indulging in loud and raucous conversation so characteristic of +porters off duty, gave way to respectful silence. He looked favorably on +the regular men but seemed to pass up the emergies as he entered. The +poor fellows didn't expect to be sent out but it seemed to fascinate +them to hear the clerk assign the regular men their cars to some distant +cities in his cheerful language such as: "Hello! Brooks, where did you +come from?--From San Antonio? Well take the car 'Litchfield' to Oakland; +leaves on Number Three at eleven o'clock to-night over the B. & R.N.; +have the car all ready, eight lowers made down." And from one to the +other he would go, signing one to go east and another west. Respectfully +silent and attentive the men's eyes would follow him as he moved on, +each and every man eager to know where he would be sent. + +Finally he got to me. He had an excellent memory and seemed to know all +men by name. "Well Devereaux," he said, "do you think that you can run a +car?" + +"Yes Sir!" I answered quickly. He fumbled his pencil thoughtfully while +I waited nervously then went on: + +"And you feel quite capable of running a car, do you?" + +"Yes Sir" I replied with emphasis, "I learned thoroughly yesterday." + +"Well," he spoke as one who has weighed the matter and is not quite +certain but willing to risk, and taking his pad and pencil he wrote, +speaking at the same time, "You go out to the Ft. Wayne yards and get on +the car 'Altata', goes extra to Washington D.C. at three o'clock; put +away the linen, put out combs, brushes and have the car in order when +the train backs down." + +"Yes Sir," and I hurried out of the room, up the steps and onto the +street where I could give vent to my elation. To Washington, first of +all places. O Glory! and I fairly flew out to Sixteenth street where the +P.F. & W. passenger yards were located. Here not less than seven hundred +passenger and and P----n cars are cleaned and put in readiness for each +trip daily, and standing among them I found the Altata. O wonderful +name! She was a brand new observation car just out of the shops. I dared +not believe my eyes, and felt that there must be some mistake; surely +the company didn't expect to send me out with such a fine car on my +first trip. But I should have known better, for among the many thousands +of P----n cars with their picturesque names, there was not another +"Altata." I looked around the yards and finally inquired of a cleaner as +to where the Altata was. "Right there," he said, pointing to the car I +had been looking at and I boarded her nervously; found the linen and +lockers but was at a loss to know how and where to start getting the car +in order. I was more than confused and what I had learned so quickly the +day before had vanished like smoke. I was afraid too, that if I didn't +have the car in order I'd be taken off when the train backed down and +become an "emergie" myself. This shocked me so it brought me to my +senses and I got busy putting the linen somewhere and when the train +stopped in the shed the car, as well as myself, was fairly presentable +and ready to receive. + +Then came the rush of passengers with all their attending requests for +attention. "Ah Poiter, put my grip in Thoiteen," and "Ah Poiter, will +you raise my window and put in a deflector?" Holy Smitherines! I rushed +back and forth like a lost calf, trying to recall what a deflector was, +and I couldn't distinguish thoiteen from three. Then--"Ah, Poiter, will +you tell me when we get to Valparaiso?" called a little blonde lady, +"You see, I have a son who is attending the Univoisity theah--now Poiter +don't forget please" she asked winsomely. + +"Oh! No, Maam," I assured her confidently that I never forgot anything. +My confusion became so intense had I gotten off the car I'd probably not +have known which way to get on again. + +The clerk seemed to sense my embarrassment and helped me seat the +passengers in their proper places, as well as to answer the numerous +questions directed at me. The G.A.R. encampment was on in Washington and +the rush was greater than usual on that account. By the time the train +reached Valparaiso I had gotten somewhat accustomed to the situation and +recalled my promise to the little blonde lady and filled it. She had +been asleep and it was raining to beat-the-band. With a sigh she looked +out of the window and then turned on her side and fell asleep again. At +Pittsburg I was chagrined to be turned back and sent over the P.H. & D. +to Chicago. + +At Columbus, Ohio, we took on a colored preacher who had a ticket for an +upper berth over a Southerner who had the lower. The Southern gentleman +in that "holier than thou" attitude made a vigorous kick to the +conductor to have the colored "Sky-pilot," as he termed him, removed. I +heard the conductor tell him gently but firmly, that he couldn't do it. +Then after a few characteristic haughty remarks the Southerner went +forward to the chair car and sat up all night. When I got the shoes +shined and lavatory ready for the morning rush I slipped into the +Southerner's berth and had a good snooze. However, longer than it should +have been, for the conductor found me the next morning as the train was +pulling into Chicago. He threatened to report me but when I told him +that it was my first trip out, that I hadn't had any sleep the night +before and none the night before that on account of my restlessness in +anticipation of the trip, he relented and helped me to make up the beds. + +I barely got to my room before I was called to go out again. This time +going through to Washington. The P.F. & W. tracks pass right through +Washington's "black belt" and it might be interesting to the reader to +know that Washington has more colored people than any other American +city. I had never seen so many colored people. In fact, the entire +population seemed to be negroes. There was an old lady from South Dakota +on my car who seemed surprised at the many colored people and after +looking quite intently for some time she touched me on the sleeve, +whispering, "Porter, aren't there anything but colored people here?" I +replied that it seemed so. + +At the station a near-mob of colored boys huddled before the steps and I +thought they would fairly take the passengers off their feet by the way +they crowded around them. However, they were harmless and only wanted to +earn a dime by carrying grips. Two of them got a jui jitsu grip on that +of the old lady from South Dakota, and to say that she became frightened +would be putting it mildly. Just then a policeman came along and the +boys scattered like flies and the old lady seemed much relieved. Having +since taken up my abode in that state myself, and knowing that there +were but few negroes inhabiting it, I have often wondered since how she +must have felt on that memorable trip of hers, as well as mine. + +After working some four months on various and irregular runs that took +me to all the important cities of the United States east of the +Mississippi River, I was put on a regular run to Portland, Oregon. This +was along in February and about the same time that I banked my first one +hundred dollars. If my former bank account had stirred my ambition and +become an incentive to economy and a life of modest habits, the larger +one put everything foolish and impractical entirely out of my mind, and +economy, modesty and frugality became fixed habits of my life. + +At a point in Wyoming on my run to Portland my car left the main line +and went over another through Idaho and Oregon. From there no berth +tickets were sold by the station agents and the conductors collected the +cash fares, and had for many years mixed the company's money with their +own. I soon found myself in the mire along with the conductors. "Getting +in" was easy and tips were good for a hundred dollars a month and +sometimes more. "Good Conductors," a name applied to "color blind" cons, +were worth seventy-five, and with the twenty-five dollar salary from the +company, I averaged two hundred dollars a month for eighteen months. + +There is something fascinating about railroading, and few men really +tire of it. In fact, most men, like myself, rather enjoy it. I never +tired of hearing the t-clack of the trucks and the general roar of the +train as it thundered over streams and crossings throughout the days and +nights across the continent to the Pacific coast. The scenery never +grew old, as it was quite varied between Chicago and North Platte. +During the summer it is one large garden farm, dotted with numerous +cities, thriving hamlets and towns, fine country homes so characteristic +of the great middle west, and is always pleasing to the eye. + +Between North Platte and Julesburg, Colorado, is the heart of the +semi-arid region, where the yearly rainfall is insufficient to mature +crops, but where the short buffalo grass feeds the rancher's herds +winter and summer. As the car continues westward, climbing higher and +higher as it approaches the Rockies, the air becomes quite rare. At +Cheyenne the air is so light it blows a gale almost steadily, and the +eye can discern objects for miles away while the ear cannot hear sounds +over twenty rods. I shall not soon forget how I was wont to gaze at the +herds of cattle ten to thirty miles away grazing peacefully on the great +Laramie plains to the south, while beyond that lay the great American +Rockies, their ragged peaks towering above in great sepulchral forms, +filling me alternately with a feeling of romance or adventure, depending +somewhat on whether it was a story of the "Roundup," or some other +article typical of the west, I was reading. + +Nearing the Continental divide the car pulls into Rawlins, which is +about the highest, driest and most uninviting place on the line. From +here the stage lines radiate for a hundred miles to the north and south. +Near here is Medicine Bow, where Owen Wister lays the beginning scenes +of the "Virginian"; and beyond lies Rock Springs, the home of the famous +coal that bears its name and which commands the highest price of any +bituminous coal. The coal lies in wide veins, the shafts run +horizontally and there are no deep shafts as there are in the coal +fields of Illinois and other Central states. + +From here the train descends a gentle slope to Green River, Wyoming, a +division point in the U.P. South on the D. & R.G. is Green River, Utah. +Arriving at Granger one feels as though he had arrived at the jumping +off place of creation. Like most all desert stations it contains nothing +of interest and time becomes a bore. Here the traffic is divided and the +O.S.L. takes the Portland and Butte section into Idaho where the scenery +suddenly begins to get brighter. Indeed, the country seems to take on a +beautiful and cheerful appearance; civilization and beautiful farms take +the place of the wilderness, sage brush and skulking coyotes. Thanks to +the irrigation ditch. + +After crossing the picturesque American Falls of Snake River, the train +soon arrives at Minidoka. This is the seat of the great Minidoka +project, in which the United States Government has taken such an active +interest and constructed a canal over seventy miles in length. This has +converted about a quarter of a million acres of Idaho's volcanic ash +soil into productive lands that bloom as the rose. It was the beautiful +valley of the Snake River, with its indescribable scenery and its many +beautiful little cities, that attracted my attention and looked as +though it had a promising future. I had contemplated investing in some +of its lands and locating, if I should happen to be compelled by stress +of circumstances to change my occupation. This came to pass shortly +thereafter. + +The end came after a trip between Granger and Portland, in company with +a shrewd Irish conductor by the name of Wright, who not only "knocked +down" the company's money, but drank a good deal more whiskey than was +good for him. On this last trip, when Wright took charge of the car at +Granger, he began telling about his newly acquired "dear little wifey." +Also confiding to me that he had quit drinking and was going to quit +"knocking down"--after that trip. Oh, yes! Wright was always going to +dispense with all things dishonest and dishonorable--at some future +date. Another bad thing about Wright was that he would steal, not only +from the company, but from the porter as well, by virtue of the rule +that required the porter to take a duplicate receipt from the conductor +for each and every passenger riding on his car, whether the passenger +has a ticket or pays cash fare. These receipts are forwarded to the +Auditor of the company at the end of each run. + +Wright's method of stealing from the porter was not to turn over any +duplicates or receipts until arriving at the terminus. Then he would +choose a time when the porter was very busy brushing the passengers' +clothes and getting the tips, and would then have no time to count up or +tell just how many people had ridden. I had received information from +others concerning him and was cautioned to watch. So on our first trip I +quietly checked up all the passengers as they got on and where they got +off, as well as the berth or seat they occupied. Arriving at Granger +going east he gave me the wink and taking me into the smoking room he +proceeded to give me the duplicates and divide the spoils. He gave me +six dollars, saying he had cut such and such a passenger's fare and that +was my part. I summed up and the amount "knocked down" was thirty-one +dollars. I showed him my figures and at the same time told him to hand +over nine-fifty more. How he did rage and swear about the +responsibilities being all on him, that he did all the collecting and +the "dirty work" in connection therewith, that the company didn't fire +the porter. He said before he would concede to my demands he would turn +all the money in to the company and report me for insolence. I sat +calmly through it all and when he had exhausted his vituperations I +calmly said "nine-fifty, please." I had no fear of his doing any of the +things threatened for I had dealt with grafting conductors long enough +to know that when they determined on keeping a fare they weren't likely +to turn in their portion to spite the porter, and Wright was no +exception. + +But getting back to the last trip. An old lady had given me a quart of +Old Crow Whiskey bottled in bond. There had been perhaps a half pint +taken out. I thanked her profusely and put it in the locker, and since +Wright found that he could not keep any of my share of the "knocked +down" fares he was running straight--that is with me, and we were quite +friendly, so I told him of the gift and where to find it if he wanted a +"smile." In one end of the P----n where the drawing room cuts off the +main portion of the car, and at the beginning of the curved aisle and +opposite to the drawing room, is the locker. When its door is open it +completely closes the aisle, thus hiding a person from view behind it. +Before long I saw Wright open the door and a little later could hear him +ease the bottle down after taking a drink. + +When we got to Portland, Wright was feeling "about right" and the bottle +was empty. As he divided the money with me he cried: "Let her run on +three wheels." It was the last time he divided any of the company's +money with a porter. When he stepped into the office at the end of that +trip he was told that they "had a message from Ager" the assistant +general superintendent, concerning him. Every employee knew that a +message from this individual meant "off goes the bean." I never saw +Wright afterwards, for they "got" me too that trip. + +The little Irish conductor, who was considered the shrewdest of the +shrewd, had run a long time and "knocked down" a great amount of the +company's money but the system of "spotting" eventually got him as it +does the best of them. + +I now had two thousand, three hundred and forty dollars in the bank. The +odd forty I drew out, and left the remainder on deposit, packed my trunk +and bid farewell to Armour Avenue and Chicago's Black Belt with its beer +cans, drunken men and women, and turned my face westward with the spirit +of Horace Greeley before and his words "Go west, young man, and grow up +with the country" ringing in my ears. So westward I journeyed to the +land of raw material, which my dreams had pictured to me as the land of +real beginning, and where I was soon to learn more than a mere observer +ever could by living in the realm of a great city. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +"GO WEST YOUNG MAN AND GROW UP WITH THE COUNTRY" + + +In justice to the many thousands of P----n porters, as well as many +conductors, who were in the habit of retaining the company's money, let +it be said that they are not the hungry thieves and dishonest rogues the +general public might think them to be, dishonest as their conduct may +seem to be. They were victims of a vicious system built up and winked at +by the company itself. + +Before the day of the Inter-State Commerce Commission and anti-pass and +two-cent-per-mile legislation, and when passengers paid cash fares, it +was a matter of tradition with the conductors to knockdown, and nothing +was said, although the conductors, as now, were fairly well paid and the +company fully expected to lose some of the cash fares. + +In the case of the porters, however, the circumstances are far more +mitigating. At the time I was with the company there were, in round +numbers, eight thousand porters in the service on tourist and standard +sleepers who were receiving from a minimum of twenty-five dollars to not +to exceed forty dollars per month, depending on length and desirability +of service. Out of this he must furnish, for the first ten years, his +own uniforms and cap, consisting of summer and winter suits at twenty +and twenty-two dollars respectively. After ten years of continuous +service these things are furnished by the company. Then there is the +board, lodging and laundry expense. Trainmen are allowed from fifty to +sixty per cent off of the regular bill of fare, and at this price most +any kind of a meal in an a-la-carte diner comes to forty and fifty +cents. Besides, the waiters expect tips from the crew as well as from +the passengers and make it more uncomfortable for them if they do not +receive it than they usually do for the passenger. + +I kept an accurate itemized account of my living expenses, including six +dollars per month for a room in Chicago, and economize as I would, +making one uniform and cap last a whole year, I could not get the +monthly expense below forty dollars--fifteen dollars more than my +salary, and surely the company must have known it and condoned any +reasonable amount of "knock down" on the side to make up the deficiency +in salary. The porter's "knock down" usually coming through the +sympathy, good will and unwritten law of "knocking down"--that the +conductor divide equally with the porter. All of which, however, is now +fast becoming a thing of the past, owing to recent legislation, +investigations and strict regulation of common carriers by Congress and +the various laws of the states of the Union, with the added result that +conductors' wages have increased accordingly. Few conductors today are +foolish enough to jeopardize their positions by indulging in the old +practice, and it leaves the porters in a sorry plight indeed. + +All in all, the system, while deceptive and dishonest on its face, was +for a time a tolerated evil, apparently sanctioned by the company and +became a veritable disease among the colored employees who, without +exception, received and kept the company's money without a single qualm +of conscience. It was a part of their duty to make the job pay something +more than a part of their living expenses. + +Ignorant as many of the porters were, most of them knew that from the +enormous profits made that the company could and should have paid them +better wages, and I am sure that if they received living wages for their +services it would have a great moralizing effect on that feature of the +service, and greatly add to the comfort of the traveling public. + +However, the greedy and inhuman attitude of this monoply toward its +colored employees has just the opposite effect, and is demoralizing +indeed. Thousands of black porters continue to give their services in +return for starvation wages and are compelled to graft the company and +the people for a living. + +Shortly before my cessation of activities in connection with the P----n +company it had a capitalization of ninety-five million dollars, paying +eight per cent dividend annually, and about two years after I was +compelled to quit, it paid its stockholders a thirty-five million dollar +surplus which had accumulated in five years. Just recently a "melon was +cut" of about a like amount and over eight thousand colored porters +helped to accumulate it, at from twenty-five to forty dollars per month. +A wonder it is that their condition does not breed such actual +dishonesty and deception that society would be forced to take notice of +it, and the traveling public should be thankful for the attentive +services given under these near-slave conditions. As for myself, the +reader has seen how I made it "pay" and I have no apologies or regrets +to offer. When that final reckoning comes, I am sure the angel clerk +will pass all porters against whom nothing more serious appears than +what I have heretofore related. + +While I was considered very fortunate by my fellow employees, the whole +thing filled me with disgust. I suffered from a nervous worry and fear +of losing my position all the time, and really felt relieved when the +end came and I was free to pursue a more commendable occupation. + +In going out of the Superintendent's office on my farewell leave, the +several opportunities I had seen during my experience with the P----n +company loomed up and marched in dress parade before me; the conditions +of the Snake River valley and the constructiveness of the people who had +turned the alkali desert into valuable farms worth from fifty to five +hundred dollars an acre, thrilled me so that I had no misgivings for the +future. But Destiny had other fields in view for me and did not send me +to that land of Eden of which I had become so fond, in quest of fortune. +Such a variety of scenes was surely an incentive to serious thought. + +What was termed inquisitiveness at home brought me a world of +information abroad. This inquisitiveness, combined with the observation +afforded by such runs as those to Portland and around the circle and, +perhaps, coming back by Washington D.C., gave practical knowledge. Often +western sheepmen, who were ready talkers, returning on my car from +taking a shipment to Chicago, gave me some idea of farming and +sheepraising. I remember thinking that Iowa would be a fine place to own +a farm, but quickly gave up any further thought of owning one there +myself. A farmer from Tama, that state, gave me the information. He was +a beautiful decoration for a P----n berth and a neatly made bed with +three sheets, and I do not know what possessed him to ever take a +sleeper, for he slept little that night--I am sure. The next morning +about five o'clock, while gathering and shining shoes, I could not find +his, and being curious, I peeped into his berth. What I saw made me +laugh, indeed. There he lay, all bundled into his bed in his big fur +overcoat and shoes on, just as he came into the car the evening before. +He was awake and looked so uncomfortable that I suggested that he get up +if he wasn't sleepy. "What say?" he answered, leaning over and sticking +his head out of the berth as though afraid someone would grab him. + +As this class of farmers like to talk, and usually in loud tones, I led +him into the smoking room as soon as he jumped out of his berth, to keep +him from annoying other passengers. Here he washed his face, still +keeping his coat on. + +"Remove your coat," I suggested, "and you will be more comfortable." + +"You bet," he said taking his coat off and sitting on it. Lighting his +pipe, he began talking and I immediately inquired of him how much land +he owned. + +He answered that he owned a section. "Gee! but that is a lot of land," I +exclaimed, getting interested, "and what is it worth an acre?" + +"The last quarter I bought I paid eighty dollars an acre" he returned. +That is over thirteen thousand and I could plainly see that my little +two thousand dollar bank account wouldn't go very far in Iowa when it +came to buying land. That was nine years ago and the same land today +will sell around one hundred and fifty dollars an acre, and the "end is +not yet." + +I concluded on one thing, and that was, if one whose capital was under +eight or ten thousand dollars, desired to own a good farm in the great +central west he must go where the land was new or raw and undeveloped. +He must begin with the beginning and develop with the development of the +country. By the proper and accepted methods of conservation of the +natural resources and close application to his work, his chances for +success are good. + +When I finally reached this conclusion I began searching for a suitable +location in which to try my fortune in the harrowing of the soil. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +"AND WHERE IS ORISTOWN?" THE TOWN ON THE MISSOURI + + +It came a few days later in a restaurant in Council Bluffs, Iowa, when I +heard the waiters, one white man and the other colored, saying, "I'm +going to Oristown." "And where is Oristown?" I inquired, taking a stool +and scrutinizing the bill of fare. "Oristown," the white man spoke up, +drawing away at a pipe which gave him the appearance of being anything +from a rover to a freight brakeman, "is about two hundred and fifty +miles northwest of here in southern South Dakota, on the edge of the +Little Crow Reservation, to be opened this summer." This is not the +right name, but the name of an Indian chief living near where this is +written. + +Oristown is the present terminus of the C. & R.W. Ry. and he went on to +tell me that the land in part was valuable, while some portions were no +better than Western Nebraska. A part of the Reservation was to be opened +to settlement by lottery that summer and the registration was to take +place in July. It was now April. "And the registration is to come off at +Oristown?" I finished for him with a question. "Yes," he assented. + +At Omaha the following day I chanced to meet two surveyors who had been +sent out to the reservation from Washington, D.C. and who told me to +write to the Department of the Interior for information regarding the +opening, the lay of the land, quality of the soil, rainfall, etc. I did +as they suggested and the pamphlets received stated that the land to be +opened was a deep black loam, with clay subsoil, and the rainfall in +this section averaged twenty-eight inches the last five years. I knew +that Iowa had about thirty inches and most of the time was too wet, so +concluded here at last was the place to go. This suited me better than +any of the states or projects I had previously looked into, besides, I +knew more about the mode of farming employed in that section of the +country, it being somewhat similar to that in Southern Illinois. + +On the morning of July fifth, at U.P. Transfer, Iowa, I took a train +over the C.P. & St. L., which carried me to a certain town on the +Missouri in South Dakota. I did not go to Oristown to register as I had +intended but went to the town referred to, which had been designated as +a registration point also. I was told by people who were "hitting" in +the same direction and for the same purpose, that Oristown was crowded +and lawless, with no place to sleep, and was overrun with tin-horn +gamblers. It would be much better to go to the larger town on the +Missouri, where better hotel accommodation and other conveniences could +be had. So I bought a ticket to Johnstown, where I arrived late in the +afternoon of the same day. There was a large crowd, which soon found its +way to the main street, where numerous booths and offices were set up, +with a notary in each to accept applications for the drawing. This +consisted of taking oath that one was a citizen of the United States, +twenty-one years of age or over. The head of a family, a widow, or any +woman upon whom fell the support of a family, was also accepted. No +person, however, owning over one hundred and sixty acres of land, or who +had ever had a homestead before, could apply. The application was then +enclosed in an envelope and directed to the Superintendent of the +opening. + +After all the applications had been taken, they were thoroughly mixed +and shuffled together. Then a blindfolded child was directed to draw one +from the pile, which became number one in the opening. The lucky person +whose oath was contained in such envelope was given the choice of all +the land thrown open for settlement. Then another envelope was drawn and +that person was given the second choice, and so on until they were all +drawn. + +This system was an out and out lottery, but gave each and every +applicant an equal chance to draw a claim, but guaranteed none. Years +before, land openings were conducted in a different manner. The +applicants were held back of a line until a signal was given and then a +general rush was made for the locations and settlement rights on the +land. This worked fairly well at first but there grew to be more +applicants than land, and two or more persons often located on the same +piece of land and this brought about expensive litigation and annoying +disputes and sometimes even murder, over the settlement. This was +finally abolished in favor of the lottery system, which was at least +safer and more profitable to the railroads that were fortunate enough to +have a line to one or more of the registration points. + +[Illustration: Became number one in the opening. (page 56.)] + +At Johnstown, people from every part of the United States, of all ages +and descriptions, gathered in crowded masses, the greater part of them +being from Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, Kansas and +Nebraska. When I started for the registration I was under the impression +that only a few people would register, probably four or five thousand, +and as there were twenty-four hundred homesteads I had no other thought +than I would draw and later file on a quarter section. Imagine my +consternation when at the end of the first day the registration numbered +ten thousand. A colored farmer in Kansas had asked me to keep him posted +in regard to the opening. He also thought of coming up and registering +when he had completed his harvest. When the throngs of people began +pouring in from the three railroads into Johnstown (and there were two +other points of registration besides) I saw my chances of drawing a +claim dwindling, from one to two, to one to ten, fifteen and twenty and +maybe more. After three days in Johnstown I wrote my friend and told him +I believed there would be fully thirty thousand people apply for the +twenty-four hundred claims. The fifth day I wrote there would be fifty +thousand. After a week I wrote there would be seventy-five thousand +register, that it was useless to expect to draw and I was leaving for +Kansas to visit my parents. When the registration was over I read in a +Kansas City paper that one hundred and seven thousand persons had +registered, making the chance of drawing one to forty-four. + +Received a card soon after from the Superintendent of the opening, +which read that my number was 6504, and as the number of claims was +approximately twenty-four hundred, my number was too high to be reached +before the land should all be taken. I think it was the same day I lost +fifty-five dollars out of my pocket. This, combined with my +disappointment in not drawing a piece of land, gave me a grouch and I +lit out for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis with the +intention of again getting into the P----n service for a time. + +Ofttimes porters who had been discharged went to another city, changed +their names, furnished a different set of references and got back to +work for the same company. Now if they happened to be on a car that took +them into the district from which they were discharged, and before the +same officials, who of course recognized them, they were promptly +reported and again discharged. I pondered over the situation and came to +the conclusion that I would not attempt such deception, but avoid being +sent back to the Chicago Western District. I was at a greater +disadvantage than Johnson, Smith, Jackson, or a number of other common +names, by having the odd French name that had always to be spelled +slowly to a conductor, or any one else who had occasion to know me. Out +of curiosity I had once looked in a Chicago Directory. Of some two +million names there were just two others with the same name. But on the +other hand it was much easier to avoid the Chicago Western District, or +at least Mr. Miltzow's office and by keeping my own name, assume that I +had never been discharged, than it was to go into a half a dozen other +districts with a new name and avoid being recognized. Arriving at this +decision, I approached the St. Louis office, presented my references +which had been furnished by other M--pls business men, and was accepted. +After I had been sent out with a porter, who had been running three +months, to show me how to run a car, I was immediately put to work. I +learned in two trips, according to the report my tutor handed to the +chief clerk, and by chance fell into one of the best runs to New York on +one of the limited trains during the fair. There was not much knocking +down on this run, but the tips, including the salary were good for three +hundred dollars per month. I ran on this from September first to October +fourth and saved three hundred dollars. I had not given up getting a +Dakota Homestead, for while I was there during the summer I learned if I +did not draw a number I could buy a relinquishment. + +This relates to the purchasing of a relinquishment: + +An entryman has the right at any time to relinquish back to the United +States all his right, title, and interest to and in the land covered by +his filing. The land is then open to entry. + +A claimholder who has filed on a quarter of land will have plenty of +opportunity to relinquish his claim, for a cash consideration, so that +another party may get a filing on it. This is called buying or selling a +relinquishment. The amount of the consideration varies with quality of +the land, and the eagerness of the buyer or seller, as the case may be. + +Relinquishments are the largest stock in trade of all the real estate +dealers, in a new country. Besides, everybody from the bank president +down to the humble dish washer in the hotel, or the chore boy in the +livery, the ministers not omitted, would, with guarded secrecy, confide +in you of some choice relinquishment that could be had at a very low +figure compared with what it was really worth. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +ORISTOWN, THE "LITTLE CROW" RESERVATION + + +When I left St. Louis on the night of October fourth I headed for +Oristown to buy someone's relinquishment. I had two thousand, five +hundred dollars. From Omaha the journey was made on the C. & R.W.'s one +train a day that during these times was loaded from end to end, with +everybody discussing the Little Crow and the buying of relinquishments. +I was the only negro on the train and an object of many inquiries as to +where I was going. Some of those whom I told that I was going to buy a +relinquishment seemingly regarded it as a joke, judging from the meaning +glances cast at those nearest them. + +An incident occurred when I arrived at Oristown which is yet considered +a good joke on a real estate man then located there, by the name of +Keeler, who was also the United States Commissioner. He could not only +sell me a relinquishment, but could also take my filing. I had a talk +with Keeler, but as he did not encourage me in my plan to make a +purchase I went to another firm, a young lawyer and a fellow by the name +of Slater, who ran a livery barn, around the corner. Watkins, the +lawyer, impressed me as having more ambition than practical business +qualities. However, Slater took the matter up and agreed to take me over +the reservation and show me some good claims. If I bought, the drive was +gratis, if not four dollars per day, and I accepted his proposition. + +After we had driven a few miles he told me Keeler had said to him that +he was a fool to waste his time hauling a d---- nigger around over the +reservation; that I didn't have any money and was just "stalling." I +flushed angrily, and said "Show me what I want and I will produce the +money. What I want is something near the west end of the county. You say +the relinquishments are cheaper there and the soil is richer. I don't +want big hills or rocks nor anything I can't farm, but I want a nice +level or gently rolling quarter section of prairie near some town to be, +that has prospects of getting the railroad when it is extended west from +Oristown." By this time we had covered the three miles between Oristown +and the reservation line, and had entered the newly opened section which +stretched for thirty miles to the west. As we drove on I became +attracted by the long grass, now dead, which was of a brownish hue and +as I gazed over the miles of it lying like a mighty carpet I could seem +to feel the magnitude of the development and industry that would some +day replace this state of wildness. To the Northeast the Missouri River +wound its way, into which empties the Whetstone Creek, the breaks of +which resembled miniature mountains, falling abruptly, then rising to a +point where the dark shale sides glistened in the sunlight. It was my +longest drive in a buggy. We could go for perhaps three or four miles on +a table-like plateau, then drop suddenly into small canyon-like ditches +and rise abruptly to the other side. After driving about fifteen miles +we came to the town, as they called it, but I would have said village of +Hedrick--a collection of frame shacks with one or two houses, many +roughly constructed sod buildings, the long brown grass hanging from +between the sod, giving it a frizzled appearance. Here we listened to a +few boosters and mountebanks whose rustic eloquence was no doubt +intended to give the unwary the impression that they were on the site of +the coming metropolis of the west. A county-seat battle was to be fought +the next month and the few citizens of the sixty days declared they +would wrest it from Fairview, the present county seat situated in the +extreme east end of the county, if it cost them a million dollars, or +one-half of all they were worth. They boasted of Hedrick's prospects, +sweeping their arms around in eloquent gestures in alluding to the +territory tributary to the town, as though half the universe were +Hedrick territory. + +Nine miles northwest, where the land was very sandy and full of pits, +into which the buggy wheels dropped with a grinding sound, and where +magnesia rock cropped out of the soil, was another budding town by the +name of Kirk. The few prospective citizens of this burg were not so +enthusiastic as those in Hedrick and when I asked one why they located +the town in such a sandy country he opened up with a snort about some +pinheaded engineer for the "guvment" who didn't know enough to jump +straight up "a locating the town in such an all fired sandy place"; but +he concluded with a compliment, that plenty of good water could be found +at from fifteen to fifty feet. + +This sandy land continued some three miles west and we often found +springs along the streams. After ascending an unusually steep hill, we +came upon a plateau where the grass, the soil, and the lay of the land, +were entirely different from any we had as yet seen. I was struck by the +beauty of the scenery and it seemed to charm and bring me out of the +spirit of depression the sandy stretch brought upon me. Stretching for +miles to the northwest and to the south, the land would rise in a gentle +slope to a hog back, and as gently slope away to a draw, which drained +to the south. Here the small streams emptied into a larger one, winding +along like a snake's track, and thickly wooded with a growth of small +hardwood timber. It was beautiful. From each side the land rose gently +like huge wings, and spread away as far as the eye could reach. The +driver brought me back to earth, after a mile of such fascinating +observations, and pointing to the north, said: "There lays one of the +claims." I was carried away by the first sight of it. The land appeared +to slope from a point, or table, and to the north of that was a small +draw, with water. We rode along the south side and on coming upon a +slight raise, which he informed me was the highest part of the place, we +found a square white stone set equally distant from four small holes, +four or five feet apart. On one side of the stone was inscribed a row of +letters which ran like this, SWC, SWQ, Sec. 29-97-72 W. 5th P.M., and on +the other sides were some other letters similar to these. "What does all +that mean?" I asked. He said the letters were initials describing the +land and reading from the side next to the place we had come to see it, +read: "The southwest corner of the southwest quarter of section +twenty-nine, township ninety-seven, and range seventy-two, west of the +fifth principal meridian." + +When we got back to Oristown I concluded I wanted the place and dreamed +of it that night. It had been drawn by a girl who lived with her parents +across the Missouri. To see her, we had to drive to their home, and here +a disagreement arose, which for a time threatened to cause a split. I +had been so enthusiastic over the place, that Slater figured on a +handsome commission, but I had been making inquiries in Oristown, and +found I could buy relinquishments much cheaper than I had anticipated. I +had expected the price to be about one thousand, eight hundred dollars +and came prepared to pay that much, but was advised to pay not over five +hundred dollars for land as far west as the town of Megory, which was +only four miles northwest of the place I was now dickering to buy. We +had agreed to give the girl three hundred and seventy-five dollars, and +I had partly agreed to give Slater two hundred dollars commission. +However, I decided this was too much, and told him I would give him only +seventy-five dollars. He was in for going right back to Oristown and +calling the deal off, but when he figured up that two and a half day's +driving would amount to only ten dollars, he offered to take one hundred +dollars. But I was obstinate and held out for seventy-five dollars, +finally giving him eighty dollars, and in due time became the proud +owner of a Little Crow homestead. + +All this time I had been writing to Jessie. I had written first while I +was in Eaton, and she had answered in the same demure manner in which +she had received me at our first meeting, and had continued answering +the letters I had written from all parts of the continent, in much the +same way. For a time I had quit writing, for I felt that she was really +too young and not taking me seriously enough, but after a month, my +sister wrote me, asking why I did not write to Jessie; that she asked +about me every day. This inspired me with a new interest and I began +writing again. + +I wrote her in glowing terms all about my advent in Dakota, and as she +was of a reserved disposition, I always asked her opinion as to whether +she thought it a sensible move. I wanted to hear her say something more +than: "I was at a cantata last evening and had a nice time", and so on. +Furthermore, I was skeptical. I knew that a great many colored people +considered farming a deprivation of all things essential to a good time. +In fact, to have a good time, was the first thing to be considered, and +everything else was secondary. Jessie, however, was not of this kind. +She wrote me a letter that surprised me, stating, among other things, +that she was seventeen and in her senior year high school. That she +thought I was grand and noble, as well as practical, and was sorry she +couldn't find words to tell me all she felt, but that which satisfied me +suited her also. I was delighted with her answer and wrote a cheerful +letter in return, saying I would come to see her, Christmas. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +FAR DOWN THE PACIFIC--THE PROPOSAL + + +After the presidential election of that year I went to South America +with a special party, consisting mostly of New York capitalists and +millionaires. We traveled through the southwest, crossing the Rio Grand +at Eagle Pass, and on south by the way of Toreon, Zacatecas, Aguas +Calientes, Guadalajara, Puebla, Tehauntepec and to the southwest coast, +sailing from Salina Cruz down the Pacific to Valparaiso, Chile, going +inland to Santiago, thence over the Trans-Andean railway across the +Andes, and onward to the western plateau of Argentina. + +Arriving at the new city of Mendoza, we visited the ruins of the ancient +city of the same name. Here, in the early part of the fifteenth century, +on a Sunday morning, when a large part of the people were at church, an +earthquake shook the city. When it passed, it left bitter ruin in its +wake, the only part that stood intact being one wall of the church. Of a +population of thirteen thousand, only sixteen hundred persons escaped +alive. The city was rebuilt later, and at the time we were there it was +a beautiful place of about twenty-five thousand population. At this +place a report of bubonic plague, in Brazil, reached us. The party +became frightened and beat it in post haste back to Valparaiso, setting +sail immediately for Salina Cruz, and spent the time that was scheduled +for a tour of Argentina, in snoopin' around the land of the Montezumas. +This is the American center of Catholic Churches; the home of many gaudy +Spanish women and begging peons; where the people, the laws, and the +customs, are two hundred years behind those of the United States. Still, +I thought Mexico very beautiful, as well as of historical interest. + +One day we journeyed far into the highlands, where lay the ancient +Mexican city of Cuernavaca, the one time summer home of America's only +Emperor, Maximilian. From there we went to Puebla, where we saw the old +Cathedral which was begun in 1518, and which at that time was said to be +the second largest in the world. We saw San Louis Potosi, and Monterey, +and returned by the way of Loredo, Texas. I became well enough +acquainted with the liberal millionaires and so useful in serving their +families that I made five hundred and seventy-five dollars on the trip, +besides bringing back so many gifts and curiosities of all kinds that I +had enough to divide up with a good many of my friends. + +Flushed with prosperity and success in my undertakings since leaving +Southern Illinois less than three years before, I went to M--boro to see +my sister and to see whether Miss Rooks had grown any. I was received as +a personage of much importance among the colored people of the town, who +were about the same kind that lived in M--pls; not very progressive, +excepting with their tongues when it came to curiosity and gossip. I +arrived in the evening too late to call on Miss Rooks and having become +quite anxious to see her again, the night dragged slowly away, and I +thought the conventional afternoon would never come again. Her father, +who was an important figure among the colored people, was a mail carrier +and brought the mail to the house that morning where I stopped. He +looked me over searchingly, and I tried to appear unaffected by his +scrutinizing glances. + +By and by two o'clock finally arrived, and with my sister I went to make +my first call in three years. I had grown quite tall and rugged, and I +was anxious to see how she looked. We were received by her mother who +said: "Jessie saw you coming and will be out shortly." After a while she +entered and how she had changed. She, too, had grown much taller and was +a little stooped in the shoulders. She was neatly dressed and wore her +hair done up in a small knot, in keeping with the style of that time. +She came straight to me, extended her hand and seemed delighted to see +me after the years of separation. + +After awhile her mother and my sister accommodatingly found an excuse to +go up town, and a few minutes later with her on the settee beside me, I +was telling of my big plans and the air castles I was building on the +great plains of the west. Finally, drawing her hand into mine and +finding that she offered no resistance, I put my arm around her waist, +drew her close and declared I loved her. Then I caught myself and dared +not go farther with so serious a subject when I recalled the wild, +rough, and lonely place out on the plains that I had selected as a home, +and finally asked that we defer anything further until the claim on the +Little Crow should develop into something more like an Illinois home. + +"O, we don't know what will happen before that time," she spoke for the +first time, with a blush as I squeezed her hand. + +"But nothing can happen," I defended, nonplused, "can there?" + +"Well, no," she answered hesitatingly, leaning away. + +"Then we will, won't we?" I urged. + +"Well, yes", she answered, looking down and appearing a trifle doubtful. +I admired her the more. Love is something I had longed for more than +anything else, but my ambition to overcome the vagaries of my race by +accomplishing something worthy of note, hadn't given me much time to +seek love. + +I went to my old occupation of the road for awhile and spent most of the +winter on a run to Florida, where the tipping was as good as it had been +on the run from St. Louis to New York. However, about a month before I +quit I was assigned to a run to Boston. By this time I had seen nearly +all the important cities in the United States and of them all none +interested me so much as Boston. + +What always appeared odd to me, however, was the fact that the passenger +yards were right at the door of the fashionable Back Bay district on +Huntington Avenue, near the Hotel Nottingham, not three blocks from +where the intersection of Huntington Avenue and Boylston Street form an +acute angle in which stands the Public Library, and in the opposite +angle stands Trinity Church, so thickly purpled with aristocracy and the +memory big with the tradition of Philip Brooks, the last of that group +of mighty American pulpit orators, of whom I had read so much. A little +farther on stands the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. + +The mornings I spent wandering around the city, visiting Faneuil Hall, +the old State House, Boston commons, Bunker Hill, and a thousand other +reminders of the early heroism, rugged courage, and far seeing greatness +of Boston's early citizens. Afternoons generally found me on Tremont or +Washington Street attending a matinee or hearing music. There once I +heard Caruso, Melba, and two or three other grand opera stars in the +popular Rigoletto Quartette, and another time I witnessed "Siberia" and +the gorgeous and blood-curdling reproduction of the Kishneff Massacre, +with two hundred people on the stage. On my last trip to Boston I saw +Chauncy Olcott in "Terrence the Coach Boy", a romance of old Ireland +with the scene laid in Valley Bay, which seemed to correspond to the +Back Bay a few blocks away. + +Dear old Boston, when will I see you again, was my thought as the train +pulled out through the most fashionable part of America, so stately and +so grand. Even now I recall the last trip with a sigh. If the Little +Crow, with Oristown as its gateway, was a land of hope; through +Massachusetts; Worcester, with the Polytechnic Institute arising in the +back ground; Springfield, and Smith School for girls, Pittsfield, +Brookfield, and on to Albany on the Hudson, is a memory never to be +forgotten, which evolved in my mind many long years afterward, in my +shack on the homestead. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE RETURN--ERNEST NICHOLSON + + +I left St. Louis about April first with about three thousand dollars in +the bank and started again for Oristown, this time to stay. I had just +paid Jessie a visit and I felt a little lonely. With the grim reality of +the situation facing me, I now began to steel my nerves for a lot of new +experience which soon came thick and fast. + +Slater met the train at Oristown, and as soon as he spied me he informed +me that I was a lucky man. That a town had been started ajoining my land +and was being promoted by his brother and the sons of a former Iowa +Governor, and gave every promise of making a good town, also, if I cared +to sell, he had a buyer who was willing to pay me a neat advance over +what I had paid. However, I had no idea of parting with the land, but I +was delighted over the news, and the next morning found me among Dad +Durpee's through stage coach passengers, for Calias, the new town +joining my homestead, via Hedrick and Kirk. As we passed through Hedrick +I noticed that several frame shacks had been put up and some better +buildings were under way. The ground had been frozen for five months, so +sod-house building had been temporarily abandoned. + +It was a long ride, but I was beside myself with enthusiasm. Calias +finally loomed up, conspicuously perched on a hill, and could be seen +long before the stage arrived, and was the scene of much activity. It +had been reported that a colored man had a claim adjoining the town on +the north, so when I stepped from the stage before the postoffice, the +many knowing glances informed me that I was being looked for. A fellow +who had a claim near and whom I met in Oristown, introduced me to the +Postmaster whose name was Billinger, an individual with dry complexion +and thin, light hair. Then to the president of the Townsite Company, +second of three sons of the Iowa Governor. + +My long experience with all classes of humanity had made me somewhat of +a student of human nature, and I could see at a glance that here was a +person of unusual agressiveness and great capacity for doing things. As +he looked at me his eyes seemed to bore clear through, and as he asked a +few questions his searching look would make a person tell the truth +whether he would or no. This was Ernest Nicholson, and in the following +years he had much to do with the development of the Little Crow. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE OKLAHOMA GRAFTER + + +That evening at the hotel he asked me whether I wished to double my +money by selling my relinquishment. "No," I answered, "but I tell you +what I do want to do," I replied firmly. "I am not here to sell; I am +here to make good or die trying; I am here to grow up with this country +and prosper with the growth, if possible. I have a little coin back in +old 'Chi.'" (my money was still in the Chicago bank) "and when these +people begin to commute and want to sell, I am ready to buy another +place." I admired the fellow. He reminded me of "the richest man in the +world" in "The Lion and the Mouse," Otis Skinner as Colonel Phillippi +Bridau, an officer on the staff of Napoleon's Army in "The Honor of the +Family", and other characters in plays that I greatly admired, where +great courage, strength of character, and firm decision were displayed. +He seemed to have a commanding way that one found himself feeling +honored and willing to obey. + +But getting back to the homestead. I looked over my claim and found it +just as I had left it the fall before, excepting that a prairie fire +during the winter had burned the grass. The next morning I returned to +Oristown and announced my intentions of buying a team. The same day I +drew a draft for five hundred dollars with which to start. + +Now if there is anywhere an inexperienced man is sure to go wrong in +starting up on a homestead, it is in buying horses. Most prospective +homesteaders make the same mistake I did in buying horses, unless they +are experienced. The inefficient man reasons thus: "Well, I will start +off economically by buying a cheap team"--and he usually gets what he +thought he wanted, "a cheap team." + +If I had gone into the country and bought a team of young mares for say +three hundred dollars, which would have been a very high price at that +time, I would have them yet, and the increase would have kept me fairly +well supplied with young horses, instead of scouting around town looking +for something cheaper, in the "skate" line, as I did. I looked at so +many teams around Oristown that all of them began to look alike. I am +sure I must have looked at five hundred different horses, more in an +effort to appear as a conservative buyer than to buy the best team. +Finally I ran onto an "Oklahoma" grafter by the name of Nunemaker. + +He was a deceiving and unscrupulous rascal, but nevertheless possessed a +pleasing personality, which stood him in good in his schemes of +deception, and we became quite chummy. He professed to know all about +horses--no doubt he did, but he didn't put his knowledge at my disposal +in the way I thought he should, being a friend, as he claimed. He +finally persuaded me to buy a team of big plugs, one of which was so +awkward he looked as though he would fall down if he tried to trot. The +other was a powerful four-year-old gelding, that would have never been +for sale around Oristown if it hadn't been that he had two feet badly +wire cut. One was so very large that it must have been quite burdensome +for the horse to pick it up, swing it forward and put it down, as I look +back and see him now in my mind. + +When I was paying the man for them I wondered why Nunemaker led him into +the private office of the bank, but I was not left long in doubt. When I +crossed the street one of the men who had tried to sell me a team jumped +me with: "Well, they got you, did they?" his voice mingled with sarcasm +and a sneer. + +"Got who?" I returned question. + +"Does a man have to knock you down to take a hint?" he went on in a tone +of disappointment and anger. "Don't you know that man Nunemaker is the +biggest grafter in Oristown? I would have sold you that team of mine for +twenty-five dollars less'n I offered 'em, if the gol-darn grafter hadn't +of come to me'n said, 'give me twenty-five dollars and I will see that +the coon buys the team.' I would have knocked him down with a club if +I'd had one, the low life bum." He finished with a snort and off he +went. + +"Stung, by cracky," was all I could say, and feeling rather blue I went +to the barn where the team was, stroked them and hoped for the best. + +I then bought lumber to build a small house and barn, an old wagon for +twenty dollars, one wheel of which the blacksmith had forgotten to +grease, worked hard all day getting loaded, and wearied, sick and +discouraged, I started at five o'clock P.M. to drive the thirty miles to +Calias. When I was out two miles the big old horse was wobbling along +like a broken-legged cow, hobbling, stumbling, and making such a +burdensome job of walking, that I felt like doing something desperate. +When I looked back the wheel that had not been greased was smoking like +a hot box on the Twentieth Century Limited. + +The sun was nearly down and a cold east wind was whooping it up at about +sixty miles an hour, chilling me to the marrow. The fact that I was a +stranger in a strange land, inhabited wholly by people not my own race, +did not tend to cheer my gloomy spirits. I decided it might be all right +in July but never in April. I pulled my wagon to the side of the road, +got down and unhitched and jumped on the young horse, and such a +commotion as he did make. I am quite sure he would have bucked me off, +had it not for his big foot being so heavy, he couldn't raise it quick +enough to leap. Evidently he had never been ridden. When I got back to +Oristown and put the team in the barn and warmed up, I resolved to do +one thing and do it that night. I would sell the old horse, and I did, +for twenty-two-fifty. I considered myself lucky, too. I had paid one +hundred and ninety dollars for the team and harness the day before. + +I sat down and wrote Jessie a long letter, telling her of my troubles +and that I was awfully, awfully, lonesome. There was only one other +colored person in the town, a barber who was married to a white woman, +and I didn't like him. + +The next day I hired a horse, started early and arrived at Calias in +good time. At Hedrick I hired a sod mason, who was also a carpenter, at +three dollars a day and we soon put up a frame barn large enough for +three horses; a sod house sixteen by fourteen with a hip roof made of +two by fours for rafters, and plain boards with tar paper and sod with +the grass turned downward and laid side by side, the cracks being filled +with sand. The house had two small windows and one door, that was a +little short on account of my getting tired carrying sod. I ordered the +"contractor" to put the roof on as soon as I felt it was high enough to +be comfortable inside. + +The fifth day I moved in. There was no floor, but the thick, short +buffalo grass made a neat carpet. In one corner I put the bed, while in +another I set the table, the one next the door I placed the stove, a +little two-hole burner gasoline, and in the other corner I made a bin +for the horses grain. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +DEALIN' IN MULES + + +It must have been about the twentieth of April when I finished building. +I started to "batch" and prepared to break out my claim. Having only one +horse, it became necessary to buy another team. I decided to buy mules +this time. I remembered that back on our farm in southern Illinois, +mules were thought to be capable of doing more work than horses and eat +less grain. So when some boys living west of me came one Sunday +afternoon, and said they could sell me a team of mules, I agreed to go +and see them the next day. I thought I was getting wise. As proof of +such wisdom I determined to view the mules in the field. I followed them +around the field a few times and although they were not fine looking, +they seemed to work very well. Another great advantage was, they were +cheap, only one hundred and thirty-five dollars for the team and a +fourteen-inch-rod breaking plow. This looked to me like a bargain. I +wrote him a check and took the mules home with me. Jack and Jenny were +their names, and I hadn't owned Jack two days before I began to hate +him. He was lazy, and when he went down hill, instead of holding his +head up and stepping his front feet out, he would lower the bean and +perform a sort of crow-hop. It was too exasperating for words and I used +to strike him viciously for it, but that didn't seem to help matters +any. + +I shall not soon forget my first effort to break prairie. There are +different kinds of plows made for breaking the sod. Some kind that are +good for one kind of soil cannot be used in another. In the gummy soils +of the Dakotas, a long slant cut is the best. In fact, about the only +kind that can be used successfully, while in the more sandy lands found +in parts of Kansas and Nebraska, a kind is used which is called the +square cut. The share being almost at right angles with the beam instead +of slanting back from point to heel. Now in sandy soils this pulls much +easier for the grit scours off any roots, grass, or whatever else would +hang over the share. To attempt to use this kind in wet, sticky land, +such as was on my claim, would find the soil adhering to the plow share, +causing it to drag, gather roots and grass, until it is impossible to +keep the plow in the ground. When it is dry, this kind of plow can be +used with success in the gummy land; but it was not dry when I invaded +my homestead soil with my big horse, Jenny and Jack, that first day of +May, but very wet indeed. + +To make matters worse, Doc, the big horse, believed in "speeding." Jenny +was fair but Jack, on the landside, was affected with "hook-worm +hustle," and believed in taking his time. I tried to help him along with +a yell that grew louder as I hopped, skipped, and jumped across the +prairie, and that plow began hitting and missing, mostly missing. It +would gouge into the soil up to the beam, and the big horse would get +down and make a mighty pull, while old Jack would swing back like the +heavy end of a ball bat when a player draws to strike, and out would +come the plow with a skip, skip, skip; the big horse nearly trotting and +dragging the two little mules, that looked like two goats beside an +elephant. Well, I sat down and gave up to a fit of the blues; for it +looked bad, mighty bad for me. + +I had left St. Louis with two hundred dollars in cash, and had drawn a +draft for five hundred dollars more on the Chicago bank, where my money +was on deposit, and what did I have for it? One big horse, tall as a +giraffe; two little mules, one of which was a torment to me; a sod +house; and old wagon. As I faced the situation there seemed nothing to +do but to fight it out, and I turned wearily to another attempt, this +time with more success. Before I had started breaking I had invited +criticism. Now I was getting it on all sides. I was the only colored +homesteader on the reservation, and as an agriculturist it began to look +mighty bad for the colored race on the Little Crow. + +Finally, with the assistance of dry weather, I got the plow so I could +go two or three rods without stopping, throw it out of the ground and +clear the share of roots and grass. Sometimes I managed to go farther, +but never over forty rods, the entire summer. + +I took another course in horse trading or mule trading, which almost +came to be my undoing. I determined to get rid of Jack. I decided that I +would not be aggravated with his laziness and crow-hopping any longer +than it took me to find a trade. So on a Sunday, about two weeks after I +bought the team, a horse trader pulled into Calias, drew his prairie +schooner to a level spot, hobbled his horses--mostly old plugs of +diverse descriptions, and made preparation to stay awhile. He had only +one animal, according to my horse-sense (?), that was any good, and that +was a mule that he kept blanketed. His camp was so situated that I could +watch the mule, from my east window, and the more I looked at the mule, +the better he looked to me. It was Wednesday noon the following week and +old Jack had become almost unbearable. My continuing to watch a good +mule do nothing, while I continued to fret my life away trying to be +patient with a lazy brute, only added to my restlessness and eagerness +to trade. At noon I entered the barn and told old Jack I would get rid +of him. I would swap him to that horse trader for his good mule as soon +as I watered him. He was looking pretty thin and I thought it would be +to my advantage to fill him up. + +During the three days the trader camped near my house he never +approached me with an offer to sell or trade, and it was with many +misgivings that I called out in a loud, breezy voice and David Harum +manner; "Hello, Governor, how will you trade mules?" "How'll I trade +mules? did you say how'll I trade mules? Huh, do you suppose I want your +old mule?" drawing up one side of his face and twisting his big red nose +until he resembled a German clown. + +"O, my mule's fair", I defended weakly. + +"Nothing but an old dead mule," he spit out, grabbing old Jack's tail +and giving him a yank that all but pulled him over. "Look at him, look +at him," he rattled away like an auctioneer. "Go on, Mr. Colored Man, +you can't work me that way." He continued stepping around old Jack, +making pretentions to hit him on the head. Jack may have been slow in +the field, but he was swift in dodging, and he didn't look where he +dodged either. I was standing at his side holding the reins, when the +fellow made one of his wild motions, and Jack nearly knocked my head off +as he dodged. "Naw sir, if I considered a trade, that is if I considered +a trade at all, I would have to have a lot of boot" he said with an +important air. + +"How much?" I asked nervously. + +"Well, sir", he spoke with slow decision; "I would have to have +twenty-five dollars." + +"What!" I exclaimed, at which he seemed to weaken; but he didn't +understand that my exclamation was of surprise that he only wanted +twenty-five dollars, when I had expected to give him seventy-five +dollars. I grasped the situation, however, and leaning forward, said +hardly above a whisper, my heart was so near my throat: "I will give you +twenty," as I pulled out my roll and held a twenty before his eyes, +which he took as though afraid I would jerk it away; muttering something +about it not being enough, and that he had ought to have had +twenty-five. However, he got old Jack and the twenty, gathered his plugs +and left town immediately. I felt rather proud of my new possession, but +before I got through the field that afternoon I became suspicious. +Although I looked my new mule over and over often during the afternoon +while plowing, I could find nothing wrong. Still I had a chilly +premonition, fostered, no doubt, by past experience, that something +would show up soon, and in a few days it did show up. I learned +afterward the trader had come thirty-five miles to trade me that mule. + +The mule I had traded was only lazy, while the one I had received in the +trade was not only lazy, but "ornery" and full of tricks that she took a +fiendish delight in exercising on me. One of her favorites was to watch +me out of her left eye, shirking the while, and crowding the furrow at +the same time, which would pull the plow out of the ground. I tried to +coax and cajole her into doing a decent mule's work, but it availed me +nothing. I bore up under the aggravation with patience and fortitude, +then determined to subdue the mule or become subdued myself. I would +lunge forward with my whip, and away she would rush out from under it, +brush the other horse and mule out of their places and throw things into +general confusion. Then as soon as I was again straightened out, she +would be back at her old tricks, and I am almost positive that she used +to wink at me impudently from her vantage point. Added to this, the +coloring matter with which the trader doped her head, faded, and she +turned grey headed in two weeks, leaving me with a mule of uncertain and +doubtful age, instead of one of seven going on eight as the trader +represented her to be. + +I soon had the enviable reputation of being a horse trader. Whenever +anybody with horses to trade came to town, they were advised to go over +to the sod house north of town and see the colored man. He was fond of +trading horses, yes, he fairly doted on it. Nevertheless with all my +poor "horse-judgment" I continued to turn the sod over day after day and +completed ten or twelve acres each week. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE HOMESTEADERS + + +Of neighbors, I had many. There was Miss Carter from old Missouri whose +claim joined mine on the west, and another Missourian to the north of +her; a loud talking German north of him, and an English preacher to the +east of the German. A traveling man's family lived north of me; and a +big, fat, lazy barber who seemed to be taking the "rest cure," joined me +on the east. His name was Starks and he had drawn number 252. He had a +nice, level claim with only a few buffalo wallows to detract from its +value, and he held the distinction of being the most uncompromisingly +lazy man on the Little Crow. This, coupled with the unpardonable fault +of complaining about everything, made him nigh unbearable and he was +known as the "Beefer." He came from a small town, usually the home of +his ilk, in Iowa, where he had a small shop and owned three and a half +acres of garden and orchard ground on the outskirts of the town. He +would take a fiendish delight in relating and re-relating how the folks +in his house back in Iowa were having strawberries, new peas, green +beans, spring onions, and enjoying all the fruits of a tropical climate, +while he was holding down an "infernal no-account claim" on the Little +Crow, and eating out of a can. + +A merchant was holding down a claim south of him, and a banker lived +south of the merchant. Thus it was a varied class of homesteaders +around Calias and Megory, the first summer on the Little Crow. Only +about one in every eight or ten was a farmer. They were of all vocations +in life and all nationalities, excepting negroes, and I controlled the +colored vote. + +This was one place where being a colored man was an honorary +distinction. I remember how I once requested the stage driver to bring +me some meat from Megory, there being no meat shop in Calias, and it was +to be left at the post office. Apparently I had failed to give the stage +driver my name, for when I called for it, it was handed out to me, done +up in a neat package, and addressed "Colored Man, Calias." My neighbors +soon learned, however, that my given name was "Oscar," but it was some +time before they could all spell or pronounce the odd surname. + +During the month of June it rained twenty-three days, but I was so +determined to break out one hundred and twenty acres, that after a few +days of the rainy weather I went out and worked in the rain. Starks used +to go up town about four o'clock for the mail, wearing a long, yellow +slicker, and when he saw me going around the half-mile land he remarked +to the bystanders: "Just look at that fool nigger a working in the +rain." + +Being the first year of settlement in a new country, there naturally was +no hay to buy, so the settlers turned their stock out to graze, and many +valuable horses strayed away and were lost. When it rained so much and +the weather turned so warm, the mosquitoes filled the air and covered +the earth and attacked everything in their path. When I turned my +horses out after the day's work was done, they soon found their way to +town, where they stood in the shelter of some buildings and fought +mosquitoes. Their favorite place for this pastime was the post office, +where Billinger had a shed awning over the board walk, the framework +consisting of two-by-fours joined together and nailed lightly to the +building, and on top of this he had laid a few rough boards. Under this +crude shelter the homesteaders found relief from the broiling afternoon +sun, and swapped news concerning the latest offer for their claims. The +mosquitoes did not bother so much in even so slight an inclosure as +this, so every night Jenny Mule would walk on to the board walk, prick +up her ears and look in at the window. About this time the big horse +would come along and begin to scratch his neck on one of the +two-by-fours, and suddenly down would go Billinger's portable awning +with a loud crash which was augmented by Jenny Mule getting out from +under the falling boards. As the sound echoed through the slumbering +village the big horse would rush away to the middle of the street, with +a prolonged snort, and wonder what it was all about. This was the story +Billinger told when I came around the next morning to drive them home +from the storekeeper's oat bin where they had indulged in a midnight +lunch. The performance was repeated nightly and got brother Billinger +out of bed at all hours. He swore by all the Gods of Buddha and the +people of South Dakota, that he would put the beasts up and charge me a +dollar to get them. + +Early one morning I came over and found that Billinger had remained true +to his oath, and the horse and mule were tied to a wagon belonging to +the storekeeper. Nearby on a pile of rock sat Billinger, nodding away, +sound asleep. I quietly untied the rope from the wagon and peaceably led +them home. Then Billinger was in a rage. He had a small, screechy +tremulo voice and it fairly sputtered as he tiraded: "If it don't beat +all; I never saw the like. I was up all last night chasing those darned +horses, caught them and tied them up; and along comes Devereaux while I +am asleep and takes horses, rope and all." The crowd roared and +Billinger decided the joke was on him. + +Miss Carter, my neighbor on the west, had her trouble too. One day she +came by, distressed and almost on the verge of tears, and burst out: +"Oh, Oh, Oh, I hardly know what to do." + +I could never bear seeing any one in such distress and I became touched +by her grief. Upon becoming more calm, she told me: "The banker says +that the man who is breaking prairie on my claim is ruining the ground." +She was simply heart-broken about it, and off she went into another +spasm of distress. I saw the fellow wasn't laying the sod over smoothly +because he had a sixteen-inch plow, and had it set to cut only about +eight inches, which caused the sod to push away and pile up on edges, +instead of turning and dropping into the furrow. I went with her and +explained to the fellow where the fault lay. The next day he was doing a +much better job. + +Those who have always lived in the older settled parts of the country +sometimes have exaggerated ideas of life on the homestead, and the +following incident offers a partial explanation. Megory and Calias each +had a newspaper, and when they weren't roasting each other and claiming +their paper to be the only live and progressive organ in the country, +they were "building" railroads or printing romantic tales about the +brave homesteader girls. A little red-headed girl nicknamed "Jack" owned +a claim near Calias. One day it was reported that she killed a +rattlesnake in her house. The report of the great encounter reached +eastern dailies, and was published as a Sunday feature story in one of +the leading Omaha papers. It was accompanied by gorgeous pictures of the +girl in a leather skirt, riding boots, and cow-boy hat, entering a sod +house, and before her, coiled and poised to strike, lay a monster +rattlesnake. Turning on her heel and jerking the bridle from her horse's +head, she made a terrific swing at Mr. Rattlesnake, and he, of course, +"met his Waterloo." This, so the story read, was the eightieth +rattlesnake she had killed. She was described as "Rattlesnake Jack" and +thereafter went by that name. She was also credited with having spent +the previous winter alone on her claim and rather enjoyed the wintry +nights and snow blockade. Now as a matter of fact, she had spent most of +the previous winter enjoying the comforts of a front room at the Hotel +Calias, going to the claim occasionally on nice days. She had no horse, +and as to the eighty rattlesnakes, seventy-nine were myths, existing +only in the mind of a prolific feature story writer for the Sunday +edition of the great dailies. In fact she had killed one small young +rattler with a button. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +IMAGINATIONS RUN AMUCK + + +I decided to utilize some of my spare time by doing a little freighting +from Oristown to Calias. Accordingly, one fair morning I started for the +former town. It began raining that evening, finally turning into a fine +snow, and by morning a genuine South Dakota blizzard was raging. How the +wind did screech across the prairie! + +I was driving the big horse and Jenny Mule to a wagon loaded with two +tons of coal. They were not shod, and the hillsides had become slick and +treacherous with ice. At the foot of every hill Jenny Mule would lay her +ears back, draw herself up like a toad, when teased, and look up with a +groan, while the big horse trotted on up the next slope, pulling her +share of the load. + +When the wind finally went down the mercury fell to 25 deg. below zero and +my wrists, face, feet, and ears were frost bitten when I arrived at +Calias. As is always the case during such severe weather, the hotel was +filled, and laughing, story telling, and good cheer prevailed. The +Nicholson boys asked "how I made it" and I answered disgustedly that I'd +have made it all right if that Jennie Mule hadn't got faint hearted. The +remark was received as a good joke and my suffering and annoyances of +the trip slipped away into the past. That remark also had the further +effect of giving Jennie Mule immortality. She became the topic of +conversation and jest in hotel and postoffice lobbies, and even to this +day the story of the "faint hearted mule" often affords splendid +entertainment at festive boards and banquet halls of the Little Crow, +when told by a Nicholson. + +While working in the rain, the perspiration and the rain water had +caused my body to become so badly galled, that I found considerable +difficulty in getting around. To add to this discomfiture Jenny Mule was +affected with a touch of "Maudism" at times, especially while engaged in +eating grain. One night when I had wandered thoughtlessly into the barn, +she gave me such a wallop on the right shin as to impair that member +until I could hardly walk without something to hold to. As it had taken +a fourteen-hundred-mile walk to follow the plow in breaking the one +hundred and twenty acres, I was about "all in" physically when it was +done. + +As a means of recuperation I took a trip to Chicago. While there, the +"call of the road" affected me; I got reinstated and ran a couple of +months to the coast. Four months of free life on the plains, however, +had changed me. After one trip I came in and found a letter from Jessie, +saying she was sick, and although she never said "come and see me" I +took it as an excuse and quit that P----n Company for good--and here it +passes out of the story--went down state to M--boro, and spent the +happiest week of my life. + +After I had returned to Dakota, however, I contracted an imagination +that worked me into a state of jealously, concerning an individual who +made his home in M--boro, and with whom I suspicioned the object of my +heart to be unduly friendly. I say, this is what I suspicioned. There +was no particular proof, and I have been inclined to think, in after +years, that it was more a case of an over-energetic imagination run +amuck. I contended in my mind and in my letters to her as well, that I +should not have thought anything of it, if the "man in the case" had a +little more promising future, but since his proficiency only earned him +the munificent sum of three dollars per week, I continued to fret and +fume, until I at last resolved to suspend all communication with her. + +Now what I should have done when I reached this stage of imaginary +insanity, was to have sent Miss Rooks a ticket, some money, and she +would have come to Dakota and married me, and together we would have +"lived happy ever after." As I see it now, I was affected with an +"idealism." Of course I was not aware of it at the time--no young soul +is--until they have learned by bitter experience the folly of "they +should not do thus and so", and, of course, there is the old excuse, +"good intentions." Somewhere I read that the road to--not St. Peter--is +paved with good intentions. The result of my prolific imagination was +that I carried out my resolutions, quit writing, and emotionally lived +rather unhappily thereafter, for some time at least. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE SURVEYORS + + +The entire Little Crow reservation consisted of about two million acres +of land, four-fifths of which was unopened and lay west of Megory +County. Of the two million acres, perhaps one million, five hundred +thousand ranged from fair to the richest of loam soil, underlaid with +clay. The climatic condition is such that all kinds of crops grown in +the central west, can be grown here. Two hundred miles north, corn will +not mature; two hundred miles south, spring wheat is not grown; two +hundred west, the altitude is too high to insure sufficient rainfall to +produce a crop; but the reservation lands are in such a position that +winter wheat, spring wheat, oats, rye, corn, flax, and barley do well. +Ever since the drouth of '94, all crops had thrived, the rainfall being +abundant, and continuing so during the first year of settlement. +Oristown and other towns on the route of the railroad had waited twenty +years for the extension, and now the citizens of Oristown estimated it +would be at least ten years before it extended its line through the +reservation; while the settlers, to the number of some eight thousand, +hoped they would get the road in five years. However, no sleep was lost +in anticipation. The nearest the reservation came to getting a railroad +that summer was by the way of a newspaper in Megory, whose editor spent +most of his time building roads into Megory from the north, south, and +the east. In reality, the C. & R.W. was the only road likely to run to +the reservation, and all the towns depended on its extension to overcome +the long, burdensome freighting with teams. + +With all the country's local advantages, its geographical location was +such as to exclude roads from all directions except the one taken by the +C. & R.W. To the south lay nine million acres of worthless sand hills, +through which it would require an enormous sum of money to build a road. +Even then there would be miles of track which would practically pay no +interest on the investment. At that time there was no railroad extending +the full length of the state from east to west, most lines stopping at +or near the Missouri River. Since then two or three lines have been +built into the western part of the state; but they experienced much +difficulty in crossing the river, owing to the soft bottom, which in +many places would not support a modern steel bridge. For from one to two +months in the spring, floating ice gives a great deal of trouble and +wreaks disaster to the pontoon. + +A bird's eye view of the Little Crow shows it to look something like a +bottle, the neck being the Missouri River, with the C. & R.W. tracks +creeping along its west bank. This is the only feasible route to the +Reservation and the directors of this road were fully aware of their +advantageous position. The freight rates from Omaha to Oristown (a +distance of two hundred and fifty miles) being as high as from Omaha to +Chicago, a distance of five hundred miles. + +But getting back to the settlers around and in the little towns on the +Little Crow. The first thing to be considered in the extension was, that +the route it took would naturally determine the future of the towns. +Hedrick, Kirk, and Megory were government townsites, strung in a +northwesterly direction across the country, ranging from eight to +fifteen miles apart, the last being about five miles and a half east of +the west line of the county. Now the county on the west was expected to +be thrown open to settlement soon, would likely be opened under the +lottery system, as was Megory county. After matters had settled this +began to be discussed, particularly by the citizens of Megory, five and +one-half miles from the Tipp County line. This placed Megory in the same +position to handle the crowds coming into the next county, as Oristown +had for Megory County, excepting Megory would have an advantage, for +Tipp County was twice as large as Megory. When this was all considered, +the people of Megory began to boost the town on the prospects of a +future boom. The only uncertain feature of the matter then to be +considered was which way the road would extend. That was where the rub +came in, which way would the road go? This became a source of continual +worry and speculation on the part of the towns, and the men who felt +inclined to put money into the towns in the way of larger, better, and +more commodious buildings; but when they were encouraged to do so, there +was always the bogy "if." If the railroad should miss us, well, the man +owning the big buildings was "stung," that was all, while the man with +the shack could load it on two or four wagons, and with a few good +horses, land his building in the town the railroad struck or started. +This was, and is yet, one of the big reasons shacks are so numerous in a +town in a new country, which expects a road but knows not which way it +will come; and the officials of the C. & R.W. were no different from the +directors of any other road. They were "mum" as dummies. They wouldn't +tell whether the road would ever extend or not. + +The Oristown citizens claimed it was at one time in the same uncertainty +as the towns to the west, and for some fifteen or twenty years it had +waited for the road. With the road stopping at Oristown, they argued, it +would be fully ten years before it left, and during this time it could +be seen, Oristown would grow into an important prairie city, as it +should. Everything must be hauled into Oristown, as well as out. So it +can be seen that Oristown would naturally boom. While nothing had been +raised to the west to ship out, as yet, still there was a growing +population on the reservation and thousands of carloads of freight and +express were being hauled into and from Oristown monthly, for the +settlers on the reservation; which filled the town with railroad men and +freighters. Crops had been good, and every thing was going along +smoothly for the citizens and property owners of Oristown. Not a cloud +on her sky of prosperity, and as the trite saying goes: "Everything was +lovely, and the goose hung high," during the first year of settlement on +the Little Crow. + +And now lest we forget Calias. Calias was located one and one-half miles +east, and three miles south of Megory, and five miles straight west of +Kirk. If the C. & R.W. extending its line west, should strike all the +government townsites, as was claimed by people in these towns, who knew +nothing about it, and Calias, it would have run from Kirk to Megory in a +very unusual direction. Indeed, it would have been following the section +lines and it is common knowledge even to the most ignorant, that +railroads do not follow section lines unless the section lines are +directly in its path. If the railroad struck Kirk and Megory, it was a +cinch it would miss Calias. If it struck Calias, perched on the banks of +the Monca Creek, the route the Nicholsons, as promoters of the town, +claimed it would take; the road would miss all the towns but Calias. +This would have meant glory and a fortune for the promotors and lot +holders of the town. It would also have meant that my farm, or at least +a part of it, would in time be sold for town lots. + +After I got so badly overreached in dealing in horses, for a time the +opinion was general that the solitary negro from the plush cushions of a +P----n would soon see that growing up with a new country was not to his +liking, and would be glad to sell at any old figure and "beat it" back +to more ease and comfort. This is largely the opinion of most of the +white people, regarding the negro, and they are not entirely wrong in +their opinion. I was quite well aware that such an opinion existed, but +contrary to expectations, I rather appreciated it. When I broke out one +hundred and twenty acres with such an outfit as I had, as against many +other real farmers who had not broken over forty acres, with good +horses and their knowledge of breaking prairie, acquired in states they +had come from, I began to be regarded in a different light. At first I +was regarded as an object of curiosity, which changed to appreciation, +and later admiration. I was not called a free-go-easy coon, but a +genuine booster for Calias and the Little Crow. I never spent a lonesome +day after that. + +The Nicholson Brothers, however, gave the settlers no rest, and created +another sensation of railroad building by their new contention that the +railroad would not be extended from Oristown, but that it would be built +from a place on the Monca bottom two stations below Oristown, where the +track climbed a four per cent grade to Fairview, then on to Oristown. +They offered as proof of their contention that the C. & R.W. maintained +considerable yardage there, and it does yet. Why it did, people did not +know, and this kept everybody guessing. Some claimed it would go up the +Monca Valley, as Nicholson claimed. This much can be said in favor of +the Nicholsons, they were good boosters, or "big liars," as their rivals +called them, and if one listened long and diligently enough they would +have him imagine he could hear the exhaust of a big locomotive coming up +the Monca Valley. While the people in the government townsites persisted +loudly that the C. & R.W. had contracted with the government before the +towns were located, to strike these three towns, and that the government +had helped to locate them; that furthermore, the railroad would never +have left the Monca Valley, which it followed for some twenty miles +after leaving the banks of the Missouri. All of which sounded +reasonable enough, but the government and the railroad had entered into +no agreement whatever, and the people in the government towns knew it, +and were uneasy. + +I had been on my claim just about a year, when one day Rattlesnake +Jack's father came from his home on the Jim River and sold me her +homestead for three thousand dollars. My dreams were at last realized, +and I had become the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of land; +but my money was now gone, when I had paid the one thousand, five +hundred dollars down on the Rattlesnake Jack place, giving her back a +mortgage for the remaining one thousand, five hundred at seven per cent +interest, and it was a good thing I did, too. I bought the place early +in April and in June the Interior Department rejected the proof she had +offered the November before, on account of lack of sufficient residence +and cultivation. The proof had been accepted by the local land office, +and a final receipt for the remaining installments of the purchase +price, amounting to four hundred and eighty dollars, was issued. A final +receipt is considered to be equivalent to a patent or deed, but when +Rattlesnake Jack's proof of residence got to the General Land Office in +Washington, in quest of a patent, the commissioner looked it over, +figured up the time she actually put in on the place, and rejected the +proof, with the statement that it only showed about six month's actual +residence. At that time eight month's residence was required, with six +months within which to establish residence; but no proof could be +accepted until after the claimant had shown eight month's actual and +continuous residence. + +From the time the settlers began to commute or prove up on the Little +Crow, all proofs which did not show fully eight month's residence, were +rejected. This was done mostly by the Register and Receiver of the Local +Land Office, and many were sent back on their claims to stay longer. +Many proofs were also taken by local U.S. Commissioners, County Judges, +and Clerks of Courts, but these officers rarely rejected them, for by so +doing they also rejected a four dollar and twenty-five cent fee. About +one-third of the persons who offered proof at that time had them turned +down at the Local Land Office. This gave the local Commissioners, County +Judges, and Clerks of Courts, a chance to collect twice for the same +work. It may be interesting to know that a greater percentage of proofs +rejected were those offered by women. This was perhaps not due to the +fact that the ladies did not stay on their claims, so much as it was +conscientiousness. They could not make a forcible showing by saying that +they had been there every night, like the men would claim, but would say +instead that they had stayed all night with Miss So-and-So this time and +with another that time, and by including a few weeks' visit at home or +somewhere else, they would bungle their proofs, so they were compelled +to try again. + +A short time after this and evidently because so many proofs had been +sent back, the Interior Department made it compulsory for the claimant +to put in fourteen months' actual residence on the claim, before he +could offer proof. With fourteen months, they were sure to stay a full +eight months at least. This system has been very successful. + +When Rattlesnake Jack was ordered back, after selling me the place, she +wanted me to sign a quit claim deed to her and accept notes for the +money I had paid, which might have been satisfactory had it not been +that she thought I had stopped to look back and failed to see the rush +of progress the Little Crow was making; that the long anticipated news +had been spread, and was now raging like a veritable prairie fire, and +stirred the people of the Little Crow as much as an active stock market +stirs the bulls on the stock exchange. The report spread and stirred the +everyday routine of the settlers and the finality of humdrum and +inactivity was abrupt. It came one day in early April. The rain had kept +the farmers from the fields a week. It had been raining for nearly a +month, and we only got a clear day once in a while. This day it was +sloppy without, and many farmers were in from the country. We were all +listening to a funny story Ernest Nicholson was telling, and "good +fellows" were listening attentively. Dr. Salter, a physician, had just +been laid on a couch in the back room of the saloon, "soused to the +gills," when in the door John M. Keely, a sort of ne'er do well popular +drummer, whose proof had been rejected some time before, and who had +come back to stay "a while longer", stumbled into the door of the local +groggery. He was greeted with sallies and calls of welcome, and like +many of the others, he was "feeling good." He sort of leaned over, and +hiccoughing during the intervals, started "I've," the words were spoken +chokingly, "got news for you." He had by now got inside and was hanging +and swinging at the same time, to the bar. Then before finishing what he +started, called "Tom," to the bar tender, "give me a whiskey before I", +and here he leaned over and sang the words "tell the boys the news." +"For the love of Jesus Keel" exclaimed the crowd in chorus "tell us what +you know." He drained the glass at a gulp and finally spit it out. "The +surveyors are in Oristown." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +"WHICH TOWN WILL THE R.R. STRIKE?" + + +The drummer's information soon received corroboration from other +sources, and although it seemed almost unbelievable, it was discussed +incessantly and excitement ran high. These pioneers, who had braved the +hardships of homestead life had felt that without the railroad they were +indeed cut off from civilization. To them the advent of the surveyors in +Oristown could mean only one thing--that their dreams of enjoying the +many advantages of the railroad train, would soon materialize. + +They fell to enumerating these advantages--the mail daily, instead of +only once or twice a week; the ease with which they could make necessary +trips to the neighboring towns; and most of all--the increase in the +value of the land. With this last subject they became so wrought up with +excitement and anxiety as to the truth of the report, that they could +stay away from the scene of action no longer. Accordingly, buggies and +vehicles of all descriptions began coming into Oristown from all +directions. I hitched Doc and my new horse, Boliver, for which I had +paid one hundred and forty dollars, to an old ramshackle buggy I had +bought for ten dollars, and joined the procession. + +Three miles west of Oristown we came upon a crowd of circus-day +proportion, and in their midst were the surveyors. + +In their lead rode the chief engineer--a slender, wiry man with a black +mustache and piercing eyes, that seemed to observe every feature of +surrounding prairie. Behind came a wagon loaded with stakes, accompanied +by several men, the leader of whom was setting these stakes according to +the signal of the engineer from behind the transit. Others, on either +side, were also driving stakes. They were not only running a straight +survey, but were cross-sectioning as they went. + +Even though the presence of these surveyors was now an established fact, +these were days of grave uncertainties as to just what route the road +would take. The suspense was almost equal to that of the criminal, as he +awaits the verdict of the jury. The valleys and divides lay in such a +manner that it was possible the survey would extend along the Monca, +thus passing through Calias. On the other hand, it was probable that it +would continue to the Northwest through Kirk and Megory, thus missing +Calias altogether. + +When the surveyors reached a point five miles west of Hedrick, they +swerved to the northwest and advanced directly toward Kirk. This looked +bad for Calias. + +When Ernest Nicholson had learned that the surveyors were in Oristown, +he had left immediately for parts unknown and had not returned. He was +in reality the founder of Calias and many of the inhabitants looked to +him as their leader, and depended upon him for advice. Although he had +many enemies who heaped abuse and epithets upon him--calling him a liar, +braggard and "wind jammer" when boasting of their own independence and +self respect--now that a calamity was about to befall them, and their +fond hopes for this priceless mistress of prairie were about to be +wrecked upon the shoals of an imaginary railroad survey, they turned +toward him for comfort, as moths turn to a flame. It was Ernest here and +Ernest there. As the inevitable progress of the surveyors proceeded in a +direct line for Hedrick, Kirk and Megory, the consternation of the +Caliasites became more intense as time went on, and the anxiety for +Ernest to return almost resolved itself into mutiny. It became so +significant, that at one time it appeared that if Ernest had only +appeared, the railroad company would have voluntarily run its survey +directly to Calias, in order to avoid the humiliation of Ernest's +seizing them by the nape of the neck and marching them, survey, cars and +all, right into the little hamlet. + +Now there was one thing everybody seemed to forget or to overlook, but +which occurred to me at the time, and caused me to become skeptical as +to the possibilities of the road striking Calias, and that was, if the +railroad was to be built up the Monca Valley, then why had the surveyors +come to Oristown, and why had they not gotten off at Anona, the last +station in the Monca Valley, where the tracks climb the grade to +Fairview. + +Many of the Megory and Kirk boosters had taken advantage of Ernest's +absence, and through enthusiasm attending the advent of the railroad +survey, persuaded several of Calias' business men to go into fusion in +their respective towns. The remaining handful consoled each other by +prophecies of what Ernest would do when he returned, and plied each +other for expressions of theories, and ways and means of injecting +enthusiasm into the local situation. Thousands of theories were given +expression, consideration, and rejection, and the old one that all +railroads follow valleys and streams was finally adhered to. I was +singled out to give corroborative proof of this last, by reason of my +railroad experience. + +I was suddenly seized with a short memory, much to my embarrassment, as +I felt all eyes turned upon me. However, the crowd were looking for +encouragement and spoke up in chorus: "Don't the railroads always follow +valleys?" It suddenly occurred to me, that with all the thousands of +miles of travel to my credit and the many different states I had +traveled through, with all their rough and smooth territory, I had not +observed whether the tracks followed the valleys or otherwise. However, +I intimated that I thought they did. "Of course they do", my remark was +answered in chorus. + +Since then I have noticed that a railway does invariably follow a +valley, if it is a large one; and small rivers make excellent routes, +but never crooked little streams like the Monca. When it comes to such +creeks, and there is a table land above, as soon as the road can get +out, it usually stays out. This was the situation of the C. & R.W. It +came some twenty-five or thirty miles up the Monca, from where it +empties into the Missouri. There are fourteen bridges across in that +many miles, which were and still are, always going out during high +water. + +It came this route because there was no other way to come, but when it +got to Anona, as has been said, it climbed a four per cent grade to get +out and it stayed out. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MEGORY'S DAY + + +The first day of May was a local holiday in Megory, held in honor of the +first anniversary of the day when all settlers had to be on their +claims; and it was raining. During the first years on the Little Crow we +were deluged with rainfall, but this day the inclement weather was +disregarded. It was Settler's Day and everybody for miles around had +journeyed thither to celebrate--not only Settler's Day, but also the +advent of the railroad. Only the day before, the surveyors had pitched +their tents on the outskirts of the town, and on this day they could be +seen calmly sighting their way across the south side of the embryo city. +Megory was the scene of a continuous round of revelry. Five saloons were +crowded to overflowing, and a score of bartenders served thousands of +thirsty throats; while on the side opposite from the bar, and in the +rear, gambling was in full blast. Professionals, "tin horns", and +"pikers", in their shirt sleeves worked away feverishly drawing in and +paying money to the crowd that surged around the Roulette, the +Chuck-luck, and the Faro-bank. It seemed as though everybody drank and +gambled. "This is Megory's Day", they called between drinks, and it +would echo with "have another," "watch Megory grow." + +Written in big letters and hung all along the streets were huge signs +which read "Megory, the gateway to a million acres of the richest land +in the world." "Megory, the future metropolis of the Little Crow, Watch +her grow! Watch her grow!" The board walk four feet wide could not hold +the crowd. It was a day of frenzied celebration--a day when no one dared +mention Nicholson's name unless they wanted to hear them called liars, +wind jammers, and all a bluff. + +Ernest was still in the East and no one seemed to know where he was, or +what he was doing. The surveyors had passed through Megory and extended +the survey to the county line, five miles west of the town. The +right-of-way man was following and had just arrived from Hedrick and +Kirk, where he had made the same offer he was now making Megory. "If" he +said, addressing the "town dads" and he seemed to want it clearly +understood, "the C. & R.W. builds to Megory, we want you to buy the +right-of-way three miles east and four miles west of the town." + +Then Governor Reulback, known as the "Squatter Governor," acting as +spokesman for the citizens, arose from his seat on the rude platform, +and before accepting the proposition--needless to say it was +accepted--called on different individuals for short talks. Among others +he called on Ernest Nicholson; but Frank, the Junior member of the firm, +arose and answered that Ernest was away engaged in purchasing the C. & +R.W. railroad and that he, answering for Ernest, had nothing to say. A +hush fell on the crowd, but Governor Reulbach, who possessed a well +defined sense of humor, responded with a joke, saying, "Mr. Nicholson's +being away purchasing the C. & R.W. railroad reminds me of the Irishman +who played poker all night, and the next morning, yawning and stretching +himself, said, 'Oi lost nine hundred dollars last night and seven and +one-half of it was cash.'" + +The backbone of the town was beginning to weaken, while there were many +who continued to insist that there was hope. Others contracted +rheumatism from vigils at the surveyor's camp, in vain hope of gaining +some information as to the proposed direction of the right-of-way. The +purchasing of the right-of-way and the unloading of carload after +carload of contracting material at Oristown did little to encourage the +belief that there was a ghost of a show for Calias. + +In a few days corral tents were decorating the right-of-way at intervals +of two miles, all the way from Oristown to Megory. In the early morning, +as the sound of distant thunder, could be heard the dull thud of clods +and dirt dropping into the wagon from the elevator of the excavator; +also the familiar "jup" and the thud of the "skinner's" lines as they +struck the mules, in Calias one and one-half miles away. + +A very much discouraged and weary crowd met Ernest when he returned, but +even in defeat this young man's personality was pleasing. He was frank +in telling the people that he had done all that he could. He had gone to +Omaha where his father in-law joined him, thence to Des Moines, where +his father maintained his office as president of an insurance company, +that made loans on Little Crow land. Together with two capitalists, +friends of his father, they had gone into Chicago and held a conference +with Marvin Hewitt, President of the C. & R.W. who had showed them the +blue prints, and, as he put it, any reasonable man could see it would be +utterly impossible to strike Calias in the route they desired to go. The +railroad wanted to strike the Government town sites, but the president +told them that if at any time he could do them a favor to call on him, +and he would gladly do so. + +In a few days a man named John Nodgen came to Calias. Towns which had +failed to get a road looked upon him in the way a sick man would an +undertaker. He was a red-haired Irishman with teeth wide apart and +wildish blue eyes, who had the reputation of moving more towns than any +other one man. He brought horses and wagons, block and tackle, and +massive steel trucks. He swore like a stranded sailor, and declared they +would hold up any two buildings in Calias. + +The saloon was the first building deserted. The stock had not been +removed when the house movers arrived, and in some way they got the door +open and helped themselves to the "booze," and when full enough to be +good and noisy, began jacking up the building that had been the pride of +the hopeful Caliasites. In a few weeks a large part of what had been +Calias was in Megory and a small part in Kirk. + +It had stopped raining for a while, and several large buildings were +still on the move to Megory when the rain set in again. This was the +latter part of July and how it did rain, every day and night. One store +building one hundred feet long had been cut in two so as to facilitate +moving, and the rains caught it half way on the road to Megory. After +many days of sticking and floundering around in the mud, at a cost of +over fourteen hundred dollars for the moving alone, not counting the +goods spoiled, it arrived at its new home. The building in the beginning +had cost only twenty-three hundred dollars, out of which thirty cents +per hundred had been paid for local freighting from Oristown. The +merchant paid one thousand dollars for his lot in Megory, and received +ten dollars for the one he left in Calias. + +This was the reason why Rattlesnake Jack's father and I could not get +together when he came out and showed me Rattlesnake Jack's papers. It +was bad and I readily agreed with him. I also agreed to sign a quit +claim deed, thereby clearing the place, so she could complete her proof. +Everything went along all right, until it came to signing up. Then I +suggested that as I had broken eighty acres of prairie, the railroad was +in course of construction, and land had materially increased in +valuation--having sold as high as five thousand dollars a quarter +section--I should have a guarantee that he would sell the place back to +me when the matter had been cleared up. + +"I will see that you get the place back"--he pretended to reassure +me--"when she proves up again." + +"Then we will draw up an agreement to that effect and make it one +thousand dollars over what I paid", I suggested. + +[Illustration: Everybody for miles around had journeyed thither to +celebrate. (Page 108.)] + +"I will do nothing of the kind," he roared, brandishing his arms as +though he wanted to fight, "and if you will not sign a quit claim +without such an agreement, I will have Jack blow the whole thing, that +is what I will do, do you hear?" He fairly yelled, leaning forward and +pointing his finger at me in a threatening manner. + +"Then we will call it off for today," I replied with decision, and we +did. I confess however, I was rather frightened. In the beginning I had +not worried, as he held a first mortgage of one thousand, five hundred +dollars, I had felt safe and thought that they had to make good to me in +order to protect their own interests. But now as I thought the matter +over it began to look different. If he should have her relinquish, then +where would I be, and the one thousand, five hundred dollars I had paid +them? + +I was very much disturbed and called on Ernest Nicholson and informed +him how the matter stood. He listened carefully and when I was through +he said: + +"They gave you a warranty deed, did they not?" + +"Yes, I replied, it is over at the bank of Calias." + +"Then let it stay there. Tell him, or the old man rather, to have the +girl complete sufficient residence, then secure you for all the place is +worth at the time; then, and not before, sign a quit claim, and if they +want to sell you the place, well and good; if not, you will have enough +to buy another." And I followed his advice. + +It was fourteen months, however, before the Scotch-Irish blood in him +would submit to it. But there was nothing he could do, for the girl had +given me a deed to something she did not have title to herself, and had +accepted one thousand, five hundred dollars in cash from me in return. +As the matter stood, I was an innocent party. + +About this time I became imbued with a feeling that I would like "most +awfully well" to have a little help-mate to love and cheer me. How often +I longed for company to break the awful and monotonous lonesomeness that +occasionally enveloped me. At that time, as now, I thought a darling +little colored girl, to share all my trouble and grief, would be +interesting indeed. Often my thoughts had reverted to the little town in +Illinois, and I had pictured Jessie caring for the little sod house and +cheering me when I came from the fields. For a time, such blissful +thoughts sufficed the longing in my heart, but were soon banished when I +recalled her seeming preference for the three dollar a week menial, +another attack of the blues would follow, and my day dreams became as +mist before the sun. + +About this time I began what developed into a flirtatious correspondence +with a St. Louis octoroon. She was a trained nurse; very attractive, and +wrote such charming and interesting letters, that for a time they +afforded me quite as much entertainment, perhaps more, than actual +company would have done. In fact I became so enamored with her that I +nearly lost my emotional mind, and almost succumbed to her encouragement +toward a marriage proposal. The death of three of my best horses that +fall diverted my interest; she ceased the epistolary courtship, and I +continued to batch. + +Doc, my big horse, got stuck in the creek and was drowned. The loss of +Doc was hardest for me to bear, for he was a young horse, full of life, +and I had grown fond of him. Jenny mule would stand for hours every +night and whinny for him. + +In November, Bolivar, his mate--the horse I had paid one hundred and +forty dollars for not nine months before--got into the wheat, became +foundered, and died. + +While freighting from Oristown, in December, one of a team of dapple +grays fell and killed himself. So in three months I lost three horses +that had cost over four hundred dollars, and the last had not even been +paid for. I had only three left, the other dapple gray, Jenny mule, and +"Old Grayhead," the relic of my horse-trading days. I had put in a large +crop of wheat the spring before and had threshed only a small part of it +before the cold winter set in, and the snow made it quite impossible to +complete threshing before spring. + +That was one of the cold winters which usually follow a wet summer, and +I nearly froze in my little old soddy, before the warm spring days set +in. Sod houses are warm as long as the mice, rats, and gophers do not +bore them full of holes, but as they had made a good job tunneling mine, +I was left to welcome the breezy atmosphere, and I did not think the +charming nurse would be very happy in such a mess "nohow." The thought +that I was not mean enough to ask her to marry me and bring her into it, +was consoling indeed. + +Since I shall have much to relate farther along concerning the curious +and many sided relations that existed between Calias, Megory, and other +contending and jealous communities, let me drop this and return to the +removal of Calias to Megory. + +The Nicholson Brothers had already installed an office in the +successful town, and offered to move their interests to that place and +combine with Megory in making the town a metropolis. But the town dads, +feeling they were entirely responsible for the road striking the town, +with the flush of victory and the sensation of empire builders, +disdained the offer. + +In this Megory had made the most stupid mistake of her life, and which +later became almost monumental in its proportions. It will be seen how +in the flush of apparent victory she lost her head, and looked back to +stare and reflect at the retreating and temporary triumph of her youth; +and in that instant the banner of victory was snatched from her fingers +by those who offered to make her apparent victory real, and who ran +swiftly, skillfully, and successfully to a new and impregnable retreat +of their own. + +The Megory town dads were fairly bursting with rustic pride, and were +being wined and dined like kings, by the citizens of the town--who had +contributed the wherewith to pay for the seven miles of right-of-way. +Besides, the dads were puffed young roosters just beginning to crow, and +were boastful as well. So Nicholson Brothers got the horse laugh, which +implied that Megory did not need them. "We have made Megory and now +watch her grow. Haw! Haw! Haw! Watch her grow," came the cry, when the +report spread that the town dads had turned Nicholson's offer down. + +Megory was the big I am of the Little Crow. Then Ernest went away on +another long trip. It was cold weather, with the ground frozen, when he +returned. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +ERNEST NICHOLSON'S RETURN--THE BUILDING WEST OF TOWN--"WHAT'S IT ALL +ABOUT" + + +The big hotel from Calias had not long since been unloaded and decorated +a corner lot in Megory. All that remained in Calias were the buildings +belonging to Nicholson Brothers, consisting of an old two-story frame +hotel, a two-story bank, the saloon, drug store, their own office and a +few smaller ones. It was a hard life for the Caliasites and the +Megoryites were not inclined to soften it. On the other hand, she was +growing like a mushroom. Everything tended to make it the prairie +metropolis; land was booming, and buyers were plentiful. Capital was +also finding its way to the town, and nothing to disturb the visible +prosperity. + +But a shrewd person, at that very time, had control of machinery that +would cause a radical change in this community, and in a very short time +too. This man was Ernest Nicholson, and referring to his return, I was +at the depot in Oristown the day he arrived. There he boarded an auto +and went west to Megory. On his arrival there, he ordered John Nogden to +proceed to Calias, load the bank building, get all the horses +obtainable, and proceed at once to haul the building to--no, not to +Megory--this is what the Megoryites thought, when, with seventy-six head +of horses hitched to it, they saw the bank of Calias coming toward +Megory. But when it got to within half a mile of the south side, +swerved off to the west. About six that evening, when the sun went down, +the Bank of Calias was sitting on the side of a hill that sloped to the +north, near the end of the survey. + +Now what did it mean? That was the question that everybody began asking +everybody else. What was up? Why was Ernest Nicholson moving the bank of +Calias five miles west of Megory and setting it down on or near the end +of the survey? There were so many questions being asked with no one to +answer, that it amused me. Then someone suggested that it might be the +same old game, and here would come a pause, then the question, "What old +game?" "Why, another Calias?"--some bait to make money. Then, "Oh, I +see," said the wise town dads, just a hoax. That answered the question, +just a snare to catch the unwary. Tell them that the railroad would +build to the Tipp County line. Sell them some lots, for that is what the +"bluff" meant. Get their good money and then, Oh, Ha! Ha! Ha! it was too +funny when one saw the joke, and Megoryites continued to laugh. Had not +Nicholson Brothers said a whole lot about getting the railroad; and that +it was sure coming up the Monca. It had come, had it not. Haw! Haw! Haw! +Ho! Ho! Ho! just another Nicholson stall, Haw! Haw! Haw! and Nicholsons +got the laugh again. The railroad is in Megory, and here it will stop +for ten years. One hundred thousand people will come to Megory to +register for Tipp County lands, and "Watch Megory grow" was all that +could be heard. + +Ernest would come to Megory, have a pleasant chat, treat the boys, tell +a funny story, and be off. Nobody was mean enough or bold enough to tell +him to his face any of the things they told to his back. + +Ernest was never known to say anything about it. His scheme simply kept +John Nogden moving buildings. He wrote checks in payment, that the bank +of Calias cashed, for it was open for business the next day after it had +been moved out on the prairie, five miles west of Megory. + +The court record showed six quarter sections of land west of town had +recently been transferred; the name of the receiver was unknown to +anyone in Megory, but such prices, forty to fifty dollars per acre. The +people who had sold, brought the money to the Megory banks, and +deposited it. All they seemed to know was that someone drove up to their +house and asked if they wanted to sell. Some did not, while others said +they were only five miles from Megory, and if they sold they would have +to have a big price, because Megory was the "Town of the Little Crow" +and the gateway to acres of the finest land in the world, to be opened +soon. "What is your price?" he would ask, and whether it was forty, +forty-five or fifty per acre, he bought it. + +This must have gone on for sixty days with everybody wondering "what it +was all about", until it got on the nerves of the Megoryites; and even +the town dads began to get a little fearful. When Ernest was approached +he would wink wisely, hand out a cigar or buy a drink, but he never made +anybody the wiser. + +A lady came out from Des Moines, bought a lot, and let a contract for a +hotel building 24 x 140, and work was begun on it immediately. This was +getting ahead of Megory, where a hotel had just been completed 25 x 100 +feet, said by the Megoryites to be the "best" west of a town of six +thousand population, one hundred fifty miles down the road. Whenever +anything like a real building goes up in a little town on the prairie, +with their collection of shacks, it is always called "the best building" +between there and somewhere else. + +I shall not soon forget the anxiety with which the people watched the +building which continued to go up west of Megory, and still no one there +seemed willing to admit that Nicholson Brothers were "live," but spent +their argument in trying to convince someone that they were only wind +jammers and manipulators of knavish plots, to immesh the credulous. + +What actually happened was this, and Ernest told me about it afterwards +in about the following words: + +"Well, Oscar, after Megory turned our offer down, I knew there were just +two things to do, and that was, to either make good or leave the +country. Megory is full of a lot of fellows that have never known +anything but Keya Paha county, and when the road missed Calias, and +struck Megory, they took the credit for displaying a superior knowledge. +I knew we were going to be the big laughing stock of the reservation, +and since I did not intend to leave the country, I got to thinking. The +more I pondered the matter, the more determined I became that something +had to be done, and I finally made up my mind to do it." Ernest +Nicholson was not the kind of a man to make idle declarations. "I went +down to Omaha and saw some business friends of mine and suggested to +them just what I intended to do, thence to Des Moines and got father, +and again we went into Chicago and secured an appointment with Hewitt, +who listened attentively to all that we had to say, and the import of +this was that Megory, being over five miles east of the Tipp County +line, it was difficult to drive range cattle that distance through a +settled country. They are so unused to anything that resembles +civilization, that ranchers hate to drive even five miles through a +settled country, besides the annoyance it would habitually cause +contrary farmers, when it comes to accommodating the ranchers. But that +is not all. With sixty-six feet open between the wire fences, the range +cattle at any time are liable to start a stampede, go right through, and +a lot of damage follows. I showed him that most of the cattle men were +still driving their stock north and shipping over the C.P. & St. L. Now +knowing that the directors had ordered the extension of the line to get +the cattle business, Hewitt looked serious, finally arose from his +chair, and went over to a map that entirely covered the side of the wall +and showed all the lines of the C. & R.W. He meditated a few minutes and +then turned around and said: 'Go back and buy the land that has been +described.'" It all seemed simple enough when it was done. + +By the time that the extension had been completed to Megory, the +building that had been moved west of town had company in the way of many +new ones, and by this time comprised quite a burg, and claimed the name +of New Calias. The new was to distinguish between its old site and its +present one. After Megory turned them down, Ernest had made a +declaration or defiance that he would build a town on the Little Crow +and its name would be Calias. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +COMES STANLEY, THE CHIEF ENGINEER + + +Megory was still on the boom, not quite as much as the summer before, +but more than it was some time later, for as yet New Calias was still +regarded as a joke, until one day Stanley, the same wiry-looking +individual with the black mustache and the piercing eyes, got off the +stage at Megory and began to do the same work he had started west of +Oristown the year before. + +Oh, it was a shame to thus wreck the selfish dreams of these Megoryites +upon the rocks of their own shortsightedness. Stanley was followed a few +days later by a grade contractor, who had been to Megory the summer +before and who had became popular around town, and was known to be a +good spender. They had bidden him good-bye along in December, and +although nothing was said about it, the truth was, Megory did not wish +to see any more railroad contractors, for a while, not for five or ten +years anyway. + +It is a peculiar thing that when a railroad stops at some little western +burg, that it is always going to stay ten or twenty years. This has +always been the case before, according to the towns at the end of the +line, and at this time Megory was of the same opinion as regarded the +extension to New Calias. So Oristown had been in regard to the extension +to Megory. But Trelway built the road to New Calias, and built it the +quickest I ever saw a road built. The first train came to Megory on a +Sunday in June--(Schedules always commence on Sunday) and September +found the same train in Calias, the "New" having been dropped. + +Megoryites admitted very grudgingly, a short time before, that the train +would go on to Calias but would return to Megory to stay over night, +where it left at six o'clock the following morning. Now at Megory the +road had a "Y" that ran onto a pasture on a two years lease, while at +Calias coal chutes, a "Y", a turning table, a round house, and a large +freight depot were erected. + +And then began one of the most bitter fights between towns that I ever +saw or even read about. + +Five miles apart, with Calias perched on another hill, and like the old +site, could be seen from miles around. Now the terminus, it loomed +conspicuously. It was a foregone conclusion that when the reservation to +the west opened, Calias was in the right position to handle the crowds +that came to the territory to the west, instead of Megory. Megory +contended, however, that Calias, located on such a hill, could never +hope for an abundance of good water and therefore could not compete with +Megory, with her natural advantages, such as an abundance of good soft +water, which was obtainable anywhere in town. + +There are certain things concrete in the future growth of a prairie +town; the first is, has it a railroad; the next is, is the agricultural +territory sufficient to support a good live town (a fair sized town in +either one of the Dakotas has from one thousand to three thousand +inhabitants); and last, are the business men of the town modern, +progressive, and up to date. In this respect Calias had the advantage +over Megory, as will be seen later. + +Megory became my postoffice address after Calias had moved to its new +location, and about that time the first rural mail route was established +on the reservation. Megory boasted of this. The other things it boasted +of, was its great farming territory. For miles in every direction +tributary to the town, the land was ideal for farming purposes, and at +the beginning of the bitter rivalry between the two towns, Megory had +the big end of the farm trade. They could see nothing else but Megory, +which helped the town's business considerably. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +IN THE VALLEY OF THE KEYA PAHA. THE RIVALS. THE VIGILANTS + + +Nothing is more essential to the upbuilding of the small western town, +than a good agricultural territory, and this was where Calias found its +first handicap. When it had moved to its new location, scores of +investors had flocked to the town, paying the highest prices that had +ever been paid for lots in a new country town, of its kind, in the +central west. + +Twenty-five miles south of the two towns, where a sand stream known as +the Keya Paha wends its way, is a fertile valley. It had been settled +thirty years before by eastern people, who hauled their hogs and drove +their cattle and sheep fifty miles in a southerly direction, to a +railroad. Although the valley could not be surpassed in the production +of corn, wheat, oats, and alfalfa, the highlands on either side are +great mountains of sand, which produce nothing but a long reddish grass, +that stock will not eat after it reaches maturity, and which stands in +bunches, with the sand blown from around its roots, to such an extent +that riding or driving over it is very difficult. + +These hills rise to heights until they resemble the Sierras, and near +the top, on the northwest slope of each, are cave-like holes where the +strong winds have blown a squeegee. + +The wagon road to the railway on the south was sandy and made traveling +over it slow and hazardous by the many pits and dunes. Therefore, it is +to be seen, when the C. & R.W. pushed its line through Megory County, +everything that had been going to the road on the south began +immediately to come to the road on the north--where good hard roads made +the traveling much easier, and furthermore, it was only half the +distance. + +Keya Paha County was about as lonely a place as I had ever seen. After +the sun went down, the coyotes from the adjacent sand hills, in a series +of mournful howls, filled the air with a noise which echoed and +re-echoed throughout the valley, like the music of so many far-away +steam calliopes and filled me with a cold, creepy feeling. For thirty +years these people had heard no other sound save the same monotonous +howls and saw only each other. The men went to Omaha occasionally with +cattle, but the women and children knew little else but Keya Paha +County. + +During a trip into this valley the first winter I spent on the +homestead, in quest of seed wheat, I met and talked with families who +had children, in some instances twenty years of age, who had never seen +a colored man. Sometimes the little tads would run from me, screaming as +though they had met a lion or some other wild beast of the forest. At +one place where I stopped over night, a little girl about nine years of +age, looked at me with so much curiosity that I became amused, finally +coaxing her onto my knee. She continued to look hard at me, then meekly +reached up and touched my chin, looked into my eyes, and said: "Why +don't you wash your face?" When supper was ready went to the sink and +washed my face and hands; she watched me closely in the meanwhile, and +when I was through, appeared to be vexed and with an expression as if to +say: "He has cleaned it thoroughly, but it is dirty still." + +About twenty years previous to this time, or about ten years after +settlement in this valley, the pioneers were continually robbed of much +of their young stock. Thieving outlaws kept up a continuous raid on the +young cattle and colts, driving them onto the reservation, where they +disappeared. This continued for years, and it was said many of the +county officials encouraged it, in a way, by delaying a trial, and +inasmuch as the law and its procedure was very inadequate, on account of +the county's remote location, the criminals were rarely punished. + +After submitting to such until all reasonable patience had been +exhausted, the settlers formed "a vigilant committee," and meted out +punishment to the evil doers, who had become over-bold and were well +known. After hanging a few, as well as whipping many, the vigilanters +ridded the county of rustlers, and lived in peace thereafter. + +At the time the railroad was built to Megory there was little activity +other than the common routine attending their existence. But with Megory +twenty-five miles to the north, and many of her former active and +prosperous citizens living there; and while board walks and "shack" +buildings still represented the Main Street, Megory was considered by +the people of the valley very much of a city, and a great place to pay a +visit. Many had never seen or ridden on a railroad train, so Megory +sounded in Keya Paha County as Chicago does to the down state people +of Illinois. + +[Illustration: Made a declaration that he would build a town. (page +122.)] + +The people of Keya Paha County had grown prosperous, however, and the +stock shipments comprised many train loads, during an active market. +Practically all this was coming to Megory when Calias began to loom +prominent as a model little city. + +I could see two distinct classes, or personages, in the leaders of the +two towns. Beginning with Ernest Nicholson, the head of the firm of +Nicholson Brothers and called by Megoryites "chief," "high mogul," the +"big it" and "I am," in absolute control of Calias affairs; and the +former Keya Paha County sand rats--as they are sometimes called--running +Megory. The two contesting parties presented a contrast which interested +me. + +The Nicholson Brothers were all college-bred boys, with a higher +conception of things in general; were modern, free and up-to-date. While +Megory's leaders were as modern as could be expected, but were simply +outclassed in the style and perfection that the Calias bunch presented. +Besides, the merchants and business men--in the "stock yards west of +Megory," as Calias was cartooned by a Megory editor, were much of the +same ilk. And referring to the cartoon, it pictured the editor of the +Calias News as a braying jackass in a stock pen, which brought a great +laugh from Megoryites, but who got it back, however, the next week by +being pictured as a stagnant pond, with two Megory editors as a couple +of big bull-frogs. This had the effect of causing the town to begin +grading the streets, putting in cement walks and gutters, for Megory +had located in the beginning in an extremely bad place. The town was +located in a low place, full of alkali spots, buffalo wallows underlaid +with hardpan, which caused the surface to hold water to such an extent, +that, when rain continued to fall any length of time, the cellars and +streets stood in water. + +But Megory had the start, with the largest and best territory, which had +by this time been developed into improved farms; the real farmer was +fast replacing the homesteader. It had the biggest and best banks. +Regardless of all the efficiency of Calias, it appeared weak in its +banking. Now a farmer could go to Nicholson Brothers, and get the +largest farm loan because the boys' father was president of an insurance +company that made the loan, but the banks there were short in the supply +of time loans on stock security, but Calias' greatest disadvantage was, +that directly west in Tipp County the Indians had taken their allotments +within seven or eight miles of the town, and there was hardly a quarter +section to be homesteaded. + +Now there was no doubt but that in the course of time the Indian +allotments would be bought, whenever the government felt disposed to +grant the Indian a patent; which under the laws is not supposed to be +issued until the expiration of twenty-five years. People, however, would +probably lease the land, break it up and farm it; but that would not +occur until some future date, and Calias needed it at the present time. + +A western town, in most instances, gets its boom in the beginning, for +later a dry rot seems an inevitable condition, and is likely to +overtake it after the first excitement wears away. Resurrection is rare. +These were the conditions that faced the town on the Little Crow, at the +beginning of the third year of settlement. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE OUTLAW'S LAST STAND + + +After the vigilants had frightened the outlaws into abandoning their +operations in the valley, the thieves skulked across the reservation to +a strip of country some twenty-five miles northeast of where Megory now +stands. Here, on the east, the murky waters of the Missouri seek their +level; to the north the White River runs like a cow-path through the +foot hills--twisting and turning into innumerable bends, with its +lime-like waters lapping the sides, bringing tons of shale from the +gorgeous, dark banks, into its current; while on the south runs the +Whetstone, inclosed by many rough, ragged brown hills, and to the west +are the breaks of Landing Creek. In an angle between these creeks and +rivers, lies a perfect table land known as Yully Flats, which is the +most perfectly laying land and has the richest soil of any spot on the +Little Crow. It took its name from a famous outlaw and squaw-man, by the +name of Jack Yully. With him the thieves from the Keya Paha Valley found +co-operation, and together had, a few years previously operated as the +most notorious band of cattle rustlers the state had known. For a +hundred miles in every direction this band plundered, stole, and ran the +cattle and horses onto the flats, where they were protected by the +breaks of the creeks and rivers, referred to. Mixed with half, quarter, +eighth and sixteenth breeds, they knew every nook and crook of the +country. These operations had lasted until the year of the Little Crow +opening, and it was there that Jack Yully made his last stand. + +[Illustration: Although the valley could not be surpassed in the +production of grain and alfalfa, the highlands on either side were great +mountains of sand. (Page 126.)] + +He had for many years defied the laws of the county and state, and had +built a magnificent residence near a spring that pours its sparkling +waters into a small lake, where now stands a sanitarium. Yully had been +chief overseer, dictator, and arbitrator of the combined forces of +Little Crow and Keya Paha County outlaws and mixed bloods. The end came +when, on a bright day in June, a posse led by the United States Marshal +sneaked across the Whetstone and secreted themselves in a cache between +Yully's corral and the house. Yully was seen to enter the corral and +having laid a trap, a part of the men, came in from another direction +and made as if to advance when Yully made a run for his house, which +took him alongside the men hidden. Before he could change his course he +was halted and asked to surrender. He answered by dropping to the +opposite side of the horse and began firing. In the skirmish that +followed the horse was shot and fell on Yully, but in the shot's +exchange two of the posse and Yully were killed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE BOOM + + +This valuable tract of land comprising about fifty thousand acres had +been entered after the opening, by settlers, and lay about as near to +Kirk as it did to Megory, hence its trade was sought by both towns, but +with Kirk getting the larger part until Megory established a mill, which +paid two cents more for wheat, and the farmers took advantage by hauling +most of their produce to the former town. This included another strip of +rich territory to the north of Megory and west of Landing Creek, where +the soil is a rich gumbo, and the township thickly settled so it is +readily seen that Megory was advantageously situated to draw from all +directions. This soon brought such a volume of business into the town as +to make the most fastidious envy it, and the Megoryites were well aware +of their enviable position. The town continued to grow in a sound, +substantial way. + +Nicholson Brothers began leading booster trade excursions to the north, +south, and east, with Ernest at the head in a big "Packard" making +clever speeches and inviting all the farmers to come to Calias, where a +meal at the best hotel was given free. A good, live, and effective +commercial club was organized, which guaranteed to pay all a hog, cow, +or calf would bring on the Omaha market, minus the freight and expenses. + +Ernest would explain with deep sincerity which impressed the farmers of +the valley, as well as the settlers on the Little Crow, that Calias +wanted a share of their business, and was willing to sacrifice profit +for two years in order to have the farmers come to the town and get +acquainted, to see what the merchants, bankers and real estate dealers +had to offer. In making this offer the people of Calias had the +advantage over Megory, in that it derived profits from other sources, +chiefly from great numbers of transients who were beginning to fill the +hotels, restaurants, saloons, and boarding houses of the town. Being the +end of the road and the place where practically every settler coming to +Tipp County must stay at least one night, it stood to reason they could +make such an inducement and stick to it. + +However, this was countered immediately by Megoryites who promptly +organized a commercial club and began the same kind of bid for trade. +Thus the small ranchmen of the valley found themselves an object of much +importance and began to awaken a little. + +Now the land of the reservation had taken on a boom such as had never +been realized, or dreamed of. Land in the states of Iowa, Minnesota, +Illinois, and Nebraska had doubled in valuation in the previous ten +years, and was still on the increase in value. Crops had been good and +money was plentiful; with a number of years of unbroken prosperity, the +farmers had paid off mortgages and had a good surplus in the bank. Their +sons and daughters were looking for newer fields. Retired farmers with +their land to rent now, instead of the customary one-third delivered, +demanded and received from two-fifths to one-half, or cash, from three +to five and six dollars per acre. And with the prices in these states +ranging from ninety to one hundred and fifty dollars per acre, which +meant from fifteen to twenty-five thousand dollars to buy a quarter +section, which the renters felt was too high to ever be paid for by +farming it. Therefore, western lands held an attraction, where with a +few thousand dollars, some stock, and machinery a man could establish a +good home. As this land in southern South Dakota is in the Corn Belt, +the erstwhile investor and home-seeker found a haven. + +There is always more or less gossip as regards insufficient moisture in +a new country. The only thing to kill this bogy is to have plenty of +rain, and plenty of rain had fallen on the Little Crow, too much at +times. Large crops of everything had been harvested, but if the first +three years had been wet, this fourth was one of almost continual +rainfall. + +In the eastern states the corn crop had been badly drowned out on the +low lands, and rust had cut the yield of small grain considerably, while +on the rolling land of the Little Crow the season was just right and +everything grew so rank, thick and green that it gave the country, a raw +prairie until less than four years before, the appearance of an old +settled country. It looked good to the buyers and they bought. Farms +were sold as soon as they were listed. The price at the beginning of the +year had been from twenty-five to forty dollars per acre, some places +more, but after the first six months of the year it began to climb to +forty-five and then to fifty dollars per acre. Those who owned Little +Crow farms became objects of much importance. If they desired to sell +they had only to let it be known, and a buyer was soon on hand. + +The atmosphere seemed charged with drunken enthusiasm. Everybody had it. +There was nothing to fear. Little Crow land was the best property to be +had, better, they would declare, than government bonds, for its value +was increasing in leaps and bounds. Choice farms close to town, if +bought at fifty dollars per acre, could be sold at a good profit in a +short time. + +This was done, and good old eastern capital continued to be paid for the +land. + +The spirit of unrest that seem to pervade the atmosphere of the +community was not altogether the desire to have and to hold, but more, +to buy and to sell. Homesteads were sold in Megory county and the +proceeds were immediately reinvested in Tipp, where considerable dead +Indian land could be purchased at half the price. + +At about that time the auto fever began to infect the restless and +over-prosperous settlers, and business men alike. That was the day of +the many two-cylinder cars. They made a dreadful noise but they moved +and moved faster than horses. They sailed over the country, the exhaust +of the engine making a cracking noise. The motion, added to the speed, +seemed to thrill and enthuse the investor until he bought whether he +cared to or not. + +In previous years, when capital was not so plentiful, and when land was +much cheaper and slower to sell, the agent drove the buyer over the land +from corner to corner, cross-wise and angling, and the buyer would get +out here and there and with a spade dig into the ground, and be +convinced as to the quality of the soil. He then pondered the matter +over for days, weeks, and sometimes months. Then maybe he would go back +and bring "the woman." The land dealers seriously object to buyers +bringing "the woman" along, especially if the farm he has to sell has +any serious drawbacks, such, for instance, as a lack of water. There +were numerous farms on the high lands of the Little Crow where water +could not be found, but they were invariably perfect in every other +respect. The perfection in the laying of the land and quality of the +soil was severely offset by the inability to get water. While on the +rougher and less desirable farms water can be easily obtained in the +draws and the hills. But the high lands were the more attractive and +were sold at higher prices and much quicker, regardless of the obvious +defects. + +Now if "the woman" was brought to look it over one of the first inquires +she made would be, "Now is there plenty of water?" furthermore she was +liable to steal a march on the dealer by having her husband hire a +livery team, and with the eastern farmer and his wife drive out to the +place and look the farm over without the agent to steer them clear of +the bad places. They not only looked it over, but make inquiries of the +neighbors as to its merits. Now country people have the unpardonable +habit of gossip, and have complicated many deals of the real-estate men +by this weakness, even caused many to fall through, until, the land +sharks are usually careful to prevent a buyer from having a conversation +with "Si." + +In my case, however, this was quite different. I was known as "a +booster", and since my land was located between the Monca and +Megory--this was considered the cream of the county as to location soil, +and other advantages--instead of being nervous over meeting me, the +dealers would drive into the yard or into the fields, and as I liked to +talk, introduce the prospective buyers to me and we would engage in a +long conversation at times. I might add that exaggerated tales were +current, which related how I had run as P----n porter, saved my money, +come to the Little Crow, bought a half section, and was getting rich. +The most of the buyers from Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska were +unused to seeing colored farmers, and my presence all alone on the +former reserve added to their interest. In my favor was the fact that my +service in the employ of the P----n Company had taken me through nearly +every county in the central states and therefore, always given to +observation, I could talk with them concerning the counties they had +come from. + +Land prices continued to soar. Higher and higher they went and to boost +them still higher, as well as to substantiate the values, the bogy +concerning insufficient moisture was drowned in the excessive rainfall. +From April until August it poured, and the effect on the growing crops +in the east became greater still in the way of drowned out corn-fields +and over-rank stems of small grain that grew to abnormal heights and +with the least winds lodged and then fell to the ground. The crops on +the reservation could not have been better and prices were high. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION + + +Coincident with the expectation came the president's proclamation +throwing four thousand claims in Tipp county open to settlement under +the lottery system at six dollars per acre. Among the towns designated +in the proclamation where the people could make application for a claim, +Megory and Calias were nearest to the land. These were the places where +the largest crowds were expected. Therefore, the citizens of these two +vigorous municipalities began extensive preparations to "entertain the +crowds." Megory, being more on the country order, made more homelike +preparations. Among the many "conveniences" prepared were a ladies' rest +room and information bureau, which were located in a large barn +previously used for storing hay. + +Calias, under the criticism that as soon as the road extended farther +west it would be as dead as Oristown--now all but forgotten--prepared to +"get theirs" while the crowds were in town. And they did, but that is +ahead of the story. + +The time for the opening approached. People seemingly from every part of +the universe, and from every vocation in life, drifted into the towns. +Among these were included the investors, who stated that in the event of +a failure to draw they would buy deeded land. Next in order were the +gamblers, from the "tin horn" and "piker" class to the "fat" +professionals. Although every precaution was taken to keep out the +characters of the city's underworld, who had characterized former +openings, both towns were fully represented with a large share of +pickpockets, con-men, lewd women and their consorts. + +[Illustration: On the east the murky waters of the Missouri seek their +level. (page 132.)] + +The many vacant lots on Main street of both the towns were decorated +with the typical scene at land openings. There were little tents with +notaries assisted by many beautiful girls to "prepare your application." +There were many hotels with three and four beds to a room, as well as +"rooms to let" over all the places of business containing two stories or +more. There were tents with five hundred cots, and "lest we forget", +there were the numerous "drinking fountains," with bars the length of +the building, behind which were scores of bartenders to serve the "how +dry I am", on one side. On the other, in tents, back rooms and overhead +could be heard the b-r-r-r-r of the little ivory marble as it spun a +circuit over the roulette wheel, and the luck cages, where the idle +sports turned them over for their own amusement, to pass away the time. +The faro-bank and numerous wheels of fortune also had a place. From the +rear came the strains of ragtime music. These were some of the many +attractions that met the trains carrying the first arrivals on the night +of October fifth. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +WHERE THE NEGRO FAILS + + +Long before I came west and during the years I had spent on the +homestead, my closest companion was the magazines. From the time Thomas +W. Lawson's "Frenzied Finance" had run as a serial article in a leading +periodical, to Ida M. Tarbell's "The History of the Standard Oil +Company," I fairly devoured special articles on subjects of timely +interest. I enjoyed reading anything that would give me a more complete +knowledge of what made up this great country in which we live and which +all Americans are given to boasting of as the "greatest country in the +world." + +And this brings to my mind certain conditions which exist concerning the +ten odd millions of the black race in America; and more, this, in itself +had a tendency to open wider the gap between a certain class of the race +and myself. + +There are two very distinct types or classes, among the American +negroes. I am inclined to feel that this is more prominent than most +people are aware. I have met and known those who are quick to think, +practical, conservative as well as progressive, while there are those +who are narrow in their sympathies and short-sighted in their views. Now +as a matter of argument, my experience has taught me there are more of +this class than most colored people have any idea. + +The worst feature of this situation, however, is that a large number of +the latter class have commingled with the former in such a way as to +easily assume all the worthy proportions. They are a sort of dog in the +manger, and are not in accord with any principle that is practical and +essential to the elimination of friction and strife between the races. + +Among the many faults of this class is, that they do not realize what it +takes to succeed, nor do they care, but spend their efforts loudly +claiming credit for the success of those who are honest in their +convictions and try to prove themselves indispensable citizens. Nothing +is more obvious and proves this more conclusively than to take notice, +as I have, of their own selection of reading matter. + +Now, for instance, a few years ago a series of articles under the title +of "Following the Color Line" appeared in a certain periodical, the work +of a very well known writer whose specialty is writing on social +conditions, strikes, etc. + +In justice to all concerned, the writer described the conditions which +his articles covered, just as he found them and in this, in my opinion, +he differed largely from many of the southern authors whose articles are +still inclined to treat the Ethiopians as a whole, as the old "time +worn" aunt and uncle. Not intending to digress, I want to put down here, +that negroes as a whole are changing to some extent, the same as the +whites and no liberty-loving colored man appreciates being regarded as +"aunt," or "uncle" even though some of these people were as honorable as +could be. This is a modern age. + +Now getting back to the discussion that I seem to have for the moment +forgotten and as regards the article, while worthy in every respect, it +was no different in its way from any number of other articles published +at that time, as well as now, that deal on great and complex questions +of the day. Yet, this article caused thousands of colored people, who +never before bought a magazine or book, to subscribe for that magazine. +It was later published in book form and is conspicuous in the libraries +of many thousands of colored families. + +What I have intended to put down in this lengthy discourse regarding my +race is, if they see or hear of an article concerning the race, they +will buy that magazine, to read the article spoken of and nothing more. + +Since living in the state, as a recreation I was in the habit of taking +trips to Chicago once or twice a year, and as might be expected I would +talk of South Dakota. In the course of a conversation I have related a +story of some one's success there and would be listened to with unusual +attention. As I had found in them many who were poor listeners, at these +times when I found myself the object of so much undivided attention I +would warm up to the subject until it had evolved into a sort of +lecture, and remarks of, "my," "you don't say so," and "just think of +it" would interrupt me--"and a colored man." No, I would correct, the +least bit hesitant, a white man. Then, just like the sun disappearing +behind a cloud, all interest would vanish, furthermore, I have on +occasions of this kind had attention of a few minutes before turned to +remarks of criticism for taking up the time relating the success of a +white man. The idea is prevalent among this class that all white +people should be rich, and regardless of how ideal the success has been, +I learned that no white person could be accepted as an example for this +class to follow. + +[Illustration: The real farmer was fast replacing the homesteader. (Page +130.)] + +By reading nothing but discussions concerning the race, by all but +refusing to accept the success of the white race as an example and by +welcoming any racial disturbance as a conclusion that the entire white +race is bent in one great effort to hold him--the negro, down, he can +not very well feel the thrill of modern progress and is ignorant as to +public opinion. Therefore he is unable to cope with the trend of +conditions and has become so condensed in the idea that he has no +opportunity, that he is disinteresting to the public. One of the +greatest tasks of my life has been to convince a certain class of my +racial acquaintances that a colored man can be anything. + +Now on the entire Little Crow reservation, less than eight hundred miles +from Chicago, I was the only colored man engaged in agriculture, and +moreover, from Megory to Omaha, a distance of three hundred miles. There +was only one other negro family engaged in the same industry. + +Having lived in the cities, I therefore, was not a greenhorn, as some of +them would try to have me feel, when they referred to their clubs and +social affairs. + +Among the many facts that confronted me as I meditated the situation, +one dated back to the time I had run on the road. The trains I ran on +carried thousands monthly into the interior of the northwest. Among +these were a great number of emigrants fresh from the old countries, but +there was seldom a colored person among them, and those few that I had +seen, with few exceptions, went on through to the Pacific coast cities +and engaged in the same occupation they had followed in the east. + +During these trips I learned the greatest of all the failings were not +only among the ignorant class, but among the educated as well. Although +more agreeable to talk to, they lacked that great and mighty principle +which characterizes Americans, called "the initiative." Colored people +are possible in every way that is akin to becoming good citizens, which +has been thoroughly proven and is an existing fact. Yet they seem to +lack the "guts" to get into the northwest and "do things." In seven or +eight of the great agricultural states there were not enough colored +farmers to fill a township of thirty-six sections. + +Another predominating inconsistency is that there is that "love of +luxury." They want street cars, cement walks, and electric lights to +greet them when they arrive. I well remember it was something near two +years before I saw a colored man on the reservation, until the road had +been extended. They had never come west of Oristown, but as the time for +the opening arrived, the kitchens and hotel dining-rooms of Megory and +Calias were filled with waiters and cooks. + +During the preparation for the opening the commercial club of Megory had +lengthy circulars printed, with photographs of the surrounding country, +farms, homes, and the like, to accompany. These circulars described +briefly the progress the country had made in the four years it had been +opened to settlement, and the opportunities waiting. By giving the name +and address the club would send these to any address or person, with the +statement, "by the request" of whoever gave the name. + +I gave the name of not less than one hundred persons, and sent them +personally to many as well. I wrote articles and sent them to different +newspapers edited by colored people, in the east and other places. I was +successful in getting one colored person to come and register--my oldest +brother. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +"AND THE CROWDS DID COME." THE PRAIRIE FIRE + + +The registration opened at twelve o'clock Monday morning. Seven trains +during the night before had brought something like seven thousand +people. Of this number about two thousand got off at Megory, and the +remainder went on through to Calias. The big opening was on, and the bid +for patronage made the relations between the towns more bitter than +ever. + +After the first few days, however, the crowds, with the exception of a +few hundred, daily went on through to Calias and did not heed the cat +calls and uncomplimentary remarks from the railway platform at Megory. +Among these remarks flung at the crowded trains were: "Go on to Calias +and buy a drink of water", "Go on to Calias and pay a dime for the water +to wash your face"--water was one of Calias's scarcities, as will be +seen later. However, this failed to detract the crowd. + +The C. & R.W. put on fifteen regular trains daily, and the little single +track, unballasted and squirmy, was very unsafe to ride over and the +crowded trains had to run very slowly on this account. Because of the +fact that it was difficult to find adequate side tracking, it took two +full days to make the trip from Omaha to Calias and return. + +All the day and night the "toot, toot" of the locomotives could be heard +and the sound seemed to make the country seem very old indeed. Megory's +brass band--organized for the purpose--undaunted, continued to play +frantically at the depot to try to induce the crowded trains to unload a +greater share, but to no avail, although the cars were stuffed like +sandwiches. + +Those times in Calias were long to be remembered. As the trains +disgorged the thousands daily it seemed impossible that the little city +could care for such crowds. The sidewalks were crowded from morn till +night. The registration booths and the saloons never closed and more +automobiles than I had ever seen in a country town up to that time, +roared, and with their clattering noise, took the people hurriedly +across the reservation to the west. + +Along toward the close of the opening a prairie fire driven by a strong +west wind raced across Tipp county in a straight line for Calias. +Although fire guards sixty feet wide had been burned along the west side +of the town, it soon became apparent that the fire would leap them and +enter the town, unless some unusual effort on the part of the citizens +was made to stop it. + +It was late in the afternoon and as seems always the case, a fire will +cause the wind to rise, and it rose until the blaze shut out the western +horizon. It seemed the entire world to the west was afire. + +Ten thousand people, lost in sight-seeing, gambling and revelry, all of +a sudden became aware of the approaching danger, and began a rush for +safety. To the north, south, and east of the town the lands were under +cultivation, therefore, a safe place from the fire that now threatened +the town. All business was suspended, registration ceased, and the huge +cans containing more than one hundred thousand applications for lands, +were loaded on drays and taken into the country and deposited in the +center of a large plowed field, for safety. The gamblers put their gains +into sacks and joined the surging masses, and with grips got from the +numerous check rooms, all the people fled like stampeding cattle to a +position to the north of town which was protected by a corn field on the +west. + +Ernest Nicholson, leading the business men and property owners, bravely +fought the oncoming disaster. The chemical engine and water hose were +rushed forward but were as pins under the drivers of a locomotive. The +water from the hose ran weakly for a few minutes and then with a blowing +as of an empty faucet, petered out from lack of water. The strong wind +blew the chemical into the air and it proved as useless. The fire +entered the city. One house, a magnificent residence, was soon enveloped +in flames, which spread to another, and still to another. + +The thousands of people huddled on a bare spot, but safe, watched the +minature city of one year and the gate-way to the homesteads of the next +county, disappear in flames. + +Megoryites, seeing the danger threatening her hated rival five miles +away, called for volunteers who readily responded and formed bucket +brigades, loaded barrels into wagons, filled them with water and burned +the roads in the hurry-up call to the apparently doomed city. + +I could see the fire from where I was harvesting flax ten miles away, +and the cloud of smoke, with the little city lying silent before, it +reminded me of a picture of Pompeii before Vesuvius. It looked as if +Calias were lost. Then, like a miracle, the wind quieted down, changed, +and in less than twenty minutes was blowing a gale from the east, +starting the fire back over the ground over which it had burned. There +it sputtered, flickered, and with a few sparks went out, just as L.A. +Bell pulled onto the scene with lathered and bloody eyed mules drawing a +tank of Megory's water, and was told by the Nicholson Brothers--who were +said to resemble Mississippi steamboat roustabouts on a hot day--that +Calias didn't need their water. + +Following the day of the high wind which brought the prairie fire that +so badly frightened the people of the town, the change of the wind to +the east brought rain, and about two hundred automobiles that had been +carrying people over Tipp county into the town. I remember the crowds +but have no idea now many people there were, but that it looked more +like the crowds on Broadway or State street on a busy day than Main +Street in a burg of the prairie. This was the afternoon of the drawing +and a woman drew number one, while here and there in the crowd that +filled the street before the registration, exclamations of surprise and +delight went up from different fortunates hearing their names called, +drawing a lucky number. I felt rather bewildered by so much excitement +and metropolitanism where hardly two years before I had hauled one of +the first loads of lumber on the ground to start the town. I could not +help but feel that the world moved swiftly, and that I was living, not +in a wilderness--as stated in some of the letters I had received from +colored friends in reply to my letter that informed them of the +opening--but in the midst of advancement and action. + +When the drawing was over and the crowds had gone, it was found that the +greatest crowds had registered--not at Calias--but at a town just south, +in Nebraska, which received forty-five thousand while Calias came second +with forty-three thousand and Megory only received seven thousand, +something like one hundred fifteen thousand in all having applied. + +The hotels in Calias had charged one dollar the person and some of the +large ones had made small fortunes, while the saloons were said to have +averaged over one thousand dollars a day. + +After the opening, land sold like hot hamburger sandwiches had a few +weeks before. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE SCOTCH GIRL + + +It had been just four years since I bought the relinquishment and seven +since leaving southern Illinois. I had been very successful in farming +although I had made some very poor deals in the beginning, and when my +crops were sold that season I found I had made three thousand, five +hundred dollars. Futhermore, I had in the beginning sought to secure the +best land in the best location and had succeeded. I had put two hundred +eighty acres under cultivation, with eight head of horses--I had done a +little better in my later horse deals--and had machinery, seed and feed +sufficient to farm it. My efforts in the seven years had resulted in the +ownership of land and stock to the value of twenty thousand dollars and +was only two thousand dollars in debt and still under twenty-five years +of age. + +During the years I had spent on the Little Crow I had "kept batch" all +the while until that summer. A Scotch family had moved from Indiana that +spring consisting of the father, a widower, two sons and two daughters. +One of the boys worked for me and as it was much handier, I boarded with +them. + +The older of the two girls was a beautiful blonde maiden of twenty +summers, who attended to the household duties, and considering the small +opportunities she had to secure an education, was an unusually +intelligent girl. She had composed some verses and songs but not knowing +where to send them, had never submitted them to a publisher. I secured +the name of a company that accepted some of her writings and paid her +fifty dollars for them. She was so anxious to improve her mind that I +took an interest in her and as I received much literature in the way of +newspapers and magazines and read lots of copy-right books, I gave them +to her. She seemed delighted and appreciated the gifts. + +Before long, however, and without any intention of being other than +kind, I found myself being drawn to her in a way that threatened to +become serious. While custom frowns on even the discussion of the +amalgamation of races, it is only human to be kind, and it was only my +intention to encourage the desire to improve, which I could see in her, +but I found myself on the verge of falling in love with her. To make +matters more awkward, that love was being returned by the object of my +kindness. She, however, like myself, had no thought of being other than +kind and grateful. It placed me as well as her in an awkward +position--for before we realized it, we had learned to understand each +other to such an extent, that it became visible in every look and +action. + +It reached a stage of embarrassment one day when we were reading a +volume of Shakespeare. She was sitting at the table and I was standing +over her. The volume was "Othello" and when we came to the climax where +Othello has murdered his wife, driven to it by the evil machinations of +Iago, as if by instinct she looked up and caught my eyes and when I came +to myself I had kissed her twice on the lips she held up. + +After that, being near her caused me to feel awkwardly uncomfortable. We +could not even look into each other's eyes, without showing the feeling +that existed in the heart. + +Now during the time I had lived among the white people, I had kept my +place as regards custom, and had been treated with every courtesy and +respect; had been referred to in the local papers in the most +complimentary terms, and was regarded as one of the Little Crow's best +citizens. + +But when the reality of the situation dawned upon me, I became in a way +frightened, for I did not by any means want to fall in love with a white +girl. I had always disapproved of intermarriage, considering it as being +above all things, the very thing that a colored man could not even think +of. That we would become desperately in love, however, seemed +inevitable. + + * * * * * + +Lived a man--the history of the American Negro shows--who had been the +foremost member of his race. He had acquitted himself of many honorable +deeds for more than a score of years, in the interest of his race. He +had filled a federal office but at the zenith of his career had brought +disappointment to his race and criticism from the white people who had +honored him, by marrying a white woman, a stenographer in his office. + +They were no doubt in love with each other, which in all likelihood +overcame the fear of social ostracism, they must have known would follow +the marriage. I speak of love and presume that she loved him for in my +opinion a white woman, intelligent and respectable and knowing what it +means, who would marry a colored man, must love him and love him dearly. +To make that love stronger is the feeling that haunts the mind; the +knowledge that custom, tradition, and the dignity of both races are +against it. Like anything forbidden, however, it arouses the spirit of +opposition, causing the mind to battle with what is felt to be +oppression. The sole claim is the right to love. + +These thoughts fell upon me like a clap of thunder and frightened me the +more. It was then too, that I realized how pleasant the summer just +passed had been, and that I had not been in the least lonesome, but +perfectly contented, aye, happy. And that was the reason. + +During the summer when I had read a good story or had on mind to discuss +my hopes, she had listened attentively and I had found companionship. If +I was melancholy, I had been cheered in the same demure manner. Yet, on +the whole, I had been unaware of the affection growing silently; drawing +two lonesome hearts together. With the reality of it upon us, we were +unable to extricate ourselves from our own weak predicament. We tried +avoiding each other; tried everything to crush the weakness. God has +thus endowed. We found it hard. + +I have felt, if a person could only order his mind as he does his limbs +and have it respond or submit to the will, how much easier life would +be. For it is that relentless thinking all the time until one's mind +becomes a slave to its own imaginations, that brings eternal misery, +where happiness might be had. + +To love is life--love lives to seek reply--but I would contend with +myself as to whether or not it was right to fall in love with this poor +little white girl. I contended with myself that there were good girls in +my race and coincident with this I quit boarding with them and went to +batching again, to try to successfully combat my emotions. I continued +to send her papers and books to read--I could hardly restrain the +inclinations to be kind. Then one day I went to the house to settle with +her father for the boy's work and found her alone. I could see she had +been crying, and her very expression was one of unhappiness. Well, what +is a fellow going to do. What I did was to take her into my arms and in +spite of all the custom, loyalty, or the dignity of either Ethiopian or +the Caucasian race, loved her like a lover. + + * * * * * + +It was during a street carnival at Megory sometime before the Tipp +county opening, when one afternoon in company with three or four white +men, I saw a nice looking colored man coming along the street. It was +very seldom any colored people came to those parts and when they did, it +was with a show troupe or a concert of some kind. Whenever any colored +people were in town, I had usually made myself acquainted and welcomed +them--if it was acceptable, and it usually was--so when I saw this young +man approaching I called the attention of my companions, saying, "There +is a nice-looking colored man." He was about five feet, eleven, of a +light brown complexion, and chestnut-like hair, neatly trimmed. He wore +glasses and was dressed in a well-fitting suit that matched his +complexion. He had the appearance of being intelligent and amiable. + +I was in the act of starting to speak, when one of the fellows nudged me +and whispered in my ear, that it was one of the Woodrings from a town a +short distance away in Nebraska, who was known to be of mixed blood but +never admitted it. + +According to what I had been told, the father of the three boys was +about half negro but had married a white woman, and this one was the +youngest son. Needless to say I did not speak but kept clear of him. + +There is a difference in races that can be distinguished in the +features, in the eyes, and even if carefully noted, in the sound of the +voice. + +It seemed the family claimed to be part Mexican, which would account for +the darkness of their complexion. But I had seen too many different +races, however, to mistake a streak of Ethiopian. Having been in Mexico, +I knew them to be almost entirely straight-haired (being a cross between +an Indian and a Spaniard). When I observed this young man, I readily +distinguished the negro features; the brown eyes, the curly hair, and +the set of the nose. + +The father had come into the sand hills of Nebraska some thirty-five +years before, taken a homestead, but from where he came from no one +seemed to know. It was there he married his white wife, and to the union +was born the three sons, Frank, the eldest, Will, and Len, the youngest. + +The father sold the homestead some twenty years before and moved to +another county, and had run a hotel since in the town of Pencer, where +they now live. + +Unlike his younger brother, Frank, the eldest son, could easily have +passed for a white, that is, so long as no one looked for the streak. +But when the fellow whose timely information had kept me from +embarrassing myself, and perhaps from insulting the young man, a few +minutes later called out, "Hello, Frank!" to a tall man, one look +disclosed to my scrutiny the negro in his features. I was not mistaken. +It was Frank Woodring. + +In view of the fact, that in some chapters of this story I dwell on the +negro, and on account of the insistence of many of them who declare they +are deprived of opportunities on account of their color, I take the +privilege of putting down here a sketch of this Frank Woodring's life. +And although these people deny a relation to the negro race, it was well +known by the public in that part of the country, that they were mixed, +for it had been told to me by every one who knew them, therefore the +instance cannot be regarded altogether as an exception. + +Shortly after coming to Pencer, he went to work for an Iowa man on a +ranch near by, and later a prosperous squaw-man, who owned a bank, took +him in, where in time he became book-keeper and all round handy man, +later assistant cashier. The ranchman whom Woodring had worked for +previous to entering the bank, bought the squaw-man out, made Woodring +cashier, and sold to him a block of stock and took his note for the +amount. In time Woodring proved a good banker and his efficient +management of the institution, which had been a State bank with a +capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars, had been incorporated +into a National bank and the capital increased to fifty thousand +dollars, and later on to one hundred thousand dollars. He dealt in +buying and selling land as well as feeding cattle, on the side, and had +prospered until he was soon well-to-do. Coincident with this prosperity +he had been made president of not only that bank--whose footing was near +a half-million dollars--but of some other three or four local banks in +Nebraska, also a Megory county bank at Fairview--which is the county +depository--and a large bank and trust company at the town of Megory, +with a capital stock of sixty thousand dollars. Today Frank Woodring is +one of the wealthiest men in northwest Nebraska. + +The local ball team of their town was playing Megory that day, and a few +hours later out at the ball park, I was shouting for the home team with +all my breath, the batter struck a foul, and when I turned to look where +the ball went, there, standing on the bench above me, between two white +girls, and looking down at me with a look that betrayed his mind, was +Len Woodring. Our eyes met for only the fraction of a minute but I read +his thoughts. He looked away quickly, but I shall not soon forget that +moment of racial recognition. + +[Illustration: Everything grew so rank, thick and green.] + +And now when I found my affections in jeopardy regarding the love of the +Scotch girl, I thought long and seriously over the matter, and pictured +myself in the place of the Woodring family, successful, respected, +and efficient business men, but still members of the down-trodden race. +I pondered as to whether I could make the sacrifice. Maybe they were +happy, the boys had never known or associated with the race they denied, +and maybe were not so conscientious as myself, although the look of +Len's had betrayed what was on his mind. + +I had learned that throughout these Dakotas and Nebraska, that other +lone colored men who had drifted from the haunts and homes of the race, +as I had--maybe discontented, as I had been--and had with time and +natural development, through the increase in the valuation of their +homesteads or other lands they had acquired, grown prosperous and had +finally, with hardly an exception, married into the white race. Even the +daughter of the only colored farmer between the Little Crow and Omaha +was only prevented from marrying a white man, at the altar, when it was +found the law of the state forbids it. + +I could diagnose their condition by my own. Life in a new country is +always rough in the beginning. In the past it had taken ten and fifteen +years for a newly opened country to develop into a state of cultivation +and prosperity, that the Little Crow had in the four years. + +At the time it had been opened to settlement, the reaction from the +effects of the dry years and hard times of 93-4 and 5 had set in and at +that time, with plenty of available capital, the early extension of the +railroad, and other advantages too numerous to mention, life had been +quite different for the settlers. Such advantages had not been the lot +of the homesteader twenty and thirty years before. + +These people had no doubt been honorable and had intended to remain +loyal to their race, but long, hard years, lean crops, and the long, +lonesome days had changed them. It is easier to control the thoughts +than the emotions. The craving for love and understanding pervades the +very core of a human, and makes the mind reckless to even such a grave +matter as race loyalty. In most cases it had been years before these +people had the means and time to get away for a visit to their old +homes, while around them were the neighbors and friends of pioneer days, +and maybe, too, some girl had come into their lives--like this one had +into mine--who understood them and was kind and sympathetic. What +worried me most, however, even frightened me, was, that after marriage +and when their children had grown to manhood and womanhood, they, like +the Woodring family, had a terror of their race; disowning and denying +the blood that coursed through their veins; claiming to be of some +foreign descent; in fact, anything to hide or conceal the mixture of +Ethiopian. They looked on me with fear, sometimes contempt. Even the +mixed-blood Indians and negroes seemed to crave a marriage with the +whites. + +The question uppermost in my mind became, "Would not I become like that, +would I too, deny my race?" The thought was a desperate one. I did not +feel that I could become that way, but what about those to come after +me, would they have to submit to the indignities I had seen some of +these referred to, do, in order that they may marry whites and try to +banish from memory the relation of a race that is hated, in many +instances, for no other reason than the coloring matter in their +pigment. Would my life, and the thought involved and occupied my mind +daily, innocent as my life now appeared, lead into such straits if I +married the Scotch girl. It became harder for me, for at that time, I +had not even a correspondence with a girl of my race. As I look back +upon it the condition was a complicated affair. I confess at the time, +however, that I was on the verge of making the sacrifice. This was due +to the sights that had met my gaze when I would go on trips to Chicago, +and such times I would return home feeling disgusted. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE BATTLE + + +Some time after the opening it was announced from Washington that the +Land Office, which was located in one of the larger towns of the state, +about one hundred and fifty miles from the Little Crow, would be moved +to one of the towns in the new territory. The Land Office is something +like a County Seat in bringing business to a town, and immediately every +town in Megory County began a contest for the office. However, it was +soon seen that it was the intention of the Interior Department to locate +it in either Megory or Calias. So the two familiar rivals engaged in +another battle. But in this Megory held the high card. + +That was about the time the insurgents and stalwarts were in a struggle +to get control of the State's political machinery. It had waxed bitter +in the June primaries of that year and the insurgents had won. Calias +had supported the losing candidate, who had been overwhelmingly +defeated, and both senators and one representative in Congress from the +state were red-hot insurgents. The Nicholson Brothers, bowing to +tradition, were stand pats. Their father had been a stalwart before them +in Iowa, where Cummins had created so much commotion with his +insurgency. + +Ernest, with his wife, had left for the Orient to spend the winter. +After leaving, the announcement came that the land office would be +moved. Even had he been in Calias the result would likely have been the +same, but I had a creepy feeling that had he been on the ground Megory +would have had to worked considerably harder at least. + +After sending many men from each town down to the National Capital, the +towns fought it out. With, as I have stated, and which was to be +expected, with both Senators recommending Megory as having advantages +over Calias in the way of an abundant supply of water and a National +Bank with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, the Interior +Department decided in favor of Megory, and Calias lost. + +Ernest, on hearing of the fight, hurriedly returned, went in to +Washington, secured an appointment with the Secretary and is said to +have made a worthy plea for Calias; but to no avail and the Megoryites +returned home the heroes of the day. + +I was away at the time, but was told a good share of the men of Megory +were drunk the greater part of the week. + +Some evidence of the rejoicing was visible on my return, in the loss of +an eye, by a little gambler who became too enthusiastic and run up +against a "snag." What amused me most however, was an article written +especially for one of the Megory papers by a keeper of a racket store +and a known shouter for the town. The article represented the contest as +being a big prize fight on the Little Crow and read something like +this. + + + BIG PRIZE FIGHT ON THE LITTLE CROW + + PRINCIPALS + + MEGORY, THE METROPOLIS OF THE LITTLE CROW + REPUTATION, THE SQUARE DEAL + + CALIAS BOASTER + REPUTATION GRAFTING + + SCENE.--Little Crow Reservation. + + TIME.--A.D. 190-- Referee--Washington, D.C. + + SECONDS FOR MEGORY.--Flackler, of the Megory National. + + FRED CROFTON, POSTMASTER. + + FOR CALIAS, MAYOR ROSIE AND A HAS-BEEN, FORMERLY OF WASHINGTON. + + Round one. September. Principals enter the ring and refuse to shake + hands, referee Washington, D.C. announces fight to be straight + Marquis of Queensbury. No hitting in the clinches, and a clean + break; a fight to the finish. They are off. Calias leads with a + left to the face, Megory countering with a right to the ribs, they + clinch. Referee breaks them, then they spar and as the gong sounded + appeared evenly matched. + + Round two. October. They rush to the center of the ring and clinch, + referee tells them to break. Just as this is done Calias lands a + terrific left to Megory's jaw following with a right to the body, + and Megory goes down for the count of nine, getting up with much + confusion, only to be floored again with a right to the temple. + Megory rises very groggy, when Calias lands a vicious left to the + mouth, a right to the ear just as the gong sounded, saving her + from a knock-out. They go to their corners with betting three to + one on Calias and no takers. During the one minute's rest the crowd + whooped it up for Calias, thousands coming her way. Megory looked + serious, sitting in the corner thinking how she had fallen down on + some well-laid plans. + + Round three. November. They rush to a clinch and spar. Referee + cautions Calias for butting. They do some more sparring, and both + seem cautious, with honors even at the end of the third round. + + Round four. December. They rush to the center of the ring and begin + to spar, then like a flash, Megory lands a terrific swing on + Calias' jaw, following it up with a right to the heart. Calias + cries foul, but referee orders her to proceed, while Megory, with + eyes flashing and distended nostrils, feints and then like the kick + of a mule, lands a hard left to the mouth, following in quick + succession with jolts, swings, jabs and upper cuts. Mayor Rosie + wants to throw up the sponge, but the referee says fight. Megory, + with a left to the face and right to the stomach, then rushing both + hands in a blow to the solar plexus, Calias falls and is counted + out with Megory winning the prize,--Great Land Office. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE SACRIFICE--RACE LOYALTY + + +Getting back to the affair of the Scotch girl, I hated to give up her +kindness and friendship. I would have given half my life to have had her +possess just a least bit of negro blood in her veins, but since she did +not and could not help it any more than I could help being a negro, I +tried to forget it, straightened out my business and took a trip east, +bent on finding a wife among my own. + +As the early morning train carried me down the road from Megory, I hoped +with all the hope of early manhood, I would find a sensible girl and not +like many I knew in Chicago, who talked nothing but clothes, jewelry, +and a good time. I had no doubt there were many good colored girls in +the east, who, if they understood my life, ambition and morality, would +make a good wife and assist me in building a little empire on the Dakota +plains, not only as a profit to ourselves, but a credit to the negro +race as well. I wanted to succeed, but hold the respect and good will of +the community, and there are few communities that will sanction a +marriage with a white girl, hence, the sacrifice. + +I spent about six weeks visiting in Chicago and New York, finally +returning west to southern Illinois to visit a family in C--dale, near +M--boro, who were the most prosperous colored people in the town. They +owned a farm near town, nine houses and lots in the city, and were +practical people who understood business and what it took to succeed. + +They had a daughter whom I had known as a child back in the home town +M--plis, where she had cousins that she used to visit. She had by this +time grown into a woman of five and twenty. Her name was Daisy Hinshaw. +Now Miss Hinshaw was not very good-looking but had spent years in school +and in many ways was unlike the average colored girl. She was attentive +and did not have her mind full of cheap, showy ideals. I had written to +her at times from South Dakota and she had answered with many inviting +letters. Therefore, when I wrote her from New York that I intended +paying her a visit, she answered in a very inviting letter, but boldly +told me not to forget to bring her a nice present, that she would like a +large purse. I did not like such boldness. I should have preferred a +little more modesty, but I found the purse, however, a large seal one in +a Fifth Avenue shop, for six dollars, which Miss Hinshaw displayed with +much show when I came to town. + +The town had a colored population of about one thousand and the many +girls who led in the local society looked enviously upon Miss Hinshaw's +catch--and the large seal purse--and I became the "Man of the Hour" in +C--dale. + +The only marriageable man in the town who did not gamble, get drunk and +carouse in a way that made him ineligible to decent society, was the +professor of the colored school. He was a college graduate and received +sixty dollars a month. He had been spoiled by too much attention, +however, and was not an agreeable person. + +Miss Hinshaw was dignified and desired to marry, and to marry somebody +that amounted to something, but she was so bold and selfish. She took a +delight in the reports, that were going the rounds, that we were +engaged, and I was going to have her come to South Dakota and file on a +Tipp County homestead relinquishment that I would buy, and we would then +get married. + +The only objector to this plan was myself. I had not fallen in love with +Miss Hinshaw and did not feel that I could. Daisy was a nice girl, +however, a little odd in appearance, having a light brown complexion, +without color or blood visible in the cheeks; was small and bony; padded +with so many clothes that no idea of form could be drawn. I guessed her +weight at about ninety pounds. She had very good hair but grey eyes, +that gave her a cattish appearance. + +She had me walking with her alone and permitted no one to interfere. She +would not introduce me to other girls while out, keeping me right by her +side and taking me home and into her parlor, with her and her alone, as +company. + +One day I went up town and while there took a notion to go to the little +mining town, to see the relatives who had got me the job there seven +years before. But it was ten miles, with no train before the following +morning. Just then the colored caller called out a train to M--boro and +St. Louis, and all of a sudden it occurred to me that I had almost +forgotten Miss Rooks. Why not go to M--boro? I had not expected to pay +her a visit but suddenly decided that I would just run over quietly and +come back on the train to C--dale at five o'clock that afternoon. I +jumped aboard and as M--boro was only eight miles, I was soon in the +town, and inquiring where she lived. + +I found their house presently--they were always moving--and just a +trifle nervously rang the bell. The door was opened in a few minutes and +before me stood Jessie. She had changed quite a bit in the three years +and now with long skirts and the eyes looked so tired and dream-like. +She was quite fascinating, this I took in at a glance. She stammered +out, "Oh! Oscar Devereaux", extending her hand timidly and looking into +my eyes as though afraid. She looked so lonely, and I had thought a +great deal of her a few years ago--and perhaps it was not all dead--and +the next moment she was in my arms and I was kissing her. + +I did not go back to C--dale on the five nor on the eight o'clock--and I +did not want to on the last train that night. I was having the most +carefree time of my life. They were hours of sweetest bliss. With Jessie +snugly held in the angle of my left arm, we poured out the pent-up +feelings of the past years. I had a proposition to make, and had reasons +to feel it would be accepted. + +The family had a hard time making ends meet. Her father had lost the +mail carrier's job and had run a restaurant later and then a saloon. +Failing in both he had gone to another town, starting another restaurant +and had there been assaulted by a former admirer of Jessie's, who had +struck him with a heavy stick, fracturing the skull and injuring him so +that for weeks he had not been able to remember anything. Although he +was then convalescing, he was unable to earn anything. Her mother had +always been helpless, and the support fell on her and a younger brother, +who acted as special delivery letter carrier and received twenty dollars +a month, while Jessie taught a country school a mile from town, +receiving twenty-five dollars per month. This she turned over to the +support of the household, and made what she earned sewing after school +hours, supply her own needs. It was a long and pitiful tale she related +as we walked together along a dark street, with her clinging to my arm +and speaking at times in a half sob. My heart went out to her, and I +wanted to help and said: "Why did you not write to me, didn't you know +that I would have done something?" + +"Well," she answered slowly, "I started to several times, but was so +afraid that you would not understand." She seemed so weak and forlorn in +her distress. She had never been that way when I knew her before, and I +felt sure she had suffered, and I was a brute, not to have realized it. +Twelve o'clock found me as reluctant to go as five o'clock had, but as +we kissed lingeringly at the door, I promised when I left C--dale two +evenings later I would stop off at M--boro and we would discuss the +matter pro and con. This was Saturday night. + +The next morning I called to see Daisy. I was unusually cheerful, and +taking her face in my hands, blew a kiss. She looked up at me with her +grey eyes alert and with an air of suspicion, said: "You've been kissing +somebody else since you left here." Then leading me into the parlor in +her commanding way, ordered me to sit down and to wait there until she +returned. She had just completed cleaning and dusting the parlor and it +was in perfect order. She seemed to me to be more forward than ever that +morning, and I felt a suspicion that I was going to get a curtain +lecture. However, I escaped the lecture but got stunned instead. + +Daisy returned in about an hour, dressed in a rustling black silk dress, +with powdered face and her hair done up elegantly and without ceremony +or hesitation planted herself on the settee and requested, or rather +ordered me to take a seat beside her. She opened the conversation by +inquiring of South Dakota, and took my hand and pretended to pare my +finger nails. I answered in nonchalant tones but after a little she +turned her head a little slantingly, looked down, began just the least +hesitant, but firmly: "Now what arrangements do you wish me to make in +regard to my coming to South Dakota next fall?" + +For the love of Jesus, I said to myself, if she hasn't proposed. Now one +advantage of a dark skin is that one does not show his inner feeling as +noticeably as those of the lighter shade, and I do not know whether Miss +Hinshaw noticed the look of embarrassment that overspread my +countenance. I finally found words to break the deadly suspense +following her bold action. + +"Oh!" I stammered more than spoke, "I would really rather not make any +arrangements, Daisy." + +"Well," she said, not in the least taken back, "a person likes to know +just how they stand." + +"Yes, of course," I added hastily. "You see," I was just starting in on +a lengthy discourse trying to avoid the issue, when the door bell rang +and a relative of mine by the name of Menloe Robinson, who had attended +the university the same time Miss Hinshaw had, but had been expelled for +gambling and other bad habits, came in. He was a bore most of the time +with so much of his college talk, but I could have hugged him then, I +felt so relieved, but Miss Hinshaw put in before he got started to +talking, wickedly, that of course if I did not want her she could not +force it. + +The next day at noon I left for St. Louis but did not mention that I was +scheduled to stop off at M--boro. Miss Hinshaw had grown sad in +appearance and looked so lonely I felt sorry for her and kissed her +good-bye at the station, which seemed to cheer her a little. She was +married to a classmate about a year later and I have not seen her since. + +Jessie was glad to see me when I called that evening in M--boro, and we +went walking again and had another long talk. When we got back, I sang +the old story to which she answered with, "Do you really want me?" + +"Sure, Jessie, why not." I looked into her eyes that seemed just about +to shed tears but she closed them and snuggled up closely, and +whispered, "I just wanted to hear you say you wanted me." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE BREEDS + + +Here the story may have ended, that is, had I taken her to the minister, +but as everybody had gone land crazy in Dakota and I had determined to +own more land myself, I told her how I could buy a relinquishment and +she could file on it and then we would marry at once. Now when a young +man and a girl are in love and feel each other to be the world and all +that's in it, it is quite easy to plan, and Miss Rooks and I were no +exception. Had we been in South Dakota instead of Southern Illinois, and +had it been the month of October instead of January, nine months before, +we would have carried out our plans, but since it was January we +mutually agreed to wait until the nine months had elapsed, but something +happened during that time which will be told in due time. + +I enjoyed feeling that I was at last engaged. It was positively +delightful, and when I left the next morning to visit my parents in +Kansas, I was a very happy person. While visiting there, shooting +jack-rabbits by day and boosting Dakota to the Jayhawkers half the +night, I'd write to Miss Rooks sometime during each twenty-four hours, +and for a time received a letter as often. Two sisters were to be +graduated from the high school the following June, and wanted to come to +Dakota in the fall and take up claims, but had no money to purchase +relinquishments. I agreed to mortgage my land and loan the money, but +when all was arranged it was found one of them would not be old enough +in time, so my grandmother, who had always possessed a roving spirit, +wanted to come and so it was settled. + +When I got back to Dakota and jumped into my spring work it was with +unusual vigor and contemplation, and all went well for a while. Soon, +however, I failed to hear from Jessie and began to feel a bit uneasy. +When three weeks had passed and still no letter, I wrote again asking +why she did not answer my letters. In due time I heard from her stating +that she had been afraid I didn't love her and that she had been told I +was engaged to Daisy, and as Daisy would be the heir to the money and +property of her parents she felt sure my marriage to Miss Hinshaw would +be more agreeable to me than would a marriage with her, who had only a +kind heart and willing mind to offer, so she had on the first day of +April married one whom she felt was better suited to her impoverished +condition. + +Now, what she had done was, in her effort to break off the prolonged +courtship of the little fellow referred to in the early part of this +story (and who was still working for three dollars a week), she had +commenced going with another--a cook forty-two years of age, and had +thought herself desperately in love with him at the time. I had not even +written to Miss Hinshaw and knew nothing whatever of any engagement. I +was much downcast for a time, and like some others who have been jilted, +I grew the least bit wicked in my thoughts, and felt she would not find +life all sunshine and roses with her forty-two-year-old groom. Lots +of excitement was on around Megory and Calias, and as I liked +excitement, I soon forgot the matter. + +[Illustration: Had put 280 acres under cultivation. (Page 153.)] + +With the location of the land office in Megory and its subsequent +removal from east of the Missouri, it was found there was only one +building in the town, outside of the banks, that contained a vault, and +a vault being necessary, it became expedient for the commercial club to +provide an office that contained one. Two prosperous real-estate +dealers, whose office contained a vault, readily turned over their +building to the register and receiver until the land office building, +then under construction, should be completed. A building twenty-five by +sixty feet was built in the street just in front of the office, to be +used as a temporary map room, and to be moved away as soon as the filing +was over. + +The holders of lucky numbers had been requested to appear at a given +hour on a certain day to offer filings on Tipp county claims. By the +time the filing had commenced, the hotels of both towns were filled, and +tents covered all the vacant lots, while one hundred and fifty or more +autos, to be hired at twenty-five dollars per day, did a rushing +business. The settlers seemed to be possessed of abundant capital, and +deposits in the local banks increased out of all proportion to those of +previous times. + +Besides the holders of numbers, hundreds of other settlers, who had +purchased land in Megory county, were moving in at the same time, +bringing stock, machinery, household goods and plenty of money. Those +were bountiful days for the locators and land sharks. + +When Megory county opened for settlement a few years previous, it was +found that the Indians had taken practically all their allotments along +the streams, where wood and water were to be had. The most of these +allotments were on the Monca bottom below Old Calias. In fact, they had +taken the entire valley that far up. The timber along the creek was very +small, being stunted from many fires, and consisted mostly of +cottonwood, elm, box-elder, oak and ash. All but the oak and ash being +easily susceptible to dry rot, were unfit for posts or anything except +for shade and firewood. This made the valley lands cheaper than the +uplands. + +The Indians were always selling and are yet, what is furnished them by +the government, for all they can get. When given the money spends it as +quickly as he possibly can, buying fine horses, buggies, whiskey, and +what-not. Their only idea being that it is to spend. The Sioux Indians, +in my opinion, are the wealthiest tribe. They owned at one time the +larger part of southern South Dakota and northern Nebraska, and own a +lot of it yet. Be it said, however, it is simply because the government +will not allow them to sell. + +The breeds near Old Calias were easily flattered, and when the white +people invited them to anything they always came dressed in great +regalia, but after the settlers came there was not much inter-marrying, +such as there had been before. A family of mixed-bloods by the name of +Cutschall, owned all the land just south of Old Calias, in fact the +site where Calias had stood, was formerly the allotment of a deceased +son. The father, known as old Tom Cutschall, was for years a landmark on +the creek. + +Now and then Nicholson Brothers had invited the Cutschalls to some of +their social doings, which made the Cutschalls feel exalted, and higher +still, when Ernest suggested he could get them a patent for their land +and then would buy it. This suited Cutschalls dandy. Ernest offered +seven thousand dollars for the section, and they accepted. At that time, +by recommending the Indian to be a competent citizen and able to care +for himself, a patent would be granted on proper recommendation, and +Nicholson Brothers attended to that and got Mrs. Cutschall the patent. +Tom, her husband, being a white man, could not be allotted, and she had +been given the section as the head of the family. It is said they spent +the seven thousand dollars in one year. The company of which the father +of the Nicholson Brothers was president made a loan of eight thousand +dollars on the land, and shortly afterward they sold it for twenty-three +thousand dollars. The lots had brought more than one hundred thousand +dollars in Calias and were still selling, so this placed the "Windy +Nicholsons," as they had been called by jealous Megoryites, in a +position of much importance, and they were by this time recognized as +men of no small ability. + +Years before Megory county was opened to settlement, many white men had +drifted onto the reservation and had engaged in ranching, and had in +the meantime married squaws. This appears to have been done more by the +French than any other nationality, judging by the many French names +among the mixed-bloods. Among these were a family by the name of +Amoureaux, consisting of four boys and several girls. The girls had all +married white men, and the little while Old Calias was in existence, two +of the boys, William and George, used to go there often and were +entertained by the Nicholson Brothers with as much splendor as Calias +could afford. The Amoureaux were high moguls in Little Crow society +during the first two years and everybody took off their hats to them. +They were called the "rich mixed-bloods," and were engaged in ranching +and owned great herds in Tipp county. When they shipped it was by the +trainloads. The Amoureaux and the Colones, another family of wealthy +breeds, were married to white women, and the husbands, as heads of +families, held a section of land and the children each held one hundred +and sixty acres. + +Before the Nicholson Brothers had left Old Calias and before they had +reached the position they now occupied, as I stated, they had shown the +Amoureaux a "good time." They did not have much Indian blood in their +veins, being what are called quarter-breeds, having a French father and +a half-blood Indian mother, and were all fine looking. George had seven +children and the family altogether had eleven quarter sections of land +and two thousand head of cattle, so there was no reason why he should +not have been the "big chief," but so much society and paid-for +notoriety had brought about a change to him and his brother. William, +who had always been a money-maker and a still bigger spender, with the +fine looks thrown in, had shown like a skyrocket before bursting. + +A rich Indian is something worth associating with, but a poor one is of +small note. The Amoureaux spent so freely that in a few years they were +all in, down and out--had nothing but their allotments left, and these +the government would not give patents to, the Colones had done likewise, +and together they had all moved into Tipp county. + +Now there was another Amoureaux, the oldest one of the boys, who like +the others had "blowed his roll," but happened to have an allotment in +the very picturesque valley of the Dog Ear, in Tipp county, near the +center of the county, and when a bunch of promoters decided to lay out a +town they made a deal with Oliver, taking him into the company, he +furnishing the land and they the brains. They laid out the site and +began the town, naming it "Amoureaux" in honor of the breed, which made +Oliver feel very big, indeed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +IN THE VALLEY OF THE DOG EAR + + +The boom in Megory and Calias took such proportions that it made every +investor prosperous, a goodly number of whom sold out, settled in +Amoureaux, and the beautiful townsite soon became one of the most +popular trade centers in the new county. It was the only townsite where +trees stood, and the investors thought it a great thing that they would +not have to wait a score of years to grow them. + +Among the money investors in the town was old Dad Durpee, the former +Oristown and Megory stage driver. When talking with him one day he told +me he had saved three thousand dollars while running the stage line and +had several good horses besides. "Dad," as he was familiarly called, had +invested a part of his bank account in a corner lot and put up a +two-story building, and soon became an Amoureaux booster. Old "Dad" +opened up a stage line between Calias and the new town, but this line +did not pay as well as the old one, for no one rode with him except when +the weather was bad, as the people were all riding now in automobiles. +In a short time every line of business was represented in Amoureaux and +when the settlers began to arrive, Amoureaux did a flourishing business. + +In coming from Calias, the trail led over a monstrous hill, and from the +top "Amro," the name having been shortened, nestling in the valley +below, reminding me of Mexico City as it appeared from the highlands +near Cuernavaca. A party from Hedrick, by the name of Van Neter, built a +hotel fifty by one hundred feet, with forty rooms, and during the +opening and filing made a small fortune. The house was always full and +high prices were charged, and thus Amro prospered. + +During the month of April the promoters succeeded in having the governor +call an election to organize the county, the election to be held in June +following. The filing had been made in April and May, and as conditions +were, no one could vote except cowboys, Indians and mixed-bloods. In the +election Amro won the county seat, and settlers moving into the county +were exceedingly mortified over the fact, having to be governed eighteen +months by an outlaw set who had deprived them of a voice in the +organization of the county. As Amro had won, it soon became the central +city and grew, as Calias had grown, and in a short time had a half-dozen +general stores, two garages, four hotels, four banks, and every other +line of business that goes to make up a western town. Its four livery +barns did all the business their capacity would permit, while the +saloons and gamblers feasted on the easy eastern cash that fell into +their pockets. In July the lot sales of the government towns were held, +but only one amounted to much, that town being farthest west and miles +from the eastern line of the county. This was Ritten, and under a ruling +of the Interior Department, a deposit of twenty-five dollars was +accepted on an option of sixty days, after which a payment of one-half +the price of the lot was required. Here it must be said that almost +every dollar invested on the Little Crow had been doubled in a short +time, and in many instances a hundred dollars soon grew to a thousand or +more. + +Practically all the lowest number holders had filed around Ritten, +including numbers one and two. Ever since the opening of Oklahoma in +1901, when number one took a claim adjoining the city of Lawton, and the +owner is said to have received thirty thousand dollars for it, the +holder of number one in every opening of western land since has been a +very conspicuous figure, and this was not lost on the holder of number +one in Tipp county--who was a divorced woman. She took her claim +adjoining the town of Ritten, which fact brought the town considerable +attention. The lots in the town brought the highest price of any which +had been sold in any town on the Little Crow, up to that time, several +having sold for from one thousand, two hundred to one thousand, four +hundred dollars and one as high as two thousand and fifty dollars. + +The town of Amro, being surrounded by Indian allotments, had few +settlers in its immediate vicinity. The Indians, profiting by their +experience in Megory county, where they learned that good location meant +increase in the value of their lands, had, in selecting allotments, +taken nearly all the land just west of Amro, as they had taken +practically all of the good land just west of Calias in the eastern part +of Tipp county. The good land all over the county had been picked over +and the Indians had selected much of the best, but Tipp county is a +large one, and several hundred thousand acres of good land were +available for homesteading, though much scattered as to location. + +When July arrived and still no surveyors for the railroad company had +put in their appearance, it was feared that no extension work would be +commenced that year, but shortly after the lot sale at Ritten, the +surveyors arrived in the county and ran a survey west from Calias eleven +miles to a town named after the Colones, referred to, striking the town, +then proceeding northwest, missing Amro and crossing the Dog Ear about +two miles north of the town, then following a divide almost due west to +the county line on the west, running just south of a conspicuous range +of hills known as the "Red Hills," missing every town in the county +except Colone. This caused a temporary check in the excitement around +Amro, but as it had the county seat it felt secure, as a county seat +means much to a western village, and felt the railroad would eventually +go there. In fact the citizens of the town boasted that the road could +not afford to miss it, pointing with pride to the many teams to be seen +in her streets daily and the bee-like activity of the town in general. I +visited the town many times, but from the first time I saw the place I +felt sure the railroad would never go there as two miles to the north +was the natural divide, that the survey had followed all the way from +Colone to the Dog Ear and on to the west side of the county, which is a +natural right-of-way. When I argued with the people in the town, that +Amro would not get the railroad, I brought out a storm of protest. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +ERNEST NICHOLSON TAKES A HAND + + +After completing the first survey, however, the surveyors returned, and +made another that struck Amro. This survey swerved off from the first +survey to the southwest between Colone and Amro and struck the valley of +a little stream known as Mud Creek, which empties into the Dog Ear at +Amro. But being a most illogical route, I felt confident the C. & R.W. +had no intention of following it, perhaps only making the survey out of +courtesy to the people in Amro, or possibly to show to the state +railroad commissioners, if they became insistent, why they could not +strike the town. + +About this time Ernest Nicholson appeared on the scene, and purchased a +forty acre tract of land north of the town, for which he paid fifty-five +dollars an acre, later paying ten thousand dollars for a quarter, +joining the forty. Still later he purchased the entire section of +heirship land, belonging to a man named Jim Riggins, an Oristown city +justice, and a former squaw-man, whose deceased wife had owned the land. +For this section of land the Nicholsons paid thirty-five thousand +dollars. The price staggered the people of Amro, who declared Nicholson +had certainly gone crazy. They set up a terrible "howl." "What were the +d-- Nicholsons sticking their noses into Tipp county towns for? Were +they not satisfied with Calias, where they had grafted everybody out of +their money?" No, the trouble, they all agreed, was that Ernest wanted +to run the country and wanted to be the "big stick." But they consoled +themselves for awhile with the fact that Amro had the county seat and +was growing. The settlers were trading in Amro, for Amro had what they +needed. An indignation meeting was held, where with much feeling they +denounced the actions of Ernest Nicholson in buying land north of the +town and announcing that he would build a town such as the Little Crow +had never dreamed of, and that Amro should at once begin to move over to +the new townsite and save money; but they were hot. Old Dad Durpee, in +his shirt sleeves, corduroy and boots, his shaggy beard flowing, +declared that the low-down, stinking, lying cuss would not dare to ask +him to move to the town he had as yet not even named; but Ernest, at the +wheel of a big new sixty-horse power Packard, continued to buy land +along the railroad survey all the way to the west line of the county. In +fact he bought every piece of land that was purchasable. + +I watched this fight from the beginning, with interest, for I had become +well enough acquainted with Ernest to feel that he knew what he was +about. When the surveyors had arrived in Calias, Ernest had gone to +Chicago. In declaring the road could not miss Amro the people were much +like inhabitants of Megory had been a few years before. While they +prattled and allowed their ego to rule, they should have been busy, and +when it was seen that the town might not get the railroad, they should +have gone to Chicago and seen Marvin Hewitt, putting the proposition +squarely before him, and requested that if he could not give them the +road, to give them a depot, if they moved to the line of the survey. By +that time it was a town with two solid blocks of business houses and +many good merchants and bankers. I often wondered how such men could be +so pinheaded, sitting back, declaring the great C. & R.W. railway could +not afford to miss a little burg like Amro, but from previous +observations and experience I felt sure they would wait until the last +dog was dead, before trying to see what they could do. And they did. + +In the meantime the promoters, who were nearly all from Megory or +somewhere in Megory county, had learned that Ernest Nicholson was +nobody's fool. They hooted the Nicholsons, along with the rest of the +town, declaring Ernest to be anything but what he really was, until they +had roused enough excitement to make Amro seem like a "good thing." Then +they quietly sold their interest to the Amoureaux Brothers, who raked up +about all that was left of the fortune of a few years previous, and paid +six thousand, six hundred dollars for the interest of the promoters +which made the Amoureaux the sole owners of the townsite and placed them +in obvious control of the town's affairs, and again in the white society +they liked so well. + +All the Calias lumber yards owned branch yards at Amro and everybody +continued to do a flourishing business. The Amroites paid little +attention to the platting of the townsite to the north, nor made a +single effort to ascertain which survey the railroad would follow, but +continued to boast that Amro would get the road. About this time Ernest +Nicholson called a meeting in Amro, inviting all the business men to be +present and hear a proposition that he had to make, stating he hoped the +citizens of the town and himself could get together without friction or +ill-feeling. The meeting was held in Durpee's hall and everybody +attended; some out of curiosity, some out of fear, and but few with any +expectation or intention of agreeing to move to the north townsite. +Ernest addressed the meeting, first thanking them for their presence, +then plunged headlong into the purpose of the meeting. He explained that +it was quite impossible for the road to go to Amro, this he had feared +before a survey was made, but that he had ascertained while in Chicago +that the road would not strike Amro. He then read a letter from Marvin +Hewitt, the "man of destiny," so far as the location of the railroad was +concerned, which stated that the road would be extended and the depot +would be located on section twenty, which was the section Ernest had +purchased. Then he brought up the matter of the distribution of lots +which was, that to every person who moved or began to move to the new +townsite within thirty days, one-half of the purchase price of the lot +would be refunded. The price of the business lots ranged from eight +hundred to two thousand dollars, while residence lots were from fifty to +three hundred. "Think it over," he said, in closing, and was gone. + +Needless to say they paid little attention to the proposition. The Amro +Journal "roasted" and cartooned the Nicholson Brothers in the same way +Megory papers had done, on account of the town of Calias. + +After thirty days had elapsed, the Nicholsons warned the people of Amro +that it was the last opportunity they would have to accept his +proposition, and when they paid no attention to his warning, he named +the new town. I shall not soon forget how the people outside of the town +of Amro laughed over the name applied to the new town, as its +application to the situation was so accurate and descriptive of later +events, that I regret I must substitute a name for the purposes of this +story, but which is the best I am able to find, "Victor." + +Instead of moving to Victor, taking advantage of choice of location and +the purchase of a lot at half price, the Amroites began making +improvements in their town, putting down cement walks ten feet wide the +length of the two business blocks and walks on side streets as well. A +school election was called and as a result an eleven-thousand-dollar +school house was erected, a modern two-story building, with basement and +gymnasium. The building was large enough to hold all the population of +Amro if all the men, women and children were of school age, and still +have room for many more. This act brought a storm of criticism from the +settlers, and even many of the people of the town thought it quite a +needless extravagance; but Van Neter, who was strong for education and +for Amro, had put it through and figured he had won a point. He was the +county superintendent. Most of the people claimed the town would soon +grow large enough to require the building, and let it go at that. + +People began drifting into Victor, buying lots and putting up good +buildings. Nicholsons announced a lot sale and preparations began for +much active boosting for the new town. In the election to be held a year +later, they hoped to wrest the county seat from Amro. + +When Ernest Nicholson saw the improvements being made in Amro and no +sign of moving the town, he began to scheme, and I could see that if +Amro wasn't going to move peacefully he would help it along in some +other way. However, nothing was done before the lot sale, which was +advertised to take place in the lobby of the Nicholson Brothers' new +office building in Calias. + +On the date advertised for the lot sale, crowds gathered and many who +had no intentions of investing, attended the sale out of curiosity. I +took a crowd to Calias from Megory, among whom was Joy Flackler, cashier +of the Megory National Bank, who stated that Frank Woodring had loaned +the Nicholsons fifty thousand dollars to buy the townsite. Megoryites +still held a grudge against the Nicholsons, and Flackler seemed to wish +they had asked the loan of him so he might have had the pleasure of +turning them down. + +The second day of the lot sale, a bunch of bartenders, gamblers and +Amro's rougher class appeared on the scene and distributed handbills +which announced that Amro had contracted for a half section on the +survey north of the town and would move in a body if moving was +necessary. The crowd styled themselves "Amro knockers," whose purpose it +was to show prospective lot buyers that in purchasing Victor lots they +were buying "a pig in a poke." The knocking was done mostly in saloons, +where the knockers got drunk and were promptly arrested before the sale +started. The sale went along unhindered. The auctioneer, standing above +the crowds, waxed eloquent in pointing out the advantages, describing +Sioux City on the east and Deadwood and Lead on the west, and explaining +that eventually a city must spring up in that section of the country, +that would grow into a prairie metropolis of probably ten thousand +people, and whether the crowd before him took his eloquence seriously or +not, they at least had the chance at the choice of the lots and +locations, and eighty-four thousand dollars worth of lots were sold. + +[Illustration: Bringing stock, household goods, and plenty of money. +(page 177.)] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE McCRALINES + + +As before mentioned, I was given largely to observation and to reading +and was fairly well posted on current events. I was always a lover of +success and nothing interested me more after a day's work in the field +than spending my evening hours in reading. What I liked best was some +good story with a moral. I enjoyed reading stories by Maude Radford +Warren, largely because her stories were so very practical and true to +life. Having traveled and seen much of the country, while running as a +porter for the P----n Company, I could follow much of her writings, +having been over the ground covered by the scenes of many of her +stories. Another feature of her writings which pleased me was the fact +that many of the characters, unlike the central figures in many stories, +who all become fabulously wealthy, were often only fairly successful and +gained only a measure of wealth and happiness, that did not reach +prohibitive proportions. + +Perhaps I should not have become so set against stories whose heroes +invariably became multi-millionaires, had it not been for the fact that +many of the younger members of my race, with whom I had made +acquaintance in my trips to Chicago and other parts of the country, +always appeared to intimate in their conversation, that a person should +have riches thrust upon them if they sacrificed all their "good times," +as they termed it, to go out west. Of course the easterner, in most +stories, conquers and becomes rich, that is, after so much sacrifice. +The truth is, in real life only about one in ten of the eastern people +make good at ranching or homesteading, and that one is usually well +supplied with capital in the beginning, though of course there are +exceptions. Colored people are much unlike the people of other races. +For instance, all around me in my home in Dakota were foreigners of +practically all nations, except Italians and Jews, among them being +Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, Assyrians from Jerusalem, many Austrians, +some Hungarians, and lots of Germans and Irish, these last being mostly +American born, and also many Russians. The greater part of these people +are good farmers and were growing prosperous on the Little Crow, and +seeing this, I worked the harder to keep abreast of them, if not a +little ahead. This was my fifth year and still there had not been a +colored person on my land. Many more settlers had some and Tipp county +was filling up, but still no colored people. My white neighbors had many +visitors from their old homes and but few but had visitors at some time +to see them and see what they were doing. + +During my visit to Kansas the spring previous, I had found many +prosperous colored families, most of whom had settled in Kansas in the +seventies and eighties and were mostly ex-slaves, but were not like the +people of southern Illinois, contented and happy to eke a living from +the farm they pretended to cultivate, but made their farms pay by +careful methods. The farms they owned had from a hundred and sixty +acres to six hundred and forty acres, and one colored man there at that +time owned eleven hundred acres with twelve thousand dollars in the +bank. + +Wherever I had been, however, I had always found a certain class in +large and small towns alike whose object in life was obviously nothing, +but who dressed up and aped the white people. + +After Miss Rooks had married I was again in the condition of the +previous year, but during the summer I had written to a young lady who +had been teaching in M--boro and whom I had met while visiting Miss +Rooks. Her name was Orlean McCraline, and her father was a minister and +had been the pastor of our church in M--pls when I was a baby, but for +the past seventeen years had been acting as presiding elder over the +southern Illinois district. Miss McCraline had answered my letters and +during the summer we had been very agreeable correspondents, and when in +September I contracted for three relinquishments of homestead filings, I +decided to ask her to marry me but to come and file on a Tipp county +claim first. + +To get the money for the purchase of the relinquishments, I had +mortgaged my three hundred and twenty acres for seven thousand, six +hundred dollars, the relinquishments costing in the neighborhood of six +thousand, four hundred dollars. October was the time when the land would +be open to homestead filing, and Miss McCraline had written that she +would like to homestead. After sending my sister and grandmother the +money to come to Dakota, I went to Chicago, where I arrived one +Saturday morning. I had, since being in the west, stopped at the home of +a maiden lady about thirty-five years of age, and in talking with her I +had occasion to speak of the family. Evidently she did not know I had +come to see Orlean, or that I was even acquainted with the family. I +spoke of the Rev. McCraline and asked her if she knew him. + +"Who, old N.J. McCraline?" she asked. "Humph," she went on with a +contemptuous snort. "Yes, I know him and know him to be the biggest old +rascal in the Methodist church. He's lower than a dog," she continued, +"and if it wasn't for his family they would have thrown him out of the +conference long ago, but he has a good family and for that reason they +let him stay on, but he has no principle and is mean to his wife, never +goes out with her nor does anything for her, but courts every woman on +his circuit who will notice him and has been doing it for years. When he +is in Chicago he spends his time visiting a woman on the west side. Her +name is Mrs. Ewis." + +This recalled to my mind that during the spring I had come to Chicago I +had become acquainted with Mrs. Ewis' son and had been entertained at +their home on Vernon Avenue where at that time the two families, +McCraline and Ewis, rented a flat together, and although I had seen the +girls I had not become acquainted with any of the McCraline family then. +Orlean was the older of the two girls. What Miss Ankin had said about +her father did not sound very good for a minister, still I had known in +southern Illinois that the colored ministers didn't always bear the best +reputations, and some of the colored papers I received in Dakota were +continually making war on the immoral ministers, but since I had come to +see the girl it didn't discourage me when I learned her father had a bad +name although I would have preferred an opposite condition. + +I went to the phone a few minutes after the conversation with Miss Ankin +and called up Miss McCraline, and when she learned I was in the city she +expressed her delight with many exclamations, saying she did not know I +would arrive in the city until the next day and inquired as to when I +would call. + +"As nothing is so important as seeing you," I answered, "I will call at +two o'clock, if that is agreeable to you." + +She assured me that it was and at the appointed hour I called at the +McCraline home and was pleasantly received. Miss McCraline called in her +mother, whom I thought a very pleasant lady. We passed a very agreeable +evening together, going over on State street to supper and then out to +Jackson Park. I found Miss McCraline a kind, simple, and sympathetic +person; in fact, agreeable in every way. + +I had grown to feel that if I ever married I would simply have to +propose to some girl and if accepted, marry her and have it over with. I +was tired of living alone on the claim and wanted a wife and love, even +if she was a city girl. I felt that I hadn't the time to visit all over +the country to find a farmer's daughter. I had lived in the city and +thought if I married a city girl I would understand her, anyway. I +could not claim to be in love with this girl, nor with anyone else, but +had always had a feeling that if a man and woman met and found each +other pleasant and entertaining, there was no need of a long courtship, +and when we came in from a walk I stated the object of my trip. + +Miss McCraline was acquainted with a part of the story for, as stated, +she had been teaching in M--boro at the time I went there to see Miss +Rooks, and had seen her take up with the cook and marry foolishly. She +had stated in her letters that she had been glad that I wrote to her and +that she thought Miss Rooks had acted foolishly, and when I explained my +circumstances and stated the proposition she seemed favorable to it. I +told her to think it over and I would return the next day and explain it +to her mother. + +When I called the next morning and talked with her and her mother, they +both thought it all right that Orlean should go to Dakota and file on +the homestead, then we would marry and live together on the claim, but +her mother added somewhat nervously and apparently ill at ease, that I +had better talk with her husband. As the Reverend was then some three +hundred and seventy-five miles south of Chicago attending conference, I +couldn't see how we could get together, but we put in the Sunday +attending church and Sunday School, and that evening went to a downtown +theatre where we saw Lew Dokstader's minstrels with Neil O'Brien as +captain of the fire department, which was very funny and I laughed until +my head ached. + +The next day was spent in trying to communicate with the Reverend over +the long distance but we did not succeed. Fortunately, at about five +o'clock Mrs. Ewis came over from the west side. I had known Mrs. Ewis to +be a smart woman with a deeper conviction than had Mrs. McCraline, whom +she did not like, but as Mrs. McCraline was in trouble and did not know +which way to turn, Mrs. Ewis was approached with the subject. Orlean was +an obedient girl and although she wanted to go with me, it was evident +that I must get the consent of her parents. She was nearly twenty-seven +years old and girls of that age usually wish to get married. Her younger +sister had just been married, which added to her feeling of loneliness. +The result of the consultation with Mrs. Ewis, as she afterward +explained to me, was that it was decided that it would not be proper for +Orlean to go alone with me but if I cared to pay her way she would +accompany us as chaperon. I was getting somewhat uneasy as I had paid +twelve hundred dollars into the bank at Megory for the relinquishment, +which I would lose if someone didn't file on the claim by the second of +October. It was then about September twenty-fifth and I readily +consented to incur the expense of her trip to Megory, where we soon +landed. While I had been absent my sister and grandmother had arrived. +On October first, all three were ready to file on their claims, and +Dakota's colored population would be increased by three, and four +hundred and eighty acres of land would be added to the wealth of the +colored race in the state. Hundreds of others had purchased +relinquishments and were waiting to file also. A ruling of the +department had made it impossible to file before October first, and when +it was seen that only a small number would be able to file on that day, +the register and receiver inaugurated a plan whereby all desiring to +file on Tipp county claims should form a line in front of the land +office door, and when the office opened, the line should file through +the office in the order in which they stood, and numbers would be issued +to them which would permit them to return to the land office and make +their filings in turn, thereby avoiding a rush and the necessity of +remaining in line until admitted to the land office. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +A LONG NIGHT + + +People began forming into line immediately after luncheon, on the +afternoon of the last day of September and continued throughout the +afternoon. When I saw such a crowd gathering, I got my folks into the +line. When it is taken into consideration that the land office would not +open until nine o'clock the next morning, this seemed like a foolish +proceeding. It was then four o'clock and the crowd would have to remain +in line all night to hold their places (to be exact, just seventeen +hours). Remaining in line all night was not pleasantly anticipated, and +nights in October in South Dakota are apt to get pretty chilly, but the +line continued to increase and by ten o'clock the street in front of the +land office was a surging mass of humanity, mostly purchasers of +relinquishments, waiting for the opening of the land office the next +morning and to be in readiness to protect the claim they had contracted +for. Hot coffee and sandwiches were sold and kept appetites supplied, +and drunks mixed here and there in the line kept the crowd wakeful, many +singing and telling stories to enliven the occasion. I held the place +for my fiancee through the night, and although I had become used to all +kinds of roughness, sitting up in the street all the long night was far +from pleasant. + +About two o'clock in the morning, squatters, who had spent the early +part of the night on the prairie in order to be on their claims after +midnight, began to arrive and took their places at the foot of the line. +All land not filed on by the original number holders was to be open for +filing as soon as the land office opened, and squatters had from +midnight until the opening of the land office in which to beat the man +who waited to file, before locating on the land, a squatters right +holding first in such cases. Many had hired autos to bring them in from +the reservation immediately after midnight, or as soon after midnight as +they had made some crude improvements on the land. Many auto loads +arrived with a shout and claimants leaped from the tonneaus, falling +into line almost before the vehicles had stopped. The line wound back +and forth along the street like a snake and formed into a compact mass. +Until after sunrise the noisy autos kept a steady rush, dumping their +weary passengers into the street. + +By the time the land office opened in the morning, the line filled the +street for half a block, and fully seventeen hundred persons were +waiting for a chance to enter the land office. An army of tired, +swollen-eyed and dusty creatures they appeared, some of whom commenced +dealing their positions in the line to late comers, having gotten into +line for speculation purposes only, and offered their places for from +ten to twenty-five dollars, and in a few instances places near the door +sold for as high as fifty dollars. + +Under a ruling of the land officials, no filings were to be accepted +except from holders of original numbers until October first, and this +ruling made it expedient for holders of relinquishments of early numbers +to get into line early, as the six months allowed for establishing +residence expired for the first hundred original numbers on that day, +and in cases where residence had not been properly established, the land +would be open to contest as soon as this period had expired. Many +hundreds had purchased relinquishments, hence the value placed on the +positions nearest the land-office door. It was three o'clock by the time +the line had passed through the land office and received their numbers. +The land office closed at four o'clock for the day, which left but one +hour for the protection of those who must offer their filings that day +or face the chances of a contest. + +Some had protected their claims by going into the land office before the +ruling was made and filing contests on the claims for which they held +relinquishments, but most of the buyers had not thought of such a thing, +and land grafters had complicated matters by filing contests on various +claims for which they knew relinquishments would be offered and then +withdrawing the contest, for a consideration. This practice met with +strong disapproval as most of the people had invested for the purpose of +making homes, and the laws made it impossible to change the +circumstances. These transactions had to be completed before the line +formed, however, as after the line formed no one could enter the land +office to offer either filing, relinquishment or contest, without a +number issued by the officials. The line was full of such grafters, and +as not more than one hundred filings could be taken in a day, it can +readily be seen that some of the relinquishment holders were in danger +of losing out through a contest offered before they had an opportunity +to file. + +The crowds that flock to land openings, like other games of chance, are +made up in a measure of speculators, people who journey to one of the +registration points and make application for land, figuring that if they +should draw an early number (that is, in the first five hundred) they +would file, no thought of making a home, but simply to sell the +relinquishment for the largest possible price. + +When the filings were made, about sixty had dropped out of the first +five hundred and even more out of the second five hundred, evidently +thinking they were not likely to get enough for the relinquishment to +pay them for their trouble and original investment, since it cost them a +first payment of two hundred and six dollars on the purchase price of +six dollars per acre and a locating fee of twenty-five dollars, and in +some cases the first expense reached three hundred dollars. If the +relinquishment was not sold before the six months allowed for +establishing residence expired, it was necessary to establish residence +making sufficient improvement for that purpose, or lose the money +invested. + +Out of the first four thousand numbers some two thousand had filed, and +practically half of this number had contracted to sell their +relinquishments. The buyers had deposited the amount to be paid in some +bank to the credit of the claimant, to be turned over when the purchaser +had secured filing on the land, the bank acting as agent between the +parties to the transaction. + +I shall long remember October 1, 190-- in Megory--called the "Magic +City," and claiming a population of three thousand, but probably not +exceeding one thousand, five hundred actual inhabitants, though filled +with transients from the beginning of the rush a year before, and had at +no time during this period less than two thousand, five hundred persons +in the town. + +My bride-to-be and my grandmother had received numbers 138 and 139 which +would likely be called to file the second day, while my sister received +170. On the afternoon of the second, Orlean, and my grandmother, who had +raised a family in the days of slavery, and was then about seventy-seven +years of age, were called, and came out of the land office a few minutes +later with their blue papers, receipts for the two hundred six dollars, +first payment and fees, which I had given the agent before they entered +the land office. Their agent went into the land office with them to see +that they got a straight filing, which they received. My sister, +however, was not called that day and the next day being Sunday, she +would not be called until the following Monday. + +The place my grandmother had filed on had been bought by a Megory school +teacher, who had paid one thousand, four hundred dollars to a real +estate dealer for the relinquishment of the same place. The claimant had +issued two relinquishments, which was easy enough to do, though the +relinquishment accompanied by his land office receipt was the only bona +fide one and we had the receipt. The teacher had stood in line the long +night through, behind my sister and then lost the place. The dealer who +sold her the relinquishment was very angry, as he was to get six hundred +dollars in the deal, giving the claimant only eight hundred. When I +learned this and that the teacher had lost out I was very sorry for her, +but it was a case of "first come first served," and many other mix-ups +between buyers and dealers had occurred. I went to the teacher and +apologized as best I could. She looked very pitiful as she told me how +she had taught so many years to save the money and her dreams had been +of nothing but securing a claim. Her eyes filled with tears and she bent +her head and began crying, and thus I left her. + +The next morning I sent Miss McCraline and Mrs. Ewis back to Chicago and +proceeded to the claims of my sister and grandmother, which I found to +be good ones. I had whirled around them in an auto before I bought them, +and though being satisfied that they laid well I had not examined the +soil or walked across them. + +In a week I had two frame houses, ten by ten, built on them and within +another week they had commenced living on them. Shortly after they moved +onto the claims came one of the biggest snowstorms I had ever seen. It +snowed for days and then came warm weather, thawing the snow, then more +snow. The corn in the fields had not been gathered nor was it all +gathered before the following April. + +Most of the settlers in the new county were from twenty to fifty miles +from Calias and winter caught many of them without fuel, and the +suffering from cold was intense. The snow continued to fall until it was +about four feet deep on the level. Fortunately I had hauled enough coal +to last my folks through the winter, and they had only to get to +Ritten, a distance of eight miles, to get food. I had just gathered two +loads out of a ninety-acre field. Being snowbound, with nothing to do, I +watched the fight between Amro and Victor, with interest. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST + + +After the lot sale Amro still refused to move. It was then Ernest +Nicholson said the town had to be overcome somehow and he had to do it. +The business men of the town continued to hold meetings and pass +resolutions to stick together. They argued that all they had to do to +save the town was to stick together. This was the slogan of each +meeting. The county seat no doubt held them more than the meetings, but +it was not long before signs of weakening began to appear here and there +along the ranks. + +Victor to the north, in the opinion of the people abroad, would get the +road; lots were being bought up and business people from elsewhere were +continuing to locate and erect substantial buildings in the new town, +and then it was reported that Geo. Roane, who had recently sold his +livery barn in Amro where he had made a bunch of money, had bought five +lots in Victor, paying fancy prices for them but getting a refund of +fifty per cent if he moved or started his residence hotel by January +first. This report could not be confirmed as Roane could not be found, +but soon conflicting reports filled the air and old Dad Durpee, who +loved his corner lot in Amro like a hog loves corn, made daily trips up +and down Main street, railing the boys. The more he talked the more +excited he became. "My good men!" he would shout, with his arms +stretched above his head like Billy Sunday after preaching awhile. +"Stick together! Stick together! We've got the best town in the best +county, in the best state in the best country in the world. What more do +you want?" He would fairly rave, with his old eyes stretched widely +open, and his shaggy beard flowing in the breeze. He continued this +until he bored the people and weakened the already weakening forces. + +[Illustration: Were engaged in ranching and owned great herds in Tipp +county. (Page 180.)] + +There were many good business men in Amro, among them young men of +sterling qualities, college-bred, ambitious and with dreams of great +success and of establishing themselves securely. Many of them had +sweethearts in the east, and desired to make a showing and profit as +well, and how were they to do this in a town in which even outsiders, +though they might not admire the Nicholsons, were predicting failure for +those who remained, and declaring they were foolish to stay. This young +blood was getting hard to control, and to hold them something more had +to be done than declaring Ernest Nicholson to be trying to wreck the +town and break up their homes. Poor fools--I would think, as I listened +to them, talking as though Ernest Nicholson had anything to do with the +railroad missing the town. It was simply the mistaken location. + +It had been an easy matter for the promotors, whose capital was mostly +in the air, to locate Amro on the allotment of Oliver Amoureaux, because +they could do so without paying anything, and did not have to pay +fifty-five dollars an acre for deeded land as Nicholson had done. Being +centrally located and with enough buildings to encourage the building +of more, they induced the governor to organize the county when few but +illiterate Indians and thieving mixed-bloods could vote, fairly stealing +the county seat before the bona-fide settlers had any chance to express +themselves on the matter. They had doggedly invested more money in +cement walks and other improvements, when disinterested persons had +criticized their actions, loading the township with eleven thousand +dollars, seven per cent interest bearing bonds, that sold at a big +discount, to build a school house large enough for a town three times +the size of Amro. This angered the settlers and being dissatisfied +because they were disfranchised by the rascals who engineered the plan, +Amro began rapidly to lose outside sympathy. + +Ernest Nicholson had a pleasing personality and forceful as well. He was +a king at reasoning and whenever a weak Amroite was in Calias he was +invited into the townsite company's office which was luxuriously +furnished, the walls profusely decorated with the pictures of prominent +capitalists and financiers of the middle west, some of whom were +financing the schemes of the fine looking young men who were trying to +show these struggling waifs of the prairie the inevitable result. + +All that was needed was to break into the town in some way or other, for +it was essential that Amro be absorbed by Victor before the election, +ten months away. The town should be entirely broken up. If it still +existed, with or without the road, it had a good chance of holding the +county seat. A county seat is a very hard thing to move. In fact, +according to the records of western states, few county seats have ever +been moved. + +Megory's county seat was located forty miles from Megory, in the extreme +east end of the county, where the county ran to a point and the river on +the north and the south boundary of the county formed an acute angle; +yet the county seat remains at Fairview and the voters keep it there, +where no one but a handful of farmers and the few hundred inhabitants of +the town reside. When trying to remove the county seat every town in the +county jumps into the race, persisting in the contention that their town +is the proper place for the county seat and when election comes, the +farmers who represent from sixty-five to ninety per cent of the vote in +states like Dakota, vote for the town nearest their farm, thinking only +of their own selfish interests and forgetting the county's welfare, as +the victor must have a majority of all votes cast. Another example of +this condition is near where this story is written, on the east bank of +the Missouri. It is a place called Keeler, the most God-forsaken place +in the world, with only three or four ramshackle buildings and a post +office, with little or no country trade, yet this is a county seat, the +capital of one of the leading counties of the state; while half a dozen +good towns along the line of the C.M. & St. L. road, cart their records +and hold court in Keeler, twenty miles from the railroad. Every four +years for thirty years the county seat has been elected to stay at +Keeler, as no town can get a majority of all votes cast against Keeler, +which doesn't even enter the race. + +All of these facts had their bearing on Ernest Nicholson in his office +at Calias, and had helped to hold Amro together, until Van Neter was +called into Calias and into the private office of "King Ernest" as Amro +had named him. What passed in that office at this interview is a matter +of conjecture, but when Van Neter came out of the office he carried a +check for seven thousand, five hundred dollars and Ernest Nicholson +became the owner of the two-story, fifty by one hundred foot hotel and +lot, Amro's most popular corner. When this news reached Amro pandemonium +reigned, business men passed from one place of business to another +talking in low tones, and shaking their heads significantly, while old +Dad Durpee, nearer maniac than ever before, went the rounds of the town +shouting in a high staccato tone: "What do you think of it? What do you +think of the ornery, low-down rascal's selling out. Selling out to that +band of dirty thieves and town wreckers. By the living gods!" With his +arms folded like a tragedian, eyes rolled to the skies and his form +reared back until his knees stuck forward, then raising his hand he +solemnly swore: "I'll stay in Amro! I'll stay in Amro! I'll stay in +Amro," until his voice rose to a hoarse scream. "I'll stay in Amro until +the town is deserted to the last d--n building and the last dog is +dead." And he did, though I cannot say as to the last dog. + +Nicholson had the hotel closed and although the snow was more than +knee-deep on the level, a force of carpenters at once began cutting the +building in two, preparatory to moving it to the new town. Old +Machalacy Finn, a one-armed, hatchet-faced Irishman, with a long sandy +mustache and pop-eyes, who had moved brick buildings in the windy city, +was sent to Amro and declared in Joe Cook's saloon that he'd put that +damned crackerbox in Victor in fifteen days, and armed with a force of +carpenters and laborers, the plaster was soon knocked off the walls of +the largest and best building in Amro and thrown into the streets; while +the new cement walks, only fifty feet in front and one hundred by eight +at the side, were broken into slabs and piled roughly aside, then huge +timbers twenty-four by thirty-two inches and sixty feet long, from the +redwood forests of Washington, followed the jack-screws and blocks under +the building. Two sixty-horse power mounted tractors, with double +boilers and horse power locomotive construction, low wheels and high +cabs, where the engineer perched like a bird, steamed into the town and +prepared to pull the structure from its foundations. + +The crowd gathered to watch as the powerful engines began to cough and +roar, with an occasional short puff, like fast passenger engines on the +New York Central, the power being sufficient to tear the building to +splinters. Creaking in every joint, the hotel building began slowly +moving out into the street. + +The telephone wires, which belonged to the Nicholsons, had been cut and +thrown aside and the town was temporarily without telephonic +communication. The powerful engines easily pulled the hotel between +banks of snow, which had been shoveled aside to make room for the +passing of the building across the grades and ditches and on toward +Victor. A block and tackle was used whenever the building became stuck +fast and in a few days the hotel was serving the public on a corner lot +in Victor, where it added materially to the appearance of the town. + +Following in the footsteps of old Calias, the town, now being broken by +the removal of the hotel, the dark cellar over which it stood gaping +like an open grave, to be gazed into at every turn, became of small +consequence, and in Victor the price of corner lots had advanced from +one thousand, five hundred to two thousand and three thousand dollars, +while inside lots were being offered at from one thousand, two hundred +to one thousand, eight hundred dollars which had formerly priced from +eight hundred to one thousand, two hundred dollars. This did not +discourage those who wanted to move to the new town. All that was +desired by former rock-ribbed Amroites was to get to Victor. They talked +nothing but Victor. The name of Amro was almost forgotten. + +Before the hotel building had fairly left the town, other traction +engines were brought to the town. The snow was a great hindrance and to +get coal hauled from Calias cost seventy-five cents a hundred. Labor and +board was high, and in fact all prices for everything were very high. It +was in the middle of one of the cold winters of the plains, but money +had been made in Amro and was offered freely in payment for moving to +the new town. It was bitter cold and the snow was light and drifting, +the ground frozen under the snow two feet deep, but the frozen ground +would hold up the buildings better than it would when the warm weather +came and started a thaw. The soil being underlaid with sand it would be +impossible to move buildings over it, if rain should come, as it would +be likely to do in the spring, and with the melted snow to hinder, it +would then be very difficult to move the buildings. It was small wonder +that they were anxious to get away from the disrupted town at this time, +and the road between Amro and Victor became a much used thoroughfare. + +The traction engines pounding from early morning until late at night +filled the air with a noise as of railroad yards, while the happy faces +of the owners of the buildings arriving in Victor, and the anxious ones +waiting to be moved, gave material for interesting study of human +nature. + +George Roane had built a new barn in Victor and was much pleased over +having sold the old one in Amro before the town went to pieces, thereby +saving the expense of removal and getting a refund of fifty per cent of +the purchase price of the lots he purchased in Victor. Many buildings +continued to arrive from Amro, and new ones being erected did credit to +the name of the new town by growing faster than any of the towns on the +reservation, including Calias or Megory. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +EAST OF STATE STREET + + +I had in due time heard from Orlean saying she and Mrs. Ewis had arrived +safely home. She wrote: "When I came into the house mama grabbed me and +held me for a long time as though she was afraid I was not real. She had +been so worried while I was away and was so glad I had returned before +father came." They had received a telegram from her father saying that +he had again been appointed presiding elder of the Cairo district and +would be home within a few days. + +I judged from what Mrs. Ewis had told me that the Reverend was not much +of a business man and a hard one to make understand a business +proposition or to reason with. He had only two children, and Orlean, as +Mrs. Ewis informed me, was his favorite. She had always been an obedient +girl, was graduated from the Chicago high school and spent two years at +a colored boarding school in Ohio that was kept up by the African M.E. +Church, had taught two years, but had not secured a school that year. + +She had saved a hundred dollars out of the money she had earned teaching +school. The young man who married her sister worked for a trading-stamp +corporation and received thirteen dollars a week, while the Reverend was +supposed to receive about a thousand dollars a year as presiding elder. +There were some twelve or fifteen churches on his circuit, where +quarterly conference was held every three months, and each church was +expected to contribute a certain amount at that time. Each member was +supposed to give twenty-five cents, which they did not always do. + +In a town like M--boro, for instance, where the church had one hundred +members, not over twenty-five are considered live members; that is, only +twenty-five could be depended upon to pay their quarterly dues +regularly, the others being spasmodic, contributing freely at times or +nothing at all for a long time. + +Orlean often laughed as she told me some of the many ways her father had +of making the "dead ones" contribute, but with all the tricks and turns +the position was not a lucrative one, there being no certainty as to the +amount of the compensation. Mrs. Ewis told me the family had always been +poor and got along only by saving in every direction. I could see this +as Orlean seemed to have few clothes and had worn her sister's hat to +Dakota. + +Her sister was said to be very mean and disagreeable, and if anyone in +the family had to do without anything it was never the sister. She was +quarrelsome and much disliked while Orlean was the opposite and would +cheerfully deprive herself of anything necessary. Her mother, Mrs. Ewis +went on to tell me, was a "devil, spiteful and mean and as helpless as a +baby." I believed a part of this but not all. I had listened to Mrs. +McCraline, and while I felt she was somewhat on the helpless order, I +did not believe she was mean, nor a "devil." Meanness and deviltry are +usually discernible in the eyes and I had seen none of it in the eyes +of either Mrs. McCraline or Orlean, but I did not like Ethel, and from +what little Miss Ankin told me about the Reverend I was inclined to +believe that he was likely to be the "devil," and Mrs. Ewis' information +regarding Mrs. McCraline was probably inspired by jealousy. + +I remembered that back in M--pls the preachers' wives were timid +creatures, submissive to any order or condition their "elder" husbands +put upon them, submitting too much in order to keep peace, never raising +a row over the gossip that came to their ears from malicious "sisters" +and church workers. As long as I could remember the colored ministers +were accused of many ugly things concerning them and the "sisters," +mostly women who worked in the church, but I had forgotten it until I +now began hearing the gossip concerning Rev. McCraline. + +Orlean, her father and her brother-in-law had begun buying a home on +Vernon avenue for which they were to pay four thousand, five hundred +dollars. Of this amount three hundred dollars had been paid, one hundred +by each of them. It was a nice little place, with eight rooms and with a +stone front. Ethel had not paid anything, using her money in preparation +for her wedding, which had taken place in September. Claves and her +father had spent two hundred on it, which seemed very foolish, and were +pinched to the last cent when it was done. + +Claves had borrowed five dollars from his brother when they went on the +wedding trip, to pay for a taxi to the depot. The wedding tour and +honeymoon lasted two weeks and was spent in Racine, Wisconsin, sixty +miles north of Chicago. They had just returned when I went to Chicago. +When I first called, Mrs. Claves did not come down but when we returned +to the house she condescended to come down and shake hands. She put on +enough airs to have been a king's daughter. + +With the three hundred dollars already paid on the home, they figured +they should be able to pay for it in seven years in monthly installments +of thirty-five dollars, paying the interest upon the principal at the +same time, excepting two thousand which was in a first mortgage and drew +five per cent and payable semi-annually. The house was in a quiet +neighborhood much unlike the south end of Dearborn street and Armour +avenue where none but colored people live. + +The better class of Chicago's colored population was making a strenuous +effort to get away from the rougher set, as well as to get out of the +black belt which is centered around Armour, Dearborn, State and +Thirty-first. Here the saloons, barbershops, restaurants and vaudeville +shows are run by colored people, also the clubs and dance houses. East +from State street to the lake, which is referred to by the colored +people of the city as "east of State," there is another and altogether +different class. Here for a long while colored people could hardly rent +or buy a place, then as the white population drifted farther south, to +Greenwood avenue, Hyde Park, Kenwood and other parts now fashionable +districts, some of the avenues including Wabash, Rhodes, Calumet, Vernon +and Indiana began renting to colored people and a few began buying. + +Chicago is the Mecca for southern negroes. The better class continued to +desert Dearborn and Armour and paid exorbitant rent for flats east of +State street. Some lost what they had made on Armour avenue where rent +was sometimes less than one-half what was charged five blocks east, and +had to move back to Armour. As more colored people moved toward the lake +more white people moved farther south, rent began falling and real +estate dealers began offering former homes of rich families first for +rent then for sale, and many others began buying as Rev. McCraline had +done, making a small cash payment, and in this way otherwise unsalable +property was disposed of at from five to ten per cent more than it would +have brought at a cash sale. + +The place they were buying could have been purchased for three thousand, +eight hundred dollars or four thousand dollars in cash. After moving +east of State street, these people formed into little sets which +represented the more elite, and later developed into a sort of local +aristocracy, which was not distinguished so much by wealth as by the +airs and conventionality of its members, who did not go to public dances +on State street and drink "can" beer. Here for a time they were secure +from the vulgar intrusion of the noisy "loud-mouths," as they called +them, of State street. The last time I was in Chicago State street, the +"dead line," had been crossed and a part of Wabash avenue is almost as +noisy and vulgar as Dearborn. Beer cans, rough clubs and dudes were +becoming as familiar sights as on Armour, and a large part of that part +of the east side is so filled up with colored people that it is only a +question of time until it will be a part of the black belt. + +Orlean's brother-in-law had come to Chicago several years previous from +a stumpy farm in the backwoods of Tennessee. He was the son of a +jack-legged preacher and was very ignorant, but had been going with the +girl he married some six years and she had trained him out of much of it +and when he finally figured in the two hundred dollar wedding referred +to, he felt himself admitted into society and highly exalted. He thought +the Reverend a great man, Mrs. Ewis had told me, referring to him as a +Simian-headed negro who tried to walk and act like the Reverend. The +McCralines, especially Ethel, referred to themselves as the "best +people." I thought they were. They were not wicked, and I also guessed +that Ethel felt very "aristocratic," and I wondered whether I would like +the Reverend. He seemed to be regarded as a sort of monarch judging from +the way he was spoken of by the family, but I had a "hunch" that he and +I were not going to fall in love with each other. Still I hoped not to +be the one to start any unpleasantness and would at least wait until I +met him before forming an opinion. I received a letter from him when he +returned from the conference. He did not write a very brilliant letter +but was very reasonable, and tried to appear a little serious when he +referred to my having his daughter come to South Dakota and file on +land. He concluded by saying he thought it a good thing for colored +people to go west and take land. + +I received another letter from Orlean about the same time telling me +how her father had scolded her about going to the theatre with me the +Sunday night I had taken her, and pretended, as he had to me, to be very +serious about the claim matter, but she wrote like this: "I know papa, +and I could see he was just pleased over it all that he just strutted +around like a rooster." She wanted to know when I was going to send the +ring, but as I had not thought about it I do not recall what answer I +made her, but do remember that my trip to get her and Mrs. Ewis and send +them home again, including my own expenses, amounted to one hundred +sixty dollars, besides the cost of the land, and having had to pay my +sister's and grandmother's way also and get them started on their +homesteads had taken all of the seven thousand, six hundred dollars I +had borrowed on my land; that I was snow-bound with my corn in the field +and my wheat still unthreshed. I began to write long letters trying to +reason this out with her. She was willing to listen to reason but seemed +so unhappy without the ring, and I imagined as I read her letters that I +could see tears. She said when a girl is engaged she feels lost without +a ring, "and, too," here she seemed to emphasize her words, "everybody +expects it." I was sure she was telling the truth, for with girls "east +of State street," and west as well, the most important thing in an +engagement is the ring, sometimes being more important than the man +himself. + +When I lived in Chicago and since I had been living in Dakota and going +to Chicago once a year, I knew that Loftis Brothers had more mortgages +on the moral future and jobs of the young society men, for the diamonds +worn by their sweethearts or wives, than would appear comforting to the +credit man. It made no difference what kind of a job a man might have, +as all the way from a boot-black or a janitor to head waiters and +post-office clerks were included, and their women folks wore some size +of a diamond. I asked myself what I was to do. I could not hope to begin +changing customs, so I bought a forty dollar diamond set in a small +eighteen-karat ring which "just fit," as she wrote later in the sweetest +kind of a letter. + +I had written I was sorry that I could not be there to put it on (such a +story!). I had never thought of diamond rings or going after my wife +after spending so much on preliminaries. What I had pictured was what I +had seen, while running to the Pacific coast, girls going west to marry +their pioneer sweethearts, who sent them the money or a ticket. They had +gone, lots of them, to marry their brawny beaux and lived happily "ever +after," but the beaux weren't negroes nor the girls colored. Still there +are lots of colored men who would be out west building an empire, and +plenty of nice colored girls who would journey thither and wed, if they +really understood the opportunities offered; but very few understand the +situation or realize the opportunities open to them in this western +country. + +I had expected to get married Christmas but the snow had put a stop to +that plan. Besides, I was so far behind in my work and had no place to +bring my wife. I had abandoned my little "soddy" and was living in a +house on the old townsite, where I intended staying until spring. Then I +would build and move onto my wife's homestead in Tipp county. When +Christmas came grandma and sister came down from Ritten and stayed while +I went to Chicago. I could scarcely afford it but it had become a custom +for me to spend Christmas in Chicago and I wanted to know Orlean better +and I wanted to meet her father. I had written her that I wasn't coming +and when I arrived in the city and called at the house her mother was +surprised, but pleasantly. I thought she was such a kind little soul. +She promised not to tell Orlean I was in the city, (Orlean had secured a +position in a downtown store--ladies' furnishings--and received +five-fifty per week) but couldn't keep it and when I was gone she called +up Orlean and told her I was in the city. When I called in the evening, +instead of surprising Orlean, I was surprised myself. The Reverend +hadn't arrived from southern Illinois but was expected soon. + +Orlean had worked long enough to buy herself a new waist and coat, and +Mrs. Ewis, who was a milliner, had given her a hat, and she was dressed +somewhat better than formerly. The family had wanted to give her a nice +wedding, like Ethel's, but found themselves unable to do so. The +semiannual interest on their two-thousand-dollar loan would be due in +January and a payment also, about one hundred and fifty dollars in all. +The high cost of living in Chicago did not leave much out of eighteen +dollars and fifty cents per week, and colored people in southern +Illinois are not very prompt in paying their church dues, especially in +mid-winter; in fact, many of them have a hard time keeping away from +the poorhouse or off the county, and when the Reverend came home he was +very short of money. + +[Illustration: As the people were now all riding in autos. (Page 182.)] + +I remember how he appeared the evening I called. He had arrived in town +that morning. He was a large man standing well over six feet and weighed +about two hundred pounds, small-boned and fleshy, which gave him a +round, plump appearance, and although he was then near sixty not a +wrinkle was visible in his face. He was very dark, with a medium +forehead and high-bridged nose, making it possible for him to wear +nose-glasses, the nose being very unlike the flat-nosed negro. The large +square upper-lip was partly hidden by a mustache sprinkled with gray, +and his nearly white hair, worn in a massive pompadour, contrasted +sharply with the dark skin and rounded features. His great height gave +him an unusually attractive appearance of which he, I later learned, was +well aware and made the most. In fact, his personal appearance was his +pride, but his eye was not the eye of an intelligent or deep thinking +man. They reminded me more of the eyes of a pig, full but +expressionless, and he could put on airs, such a drawing-up and +spreading-out, seeming to give the impression of being hard to approach. + +When introduced to him I had another "hunch" we were not going to like +each other. I was always frank, forward and unafraid, and his +ceremonious manner did not affect me in the least. I went straight to +him, taking his hand in response to the introduction and saying a few +common-place things. They were very home-like for city people, inviting +me to supper and treating me with much respect. The head of the table +was occupied by the Reverend when he was at home and by Claves when the +Reverend was away. I could readily see where Ethel got her airs. It took +him about thirty minutes to get over his ceremonious manner, after which +we talked freely, or rather, I talked. He was a poor listener and, +although he never cut off my discourse in any way, he didn't listen as I +had been used to having people listen, apparently with encouragement in +their eyes, which makes talking a pleasure, so I soon ceased to talk. +This, however, seemed still more awkward and I grew to feel a trifle +displeased in his company. + +On the following Sunday we went to morning service on Wabash avenue at a +big stone structure. It appeared to be a rule of the household that the +girls should go out together. This displeased me very much, as I had +grown to dislike Ethel and Claves did not interest me. Both talked of +society and "swell people" they wanted me to meet, putting it in such a +way as to have me feel I was meeting my betters, while the truth of the +matter was that I did not desire to meet any of their friends nor to +have them with us anywhere we went. When church services were over we +went to spend the time before Sunday School opened, with some friends of +theirs named Latimer, who lived on Wabash avenue near the church, and +who were so nearly white that they could easily have passed for white +people. + +The family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Latimer and Mr. Latimer's sister, +and were the most interesting people I had ever met on any of my trips +to Chicago. They inquired all about Dakota and whether there were many +colored settlers in the state, listening to every word with careful +attention and approving or disapproving with nods and smiles. While they +were so deeply interested, Claves, who had a reputation for "butting in" +and talking too much, interrupted the conversation, blurting out his +opinion, stopping me and embarrassing them, by stating that colored +people had been held in slavery for two hundred years and since they +were free they did not want to go out into the wilderness and sit on a +farm, but wanted to be where they could have freedom and convenience, +and this was sanctioned by a friend of Claves's who was still more +ignorant than he. This angered Orlean and when we were outside even +Ethel expressed her disgust at Claves' ignorance. + +They told me that the Latimers were very well-to-do, owning considerable +property besides the three-story building where they lived. To me this +accounted for their careful attention, for it is my opinion that when +you find a colored man or woman who has succeeded in actually doing +something, and not merely pretending to, you will find an interesting +and reasonable person to converse with, and one who will listen to a +description of conditions and opportunities with marked intelligence. + +Orlean and I attended a few shows at the downtown theatres during the +week, the first being a pathetic drama which our friends advised us to +see entitled "Madam X". I did not like it at all. The leading character +is the wife of a business man who has left her husband and remains away +from him two years, presumably discouraged over his lack of affection; +is very young and wants to be loved, as the "old story" goes, and the +husband is too busy to know that she is unhappy. She returns after two +years and asks forgiveness and love, but is turned away by the husband. +Twenty years later, in the closing act, a court scene decorates the +stage; a woman is on trial for killing the man she has lived with +unlawfully. She had been a woman of the street and lived with many +others before living with the one murdered. The young lawyer who has her +case, is her son, although he is not aware of this fact. He has just +been admitted to the bar and this is his first case, having been +appointed to the defense by the court. He takes the stand and delivers +an eloquent address on behalf of the woman, who appears to be so +saturated with liquor and cocaine as to be quite oblivious of her +surroundings. She expires from the effect of her dissipations, but just +before death she looks up and recognizes her son, she having been the +young wife who left her home twenty-two years before. The unhappy +father, who had suffered as only a deserted husband can and who had +prayed for many years for the return of the wife, is present in the +court room and together with the son, are at her side in death. As the +climax of the play is reached, suppressed sobs became audible in the +balcony, where we had seats. The scene was pathetic, indeed, and I had +hard work keeping back the tears while my betrothed was using her +handkerchief freely. + +What I did not like about the play was the fact of her going away and +taking up an immoral life instead of remaining pure and returning later +to her husband. The husband, as the play goes, had not been a bad man +and was unhappy throughout the play, and I argued this with Orlean all +the way home. Why did she not remain good and when she returned he could +have gathered her into his arms and "lived happy ever after." Not only +my fiancee but most other women I have talked with about the play +contend that he could have taken her back when she returned and been +good to her. The man who wrote the play may have been a tragedian but +the management that put it on the road knew a money-maker and kept it +there as long as the people patronized the box office. + +The next play we attended suited me better as, to my mind, it possessed +all that "Madam X" lacked and, instead of weakness and an unhappy +ending, this was one of strength of character and a happy finale. It was +"The Fourth Estate," by Joseph Medill Patterson, who served his +apprenticeship in writing on the Chicago Tribune. It was a newspaper +play and its interest centered around one Wheeler Brand, who, through +the purchase of a big city daily by a western man, with the bigness to +hand out the truth regardless of the threats of the big advertisers, +becomes managing editor. He relentlessly goes after one Judge Barteling +whose "rotten" decisions had but sufficed to help "big business" and +without regard to their effect upon the poor. The one really square +decision was recalled before it took effect. To complicate matters the +young editor loves the judge's daughter and while Brand holds a high +place in Miss Barteling's regard, he is made to feel that to retain it +he must stop the fight on her father. Brand pleads with her to see the +moral of it but is unable to change her views. One evening Brand secures +a flashlight photo and telephone witnesses of an interview with the +judge, the photo showing the judge in the act of handing him a +ten-thousand-dollar bribe. Late that night Brand has the article +exposing this transaction in type and ready for the press when the +proprietor, who has heretofore been so pleased with Brand's performance, +but whose wife has gained an entrance into society through the influence +of Judge Barteling, enters the office with the order to "kill the +story." + +This was a hard blow to the coming newspaper man. The judge calls and +jokes him about being a smart boy but crazed with ideals, but is shocked +when he turns to find his daughter has entered the office and has heard +the conversation. He tells her to come along home with papa, but she +decides to remain with Brand. She has thought her father in the right +all along, but now that she has heard her father condone dishonesty she +can no longer think so. Wheeler disobeys orders and sends the paper to +press without "killing the story," and "all's well that ends well." + +In a week or so I was back in Dakota where the thermometer registered +twenty-five below with plenty of snow for company. I received a letter +from the Reverend shortly after returning home saying they hoped to see +me in Chicago again soon. I did not know what that meant unless it was +that I was expected to return to be married, but as I had been to +Chicago twice in less than four months and had suggested to Orlean that +she come to Megory and be married there, I supposed that it was all +settled, but this was where I began to learn that the McCraline family +were very inconsiderate. + +I had not claimed to be wealthy or to have unlimited amounts of money to +spend in going to and from Chicago, as though it were a matter of eighty +miles instead of eight hundred. I had explained to the Reverend that it +was a burden rather than a luxury to be possessed of a lot of raw land, +until it could be cultivated and made to yield a profit. I recalled that +while talking with the Reverend in regard to this he had nodded his head +in assent but with no facial expression to indicate that he understood +or cared. The more I knew him the more I disliked him, and was very +sorry that Orlean regarded his as a great man, although his immediate +family were the only ones who regarded him in that light. I had learned +to expect his ceremonious manner but was considerably tried by his +apparent dullness and lack of interest or encouragement of practical +ideas. + +I put volumes into my letters to Orlean, trying to make clear why she +should condescend to come to Megory and be quietly married instead of +obliging me to return to Chicago. I had no more money, as it was +expensive to keep my grandmother and sister on their claims. They had no +money and I had no outside support, not even the moral support of my +people nor of Orlean's, who all seemed to take it for granted that I had +plenty of ready money. I had not taken a cent out of the crop I had +raised, the corn still standing in the field, with a heavy snow on the +ground and my small grain still unthreshed. + +However, my letters were in vain. Miss McCraline could see no other way +than that if I cared for her I'd come and marry her at home, which she +contended was no more than right and would look much better. I sighed +wearily over it all and began to suspect I was "in the right church, but +in the wrong pew." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +AN UNCROWNED KING + + +Toward spring the snow melted and with gum boots I plunged into the +cold, wet corn field and began gathering the corn. It was nasty, cold +work. The damp earth sent cold chills up through my limbs and as a +result I was ill, and could do nothing for a week or more. In +desperation I wrote the Reverend and being a man, I hoped he'd +understand. I told him of my sickness and the circumstances, of Orlean's +claim and of my crops to be put in. It was then April and soon the oats, +wheat and barley should be seeded. It was a business letter altogether, +but I never heard from him, and later learned that he had read only a +part of the letter. + +While in Chicago, one evening I had called at the house and found the +household in a ferment of excitement, with everyone saying nothing and +apparently trying to look as small and scarced as possible, while in +their midst, standing like a jungle king and in a plaided bathrobe, the +Reverend was pouring a storm of abuse upon his wife and shouting orders +while the wife was trotting to and fro like a frightened lamb, +protesting weakly. The way he was storming at her made me feel ashamed +but after listening to his tirade for some fifteen minutes I was angry +enough to knock him down then and there. He reminded me more of a brute +than a pious minister. When he had finally exhausted himself he turned +without speaking to me and strode up the stairs, head reared back and +carrying himself like a brave soldier returning from war. I wondered +then how long it would be before I would be commanded as she had been. +Shortly afterward I could hardly control the impulse to take her in my +arms and comfort her. She was crying quietly and looked so pitiful. I +was told she had been treated in a like manner off and on for thirty +years. + +As stated, I did not hear from the Reverend and when I wrote to Orlean I +implied that I did not think her father much of a business man. Perhaps +this was wrong, at least when I received another letter from her it +contained the receipt for the payment on the claim, and the single sheet +of paper comprising the letter conveyed the intelligence that since she +thought it best not to marry me she was forwarding the receipt with +thanks for my kindness and hopes for future success. I received the +letter on Friday. Saturday night I went into Megory and took the early +Sunday morning train bound for Chicago and to marry her, and while I did +not think she had treated me just right I would not allow a matter of a +trip to Chicago to stand in the way of our marriage. I had an idea her +father was indirectly responsible. He and I were much unlike and +disagreed in our discussions concerning the so-called negro problem, and +in almost every other discussion in which we had engaged. + +Arriving in Omaha I sent a telegram to Orlean asking her not to go to +work that day, as I would be in Chicago in the morning. At the depot I +called up the house and Claves answered the phone and was very +impertinent, but before he said much Orlean took the receiver and +without much welcome started to tell me about the criticisms of her +father in my letters. + +"You are not taking it in the right way," I hurriedly told her. "I'll +come to the house and we'll talk it over. You will see me, won't you?" + +"Yes," she answered hesitatingly, appearing to be a little frightened. +Then added, "I'll do you that honor." + +The Reverend had returned to Southern Illinois, and when I entered the +house the rest of the family appeared to have been holding a +consultation in the kitchen, which they had, as Orlean informed me +later, with Orlean standing poutingly to one side. She commenced telling +me what she was not going to do, but I went directly to her, and +gathered her in my arms, with her making a slight resistance but soon +succumbing. I looked down at her still pouting face and remonstrated +teasingly. + +Ethel broke in, her voice resembling a scream, protesting against such +boldness on my part, saying: "Orlean doesn't want you and she isn't +going to go onto your old farm". Here Orlean silenced her saying that +she would attend to that herself, and took me to the front part of the +house, with her mother tagging after us in a sort of half-stupor and +apparently not knowing what to do. We sat down on the davenport where +she began giving me a lecture and declaring what she was not going to +do. Her mother interposed something that angered me, though I do not now +recall what it was, and a look of dissatisfaction came into my face +which Orlean observed. + +"Don't you scold mama," she finished. "Now, do you hear?" + +"Yes, dear," I answered, meekly, with my arm around her waist and my +face hidden behind her shoulder. "Anything more?" + +"Well, well." She appeared at a loss to know what further to say or how +to proceed. + +Ethel remarked afterward to her mother that Orlean had not been near me +a half hour until she was listening to everything I said. + +She finally succeeded in getting off to work after commanding me to free +her as she wanted to get away to think. Her mother bristled up with an, +"I'll talk to you." This was entirely to my liking. I loved her mother +as well as my own and had no fear that we would not soon agree, and we +did. She couldn't be serious with me very long. She persisted in saying, +however: + +"I want my husband to know you are here and to know all about this. You +must not expect to run in and get his daughter just like something wild, +nor you just must not!" + +"All right, mother," I assented. "But I must hurry back to Dakota, you +know, for I can't lose so much time this time of year." + +"You're the worst man I ever saw for always being in a hurry. +I--I'll--well, I do declare!" And she bustled off to the kitchen with me +following and talking. + +"Oh, can't I get away from you? This is just awful, Mr. Devereaux." + +"Don't you like the name?" I put in winningly and cutting off her +discourse, and in spite of her attempt at seriousness she smiled. + +"It is a beautiful name," she admitted, looking at me slyly out of her +small black eyes. She was part Indian, just a trifle, but sufficient to +give her black eyes instead of brown, as most colored people have, and +she had long black hair. + +Before Orlean returned from the store her mother and I were like mother +and son and Orlean seemed pleased, while Ethel looked at Claves and +admitted that I would get Orlean, anyhow. The only thing necessary now +was to reach the elder, and the next morning we spent a couple of hours +trying to locate him by telephone. We finally succeeded, as I thought, +but he denied later he was the party, though I would have sworn to the +voice being his as I could hear him distinctly. In answer to my +statement that we were ready to marry he shouted in a frantic voice: + +"I don't approve of it! I don't approve of it! I don't approve of it!" +and kept shouting it over and over until the operator called the time +was up. + +A letter had been sent him by special delivery the day I arrived and the +following morning a reply was received stating that if Orlean married +me, without my convincing him that I was marrying her for love, and not +to hold down a Dakota claim, she would be doing so without his consent. +In discussing the matter later Ethel, who had become resigned to the +inevitable, said: + +"If you want to get along with papa you must flatter him. Just make him +think he is a king." + +"Ah," I thought. "Here is where I made my mistake." + +I had started wrong. "Just make him think he is a king, His Majesty +Newton Jasper." The idea kept revolving in my mind as I realized the +reason I had not made good with him. I was too plain and sincere. I must +flatter him, make him think he was what he was not, and my failure to do +that was the reason for his listening to me in such an expressionless +manner. + +Somewhere I had read that to be a king was to look wise and say nothing. +This is what he had done. Evidently he liked to feel great. I recalled +the name he was known by, "the Reverend N.J.," and I had heard him +spoken of jokingly as the "Great N.J." The N.J. was for Newton Jasper. +Ha! Ha! The more I thought of his greatness the more amused I became. I +might have settled the matter easily if I had no objection to flattering +him. He arrived home the next morning and was sitting in the parlor when +I called, trying to look serious, and surveying me as I entered, just as +a king might have done a disobedient subject. I had been so free and +without fear for so long that it was beyond my ability to shrivel up and +drop as he continued to look me over. I proceeded to tell him all that I +had written in my letter to him, the one he had not read, but did not +intimate that I knew he had not read it. + +In the dining room where we gathered a few minutes later, with the +family assembled in mute attention, he asked Orlean whether she wanted +to marry me and live in Dakota and she admitted that she did. Then +turning to me he began a lengthy discourse with many ifs and if nots and +kept it up until I cut in with: + +"My dear people, when I first came to see Orlean I didn't profess love. +Circumstances had not granted us the opportunity, but we entered a +mutual agreement that we would wait and see whether we could learn to +love each other or not." Hesitating a moment, I looked at Orlean and +gaining confidence as I met her soft glance, I went on: "I cannot +guarantee anything as to the future. We may be happy, and we may not, +but I hope for the best." + +That seemed to satisfy him and he was very nice about it afterward. +Orlean and I had been to the court house the day previous and got the +license, and when her father told us we should go and get the license we +looked at each other rather sheepishly, and stammered out something, but +went down town and bought a pair of shoes instead. When we arrived home +preparations were being made for the wedding. The elder called up the +homes of two bishops who lived in the city, and when he found one sick +and the other out of town he was somewhat disappointed, as it had always +been his desire to have his daughters married by a bishop. He had failed +in the first instance and was compelled to accept the services of the +pastor of one of the three large African M.E. Churches of the city at +the wedding of Ethel, and had to call upon this pastor again but found +he also was out of the city. He finally secured the services of another +pastor, by whom we were married in the presence of some twenty or more +near friends of the family, Orlean wearing her sister's wedding dress +and veil. The dress was becoming and I thought her very beautiful. I +wore a Prince Albert coat and trousers to match which belonged to +Claves and were too small and tight, making me uncomfortable. I was not +long in getting out of them after undergoing the ordeal of being kissed +by all the ladies present. Mrs. Ewis invited us to spend the evening at +her home and the next day we left for South Dakota. + +[Illustration: A beautiful townsite where trees stood. (page 182.)] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +A SNAKE IN THE GRASS + + +Usually in the story of a man's life, or in fiction, when he gets the +girl's consent to marry, first admitting the love, the story ends; but +with mine it was much to the contrary. The story did not end there, nor +when we had married that afternoon at two o'clock. Instead, my marriage +brought the change in my life which was the indirect cause of my writing +this story. From that time adventures were numerous. We arrived in +Megory several hours late and remained over night at a hotel, going to +the farm the next morning and then to the house I had rented +temporarily. + +I breathed a sigh of relief when I looked over the fields, and saw that +the boy I hired had done nicely with the work during my absence. The +next night about sixty of the white neighbors gave us a charivari and my +wife was much pleased to know there was no color prejudice among them. +We purchased about a hundred dollars worth of furniture in the town and +at once began housekeeping. My bride didn't know much about cooking, but +otherwise was a good housekeeper, and willing to learn all she could. +She was not a forceful person and could not be hurried, but was kind and +good as could be, and I soon became very fond of her and found marriage +much of an improvement over living alone. + +In May we went up to her claim and put up a sod house and stayed there +awhile, later returning to Megory county to look after the crops. Our +first trouble occurred in about a month. I was still rather angry over +the Reverend's obliging me to spend the money to go to Chicago. This had +cost me a hundred dollars which I needed badly to pay the interest on my +loan. Letters began coming from the company holding the mortgages, +besides I had other obligations pending. I had only fifty dollars in the +bank when I started to Chicago and while there drew checks on it for +fifty more, making an overdraft of fifty dollars which it took me a +month to get paid after returning home. The furniture required for +housekeeping and improvements in connection with the homesteads took +more money, and my sister went home to attend the graduation of another +sister and I was required to pay the bills. My corn was gathered and I +now shelled it. As the price in Megory was only forty cents at the +elevators I hauled it to Victor, where I received seventy and sometimes +seventy-five cents for it, but as it was thirty-five miles, that took +time and the long drive was hard on the horses. Orlean's folks kept +writing letters telling her she must send money to buy something they +thought nice for her to have, and while no doubt not intending to cause +any trouble, they made it very hard for me. Money matters are usually a +source of trouble to the lives of newly-weds and business is so +cold-blooded that it contrasts severely with love's young dream. + +My position was a trying one for the reason that all the relatives on +both sides seemed to take it for granted that I should have plenty of +money, and nothing I could say or do seemed to change matters. From his +circuit the Reverend wrote glowing letters to his "daughter and son," of +what all the people were saying. Everybody thought she had married so +well; Mr. Devereaux, or Oscar, as they put it, was of good family, a +successful young man, and was rich. I hadn't written to him and called +him "dear father." Perhaps this is what I should have done. In a way it +would have been easy enough to write, and since my marriage I had no +letters to spend hours in writing. Perhaps I should have written to him, +but when a man is in the position I faced, debts on one side and +relatives on the other, I thought it would not do to write as I felt, +and I could not write otherwise and play the hypocrite, as I had not +liked him from the beginning, and now disliked him still more because I +could find no way of letting him know how I felt. This was no doubt +foolish, but it was the way I felt about it at the time. My +father-in-law evidently thought me ungrateful, and wrote Orlean that I +should write him or the folks at home occasionally, but I remained +obdurate. I felt sure he expected me to feel flattered over the opinions +of which he had written in regard to my being considered rich, but I did +not want to be considered rich, for I was not. I had never been vain, +and hating flattery, I wanted to tell her people the truth. I wanted +them to understand, if they did not, what it took to make good in this +western country, and that I had a load and wanted their encouragement +and invited criticism, not empty praise and flattery. + +Before I had any colored people to discourage me with their ignorance of +business or what is required for success, I was stimulated to effort by +the example of my white neighbors and friends who were doing what I +admired, building an empire; and to me that was the big idea. Their +parents before them knew something of business and this knowledge was a +goodly heritage. If they could not help their children with money they +at least gave their moral support and visited them and encouraged them +with kind words of hope and cheer. The people in a new country live +mostly on hopes for the first five or ten years. My parents and +grandparents had been slaves, honest, but ignorant. My father could +neither read nor write, had not succeeded in a large way, and had +nothing to give me as a start, not even practical knowledge. My wife's +parents were a little different, but it would have been better for me +had her father been other than "the big preacher" as he was referred to, +who in order to be at peace with, it was necessary to praise. + +What I wanted in the circumstances I now faced was to be allowed to +mould my wife into a practical woman who would be a help in the work we +had before us, and some day, I assured her, we would be well to do, and +then we could have the better things of life. + +"How long?" She would ask, weeping. She was always crying and so many +tears got on my nerves, especially when my creditors were pestering me +with duns, and it is Hades to be dunned, especially when you have not +been used to it. + +"Oh!" I'd say. "Five or ten years." + +And then she'd have another cry, and I would have to do a lot of petting +and persuading to keep her from telling her mother. This all had a +tendency to make me cross and I began to neglect kissing her as much as +I had been doing, but she was good and had been a nice girl when I +married her. She could only be made to stop crying when I would spend an +hour or two petting and assuring her I still loved her, and this when I +should have been in the fields. She would ask me a dozen times a day +whether I still loved her, or was I growing tired of her so soon. She +was a veritable clinging vine. This continued until we were both +decidedly unhappy and then began ugly little quarrels, but when she +would be away with my sister to her claim in Tipp county I would be so +lonesome without her, simple as I thought she was, and days seemed like +weeks. + +One day she was late in bringing my dinner to the field where I was +plowing, and we had a quarrel which made us both so miserable and +unhappy that we were ashamed of ourselves. By some power for which we +were neither responsible, our disagreements came to an end and we never +quarreled again. + +The first two weeks in June were hot and dry, and considerable damage +was done to the crops in Tipp county and in Megory county also. The +winds blew from the south and became so hot the young green plants began +to fire, but a big rain on the twenty-fourth saved the crops in Megory +county. About that time the Reverend wrote that he would come to see us +after conference, which was then three months away. + +One day we were going to town after our little quarrels were over, and I +talked kindly with Orlean about her father and tried to overcome my +dislike of him, for her sake. I had learned by that time just how she +had been raised, and that was to to praise her father. She would say: + +"You know, papa is such a big man," or "He is so great." + +She had begun to call me her great and big husband, and I think that had +been the cause of part of our quarrels for I had discouraged it. I had a +horror of praise when I thought how silly her father was over it, and +she had about ceased and now talked more sensibly, weighing matters and +helping me a little mentally. + +We talked of her father and his expected visit. She appeared so pleased +over the prospect and said: + +"Won't he make a hit up here? Won't these white people be foolish over +his fine looks and that beautiful white hair?" And she raised her hands +and drew them back as I had seen her do in stroking her father's hair. + +I agreed with her that he would attract some attention and changed the +subject. When we returned home she gave me the letter to read that she +had written to him. She was obedient and did try so hard to please me, +and when I read in the letter she had written that we had been to town +and had talked about him all the way and were anxious for him to visit +us; that we had agreed that he would make a great impression with the +people out here, I wanted very much to tell her not to send that letter +as it placed me in a false light, and would cause him to think the +people were going to be crazy about him and his distinguished +appearance; but she was watching me so closely that I could not be mean +enough to speak my mind and did not offer my usual criticism. + +A short time before her father arrived, a contest was filed against +Orlean's claim on the ground that she had never established a residence. +We had established residence, but by staying much of the time in Megory +county had laid the claim liable to contest. The man who filed the +contest was a banker in Amro, this bank being one of the few buildings +left there. I knew we were in for a big expense and lots of trouble, +which I had feared, and had been working early and late to get through +my work in Megory county and get onto her claim permanently. + +We did not receive the Reverend's letter stating when he would arrive so +I was not at the train to meet him, but happened to be in town on horse +back. In answer to my inquiries, a man who had come in on the train gave +me a description of a colored man who had arrived on the same train, and +I knew that my father-in-law was in town. I went to the hotel and found +he had left his baggage but had gone to the restaurant, where I found +him. He seemed pleased to be in Megory and after I explained that I had +not received his letter, I went to look up a German neighbor who was in +town in a buggy, thinking I would have the Reverend ride out with him. +When we got ready to go the German was so drunk and noisy that the +Reverend was frightened and remarked cautiously that he did not know +whether he wanted to ride out with a drunken man or not. The German +heard him and roared in a still louder tone: + +"You don't have to ride with me. Naw! Naw! Naw!" + +The elder became more frightened at this and hurriedly ducked into the +hotel, where he stayed. I hitched a team of young mules to the wagon the +next morning and sent Orlean to town after him. + +The Reverend seemed to be carried away with our lives on the Little +Crow, and we got along fine until he and I got to arguing the race +question, which brought about friction. It was as I had feared but it +seemed impossible to avoid it. He had the most ancient and backward +ideas concerning race advancement I had ever heard. He was filled to +overflowing with condemnation of the white race and eulogy of the negro. +In his idea the negro had no fault, nor could he do any wrong or make +any mistake. Everything had been against him and according to the +Reverend's idea, was still. This he would declare very loudly. From the +race question we drifted to the discussion of mixed schools. + +The Reverend had educated his girls with the intention of making +teachers of them and would speak of this fact with much pride, speaking +slowly and distinctly like one who has had years of oratory. He would +insist that the public schools of Chicago have not given them a chance. +"I am opposed to mixed schools," he would exclaim. "They are like +everything else the white people control. They are managed in a way to +keep the colored people down." + +Here Orlean dissented, this being about the only time she did openly +disagree with him. She was firm in declaring there was no law or +management preventing the colored girls' teaching in Chicago if they +were competent. + +"In the first place," she carefully continued, "the school we attended +in Ohio does not admit to teach in the city." + +In order to teach in the city schools it is either necessary to be a +graduate of the normal, or have had a certain number of years' +experience elsewhere. I do not remember all the whys, but she was +emphatic and continued to insist that it was to some extent the fault of +the girls, who were not all as attentive to books as they should be; +spending too much time in society or with something else that kept them +from their studies, which impaired their chances when they attempted to +enter the city schools. + +She held up instances where colored girls were teaching in Chicago +schools and had been for years, which knocked the foundation from his +argument. + +There are very few colored people in a city or state which has mixed +schools, who desire to have them separated. The mixed schools give the +colored children a more equal opportunity and all the advantage of +efficient management. Separate schools lack this. Even in the large +cities, where separate schools are in force, the advantage is invariably +with the white schools. + +Another advantage of mixed schools is, it helps to eliminate so much +prejudice. Many ignorant colored people, as well as many ignorant white +people, fill their children's minds with undue prejudice against each +race. If they are kept in separate schools this line becomes more +distinct, with one colored child filling the mind of other colored +children with bad ideas, and the white child doing likewise, which is +never helpful to the community. By nature, in the past at least, the +colored children were more ferocious and aggressive; too much so, which +is because they have not been out of heathenism many years. The mixed +school helps to eliminate this tendency. + +With the Reverend it was a self-evident fact, that the only thing he +cared about was that it would be easier for the colored girls to teach, +if the schools were separate. I was becoming more and more convinced +that he belonged to the class of the negro race that desires ease, +privilege, freedom, position, and luxury without any great material +effort on their part to acquire it, and still held to the time-worn cry +of "no opportunity." + +Following this disagreement came another. I had always approved of +Booker T. Washington, his life and his work in the uplift of the negro. +Before his name was mentioned I had decided just about how he would take +it, and I was not mistaken. He was bitterly opposed to the educator. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +THE PROGRESSIVES AND THE REACTIONARIES + + +It is not commonly known by the white people at large that a great +number of colored people are against Mr. Washington. Being an educator +and philanthropist, it is hard to conceive any reason why they should be +opposed to him, but the fact remains that they are. + +There are two distinct factions of the negro race, who might be classed +as Progressives and Reactionaries, somewhat like the politicians. The +Progressives, led by Booker T. Washington and with industrial education +as the material idea, are good, active citizens; while the other class +distinctly reactionary in every way, contend for more equal rights, +privileges, and protection, which is all very logical, indeed, but they +do not substantiate their demands with any concrete policies; depending +largely on loud demands, and are too much given to the condemnation of +the entire white race for the depredations of a few. + +It is true, very true indeed, that the American negro does not receive +all he is entitled to under the constitution. Volumes could be filled +with the many injustices he has to suffer, and which are not right +before God and man; yet, when it is considered that other races in other +countries, are persecuted even more than the negro is in parts of the +United States, there should be no reason why the American negro allow +obvious prejudice to prevent his taking advantage of opportunities that +surround him. + +I have been called a "radical," perhaps I am, but for years I have felt +constrained to deplore the negligence of the colored race in America, in +not seizing the opportunity for monopolizing more of the many million +acres of rich farm lands in the great northwest, where immigrants from +the old world own many of acres of rich farm lands; while the millions +of blacks, only a few hundred miles away, are as oblivious to it all as +the heathen of Africa are to civilization. + +In Iowa, for instance, where the number of farms total around two +hundred and ten thousand, and include the richest land in the world, +only thirty-seven are owned and operated by negroes, while South Dakota, +Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota have many less. I would quote +these facts to my father-in-law until I was darker in the face than I +naturally am. He could offer no counter argument to them, but continued +to vituperate the sins of the white people. He was a member in good +standing of the reactionary faction of the negro race, the larger part +of which are African M.E. ministers. + +Since Booker T. Washington came into prominence they have held back and +done what they could to impede and criticize his work, and cast little +stones in his path of progress, while most of the younger members of the +ministry are heart and soul in accord with him and are helping all they +can. The older members are almost to a unit, with some exceptions, of +course, against him and his industrial educational ideas. + +A few years ago a professor in a colored university in Georgia wrote a +book which had a tremendous sale. He claimed in his book that the public +had become so over-enthused regarding Booker T. and industrial +education, that the colored schools for literary training were almost +forgotten, and, of course, were severely handicapped by a lack of funds. +His was not criticism, but was intended to call attention of the public +to the number of colored schools in dire need of funds, which on account +of race prejudice in the south, must teach classics. This was true, +although industrial education was the first means of lifting the +ignorant masses into a state of good citizenship. Immediately following +the publication of the volume referred to, thousands of anti-Booker T.'s +proceeded to place the writer as representing their cause and formed all +kinds of clubs in his honor, or gave their clubs his name. They +pretended to feel and to have everyone else feel, that they had at last +found a man who would lead them against Booker T. and industrial +education. + +They made a lot of noise for a while, which soon died out, however, as +the author of the book was far too broad minded and intelligent in every +way, to be a party to such a theory, much less, to lead a lot of +reckless people, who never had and never would do anything for the +uplifting of their race. + +The Reverend and I could not in any way agree. He was so bitter against +industrial education and the educator's name, that he lost all composure +in trying to dodge the issue in our argument, and found himself up +against a brick wall in attempting to belittle Mr. Washington's work. +Most of the trouble with the elder was, that he was not an intelligent +man, never read anything but negro papers, and was interested only in +negro questions. He was born in Arkansas, but maintained false ideas +about himself. He never admitted to having been born a slave, but he was +nearly sixty years of age, and sixty years ago a negro born in Arkansas +would have been born in slavery, unless his parents had purchased +themselves. If this had been the case, as vain as he was, I felt sure he +would have had much to say about it. He must have been born a slave, but +of course had been young when freed. He had lived in Springfield, +Missouri, after leaving Arkansas, and later moving to Iowa, where, at +the age of twenty-seven years, he was ordained a minister and started to +preach, which he had continued for thirty years or more. He never had +any theological training. This was told me by my wife, and she added +despairingly: + +"Poor papa! He is just ignorant and hard-headed, and all his life has +been associated with hard-headed negro preachers. He reads nothing but +radical negro papers and wants everybody to regard him as being a +brilliant man, and you might as well try to reason with two trees, or a +brick wall, as to try to reason with him or Ethel. I'm so sorry papa is +so ignorant. Mama has always tried to get him to study, but he would +never do it. That's all." + +We went up to the claims, taking the elder along. My sister had married +and her husband was making hay on the claims. + +I might have been more patient with the Reverend, if he had not been so +full of pretense, when being plain and truthful would have been so much +better and easier. I had quit talking to him about anything serious or +anything that interested me, but would sit and listen to him talk of the +big preachers, and the bishops, and the great negroes who had died years +before. He seemed fond of talking of what they had done in the past and +what more could be done in the future, if the white people were not so +strongly banded against them. After this, his conversation would turn to +pure gossip, such as women might indulge in. He talked about the women +belonging to the churches of his district, whether they were living +right or wrong, and could tell very funny stories about them. + +In Dakota, like most parts of the west, people who have any money at +all, carry no cash in the pocket, but bank their money and use checks. +The people of the east and south, that is, the common people, seldom +have a checking account, and, with the masses of the negroes, no account +at all. During the summer Orlean had sent her father my checks with +which to make purchases. The Reverend told me he checked altogether, but +my wife had told me her father's ambition had always been to have a +checking account, but had not been able to do so. I had to laugh over +this, for it was no distinction whatever. We discussed the banking +business and the elder tried to tell me that if a national bank went +broke, the government paid all the depositors, while if it was a state +bank, the depositors lost. As this was so far from correct, I explained +the laws that governed national banks and state banks alike, as regards +the depositors, in the event of insolvency. I did not mean to bring out +such a storm but he flew into an accusation, exclaiming excitedly: + +"That's just the way you are! You must have everything your way! I never +saw such a contrary man! You won't believe anything!" + +"But, Reverend," I remonstrated. "I have no 'way' in this. What I have +quoted you is simply the law, the law governing national and state bank +deposits, that you can read up on yourself, just the same as I have +done. If I am wrong, I very humbly beg your pardon." + +The poor old man was so chagrined he seemed hardly to know what to do, +though this was but one of many awkward situations due to his ignorance +of the most simple business matters. Another time he was trying to +listen intelligently to a conversation relating to the development of +the northwest, when I had occasion to speak of Jim Hill. Seeing he did +not look enlightened, I repeated, this time referring to him as James J. +Hill, of the Great Northern, and inquired if he had not heard of the +pioneer builder. + +"No, I never heard of him," he answered. + +"Never heard of James J. Hill?" I exclaimed, in surprise. + +"Why should I have heard of him," he said, answering my exclamation +calmly. + +"O, no reason at all," I concluded, and remained silent, but my face +must have expressed my disgust at his ignorance, and he a public man for +thirty years. + +[Illustration: Ernest Nicholson takes a hand. (Page 186.)] + +After this conversation I forced myself to remain quiet and listen to +common gossip. Instead of being pleased to see us happy and Orlean +contented, he would, whenever alone with her, discourage her in every +way he could, sighing for sympathy, praising Claves and telling her how +much he was doing for Ethel, and how much she, Orlean, was sacrificing +for me. + +The contest trial occurred while he was with us, and cost, to start +with, an attorney's fee of fifty dollars, in addition to witnesses' +expenses. I had bought a house in Megory and we moved it onto Orlean's +claim. The Reverend helped with the moving, but he was so discouraging +to have around. He dug up all the skeletons I left buried in M--pls and +bared them to view, in deceitful ways. + +We had decided not to visit Chicago that winter. The crop was fair, but +prices were low on oats and corn, and my crops consisted mostly of those +cereals. I tried to explain this to the Reverend when he talked of what +we would have, Christmas, in Chicago. + +"Now, don't let that worry you, my boy," he would say breezily. "I'll +attend to that! I'll attend to that!" + +"Attend to what?" I asked. + +"Why, I'll send both of you a ticket." + +"O, really, Reverend, I thank you ever so much, but I could not think of +accepting it, and you must not urge it. We are not coming to Chicago, +and I wish you would not talk of it so much with Orlean," I would almost +plead with him. "She is a good girl and we are happy together. She wants +to help me, but she's only a weak woman, and being so far away from +colored people, she will naturally feel lonesome and want to visit +home." + +He paid no more attention to me than if I had never spoken. In fact, he +talked more about Chicago than ever, saying a dozen times a day: + +"Yes, children, I'll send you the money." + +I finally became angry and told him I would not, under any circumstances +whatever, accept such charity, and that what my money was invested in, +represented a value of more than thirty thousand dollars, and how could +I be expected to condescend to accept charity from him. + +He had told me once that he never had as much as two hundred dollars at +one time in his life. I did not want a row, but as far as I was +concerned, I did not want anything from him, for I felt that he would +throw it up to me the rest of his life. I was convinced that he was a +vain creature, out for a show, and I fairly despised him for it. + +At last he went home and Orlean and I got down to business, moving more +of our goods onto the claim, and spending about one-third of the time +there. We intended moving everything as soon as the corn was gathered. +As Christmas drew near, her folks wrote they were looking for her to +come home, the Reverend having told them that she was coming, and that +he was going to send her the money for her to come. Her mother wrote +about it in letter, saying she didn't think it was right. Just before +Christmas, she wrote that maybe if she wrote Cousin Sam he would send +her the money. Cousin Sam was a porter in a down town saloon. I felt so +mortified that I swore I would never again have anything to do with her +family. They never regarded my feelings nor our relations in the least, +but wrote a letter every few days about who was coming to the house to +see Orlean Christmas, of who was going to have her at their homes for +dinner when she came home, until the poor girl, with a child on the way, +was as helpless as a baby, trying to be honest with all concerned. It +had never been her lot to take the defensive. + +My sister came down from her claim and took Orlean home with her. While +she was in Tipp county a letter came from her father for her, and +thinking it might be a matter needing immediate attention, I opened it +and found a money order for eighteen dollars, sent from Cairo, with +instructions when to start, and he would be home to meet her when she +arrived, suggesting that I could come later. + +I was about the maddest man in Megory when I was through reading the +letter, fairly flying to the post office, enclosing the money order and +all, with a curt little note telling what I had done; that Orlean was +out on her claim and would be home in a few days, but that we were not +coming to Chicago. I would have liked to tell him that I was running my +own house, but did not do so. I was hauling shelled corn to a feeder in +town, when Orlean came. She was driving a black horse, hitched to a +little buggy I had purchased for her, and I met her on the road. I got +out and kissed her fondly, then told what I had done. My love for her +had been growing. She had been gone a week and I was so glad to see her +and have her back with me. I took the corn on into town and when I +returned home she had cleaned up the house, prepared a nice supper and +had killed a chicken for the next day, which was Christmas. She then +confessed that she had written her father that he could send the money. + +"Now, dear," she said, as though a little frightened, "I'm so sorry, for +I know papa's going to make a big row." + +And he did, fairly burned the mail with scorching letters denouncing my +action and threatening what he was liable to do about it, which was to +come out and attend to me. I judged he did not get much sympathy, +however, for a little while after Orlean had written him he cooled down +and wrote that whatever Orlean and I agreed on was all right with him, +though I knew nothing of what her letter contained. + +The holidays passed without further event, excepting a letter from Mrs. +Ewis, to my wife, in which she said she was glad that she had stayed in +Dakota and stuck by her husband. The letter seemed a little strange, +though I thought nothing of it at the time. A few months later I was to +know what it meant, which was more than I could then have dreamed of. We +were a lone colored couple, in a country miles from any of our kind, +honest, hopeful and happy; we had no warning, nor if we had, would we +have believed. Why, indeed, should any young couple feel that some +person, especially one near and dear, should be planning to put asunder +what God had joined together? + +It was now the last of February and we expected our first-born in +March. My wife had grown exceedingly fretful. Grandma was with us, +having made proof on her homestead. Orlean kept worrying and wanting to +go to her claim, talking so much about it, that I finally talked with +some neighbor friends and they advised that it would be better to take +her to the homestead, for if she continued to fret so much over wanting +to be there, when the child was born, it might be injured in some way. +When the weather became favorable, I wrapped her and grandma up +comfortably, and sent them to the claim in the spring wagon, while I +followed with a load of furniture, making the trip in a day and a half. +We had close neighbors who said they would look after her while I went +back after the stock. A lumber yard was selling out in Kirk, and I +bought the coal shed, which was strongly built, being good for barns and +granaries. Cutting it into two parts, I loaded one part onto two wagons +and started the sixty miles to the claim. A thaw set in about the time I +had the building as far as my homestead south of Megory. I decided to +leave it there and tear down my old buildings and move them, instead. I +received a letter from Orlean saying they were getting along nicely, +excepting that the stove smoked considerably; and for me to be very +careful with Red and not let him kick me. Red was a mule I had bought +the summer before and was a holy terror for kicking. + +My sister arrived that night from a visit to Kansas, and on hearing from +Orlean that she was all right, I sent my sister on to her claim, and +hiring more men, moved the balance of the building onto the old farm, +tore down the old buildings, loaded them onto wagons, and finally got +started again for Tipp county. That was on Saturday. The wind blew a +gale, making me feel lonely and far from home. Sunday morning I started +early out of Colone planning to get home that night, but the front axle +broke and by the time we got another it was growing late. We started +again and traveled about two miles, when the tongue broke, and by the +time that was mended it was late in the afternoon. About six o'clock we +pulled into Victor, tired and weary. The next day, when about five miles +from home, we met one of the neighbors, who informed me that he had +tried to get me over the phone all along the way; that my wife had been +awfully sick and that the baby had been born, dead. It struck me like a +hammer, and noting my frightened look, he spoke up quickly: + +"But she's all right now. She had two doctors and didn't lack for +attention." + +On the way home I was so nervous that I could hardly wait for the horses +to get there. I would not have been away at this time for anything in +the world. I knew Orlean would forgive me, but we had not told her +father. Orlean had told her mother and thought she would tell him. He +made so much ado about everything, we hoped to avoid the tire of his +burdensome letters, but now, with the baby born during my absence, and +it dead, when we had so many plans for its future. It was to have been +the first colored child born on the Little Crow, and we thought we were +going to make history. + +When I got to the claim I was weak in every way. My wife seemed none the +worse, but my emotions were intense when I saw the little dead boy. Poor +little fellow! As he lay stiff and cold I could see the image of myself +in his features. My wife noticed my look and said: + +"It is just like you, dear!" + +That night we buried the baby on the west side of the draw. It should +have been on the east, where the only trees in the township, four +spreading willows, cast their shadows. + +"Well, dear, we have each other," I comforted her as she cried. + +Between sobs she tried to tell me how she had prayed for it to live, and +since it had looked so much like me, she thought her heart would break. + +When the child was born they had sent a telegram to her father which +read: + +"Baby born dead. Am well." + +This was his first knowledge of it. We received a telegram that night +that he was on the way and the next day he arrived, bringing Ethel with +him. When he got out of the livery rig that brought them I could see +Satan in his face. A chance had come to him at last. It seemed to say: + +"Oh, now I'll fix you. Away when the child was born, eh?" + +His very expression seemed jubilant. He had longed for some chance to +get me and now it had arrived. He did not speak to me, but bounded into +the room where my wife was, and she must have read the same thing in his +expression, for, as he talked about it later, I learned the first thing +she said was: + +"Now, papa. You must not abuse Oscar. He loves me and is kind and doing +the best he can, but he is all tied up with debt." + +He would tell this every few hours but I could see the evil of his heart +in the expression of his eyes, leering at me, with hatred and malice in +every look. He and Ethel turned loose in about an hour. From that time +on, it was the same as being in the house with two human devils. They +nearly raised the roof with their quarreling. Of the two, the Reverend +was the worst, for he was cunning and deceitful, pretending in one +sentence to love, and in the next taking a thrust at my emotions and +home. I shall never forget his evil eyes. + +Ethel would cry out in her ringing voice: + +"You're practical! You're practical! You and your Booker T. Washington +ideas!" + +Then she would tear into a string of abusive words. One day, after the +doctor had been to the house, he called me aside and said: + +"Oscar, your wife is physically well enough, but is mentally sick. +Something should be done so that she may be more quiet." + +"Is she quite out of danger?" I asked. + +He replied that she was. That night I told my wife of our conversation +and the next day I left for Megory county. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +SANCTIMONIOUS HYPOCRISY + + +I was preparing to seed the biggest crop I had ever sown. With Orlean +helping me, by bringing the dinner to the field and doing some chores, +during the fall we had put the farm into winter wheat and I had rented +the other Megory county farm. I hired a steam rig, to break two hundred +acres of prairie on the Tipp county homesteads, for which I was to pay +three dollars an acre and haul the coal from Colone, a distance of +thirty-five miles, the track having been laid to that point on the +extension west from Calias. + +I intended to break one hundred acres with my horses and put it into +flax. I had figured, that with a good crop, it would go a long way +toward helping me get out of debt. I worked away feverishly, for I had +gotten deeper into debt by helping my folks get the land in Tipp county. + +After putting in fifteen acres of spring wheat, I hauled farm machinery +to my sister's claim, and then began hauling coal from Colone. It was on +Friday. I was driving two horses and two mules abreast, hitched to a +wagon loaded with fifty hundred pounds of coal, and trailing another +with thirty hundred pounds, when one of the mules got unruly, going down +a hill, swerved to one side, and in less time than it takes to tell it, +both wagons had turned turtle over a fifteen-foot embankment and I was +under eight thousand pounds of coal, with both wagons upside down and +the hind wagonbox splintered almost to kindling. That I was not hurt was +due to the fact that the grade had been built but a few days previously, +had not settled and the loose dirt had prevented a crash. I attempted to +jump when I saw the oncoming disaster, but caught my foot in the brake +rope which pulled me under the loads. + +A day and a half was lost in getting the wreck cleared so I could +proceed to my sister's claim, from where I had intended going home to my +wife, fifteen miles away. I had left the Reverend in charge after he and +Ethel had said about all the evil things words could express, and he, +finding that I was inclined to be peaceful, had shown his hatred of me +in every conceivable manner, until Orlean, who could never bear noise or +quarreling, decided it would be better that I go away and perhaps he +would quit. I did not get home that trip on account of the delay caused +by the wreck, but sent my sister with a letter, stating that I would +come home the next trip, and describing the accident. + +I went back to Colone, and while eating supper someone told me three +colored people were in Colone, and one of them was a sick woman. I could +hardly believe what I heard. My appetite vanished and I arose from the +table, paid the cashier and left the place, going to the hotel around +the corner, and there sat my wife. I went to her side and whispered: + +"Orlean, what in heaven's name are you doing here? And why did you come +out in such weather." + +She was still very sick and wheezed when she answered, trembling at the +same time: + +"You said I could go home until I got well." + +"Yes, I know," I answered, controlling my excitement. "But to leave home +in such weather is foolhardy." + +It had been snowing all day and was slippery and cold outside. + +"And, besides," I argued, "you should never have left home until I +returned. Didn't you get my letter?" I inquired, looking at her with a +puzzled expression. + +"No," she replied, appearing bewildered. "But I saw Ollie hand something +to papa." + +I then recalled that I had addressed the letter to him. + +"But," I went on, "I wrote you a letter last week that you should have +received not later than Saturday." + +"I--I--I never received it," she answered, and seemed frightened. + +I could not understand what had taken place. I had left my wife two +weeks before, feeling that I held her affections, and had thought only +of the time we'd be settled at last, with her well again. + +The Reverend had said so much about her going home that I had consented, +but had stipulated that I would wait until she was better and would then +see whether we could afford it or not. + +Suddenly a horrible suspicion struck me with such force as almost to +stagger me, but calming myself, I decided to talk to the elder. He came +in about that time and looked very peculiar when he saw me. + +The town was full of people that night and he had some difficulty in +getting a room, but had finally succeeded in getting one in a small +rooming house, and to it we now helped Orlean, who was anything but +well. + +As we carried her, I could hardly suppress the words that came to my +lips, to say to him when we got into the room, but thought it best not +to say anything. Ethel, who was sitting there when we entered, never +deigned to speak to me, but her eyes conveyed the enmity within. The +Reverend was saying many kind words, but I was convinced they were all +pretense and that he was up to some dirty trick. I was further convinced +that he not only was an arrant hypocrite, but an enemy of humanity as +well, and utterly heartless. When he and Ethel had entered our home +three weeks before, neither shed a tear nor showed any emotion whatever, +and had not even referred to the death of the baby, but set up a quarrel +that never ceased after I went away. + +"Reverend," I said. "Will you and Ethel kindly leave the room for a few +minutes? I would like to speak with Orlean alone." + +They never deigned to move an inch, but finally the Reverend said: + +"We'll not leave unless Orlean says so." + +In that moment he appeared the most contemptible person I ever knew. My +wife began crying and said she wanted to see her mother, that she was +sick, and wanted to go home until she got well. I was angry all over and +turned on the preacher, exclaiming hotly: + +"Rev. McCraline, I left you in charge of my wife out of respect for you +as her father, but," here I thundered in a terrible voice, "you have +been up to some low-lived trick and if I thought you were trying to +alienate my wife's affections, or had done so, I would stop this thing +right here and sue you, if you were worth anything." + +At this he flushed up and answered angrily: + +"I'm worth as much as you." + +He was a poor hand at anything but quarreling, but knowing we'd make a +scene, I said no more. It was a long night, Orlean was restless, and +wheezed and coughed all through the night. + +I have wondered since why I did not take the bull by the horns and +settle the matter then, but guess it was for the sake of peace, that +I've accepted the situation and remained quiet. I decided it would be +best to let her go home without a big row, and when she had recovered, +she could come home, and all would be well. + +My wife had informed me that Claves kept up the house, paid for the +groceries and half of the installments, while her father paid for the +other half, but never bought anything to eat, nor sent any money home, +only bringing eggs, butter, and chickens when he came into the city +three or four times a year. But Claves' name was not on the contract for +the home, only her father's name appearing. Her father was extremely +vain and I had not pleased him because I was independent, and he did not +like independent people. She also told me that her father always kept up +a row when he was at home, but always charged it to everybody else. + +The next morning, just before we started for the depot, I said: + +"I'll step into the bank and get a check cashed and give Orlean some +money. I haven't much, but I want her to have her own money." + +"Never mind, my son, just never mind. I can get along," said the +Reverend, keeping his head turned and appearing ill at ease, though I +thought nothing of that at the time. + +"I wouldn't think of such a thing!" I answered, protesting that he was +not able to pay her way. "I wouldn't think of allowing her to accept +it." + +"Now! Now! Why do you go on so? Haven't I told you I have enough?" he +answered in a tenor voice, trying to appear winsome. + +Feeling that I knew his disposition, I said no more, but as we were +passing the bank, I started to enter, saying to my wife: + +"I am going to get you some money." + +She caught me by the sleeve and cried excitedly: "No! No! No! Don't, +because I have money." Hesitating a moment and repeating, "I have +money." + +"You have money?" I repeated, appearing to misunderstand her statement. +"How did you get money?" + +"Had a check cashed," she answered nervously. + +"O, I see!" I said. "How much?" + +"Fifty dollars," she answered, clinging to my arm. + +"Good gracious, Orlean!" I exclaimed, near to fright. "We haven't got +that much in the bank." + +"Oh! Oh! I didn't want to," and then called to her father, who was just +coming with the baggage: "Papa! Papa! You give Oscar back that money. +He hasn't got it. Oh! Oh! I didn't want to do this, but you said it +would be all right, and that the cashier at the bank, where you got it +cashed, called up the bank in Calias and said the check was all right. +Oh! Oh!" she went on, beside herself with excitement, and holding her +arms out tremblingly and repeating: "I didn't want to do this." + +I can see the look in his face to this day. All the hypocrisy and +pretense vanished, leaving him a weak, shame-faced creature, and looking +from one side to the other stammered out: + +"I didn't do it! I didn't do it! You--You--You know, you told her she +should write a check for any money she needed and she did it, she did +it." + +Here again my desire for peace over-ruled my good judgment. Instead of +stopping the matter then and there, I spoke up gravely, saying: + +"I don't mind Orlean's going home. In fact, I want her to go home and to +have anything to help her get well and please her, but I haven't the +money to spare. Her sickness, with a doctor coming into the country +twice daily, has been very expensive, and we just have not the money, +that is all." + +When he saw I was not going to put a stop to it, he took courage and +spoke sneakingly: + +"Well, the man in the bank at Carlin called up the bank of Calias, and +they said the money was there." + +"O," I said, "as far as that goes, I had five hundred dollars there last +week, it has all been checked out, but some of the checks likely are +still out." + +I took twenty-five dollars of the money and gave Orlean twenty-five +dollars. Her ticket was eighteen dollars. I went with them as far as +Calias, to see how my account stood. I kissed Orlean good-bye before +leaving the train at Calias, then I went directly to the bank and +deposited the twenty-five dollars. The checks I had given had come in +that morning, and even after depositing the twenty-five, I found my +account was still overdrawn thirty dollars. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +BEGINNING OF THE END + + +I waited to hear from my wife in Chicago but at the end of two weeks I +had not heard from her, although I had written three letters, and a week +later I journeyed to Colone and took a train for Chicago. When I called +at the house the next day her mother admitted me, but did not offer to +shake hands. She informed me Orlean was out, but that it was the first +time she had been out, as she had been very sick since coming home. When +I asked her why Orlean had not written, she said: + +"I understand you have mistreated my child." + +"Mistreated Orlean!" I exclaimed. Then, looking into her eyes, I asked +slowly, "Did Orlean tell you that?" + +"No," she answered, looking away, "but my husband did." + +Gradually, I learned from her, that the Reverend had circulated a report +that Orlean was at death's door when he came to her bedside; if he had +not arrived when he did, she would have died, and when she was well +enough to travel, he brought her home. + +It was at last clear to me, as I sat with bowed head and feeling +bewildered and unable to speak. I recalled the words of Miss Ankin +eighteen months before, "the biggest rascal in the Methodist church." I +remembered the time I had called and saw him driving his wife, who was +now sitting before me, and the rest of it. I saw all that he had done. +He had abused this woman for thirty years, and here and now, out of +spite and personal malice, because I had criticized the action of +certain members of the race, and eulogized the work of Booker T. +Washington, whom the elder, along with many of the older members of the +ministry, hated and would not allow his name mentioned in his home, I +was to lose my wife, to pay the penalty. + +He had disliked me from the beginning, but there had been no way he +could get even. He was "getting even," spiting me, securing my wife by +coercion, and now spreading a report that I was mistreating her, in +order to justify his action. + +"Mrs. McCraline," I said, speaking in a firm tone, "Do you believe +this?" + +Evading the direct question, she answered: + +"You should never have placed yourself or Orlean in such a position." +And then I understood. When Orlean had written her mother of the coming +of the child, Mrs. McCraline had not written or told the Reverend about +it. + +I now understood, further, that she never told him anything, and never +gave him any information if she could avoid it. What my wife had told me +was proving itself, that is, that they got along with her father by +avoiding any friction. He could not be reasoned with, but I could not +believe any man would be mean enough to deliberately break up a home, +and that the home of his daughter, for so petty a reason. It became +clear to me that he ruled by making himself so disagreeable, that +everyone near gave in to him, to have peace. + +He had only that morning gone to his work. On hearing me, Ethel came +downstairs and called up Claves. A few minutes later her mother called +me, saying Claves wanted to talk to me. When I took the receiver and +called "hello," he answered like a crazy man. I said: + +"What is the matter? I do not understand what you are talking about." + +"What are you doing in my house, after what you said about me?" he +shouted excitedly. + +"Said about you?" I asked. + +"Yes," he replied, "I hear you treated my wife like a dog, after I sent +her out there to attend to your wife, called me all kinds of bad names, +and said I was only a fifteen-cent jockey." + +"Treated your wife ugly, and called you a jockey," here I came to and +said to myself that here was some more of the elder's work, but I +answered Claves: "I haven't the faintest idea of what you are talking +about. I treated your wife with the utmost courtesy while she was in +Dakota, I never mentioned your name in any such terms as you refer to, +and I am wholly at a loss to understand the condition of affairs I find +here. I am confused over it all." + +"Well," he answered, "suppose you come down to where I work and we will +talk it over." + +"I'll do that," I answered, and went down town where he worked on Wabash +avenue. + +One thing I had noticed about him was, that while he was ignorant, he +was at least an honest, hard-working fellow, but was kept in fear by his +wife and the elder. I saw after talking to him, that he, like Mrs. +McCraline, did not believe a word of what the Reverend had told about +my mistreating his daughter, and that he submitted to the elder, as the +rest of the family did, for the sake of peace. But they were all trained +and avoided saying anything about the elder. + +During the conversation with Claves he told me he kept up the house, +paid all the grocery bills, and half the payments. He had been advanced +to a salary of eighteen dollars a week and seemed to be well liked by +the management. + +I went to a hotel run by colored people, and at about seven-thirty that +evening, called up the house to see if Orlean had returned. She came to +the phone but before we had said much, were accidentally cut off. +Hearing her voice excited me, and I wanted to see her, so hung up the +receiver and hurried to the house, some ten or twelve blocks away. When +I rang the bell, Claves came to the door. Before he could let me enter, +Ethel came running down the stairs, screaming as loudly as she could: + +"Don't let him in! Don't let him in! You know what papa said! Don't you +let him in," and continued screaming as loud as possible. + +I heard my wife crying in the back room. Claves had his hat on and came +outside, saying: + +"For God's sake, Ethel, hush up! You'll have all the neighborhood out." + +She continued to scream, and to stop her, he closed the door. We went +together on State street and I took a few Scotch highballs and cocktails +to try to forget it. + +The next day being Sunday, Claves said he would try to get Ethel off to +church and then I could slip in and see Orlean, but she refused to go +and when I called up, about the time I thought she would be gone, she +was on guard. My wife was at the phone and told me to come over and she +would try to slip out, but when I called, Ethel had made her go to bed. +It seemed that she ran the house and all in it, when the elder was away. +Mrs. McCraline came outside, took me by the arm and led me over to +Groveland park, near the lake. Here she unfolded a plan whereby I should +find a room nearby, and she would slip Orlean over to it, but this +proved as unsuccessful as the other attempt, to steal a march on Ethel. +She held the fort and I did not get to see my wife but one hour during +the four days I was in Chicago. That was on Tuesday following, after +Claves had tried every trick and failed to get Ethel away. This time he +succeeded by telling her I had left town, but when I had been in the +house an hour, Ethel came and started screaming. I had to get out before +she would stop. + +The next day I called up and suggested to Orlean that I bring a doctor +and leave her in his charge for I must return to Dakota. She consented +and I went to a young negro doctor on State street and took him to the +house, but when we arrived, Ethel would not admit us. The doctor and I +had roomed together before I left Chicago, while he was attending the +Northwestern Medical School, and we had always been good friends. He had +been enthusiastic over my success in the west and it made me feel +dreadfully embarrassed when we were refused admittance. When I called up +the house later Ethel came to the phone, and said: + +"How dare you bring a 'nigger doctor' to our house? Why, papa has never +had a negro doctor in his house. Dr. Bryant is our doctor." + +Dr. Bryant, a white doctor, is said to have the biggest practice among +colored people, of any physician. That recalled to my mind some of the +elder's declarations of a short time before. He had said on more than +one occasion: + +"I am sacrificing my life for this race," and would appear much +affected. + +After I returned home, my wife began writing nice letters, and so did +Claves, who had done all a hen-pecked husband could do to help my wife +and me. He wrote letters from the heart, declaring his intention to be +more than a friend. He would be a brother. I received a letter from him, +which read: + + + Chicago, Ill., May 30, 19--. + + DEAR FRIEND DEVEREAUX: + + Your kind and welcome letter was received a few days ago and the + reason you did not receive my last letter sooner was because I left + it for Ethel to mail, and she didn't do so. I am glad to hear you + are getting your flax in good shape, and the prospects are fair for + a good crop, and now I will tell you about Orlean. She seems + happier of late than she has been at any time since she came home. + Now, I don't know how you will feel, but I know it relieves my + conscience, when I say that your wife loves you, and talks of + you--to me--all the time. + + Those papers, and pamphlets you sent telling all about the display + Nicholson brothers had on at the Omaha land show. She had opened it + and when I came home she told me she could not wait because she was + so anxious to hear about the Little Crow. She told me that + Nicholson brothers were your best friends. I imagine they must be + smart fellows for every paper in the batch you sent me had + something about them in it. She took the money you sent her and + bought some shoes and had some pictures made, so as to send you + one. Mrs. Warner was over the next day, and said; "Where did you + get the shoes?" and she answered, "My husband sent them to me." + + Now, I hope you will not worry because she told me as soon as she + was well enough she was going back to Dakota, and as for me, I + intend to be more than a friend to you. I'm going to be a brother. + + From your dear friend, + + E.M. CLAVES. + + +My wife had written at the same time and used many "we" and "ours" in +her letter, and I felt the trouble would soon be over and she would be +at home. + +That was the last letter I received from Claves, and when I heard from +my wife again, it was altogether different. Instead of an endearing +epistle, it was one of accusation, downright abusive. I made no +complaint, nor did I write to Claves to inquire why he had ceased +writing. I had always judged people by their convictions and in this I +knew the cause. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +THE MENNONITES + + +During the first half of the sixteenth century, Menno Simons founded a +denomination of Christians in Friesland, a province of the Netherlands. +Many of these Mennonites settled in Northern Germany. This religious +belief was opposed to military service and about the close of the +American Revolution the Mennonites began emigrating, until more than +fifty thousand of their number had found homes west of the Dneiper, near +the Black Sea, in Southern Russia, around Odessa. These people were +fanatical in their belief, rejected infant baptism and original sin, +believing in baptism only on profession of faith, and were opposed to +theological training. + +In Russia, as in Germany, they led lives of great simplicity, both +secularly and religiously and lived in separate communities. + +The gently rolling lands, with a rich soil, responded readily to +cultivation, and history proves the Germans always to have been good +farmers. The Mennonites found peace and prosperity in southern Russia, +until the Crimean war. Being opposed to military service, when Russia +began levying heavy taxes on their lands and heavier toll from their +families, by taking the strong young men to carry on the war, the +Mennonites became dissatisfied under the Russian government, and left +the country in great numbers, removing to America, and settling along +the Jim river in South Dakota. + +Among these settlers was a family by the name of Wesinberger, who had +grown prosperous, their forefathers having gone to Russia among the +first, although they were not Mennonites. Christopher the youngest son, +was among those drawn to go to the war, but the Wesinbergers were +prosperous, and paid the examining physician twelve hundred and fifty +rubles (about one thousand dollars) to have Christopher "made sick" and +pronounced unfit for service. With the approach of the Russian-Japanese +War, when it was seen that Russia would be forced into war with Japan, +the boys having married, and with sons of their own, who would have to +"draw," the Wesinberger brothers sold their land and set sail for +America. At the time the war broke out, John and Jacob were living on +homesteads, in the county adjoining Tipp county on the north, +Christopher having settled in western Canada. + +It was while they were breaking prairie near my sister's homestead, that +I became acquainted with the former, who, at that time owned a hundred +and fifty head of cattle, seventy-five head of horses, hogs, and all +kinds of farm machinery, besides a steam prairie breaking outfit and +fifteen hundred acres of land between them. + +During rainy days along in April, to pass the time away, I would visit +them, and while sitting by the camp fire was told of what I have written +above, but where they interested me most was when they discussed +astronomy and meteorology. They could give the most complete description +of the zodiacal heavens and the different constellations. It seems that +astronomy had interested their ancestors before leaving Germany nearly +one hundred and thirty years before, and it had been taught to each +succeeding generation. They seemed to know the position of each planet, +and on several occasions when the nights were clear, with a powerful +telescope, they would try to show them to me, but as I knew little or +nothing of astronomy, I understood but little of their discussions +concerning the heliocentric longitude of all the planets, or the points +at which they would appear if seen from the sun. + +Before many months rolled around I had good reason to believe at least a +part of what they tried to explain to me, and that was, that according +to the planets we were nearing a certain Jupiter disturbance. + +"And what does that mean?" I asked. + +"That means," they explained, "It will be dry." + +"Jupiter" said John, as he leisurely rolled a cigarette, +"circumnavigates the sun once while the earth goes around it twelve +times. In Russia Jupiter's position got between the sun and the +constellation Pisces, Aries, Taurus and Gemini, it was invariably wet +and cool and small grain crops were good, but as it passed on and got +between the sun and the constellations Libra and Scorpio it was always +followed by a minimum of rainfall and a maximum heat, which caused a +severe drouth." + +They had hoped it would be different in America, but explained further +that when they had lived in Russia it commenced to get dry around St. +Petersburg, Warsaw and all northern Russia a year or so before it did in +southern Russia. + +They had relatives living around Menno, in Hutchinson County, South +Dakota, who had witnessed the disastrous drouth during Cleveland's +administration. Jupiter was nearing the position it had then occupied +and would, in sixty days, be at the same position it had been at that +time. + +While few people pay any attention to weather "dopsters," I did a little +thinking and remembered it had been dry in southern Illinois at that +time, and I began to feel somewhat uneasy. According to their knowledge, +if the same in southern America as it had been in southern Russia, it +would begin to get dry about a year before the worst drouth, then a very +dry year, the third year would begin to improve, and after the fourth +year conditions would again become normal, but the concensus of their +opinion was there would be a drouth. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +THE DROUTH + + +A cloudy and threatening day in May, there came an inch of rainfall. I +had completed sowing two hundred and fifty acres of flax a few days +before, and soon everything looked beautiful and green. I felt extremely +hopeful. + +During the six years I had been farming in Dakota, I had raised from +fair to good crops every year. The seasons had been favorable, and if a +good crop had not been raised, it was not the fault of the soil or from +lack of rainfall. The previous year had not been as wet as others, but I +had raised a fair crop, and at this time had four hundred and ten acres +in crop and one hundred and ten acres rented out, from which I was to +receive one third of the crop. I had come west with hopes of bettering +my financial condition and had succeeded fairly well. + +Around me at this time others had grown prosperous, land had advanced +until some land adjoining Megory had brought one hundred dollars per +acre, and land a few miles from town sold for fifty to eighty dollars +per acre. + +Before settling in the west I had read in real estate advertisements all +about the wheat land that could be bought from ten to twenty-five +dollars per acre, that would raise from twenty-five to forty bushels of +wheat to the acre. While all this was quite possible I had never raised +over twenty-five bushels per acre, and mostly harvested from ten to +twenty. I had wondered, before I left Chicago, how, at a yield of thirty +bushels per acre (and for the last seven or eight years prices had +ranged from seventy cents to one dollar per bushel for wheat) the +farmers could spend all the money. Of course, I had learned, in six +years, that twenty-five to forty or fifty bushels per acre, while +possible, was far from probable, and considerably above the average. + +The average yield for all wheat raised in the United States is about +fourteen bushels per acre, but crops had averaged from fair to good all +over the northwest for some fifteen or sixteen years, with some +exceptions, and the question I had heard asked years before, "Will the +drouth come again," was about forgotten. + +During the three years previous to this time, poor people from the east, +and around Megory and Calias as well, who were not able to pay the +prices demanded for relinquishments and deeded lands in Megory, Tipp +county, or the eastern states, had flocked by thousands to the western +part of the state and taken free homesteads. At the beginning of this, +my seventh season in Dakota, the agricultural report showed an +exceedingly large number of acres had been seeded, and the same report +which was issued June eighth, reported the condition of all growing +crops to be up to the ten-year average and some above. + +It was on Sunday. I had quit breaking prairie on account of the ground +being too dry, and while going along the road, I noticed a field of +spelt that looked peculiar. Going into the field, I dug my fingers into +the soil, and found it dry. I could not understand how it had dried out +so quickly; but thinking it would rain again in a few days, it had been +but ten days since the rain, I thought no more about it. The following +week, although it clouded up and appeared very threatening, the clouds +passed and no rain fell. On Saturday I drove into Ritten, and on the way +again noticed the peculiar appearance of the growing plants. It was the +topic of discussion in the town, but no one seemed willing to admit that +it was from the lack of moisture. The weather had been very hot all week +and the wind seemed to blow continually from the south. + +In past years, after about two days of south winds, we were almost sure +to have rain. The fact that the wind had blown from the south for nearly +two weeks and no rain had fallen caused everybody to be anxious. That +night was cloudy, the thunder and lightning lasted for nearly two hours, +but when I went to the door, I could see the stars, and the next day the +heat was most intense. + +The Wesinbergers had said the heavens would be ablaze with lightning and +resound with peals of thunder but that they were only solstice storms, +coming up in unusual directions, and that such storms were +characteristic of a dry season. Furthermore, that heavy, abnormal rains +would occur in scattered localities, at the same time, but they would be +few and far apart. + +June fifteenth I took my sister to Victor to make proof on her +homestead, and from there drove to Megory, stopping in Calias to send my +wife a telegram to the effect that I felt I was going to be sick and +for her to draw a draft on the Bank of Calias, and come home. The +telegram was not answered. + +Next morning my sister left for Kansas, and that afternoon a heavy +downpour of rain fell all over Megory county and as far west as Victor, +but north of Ritten, where I had my flax crop, there was scarcely +sufficient rain to lay the dust. On that day the hot winds set in and +lasted for seven weeks, the wind blowing steadily from the south all the +while. + +I had never before, during the seven years, suffered to any extent from +the heat, but during that time I could not find a cool place. The wind +never ceased during the night, but sounded its mournful tune without a +pause. Then came a day when the small grain in Tipp county was beyond +redemption, and rattled as leaves in November. The atmosphere became +stifling, and the scent of burning plants sickening. + +My flax on the sod, which was too small to be hurt at the beginning of +the drouth, began to need rain, and reports in all daily papers told +that the great heat wave and the drouth in many places were worse than +in Tipp county. All over the western and northern part of the state, +were localities where it had not rained that season. Potatoes, wheat, +oats, flax, and corn, in the western part of the state, had not +sprouted, and, it was said, in a part of Butte county, where seed had +been sown four inches deep the year before, there had not been enough +rain since to make it sprout. + +The government had spent several million dollars damming the Belle +Fourche river for the purpose of irrigation, and the previous autumn, +when it had been completed, the water in it had been run onto the land, +to see how it would work, and since had been dry. No snow had fallen in +the mountains during the winter, and all the rivers were as dry as the +roads; while all the way from the gulf, to Canada, the now protracted +drouth was burning everything in its wake. + +At Kansas City, where the treacherous Kaw empties its waters into the +Missouri, and had for years wrought disaster with its notorious floods, +drowning out two and sometimes three crops in a single spring, was +nearly dry, and the crops were drying up throughout its valley. + +I spent the Fourth of July in Victor, where the people shook their heads +gravely and said, "Tipp county will never raise a crop." The crops had +dried up in Tipp county the year before. I read that the railroad men +who run from Kansas City to Dodge City reported that the pastures +through Kansas were so dry along the route, that a louse could be seen +crawling a half mile away. In parts of Iowa the farmers commenced to put +their stock in pens and fed them hay from about the middle of June, +there being no feed in the pastures. Through eastern Nebraska, western +Iowa and southern Minnesota, the grasshoppers began to appear by the +millions, and proceeded to head the small grain. To save it, the farmers +cut and fed it to stock, in pens. + +[Illustration: The crops began to wither. (page 289.)] + +The markets were being over-run with thin cattle from the western +ranges, where the grass had never started on account of lack of +moisture. I watched my flax crop and early in July noticed it +beginning to wilt, then millions of army worms began cutting it down. +On the eleventh I left for Megory county, with my stock, to harvest the +winter wheat there. It had been partially saved by the rain in June. The +two hundred and eighty-five acres of flax was a brown, sickly-looking +mess, and I was badly discouraged, for outside of my family trouble, I +had borrowed my limit at the bank, and the flax seed, breaking, and +other expenses, had amounted to eleven hundred dollars. + +About this time the settlers all over the western highlands began to +desert their claims. Newspapers reported Oklahoma burned to a crisp, and +Kansas scorched, from Kansas City to the Colorado line. Homesteaders to +the north and west of us began passing through the county, and their +appearance presented a contrast to that of a few years before. Fine +horses that marched bravely to the land of promise, drawing a prairie +schooner, were returning east with heads hanging low from long, stringy +necks, while their alkalied hoofs beat a slow tattoo, as they wearily +dragged along, drawing, in many cases, a dilapidated wagon over which +was stretched a tattered tarpaulin; while others drew rickety hacks or +spring wagons, with dirty bedding and filthy looking utensils. These +people had not made a dollar in the two years spent on their homesteads. +At Pierre, it was said, seven hundred crossed the the Missouri in a +single day, headed east; while in the settlements they had left, the few +remaining settlers went from one truck patch to another, digging up the +potatoes that had been planted in the spring, for food. + +One day I crossed the White river and went to visit the Wisenbergers, +who lived seventeen miles to the north. On the way, out of forty-seven +houses I passed, only one had an occupant. The land in that county is +underlaid with a hardpan about four inches from the surface, and had not +raised a crop for two years. The settlers had left the country to keep +from starving. As I drove along the dusty road and gazed into the empty +houses through the front doors that banged to and fro with a monotonous +tone, from the force of the hot south winds, I felt lonely and faraway; +the only living thing in sight being an occasional dog that had not left +with his master, or had returned, but on seeing me, ran, with tucked +tail, like a frightened coyote. + +Merchants were being pressed by the wholesale houses. The recent years +had been prosperous, and it is said prosperity breeds contempt and +recklessness. The townspeople and many farmers had indulged lavishly in +chug-chug cars. Bankers and wholesale houses, who had always criticised +so much automobilism, were now making some wish they had never heard the +exhaust of a motor. In addition to this the speculators were loaded to +the guards, with lands carrying as heavy mortgage as could be had--which +was large--for prosperity had caused loan companies to increase the +amount of their loans. No one wanted to buy. Every one wanted to sell. +The echo of the drouth seventeen years before and the disaster which +followed, rang through the country and had the effect of causing prices +to slump from five to fifteen dollars per acre less than a year before. + +Now what made it worse for Tipp county was, that it had been opened when +prosperity was at its zenith. The people were money mad. Reckless from +the prosperity which had caused them to dispense with caution and good +judgment, they were brought suddenly to a realization of a changed +condition. The new settlers, all from eastern points, came into Tipp +county, seeing Tipp county claims worth, not six dollars per acre, the +price charged by the Government, but finding ready sales at prices +ranging from twenty-five to forty-five dollars, and even fifty dollars +per acre. They had spent money accordingly. And now, when the parched +fields frowned, and old Jupiter Pluvius refused to speak, the community +faced a genuine panic. + + * * * * * + +Came a day, sultry and stifling with excessive heat, when I drove back +to the claims. Everywhere along the way were visible the effects of the +drouth. Vegetation had withered, and the trails gave forth clouds of +dust. + +Late in the afternoon clouds appeared in the northwest and the earth +trembled with the resounding peals of thunder. The lightning played +dangerously near, and then, like the artillery of a mighty battle, the +storm broke loose and the rain fell in torrents, filling the draws and +ravines, and overflowing the creeks, which ran for days after. All over +the north country the drouth was broken and plant life began anew. + +My wheat threshed about eight hundred bushels, and when marketed, the +money received was not sufficient to pay current expenses. Therefore, I +could not afford the outlay of another trip to Chicago, but wrote many +letters to Orlean, imploring her to return, but all in vain. + +During the summer I had received many letters from people in Chicago and +southern Illinois, denouncing the action of the Elder, in preventing my +wife from returning home. The contents of these letters referred to the +matter as an infamous outrage, and sympathized with me, by hoping my +wife would have courage to stand up for the right. I rather anticipated, +that with so much criticism of his action by the people belonging to the +churches in his circuit, he would relent and let her return home; but he +remained obstinate, the months continued to roll by, and my wife stayed +on. + +I had not written her concerning the drouth, which had so badly impaired +crops. I knew her people read all the letters she received, and felt +that with the knowledge in their possession that my crop had been cut +short, along with the rest, would not help my standing. They would be +sure to say to her, "I told you so." The last letter that I received +from my wife, that year, was written early in the fall, in answer to a +letter that I wrote her, and in which I had sent her some money, with +which to buy some things for my grandmother. When Orlean had been in +Dakota, she had been very fond of my grandmother, and had asked about +her in every letter, whether the letter was kind or abusive, as regarded +me. My wife's letter, stated that she had received the money, and +thanked me also stated that she would get the things for "Grandma" that +day. Neither grandmother or I received the things. + +I was so wrought up over it all, yet saw no place where I could get +justice. In order to show the Reverend that he was being criticized by +friends of the family, I gathered up some half dozen or more letters, +including the last one from Claves and one from Mrs. Ewis, and sent them +to him. The one from Mrs. Ewis related how he had written to her, just +before he took my wife away, saying that she was in dire need, and +wanted to borrow twenty-five dollars to bring her home. Needless to say, +she had not sent it, nor assisted him in any other way, in helping to +break up the home. As a result, she said, he had not spoken to her +since. + +I learned later that the letters I had sent had made him terribly angry. +I received a letter from him, the contents of which were about the same +as his conversation had been, excepting, that he did not profess any +love for me, which at least was a relief; but, from the contents, I +derived that he had expected his act to give him immortality, and +expressed surprise that he should be criticized for coming to Dakota and +saving the life of his child--as he put it--from the heartless man, that +was killing her in his efforts to get rich. + +He seemed to forget to mention any of the facts which had occurred +during his last trip, namely; his many declarations of undying love for +us; of how glad he was that we were doing so much toward the development +of the great west; and his remarks that if he was twenty-five years +younger it was where he would be. He also suggested that he would try to +be transferred to the Omaha District, so that he might be nearer us. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +A YEAR OF COINCIDENCES + + +Although the drouth had been broken all over the north, it lingered on, +to the south. My parents wrote me from Kansas, that thousands of acres +of wheat, sown early in the fall, had failed to sprout. It had been so +dry. The ground was as dry as powder, and the winds were blowing the +grain out of the sandy soil, which was drifting in great piles along the +fences and in the road. + +The government's final estimated yield of all crops was the smallest it +had been for ten years. As a result, loan companies who had allowed +interest to accumulate for one and two years, in the hope that the +farmers and other investors would be able to sell, such having been the +conditions of the past, now began to threaten foreclosure and money +became hard to get. + +From the south came reports that many counties in Oklahoma, that were +loaded with debt, had defaulted for two years on the interest, and +County warrants, that had always brought a premium, sold at a discount. + +The rain that had followed the drouth, in the north, as the winter +months set in, began to move south, and about Christmas came the +heaviest snows the south had known for years. With the snows came low +temperatures that lasted for weeks. As far south as Oklahoma city, zero +weather gripped the country, and to the west the cattle left on the +ranges froze to death by the thousands. A large part of those that +lived--few were fit for the market, they were so thin--were sold to +eastern speculators at gift prices, due to the fact that rough feed was +not to be had. + +The heavy snows that covered the entire country, from the Rocky +Mountains to the Atlantic, and the bitter cold weather that followed, +made shipping hazardous. Therefore, the rural districts suffered in +every way. Snow continued to fall and the cold weather held forth, until +it was to be seen, when warm weather arrived, the change would be +sudden, and floods would result, such was the case. + +It was a year of coincidences; the greatest drouth known for years, +followed by the coldest winter and the heaviest snows, and these in turn +by disastrous floods, will live long in memory. + +To me the days were long, and the nights lonely. The late fall rains +kept my flax growing until winter had set in, and snow fell before it +was all harvested. All I could see of my crop was little white +elevations over the field. There was no chance to get it threshed. My +capital had all been exhausted, and it was a dismal prospect indeed. I +used to sit there in my wife's lonely claim-house, with nothing else to +occupy my mind but to live over the happy events connected with our +courtship and marriage, and the sad events following her departure. + +During my life on the Little Crow, I had looked forward joyfully to the +time when I should be a husband and father, with a wife to love, and a +home of my own. This had been so dominant in my mind, that when I +thought it over, I could not clearly realize the present situation. I +lived in a sort of stupor and my very existence seemed to be a dreadful +nightmare. I would at times rouse myself, pinch the flesh, and move +about, to see if it was my real self; and would try to shake off the +loneliness which completely enveloped me. My head ached and my heart was +wrung with agony. + +I read a strange story, but its contents seemed so true to life. It +related the incident of a criminal who had made an escape from a +prison--not for freedom, but to get away for only an hour, that he might +find a cat, or a dog, or something, that he could love. + +It seems he had been an author, and by chance came upon a woman--during +the time of his escape--who permitted him to love her, and during the +short recess, to her he recited a poem entitled, "The right to love." +The words of that poem burned in my mind. + + "Love is only where is reply, + I speak, you answer; There am I, + And that is life everlasting." + + "Love lives, to seek reply. + I speak, no answer; Then I die, + To seek reincarnation." + +As the cold days and long nights passed slowly by, and I cared for the +stock and held down my wife's claim, the title of that story evolved in +my mind, and I would repeat it until it seemed to drive me near +insanity. I sought consolation in hope, and the winter days passed at +last; but I continued to hope until I had grown to feel that when I saw +my wife and called to her name, she would hear me and see the longing in +my heart and soul; then would come the day of redemption. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +"AND SATAN CAME ALSO." + + +Came a day when the snow had disappeared; my threshing was done; I had +money again, and to Chicago I journeyed. + +During the winter I had planned a way to get to see my wife, and took +the first step toward carrying it out, immediately following my arrival +in the city. + +I went to a telephone and called up Mrs. Ewis. She recognized my voice +and knew what I had come for. She said: "I am so glad I was near the +phone when you called up, because your father-in-law is in the house +this very minute." On hearing this I was taken aback, for it had not +occurred to me that he might be in the city. As the realization that he +was, became clear to me, I felt ill at ease, and asked how he came to be +in the city at that time. + +"Well," and from her tone I could see that she was also disturbed--"you +see tomorrow is election and yesterday was Easter, so he came home to +vote, and be here Easter, at the same time. Now, let me think a moment," +she said nervously. Finally she called: "Oscar, I tell you what I will +do, P.H. is sick and the Reverend has been here every day to see him." +Here she paused again, then went on: "I will try to get him to go home, +but he stays late. However, you call up in about an hour, and if he is +still here, I'll say 'this is the wrong number, see?'" + +"Yes," I said gratefully, and hung up the receiver. + +I had by this time become so nervous that I trembled, and then went down +into Custom House place--I had talked from the Polk Street station--and +took a couple of drinks to try to get steady. + +In an hour and a half I called up again and it was the "wrong number," +so I went out south and called on a young railroad man and his wife, by +the name of Lilis, who were friends of Orlean's and mine. + +After expressing themselves as being puzzled as to why the Reverend +should want to separate us, Mrs. Lilis told me of her. During the +conversation Mrs. Lilis said: "After you left last year, I went over to +see Orlean, and spoke at length of you, of how broken hearted you +appeared to be, and that she should be in Dakota. Mrs. McCraline looked +uncomfortable and tried to change the subject, but I said my mind, and +watched Orlean. In the meantime I thought she would faint right there, +she looked so miserable and unhappy. She has grown so fat, you know she +was always so peaked before you married her. Everybody is wondering how +her father can be so mean, and continue to keep her from returning home +to you, but Mrs. Ewis can and will help you get her because she can do +more with that family than anyone else. She and the Elder have been such +close friends for the last fifteen years, and she should be able to +manage him." + +Then her mother said: "Oscar, I have known you all your life; I was +raised up with your parents; knew all of your uncles; and know your +family to have always been highly respected; but I cannot for my life +see, why, if Orlean loves you, she lets her father keep her away from +you. Now here is my Millie," she went on, turning her eyes to her +daughter, "and Belle too, why, I could no more separate them from their +husbands than I could fly--even if I was mean enough to want to." + +"But why does he do it, Mama? The Reverend wants to break up the home of +Orlean and Oscar," Mrs. Lilis put in, anxiously. + +"Bless me, my child," her mother replied, "I have known N.J. McCraline +for thirty years and he has been a rascal all the while. I am not +surprised at anything that he would do." + +"Well," said Mrs. Lilis, with a sigh of resignation, "it puzzles me." + +I then told them about calling up Mrs. Ewis and what I had planned on +doing. It was then about nine-thirty. As they had a phone, I called Mrs. +Ewis again. + +While talking, I had forgotten the signal, and remembered it only when I +heard Mrs. Ewis calling frantically, from the other end of the wire, +"This is the wrong number, Mister, this is the wrong number." With an +exclamation, I hung up the receiver with a jerk. + +Mrs. Ankin lived about two blocks east, so I went to her house from Mrs. +Lilis'. On the street, the effect of what had passed, began to weaken +me. I was almost overcome, but finally arrived at Mrs. Ankins'. Just +before retiring, at eleven o'clock, I again called up Mrs. Ewis, and it +was still the "wrong number." I went to bed and spent a restless night. + +I awakened about five-thirty from a troubled sleep, jumped up, dressed, +then went out and caught a car for the west side. I felt sure the Elder +would go home during the night. + +It is always very slow getting from the south to the west side in +Chicago, on a surface car, and it was after seven o'clock when I arrived +at the address, an apartment building, where Mrs. Ewis' husband held the +position as janitor, and where they made their home, in the basement. + +She was just coming from the grocery and greeted me with a cheerful +"Good Morning," and "Do you know that rascal stayed here until twelve +o'clock last night," she laughed. She called him "rascal" as a nickname. +She took me into their quarters, invited me to a chair, sat down, and +began to talk in a serious tone. "Now Oscar, I understand your +circumstances thoroughly, and am going to help you and Orlean in every +way I can. You understand Rev. McCraline has always been hard-headed, +and the class of ministers he associates with, are more hard-headed +still. The Elder has never liked you because of your independence, and +from the fact that you would not let him rule your house and submit to +his ruling, as Claves does. Now Oscar, let me give you some advice. +Maybe you are not acquainted with the circumstances, for if you had +been, in the beginning, you might have avoided this trouble. What I am +telling you is from experience, and I know it to be true. Don't ever +criticize the preachers, to their faces, especially the older ones. They +know their views and practices, in many instances, to be out of keeping +with good morals, but they are not going to welcome any criticism of +their acts. In fact, they will crucify criticism, and persecute those +who have criticized them. Furthermore, you are fond of Booker T. +Washington, and his ideas, and Rev. McCraline, like many other negro +preachers, especially the older ones, hates him and everybody that +openly approves of his ideas. His family admire the educator, and so do +I, but we don't let on to him. Now I have a plan in mind, which I feel a +most plausible one, and which I believe will work out best for you, +Orlean, and and myself. Before I mention it, I want to speak concerning +the incident of last fall. When you sent him that bunch of letters, with +mine in it, he fairly raised cain; as a result, the family quit speaking +to me, and Orlean has not been over here for six months, until she and +Ethel came a few days before Easter, to get the hats I have always given +them. Now, she went on, seeming to become excited, if I should invite +Orlean over, the Elder would come along," which I knew to be true. "When +you wrote me last summer in regard to taking her to a summer resort, so +you could come and get her, I told Mary Arling about it. Now to be +candid, Mrs. Arling and I are not the best of friends. You know she +drinks a little too much, and I don't like that, but Mary Arling is a +friend of yours, and a smart woman." + +"Is that so?" I asked, showing interest, for I admired Mrs. Arling and +her husband. + +"Yes," Mrs. Ewis reassured me, "she is a friend of yours and you know +all the McCraline family admire the Arlings, and Orlean goes there +often." "Well, as I was saying", she went on, "last summer out at a +picnic, Mrs. Arling got tipsy enough to speak her mind and she simply +laid the family out about you. She told the Reverend right to his teeth +that he was a dirty rascal, and knew it; always had been, and that it +was a shame before God and man the way he was treating you. Yes, she +said it," she reassured me when I appeared to doubt a little. "And she +told me she wished you had asked her to take Orlean away; that she would +not only have taken her away from Chicago, but would have carried her on +back to Dakota where she wanted to be, instead of worrying her life away +in Chicago, in fear of her father's wrath. So now, my plan is that you +go over to her house, see? You know the address." + +I knew the house. "Well," and she put it down on a piece of paper, "you +go over there, and she will help you; and Oscar, for God's sake, she +implored, with tears in her eyes, do be careful. I know Orlean loves you +and you do her, but the Reverend has it in for you, and if he learned +you were in the city, Orlean would not be allowed to leave the house. +Now, she added, I will get him over here as soon as I can and you do +your part. Good-bye." + +I took a roundabout way in getting back to the south side, keeping out +of the colored neighborhood as long as possible, by taking a Halsted +street car south, got a transfer, and took a Thirty-fifth street car. + +I was careful to avoid meeting anyone who might know me, but who might +not be aware of my predicament, and who might thoughtlessly inform the +McCralines. + +I arrived at Mrs. Arlings without meeting anyone who knew me, however. +They owned and occupied an elaborate flat at an address in the +Thirty-seventh block on Wabash avenue. I rang the bell, which was +answered by a young lady unknown to me, but who, I surmised, roomed at +the house. She inquired the name, and when I had told her she let out an +"O!" and invited me into the parlor. She hurried away to tell Mrs. +Arling, who came immediately, and holding both hands out to me, said, "I +am so glad you came at last, Oscar, I am so glad." + +After we had said a few words concerning the weather, etc., I said in a +serious tone, "Mrs. Arling, I am being persecuted on account of my +ideas." + +"I know it, Oscar, I know it," she repeated, nodding her head +vigorously, and appeared eager. + +I then related briefly the events of the past year, including the +Reverend's trip to Dakota. + +Raising her arms in a gesture, she said: "If you remember the day after +you were married, when we had the family and you over to dinner, and you +and Richard (her husband), talked on race matters, that the Elder never +joined. Well, when you had gone Richard said: 'Oscar and the Elder are +not going to be friends long, for their views are too far apart.' When +he brought Orlean home last year I said to Richard, 'Rev. McCraline is +up to some trick.'" Continuing, she went on to tell me, "You are aware +how bitter most of the colored preachers are in regard to Booker T. +Washington." "Yes," I assented. "Mrs. Ewis and I talked the matter over +and she said the Reverend had it in for you from the beginning, that is, +he wanted to crush your theories, and have you submissive, like Ethel's +husband. He was more anxious to have you look up to him because you had +something; but after he found out you were not going to, well, this is +the result." + +"Now, Oscar, whatever you suggest, if it is in my power to do so, I will +carry it out, because I am sure Orlean loves you. She always seems so +glad when I talk with her about you. She comes over often," she went on, +"and we get to talking of you. Now before I tell you more, you must not +feel that she does not care for you, because she allows her father to +keep her away from you. Orlean is just simple, babylike and is easy to +rule. She gets that from her mother, for you know Mary Ann is helpless." +I nodded, and she continued. "As for the Reverend, he has raised them to +obey him, and they do, to the letter; the family, with Claves thrown in, +fear him, but as I was going to say: Orlean told me when I asked her why +she did not go on back to you, 'Well, I don't know.' You know how she +drags her speech. 'Oscar loves me, and we never had a quarrel. In fact, +there is nothing wrong between us and Oscar would do anything to please +me. The only thing I did not like, was, that Oscar thought more of his +land and money than he did of me, and I wanted to be first.'" + +"Isn't that deplorable," I put in, shaking my head sadly. + +"Of course it is," she replied with a shrug, "why, that could be settled +in fifteen minutes, if it were not for that old preacher. She always +likes to talk of you and it seems to do her good." + +"Now, my plan is," I started, with a determined expression, "to have you +call her up, see?" + +"Yes, yes," she answered anxiously. + +[Illustration: The cold days and long nights passed slowly by, and I +cared for the stock. (Page 296.)] + +"And invite her over on pretense of accompanying you to a matinee." + +"Yes, yes," and then, her face seemed to brighten with an idea, and she +said: "Why not go to a matinee?" + +"Why yes," I assented. "I had not thought of that," then, "Why sure, +fine and dandy. We will all go, yes, indeed," I replied, with good +cheer. + +She went to the phone and called up the number. In a few minutes she +returned, wearing a jubilant expression, and cried: "I've fixed it, she +is coming over and we will all go to a matinee. Won't it be fine?" she +continued, jumping up and down, and clapping her hands joyfully, beside +herself, with enthusiasm, and I joined her. + +Two hours later, Mrs. Hite--the young lady that answered the door when I +came that morning--called from the look-out, where she had been watching +while Mrs. Arling was dressing, and I, too nervous to sit still, was +walking to and fro across the room--that Orlean was coming. We had been +uneasy for fear the Elder might hear of my being in the city, before +Orlean got away. I rushed to the window and saw my wife coming leisurely +along the walk, entirely ignorant of the anxious eyes watching her from +the second-story window. I could see, at the first glance, she had grown +fleshy; she had begun before she left South Dakota. It was a bay window +and we watched her until she had come up the steps and pulled the bell. + +Mrs. Arling had told me my wife did not have any gentleman company. I +had not felt she had, for, in the first place, she was not that kind of +a woman, and if her father, by his ways, discouraged any men in coming +to see her while she was single, he was sure to discourage any +afterward. But Mrs. Arling had added: "I told her I was going to get her +a beau, so you get behind the door, and when she comes in I will tell +her that I have found the beau." + +I obeyed, and after a little Orlean walked into the room, smiling and +catching her breath, from the exertion of coming up the steps. I stepped +behind her and covered her eyes with my hands. Mrs. Arling chirped, +"That is your beau, so you see I have kept my word, and there he is." I +withdrew my hands and my wife turned and exclaimed "Oh!" and sank weakly +into a chair. + +We had returned from the theatre, where we witnessed a character play +with a moral, A Romance of the Under World. We had tickets for an +evening performance to see Robert Mantell in Richelieu. Mrs. Arling +ushered us into her sitting room, closed the door, and left us to +ourselves. + +I took my wife by the hand; led her to a rocker; sat down and drew her +down on my knee, and began with: "Now, dear, let us talk it over." + +I knew about what to expect, and was not mistaken. She began to tell me +of the "wrongs" I had done her, and the like. I calculated this would +last about an hour, then she would begin to relent, and she did. After I +had listened so patiently without interrupting her, but before I felt +quite satisfied, she wanted to go to the phone and call up the house to +tell the folks that I was in town. + +"Don't do that, dear," I implored. "I don't want them to know, that is, +just yet." The reason I was uneasy and wanted her to wait awhile was, +that I felt her father would go to call on Mrs. Ewis about eight o'clock +and it was now only seven. But she seemed restless and ill at ease, and +persisted that she should call up mother, and let her know, so I +consented, reluctantly. Then as she was on the way to the phone I called +her and said: "Now, Orlean there are two things a woman cannot be at the +same time, and that is, a wife to her husband and a daughter to her +father. She must sacrifice one or the other." + +"I know it," she replied, and appeared to be confused and hesitant, but +knowing she would never be at ease until she had called up, I said "Go +ahead," and she did. + +I shall not soon forget the expression on her face, then the look of +weak appeal that she turned on me, when her father's deep voice rang +through the phone in answer to her "Hello." The next instant she +appeared to sway and then leaned against the wall trembling as she +answered, "Oh! Pa-pa, ah," and seeming to have no control of her voice. +She now appeared frightened, while Mrs. Arling and Mrs. Hite stood near, +holding their breath and looked discouraged. She finally managed to get +it out, but hardly above a whisper, "Oscar is here." + +"Well," he answered, and his voice could be heard distinctly by those +standing near. "Well," he seemed to roar in a commanding way, "Why don't +you bring him to the house?" + +What passed after that I do not clearly remember, but I have read lots +of instances of where people lost their heads, where, if they would have +had presence of mind, they might have saved their army, won some great +victory or done something else as notorious, but in this I may be +classed as one of the unfortunates who simply lost his head. That is how +it was described later, but speaking for myself, when I heard the voice +of the man who had secured my wife by coercion and kept her away from me +a year; which had caused me to suffer, and turned my existence into a +veritable nightmare, the things that passed through my mind during the +few moments thereafter are sad to describe. + +I heard his voice say again, "Why don't you bring him to the house?" But +I could only seem to see her being torn from me, while he, a massive +brute, stood over lecturing me, for what he termed, "my sins," but what +were merely the ideas of a free American citizen. How could I listen to +a lecture from a person with his reputation. This formed in my mind and +added to the increasing but suppressed anger. I could see other years +passing with nothing to remember my wife by, but the little songs she +had sung so often while we were together in Dakota. + + "Roses, roses, roses bring memory of you, dear, + Roses so sweet and endearing, + Roses with dew of the morn; + You were fresh for a day then you faded away. + Red roses bring memories of you." + +The next moment I had taken the receiver from her hand, and called, +"Hello, Rev. McCraline," "Hello, Rev. McCraline," in a savage tone. When +he had answered, I continued in a more savage voice, "You ask my wife +why she did not bring me to the house?" + +"Yes," he answered. His voice had changed from the commanding tone, and +now appeared a little solicitous. "Yes, why don't you come to the +house?" I seemed to hear it as an insult. I did not seem to understand +what he meant, although I understood the words clearly. They seemed, +however, to say; "Come to the house, and I will take your wife, and then +kick you into the street." + +I answered, with anger burning my voice; "I don't want to come to your +house, because the last time I was there, I was kicked out. Do you hear? +Kicked out." + +"Well, I did not do it." Now, I had looked for him to say that very +thing. I felt sure that he had put Ethel up to the evil doing of a year +before, and now claimed to know nothing about it, which was like him. It +made me, already crazed with anger, more furious, and I screamed over +the phone "I know you didn't, and I knew that was what you would say, +but I know you left orders for it to be done." + +"Where is Orlean?" he put in, his voice returning to authoritative tone. + +"She is here with me," I yelled, and hung the receiver up viciously. + +It was only then I realized that Mrs. Arling and Mrs. Hite had hold of +each arm and had been shouting in my ears all this while, "Oscar, Mr. +Devereaux, Oscar, don't! don't! don't!" and in the meantime fear seemed +to have set my wife in a state of terror. She now turned on me, in +tones that did not appear natural. The words I cannot, to this day, +believe, but I had become calm and now plead with her, on my knees, and +with tears; but her eyes saw me not, and her ears seemed deaf to +entreaty. She raved like a crazy woman and declared she hated me. Of a +sudden, some one rang the bell viciously, and Mrs. Arling commanded me +to go up the stairs. I retreated against my will. She opened the door, +and in walked the Reverend. + +Orlean ran to him and fell into his arms and cried: "Papa, I do not know +what I would do if it were not for you," and kissed him--she had not +kissed me. After a pause, I went up to him. As I approached he turned +and looked at me, with a dreadful sneer in his face, which seemed to +say, "So I have caught you. Tried to steal a march on me, eh?" And the +eyes, they were the same, the eyes of a pig, expressionless. + +Feeling strange, but composed, I advanced to where he stood, laid my +hands upon his shoulder, looked into his face and said slowly, "Rev. +McCraline, don't take my wife"--paused, then went on, "why could you not +leave us for a day. We were happy, not an hour ago." Here my stare must +have burned, my look into his face was so intense, and he looked away, +but without emotion. "And now I ask you, for the sake of humanity, and +in justice to mankind, don't take my wife." + +Not answering me, he said to my wife: "Do you want your papa?" + +"Yes, yes," she said and leaned on him. Then she looked into his face +and said: "He insulted you." + +"Yes yes, dear," he answered. "He has done that right along, but you +step outside and Papa will tend to him." + +She still clung to him and said: "He has made you suffer." + +He bowed his head, and feigned to suffer. I stood looking on +mechanically. He repeated, "Run outside, dear," and he stood holding, +the door open, then, realization seemed to come to her, she turned and +threw herself into Mrs. Arling's arms, weakly, and broke into mournful +sobs. Her father drew her gently from the embrace and with her face in +her hands, and still sobbing, she passed out. He followed and through +the open door I caught a glimpse of Clavis on the sidewalk below, the +man who had written--not a year before, "I am going to be a brother, and +help you." + +The next moment the door closed softly behind them. That was the last +time I saw my wife. + + +THE END + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: + +Illustrations have been moved to the nearest paragraph break, but +otherwise reflect the location where they are placed in the original +publication. + +Obvious typos and printer errors have been corrected without comment. + +With the exception of obvious printer errors, inconsistencies in the +author's spelling, punctuation, and use of hyphens have been retained as +in the original book. Examples of such inconsistencies include, but are +not limited to: + + far-away/ faraway + batch/ bach + Governor Reulbach/ Governor Reulback + +Unconventional spelling has been retained in words such as (but not +limited to) the following: + + physicological: page 35 + monoply: page 50 + minature: page 150 + futhermore: page 153 + concensus: page 283 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Conquest, by Oscar Micheaux + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONQUEST *** + +***** This file should be named 39237.txt or 39237.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/2/3/39237/ + +Produced by Cathy Maxam, Glen Fellows and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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