The Chariton Leader, Chariton, Iowa Thursday, May 31, 1906 'THE EARLY PROSPECTS' - - - - - - - - This is an age of restless apprehension and the present seems hum-drum and the surroundings uninteresting. Skies far beyond the horizon only are azure and the beauties of nature appear in other climes. Why this condition exists it is hard to explain for certainly life offers as many opportunities here as in the regions now being exploited for commercial purposes -- but the unread is more attractive than the present state of existance. The past has a melancholy about it from which we gather great clusters of content in contemplation -- now that it is forever past -- melancholy because its associations are but memories. It is not likely there is a place in all the west country in its virgin state offering the advantages of Lucas County in its earlier days -- or where life could be more enjoyed -- with its broad prairies, interspersed with streams and small forests, with here and there patches that had yielded to civilized cultivation. Mountain scenery is grand, interlockin! g its mineral resources, but an Iowa prairie, with its deep, rich soil, expanse of waving blue stem grass and wild flowers is much more profound because it submits more readily to the needs of mankind. This picture is drawn from an observation of thirty-five or forty years ago. The face of nature has been so transformed that little remains of the original features. Population then was sparce and the commons were public property so far as its uses went and domestic animals from the Morgan horse down to the "hazel-splitter" hog chose its own feeding ground. Great herds of cattle grazed on the delicious grasses and sometimes thousands of sheep, the various flocks of the settlers, associated themselves as if for mutual protection against the avariciousness of the prairie wolves. In one of our school books we used to read a description of the Red River Valley with its wild herds of cattle and horses -- a scene appealing most vividly to the imagination. The writer brought ou! t the features so thoroughly that were he to attempt it at this time h e would immediately be accused of being in league with some immigration bureau. But the delineation was not over drawn. In the days of which we write there was a strip of prairie land between Honey Creek and the Mayfield slough, down in Washington Township, which serves as a duplicate of the author's model. Beyond was the Chariton River with its low land and fringe of native wood. On either side the defined limits running back to the north for miles and miles. Today it is the location of many of the best Lucas County farms but then it was the resort for the domestic herds and in the summer time thousands of feeding animals covered the plain. This was in the day before the mowing machine and in the autumn this tract furnished an abundant hay supply for the long winter season. The haying season was one of merriment and the echo of the scythe stone, as it beat its tattoo against the steel blades can yet be heard in imagination, and the "swish" of the blades as they closed upon the succulent growth of native grass and wild pea vines are still vivid. This haying operation represented a sort! of communistic interest in which all the farmers nearby, together with the women and children, joined. Long win rows were swept up and the broad expanse was soon covered with shocks, presenting a sight for the landscape painter. There was seldom rain at this season of the year, so the hauling and stacking could be performed at leisure -- but how the fall winds did blow, requiring skill and tight booming. Sometimes the meadow of shocks was left unguarded and the marauding cattle would pounce down upon them with their horns and create havoc in the hayfield, but it was not often this lack of precaution was taken. This is an autumn scene from a boyhood memory with numerous escapes from snake bites left untold. * * * * * * * * "Going fishing" has never had the same heart swelling interest as in the olden days. The Chariton River is a much bigger stream down in the "Davy Evans" mountains than it is when it languidly passes by Bailey's brick yard, and Alpine scenes offered nothing more of grandeur. Almost every Saturday afternoon, in the summer time, after a week of daily trudging over the hills to burlesque of a district school, or spent under the burning sun suckering corn, our elders took us to the river to bait for big fish. Fishing was better in those days before the river filled up with mud and a fine string of "eats" was usually the result. Then we would go bathing in the turbulent stream and a swing from shore to shore on grape vines, cut loose at the bottom. Occasionally the o'er head moorings would give way and a splash below followed, but who cared for that so long as mud turtles didn't lay hold -- for when they did they wouldn't let go 'till it thundered, but with all his experience! the writer does not call to mind a boy that had to stand in the creek until a volley was fired from Heaven to make the turtle relax his hold. It was a happy, free life. After all we may have missed a whole lot of fun by not being savages. Who knows?" * * * * * * * * * Ours was a tranquil neighborhood -- in the days when the razor-back hog stalked up and down the earth seeking whom he might devour. He was considered a bird of freedom and when the first curtailment of his liberties was threatened, his human friends arose in arms and the seige of Troy was a fourth of July farce in comparison. Just why the razor-back stood so in with the people we have never been able to learn for it was certainly not on account of his usefulness or beauty -- he had neither. The people were unusually law abiding and would as soon violate a statute than they would break one of the sacred commandments -- but the razor-back hog had inalianable rights which they were bound to respect and defend, so when an honest settler moved into the community, secured a strip of domain and proceeded to enclose it with a "shanghai fence," as per provision of the recently passed "hog law," as it was designated, without the aid or consent of any other nation, they considered i! t unjust innovation and he found it hard to resist public opinion even if he did have the law on his side. The contest was a warm one but time settled it without bloodshed, other than that of a few lean porkers. -- AUTHOR UNKNOWN. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert October 15, 2004 [email protected]