Merrick County, Nebraska - Chapter 24: Nebraska Central College, 1898

Chapter 24: Nebraska Central College

T ROM the joint "boom edition" of the Courier and Nonpareil of June 9th, 1887, we take the following brief historical statement of the founding of the institution with which this chapter is con¬ cerned:

Methodism in Nebraska has ever been progressing, and especially so in the educational line. The North Nebraska Conference - lying north of the Platte River and occupying all of the territory lying east of the west line of Hall County extended to the north line of the state - wisely looking forward to the demands of the time for moral as well as intellectual training, at their second annual conference, in September, 1884, appointed a Commission of their members, consisting of J. B. Maxfield, N. H. Gale, Wm Worley, D. Marquett, J. S St. Clair, J. B. Leedom and J. Fowler, with extraordinary powers to locate and establish an "institution of learning" within the bounds of the conference This commission advertised that they would receive applications from localities desiring the institu¬ tion, but that no application would be considered that would not endow the insti¬ tution with a gift of at least twenty thousand dollars either in land or money. Lying contiguous to and northwest of Central City, was a section of unoccupied land, own^d by two parties. The land was a beautiful plateau and was at one time considered as and offered to the state legislature of Nebraska for the location of its capitol buildings, and from its natural fitness came near being selected against the strong combinations of other competitors, and was defeated only by the adoption of what was known as the "capital removal coupon" to the new constitution. Dr. O. L. Barton, of Central City - an enthusiast on the subject of higher education - having seen the advertisement of the commission above named, proposed to the citizens of Central City that they purchase this section of land and tender 320 acres of it to the Methodist church for the location of the institution proposed. The suggestion was acted upon, and a syndicate, composed of N. R. Persinger, Jas. G. Holden, James Stephen, John W. Sparks and Orin L. Barton, did buy the land, and on the 9th day of December, 1884, at Fremont, Nebraska, the commission accepted the offer made and located the institution at Central City, Nebraska, upon* Section 5, Tp. 13, N. R. 6 W , and christened it as "The North Nebraska Conference Seminary," and elected its first board of trustees.

How the proposition for location was regarded at Central City at the time is shown by the following extract from the Courier of Novem¬ ber 27th, 1884:

A considerable number of our citizens gathered at the rooms over Berryman Bros' store Monday evening for the purpose of seeing if anything could be done toward securing the location at this point of the new M. E. College, to be established by the North Nebraska Conference. It was represented that the matter was largely to be decided by bids from various towns, $20,000 being the minimum that would be received. The advantages of such an institution in our midst did not of course need to be discussed, and the only question was the rais¬ ing of the bid After some discussion. Dr Barton, who seemed to be mainly responsible for the movement, proceeded to elucidate a scheme by which the citizens might not only secure the college for nothing, but even come out some thousands of dollars ahead - viz: the purchase of a designated section of land near the city., the donation of iod acres required for the college, and the sale of the remainder in 10-acre lots. The "scheme" looked very practicable, and was

$20,000 in cash or its equivalent, and an additional $10,000 to be paid by one hundred citizens, contributing ten dollars per annum for ten years. A committee, consisting of N. R. Persinger, J. K. Stableton, and Dr. Barton, was appointed to visit the conference committee.

As stated in the first of the foregoing extracts, Central City's bid was accepted. The tract of land was divided into lots, separated by pleasant prairie streets, and the lots placed on sale. Aside from the pledges given above for financial aid, scholarship certificates were issued to the amount of $12,500, each share of $100 entitling its owner to a scholarship of ten years' duration. Public meetings were held at Central City and some of the neighboring cities to arouse enthusiasm in the new enterprise, and the start was well and favorably made.

The first faculty of the new institution was headed by Dr. J. B. Maxfield as president, and consisted of the following instructors: J. K. Stableton (Principal), Mathematics and Science; Mrs. M. M. Maxfield (Preceptress), English and Lower Academic Branches; Miss Mary A. Henry, Language; Miss Bertha Morrison, Music. The first session of the college was held in the fall of 1885, in the upstairs rooms of the building at that time occupied by M. E. McDonald & Co., just west of the Newton Hotel, with an attendance of fifty-five students.

In May or June, 1885, work was begun on the new college build¬ ing northwest of town, and on the 28th of July of that year the corner stone was laid and the building dedicated in the presence of a large audience and with appropriate ceremonies. In the Courier of July 30th, 1885, may be found a list of the contents of the cornet stone, which list, however, we shall not take space to include in this chapter. The building was pushed toward completion rapidly, and was nearing the point of occupancy when, on the fourth of December, 1885, a heavy wind storm which passed over the country blew down the northern and western walls of the building. The damage was repaired as quickly as possible, and on January 11th, 1886, the winter term of the first year was opened in the college building.

In the latter part of the year 1886 the ambition of those connected with the college was further stirred by the decision of the Methodist church of the state to locate and erect a state university of their denom¬ ination. Of the coming of this new factor the first record we have in a local way is the following article, found in the Courier of September 23rd, 1886:

The Methodist church of this state has appointed a committee, consisting of five from each conference and mission, and three from each of the church's educa¬ tional institutions, making twenty-nine in all, to locate the M. E. state university. As soon as this is done, we are informed by Bishop Fowler, the institution will be presented by a New York gentlemen with $150,000, $100,000 of which is to consti¬ tute an endowment fund, the remaining $50,000 to be expended in building fund. It is probable that one of the three places in which the academies are now located - Central City, York and Red Willow - will be selected, and, as Central City enjoys advantages of railroad connection far superior to those of the other two we think it quite likely that she will be the chosen locality. We understand that a large portion of the commission is already known to be in favor of this place. It is needless to enlarge upon the good fortune which the securing of this institution would be considered by our citizens, or to say that the decision of the committee will be awaited by them with much interest.

amount in land. The principal competitors were, aside from Central City, York, Lincoln and Omaha. The struggle for the new institution was an earnest one, and especially so as the promoters of the Central City 'seminary had made their original investment on the strength of their belief that it would in time bring the state Methodist institution to Central City. Hut Lincoln possessed the strongest attractions in !>est location and financial aid, and the ambition of the Central City school was forced to return to its former dimension.

It may be safely said that with the establishment of the university at Lincoln, the decline of the seminary - which had since the fall of 1885, however, been running under the name of the "Nebraska Central College" began. Whether this was, as claimed by many, the result of a deliberate "throttling" policy on the part of the university, or the mere natural results of over-ambition and incipient "hard times," we shall not attempt to decide. Nor need it be thought that the decline was rapid. The years 1886 to 1889 were, to all outward appearances, the healthiest of its life, it having reached during that time an atten¬ dance of about one hundred and fifty students.

Ill health compelled the resignation, in 1887, of Dr. Maxfield, and in his place was chosen Rev. David Marquette, who retained that posi¬ tion for only a few months. Rev. Marquette was succeeded temporarily - until the session of the district conference - by Rev. J. W. Shank, and in the fall of 1888 a new president, in the person of Rev. H A. Crane, assumed the responsibilities of management.

During the third week of June, 1889, the college sent out its first graduating class, consisting of Messrs. Joseph Sparks and Geo. W. Fowler.

Rev. Crane resigning the presidency in the spring of 1889, Rev. F. W. Ware was chosen in his place, and an almost entirely new faculty succeeded the previous one. Under this management the col¬ lege ran through one more year, the name of the institution in the meanwhile reverting to the original "North Nebraska Conference Seminary." In the spring of 1890 the second and last commencement took place, the graduates being Miss Jessie Benton and Messrs. Henry O. Chapman and E. Russel Leedom.

shoulders of those upon whom it was falling, and the college failed to open in the fall of 1890, the commencement of 1890 closing what may be termed the first chapter of the college history.

The second chapter of the history begins with the attempt at reor¬ ganization in the early fall of 1891. From the Courier of August 6th, 1891, we glean the following account of the attempt first made:

The meeting at the Tabernacle Tuesday evening in behalf of the college was quite well attended. Chairman Heywood, of the board of trustees, Presiding Elder Moore, Revs. Marquette, Worley and Rodebaugh, Hons. N. R. Persinger and J. W. Sparks and Mr. Jas. Stephen discussed the situation, and all seemed to regard it as more encouraging than it had .been for a long time - in fact, that the "early morning of a better day" had been reached. The college has succeeded in funding its debt at a low rate of interest - six per cent - through the medium of bonds secured by about all of its resources, said resources to be disposed of as far as necessary for the payment of said bonds through the agency of C. F. Bently, of Grand Island, who acts as trustee for both the college and the bondholders.

A commission was appointed to attend to the opening of the col¬ lege in the fall of 1891, and it succeeded in making arrangements with Professor J. A. Smith, at that time principal of the Indianola public schools, whereby he took charge of it upon his own financial responsi¬ bility, thus rendering the schdol, so far as the church was concerned, self-supporting. A public reception was tendered Professor and Mrs. Smith upon their coming, and school was formally opened again in tne fall.

Public confidence in the institution, however, had been more or less destroyed, and the attendance upon the reopening was very small, the year'* average not amounting to fifty students. Professor Smith and his faculty completed the year's work for 1891, and conducted a summer school during July and the early part of August, with the intention of contiuuiug the regular school work iu the fall of 1892 if circumstances seemed to justify it. But the promise of success grew less as the weeks went by, and the second and last chapter of college history with which our work deals was ended by the entire cessation of work in the latter part of the summer of 1892.

The End

The following series of articles was published in The Nonpareil, in connection with the foregoing history, and is deemed entirely worthy a place in this volume. The author's name is, by his request, not given, and we must content ourselves with the simple statement that the writer was in the early days, but is not now (1898), a resident of the county. The abrupt ending of the articles is due to the fact that business cares prevented as extended a series as was at first anticipated, and com¬ pelled a publication of the series without any attempt at revision.

By An Old Settler

I find my recollections of old settlers to l* very fragmentary and I will have to jot them down in a running sort of way, only touching upon the different characters as they rise in my miud above their fellows - like a wagon attached to a runaway team, only "hitting the high places." The reader must not expect these memories to be entirely free from an occasional dip into the vulgar, be¬ cause I am w'riting of characters more uncouth, yet none the less clean, than the citizens of Merrick County today, and, to be frank, I am writing more to revive memories of the past in the minds of those of the "good old time" who still live, than for comers of a later day, who may find little to amuse them in my recollection of old settlers who have passed away.

I. Jason Parker

As my mind reaches back into the long ago, and once familiar faces cluster round, it easily dwells upon a well re¬ membered form - shaggy brows overhanging deep-set, kindly blue eyes - a face that time vainly tried to rob of its charm; its honest ruggedness an index to the soul within. Dear old Uncle

Jason! Thoughts of you are always pleasant, though your cheery voice is hushed. Yet the remembrance of your unselfishness is still with the ones whose lives were made more cheerful, whose future was made more hopeful, because of you.

Uncle Jason was not a member of any religious organization, bis soul being of too generous a mould to be confined within the narrow limit of any creed. Were he the gate keeper of Paradise, none would be turned away. This might spoil its selectness, but would render it a happier place for Uncle Jason, whose great heart would embrace all. His was a wonderfully cheerful disposi¬ tion. No trouble seemed to affect his steady flow of good humor. He used to remark that all the comandments were good, but the eleventh "Fret not thy gizzard" was his favorite and he cer¬ tainly observed the injunction.

In the old overland stage days Uncle Jason's ranch was a favorite resort and had his heart been built for this day and age he would have made a fortune. The opportunities he had for extortion from travelers, new settlers and Indians, were only equaled by the times he didu't do it. A hungry or otherwise needy person never appealed to him in vain.

His money whs only worth the good it would do. Too often for the well being of his exchequer was his known kind¬ ness of heart taken advantage of by the designing and the impecunious, and hi9 name, while occupying the humbler place on a promissory note, very often became "The chief stone of the corner," when the note fell due. As a business man, he was more of a success for his patrons than himself. His mind was more bent on accomodating people than making profit, and he was usually left "holding the sack." He never could understand why one man would beat another out of anything - he couldn't do it and finally, after having no end of opportunities to amass wealth, went to his grave a poor man in property, but rich in the love of his children and the respect of all.

After all, is it not better to bequeath to one's children only the memory of a noble, unselfish life than to have made what the world calls success, leaving its accumulation as a disturbing ele¬ ment that so often proves more of a curse than a blessiug?

Uncle Jason was a man of decided opinions and had the courage to speak his convictions. Yet his life was so straight forward, his honesty so appar¬ ent, that he made no enemies. He was one of our county commissioners at a time when his vote was worth money, but there was not enough in civilization to buy it, and I think a sturdy old fist would have been jammed into the face of any one proposing a bribe. His memory is an oasis in today's desert of political rascality, and to its cooling shade the mind turns for needed assur¬ ance that human nature is not all bad.

Ii. John L. Martin

How easy it is to remember another character of those days - for who that once knew John L. Martin could ever forget him? Intense in his likes and dislikes, loving his friends and hating his enemies seemed the elixir that for so many years gave zest to this man's life. Well I remember the bitter ani¬ mosity that existed between him and Isaac Beery on the west, and Samuel McCathron on the west. He used to say he had 'the devil on one side of him and hell on the other,' while they both contended that His Satanic Majesty had located between them. The trio were more or less religious - sometimes more, but oftener less. Isaac's religion seemed to permit of swearing upon aDy occasion - other than upon the witness stand, at which time he would invariably refuse to take the ordinary oath, and be "qualfied" (whatever that is) instead. The religious ideas of the other two, how¬ ever, seemed to run in nearly the same channel, and were the only influence, apart from anger, that ever did get them near together. They both warmed up at the same time one winter, under the eloquent preaching of a peculiar charac¬ ter named Wesley, and it was a nine days' wonder that John L. gotrinto Mc- Cathron's wagon and that McCathron went out of his way to take him home. This did more to imbue that community with respect for the power of the gospel than any other thing that ever happened and had the minister's eloquence been confined to the sacred desk, their new found friendship might have endured. But unfortunately it became noised about that the idolized preacher was somewhat given to human frailities. To this Johu L. assented while Me- Cathron dissented, and again ''there was razzors a flying in the air."

The subject of this sketch was not quarrelsome. He only had his convic¬ tions, and it was noticeable that with the solitary exception of the religious episode his convictions were always "ferninst" those of McCathron and Berry and were the occasion of Uncle Sammy's cane, and Uncle Isaac's crutch sometimes toying with his anatomy. No, he was not quarrelsome, but when inspired by the presence of his enemies he could and did use his tongue to such a wonderful advantage that their only salvation was to run or disable him. In politics he was a staunch but rather unique Republican, and many times have I beard his eloquent tongue fire crowds with enthusiasm for the party of his choice, and hurl fierce, blood-curd¬ ling invective at its enemies. He was one who always made himself felt and was just as much at home pleading the cause of some defenceless prisoner be¬ fore a jury, preaching from an improvised pulpit, or on the political stump, as he was between the handles of his plow, or working at his anvil, and had his oppor¬ tunities permitted, would have enjoyed a wide notoriety. Kindness was more a part of his nature than its opposite. He would leave his own work any time to shoe a neighbor's horse or sharpen his plow lay, and take his pay in the satis¬ faction of having done a kindness. We always knew that spring had come be¬ cause it was invariably heralded by his appearence with gifts of horse radish to almost every family in the village, al¬ ways presented lo "the. wife," who, ac¬ cording to his jocular expression, was hopelessly in love with him, and, while the expression was somewhat strong, yet his kindness won a place in the regard of both wife and husband, and when at last his turbulent spirit passed into a wider sphere, many were the sighs of regret that went up from the hearts of those who knew him best. And so. Uncle John, I leave you with your maker, believing that his all-discerning eye will readily see, and his justice re¬ ward, the virtues you tried so hard to hide from your fellow men.

It is natural, after thinking of John L., that Samuel McCathron should claim a little thought, for it is hard to think of one and not the other. The passing ot years has worn away from my mind any uupleasant recollections that may have surrounded this unique character, and leaves him silhouetted against the back¬ ground of memory as a Simon-pure phi¬ lanthropist, whose philanthropy was enlisted in the good of the theu strug¬ gling youug lawyers of the county, whose prosperity would not have been so marked were it not that the title of "McCathron vs. Martin, vs. Beery, vs. everybody," always showed up in the court's docket at the opening of every term. His generous care for them reached beyond his own expectation of life, proven by the fact that his sons, John and Pete, were imbued with the same spirit. This disinterested (?) kind¬ ness so won the feelings of John Patter¬ son that he was wont to characterize the father and sons as "The Immaculate Three - Sammy, Johny, and Petey."

After all it was not to be wondered at that "Old Sammy," as he was familiarly dubbed, was drawn into so many law suits. Settling as he did at a very early day he had the choice of very much un¬ occupied territory and naturally took in all he could. After a while the country settled up, and covetous eyes were turned to the valuable timber and other lands in the possession of the McCathron fam¬ ily. The often incomplete records were searched for flaws in their title, and if an actual or supposed hole «was found surveyors were set at work and law suits begun "ad libitum ad infinitum," (what¬ ever that means) and I may add "Epluribus Blunderbuss," for all this turmoil did not end without bloodshed. Peter seemed to think it was necessary to kill a man on the Island, and I believe the killing was justified by the court, so of course was all right. Animosities en¬ gendered by these suits were the cause of many others, and the property accu¬ mulated by the old gentleman proved a source of continual anxiety and grief to a really good-hearted man.

He cared but little for the good or ill opinion of his neighbors, seeming rather to prefer their ill will. He kept his heart so screened from view that many thought it had been left out of his com¬ position, but I learned to the contrary very accidentally and much to his chagrin, in this way: made himself so much of a nuisance generally that he was spurned from the doors of many, who generally would divide their food with most any one. Having entirely alienated himself from the kindness of all through slovenliness, profanity and lewdness, he finally be¬ took himself to one of the little islands in the Platte and eked out a precarious existence by fishing, trapping and rais¬ ing a few vegetables, the best of which he would exchange in Grand Island for actual necessities. I struck the little, desolate island while deer hunt¬ ing one cold winter's day and was sur¬ prised to see one of old Sammy's big gray horses tied before the tramp's squalid hut. I wondered what devil¬ ment the old gent was up to now, for I was as uncharitable as the rest of his neighbors toward him. Upon entering. I faced him as he was hurriedly taking his departure and the look of shame up¬ on his face confirmed my suspicions that he was up to some uncanny work. Hardly recognizing me he hastily left the hovel, mounted his horse and was soon crunching his way over the icy bed of the river. Lying upon a filthy cot was poor "Crazy Mart," twisted out of shape and almost dead with inflamma¬ tory rheumatism. From him I learned that which caused a complete revulsion in my feelings toward old Sammy. For three weeks he had visited that poor, forsaked boy almost every day, and be¬ ing unable to move him because of the auguish the least movement caused him, had kept him in food, brought lini¬ ments, and rubbed on the distorted limbs tor hours at a time. The poor boy's lip trembled and eyes grew big with tears as he recounted to me the many, many acts of humanity and dis¬ interested kindness showered upon him, whom all others had spurned, by hard¬ hearted old Sammy. Then I knew that the look of shame I had detected on the old man's face was because he had accidentaly showed me his heart. He had an assistant after that day and when the distorted limbs were straightened, the bodily rigor returned, and our services no longer necessary, the injunction to "Keep my mouth shut about it all" was once more pressed upon me, and is now only removed because the hard¬ hearted (?) old man is gone. For years after that I enjoyed his querulous, exact¬ ing friendship and when his ill humor would bring indignant blood to my cheek, the thought of "crazy Mart" would drive it back to a heart that al¬ ways keeps a warm place for "old Sammy." And so to him, as to the others, "my pen says adieu, but my heart knows no farewell."

Iv. Isaac Beery

And now what shall I say of Isaac Beery? My recollections would not lie complete without including him, for no man of the early days was better known by sight, and yet he lived so much in himself that few, if indeed any, outside of his own immediate family, ever "sat down to the table of his soul in confi¬ dence complete."

I remember well his hearty hospitality at home, and liis many gifts of vege¬ tables from his garden - and who ever saw such a garden anywhere else? I could relate several incidents of early days in which he figured which used to create hearty laughs Such, for in¬ stance, as when, to prove that he had a mighty mean neighbor, he hauled a dead dog to town, which he fondly thought would create a feeling against the neighbor who had poisoned it. Meeting Sid Bullock he tragically called attention to the defunct canine, demanding in tones of sorrow and indig¬ nation, "what he thought of that?" Sid, as was his habit under a certain condition, threw his right leg out of joint, cocked his eye, and replied, "Well, Uncle Isaac, as for you, you may linger along for a few days yet, but that dog's deader than - !"

The old gentleman, though a cripple, often proved abundantly able to fight his own battles, and they were of no in¬ frequent occurrence. His crutch was the terror of his enemies and was usually wielded righteously. He had but few friends, seeming to care but little for social enjoyments away from his own fireside. That he was a good father is attested by the children he left, and had he had but few virtues (which I do not admit) yet would those of his children, retroacting, shield his memory from harsh criticism. I only wish I had known him better, for I am sure a closer intimacy would have discovered many noble traits of character hidden to mere acquaintances. If the sweet, kind-faced woman who shared his lot were the sub¬ ject of this writing, how easily words of kindness would flow from my pen!

V. Eph Bockes

Hearty, cheery, whole-souled Eph - how constantly his face flits through my mind, associated with so many incidents of the days of long ago. How he did enjoy a practical joke, and yet how for that was our place of congregating careful (?) he was to make them hat ill- the place where we would smoke our less. I remember when Charley Adams pjpes and tell stories until the "wee (he was only a boy then) was night op- small hours " So Eph hit upon a plan erator at Lone Tree station, Eph w as to cleau them out, and an a "beginner" continually putting him up to some oce when the waiting room was mischief, which never failed to end fuU of IndiaU9 and the air fuller of the ludicrously. He had an apt pupil in noxious 9tench from their sweating, Charley and between them they man- 9teatning> unwashed feet, blankets and aged to keep everybody around them in bodies, Eph started for the house while hot water. I wonder if John Foulks ever Charley pile,d dry fuel into the bigi Gldknew who stuffed the gunny bags in his fashioned wood stove with a big, oblong chimney and smoked him out of his hollow drum resting horizontally on its ever found out who was the prime mover gtove roouj and all were at a white heat, in a hanging bee that came so near cost- and tbe Indians were stirring uneasily ing him his life? Well, John, nobody -n their sleep, emitting grunts that ever intended to hurt ) ou. The keg of wouid discount a hog pen. But the while we moved Joe Adams' house was of caycnnc pepper was deftly thrown not all intended for you, and the only -nto the red.bot druni by Eph, and the show anyone else had to get a whack at djabojjcal conspirators had rushed out, it was to summarily dispose of you in locking the door after them. Well, if someway, and 'hanging seemed about ever there was an aboriginal uproar it the only sure method. If we left you wag rjgbt then. In a moment the lock suspended a little too long it was not ^be door wa9 smashed off with a that we loved you less, but that we hatchet and twelve or fifteen choking, loved the keg more. Tom Johnson 9trangijng wards of the government ought to have happened in sooner and fought to get through the. door at the cut you down; but Tom was as busy as same tj,ne. Talk about the "stoicism of the rest of us moving Joe's house, and the fed man UBder torture|.. they with the rest of us forgot you. Eph weren*t stoics a little bit that night, actually looked serious while you were por an hour after they rushed out pell, "coming to," and this ought to <om- men we could hear nose-bursting sneezes pen sate you for the slight inconvenience from twelve or fifteen points of the comof having been hung, for it was mighty pass^ and Eph - well, he just rolled over seldom that anything made him look the platform and roared, while Charley serious in those day, and we didn't think looked sad It was a pretty cold night

The Indians made themselves a nui- after that. Joe Adams w as considerably sauce during the winter nights by "put out" the uext morning when he crowding into the depot, to the exclus- saw the wrecked door and broken winion of the rest of us. We felt this keenly dows, out Eph got me to explain to him

Then again when George Moore, who was sheriff, called upon a lot of us to help arrest Jack Considiue and a little Torn Thumb Irishman who were trying to give each other softening of the brain with beer bottles, how Eph laughed when Moore cried out, "Bind them! Bind them!" after getting the belligerents secured. They were put in a box car in lieu of a jail, to be held uutil morning when Uncle Dick Eatough, J. P., would pass upon their case. They were no sooner put in and the lock snapped ou them than Eph whispered in my ear "slip over to the depot and tell Charley to come to the back freight door." I did so, and no one yet knows how those men got out of that car. But since no one but Charley had a key to it, I have always associated their escape with that errand of mine. And Eph, although he denied it and protested that he was law abiding, and that Charley wouldn't do such a thing, yet the amused look which came into his face always made me have my suspi¬ cions. It always seemed a strange coincidence to me that he and Charley were on the train when Alex Riley es¬ caped from Sheriff Moore, when eutoute for the Columbus jail. They, with many more of us, wanted Alex to get away, but nobody seems to kuow how he managed to do if handcuffed and shackeled, but he did, and is gone yet. Eph always looked "amused" when the matter was discussed and of course Charley "wouldn't do such a thing." How well I remember how proud he was of little George and Anna. He would lead them into Berryman's store, stand them on the counter and the way they would sing "gospel hymns" was enough to make any man proud. We were all one family in the good old reckless days and little George and Anua had a place iu all our hearts.

Don't think from what I have said that my subject's life was entirely given up to jokes and frolic, for while I could fill this entire page with like incidents, yet there was another and a nobler side to his character. His love for his chil¬ dren is an index to his warm heartedness for all. His ear was ever open to the cry of distress and no hand more generous than his to alleviate suffering. How he nursed the Pawnee with a frozen foot and supplied him with food; the miles he would travel to reach the bedside of a sick acquaintance, there to render the irksome service born of a sympathetic heart; how his eye would blaze at a recital of wrong and melt at that of suffering.

While he in common with all of us had his faults, yet there is not a citizen of Merrick County today whose eye ever restet. on the spreading glory of our old "Lone Tree" who does not cherish in his heart the memorv of our dear old friend Eph.

The veil of the mystical beyond seems lifted, and away over in the shining realms of light familiar forms appear, and a pleased fancy recognizes Eph and Uncle Jason, Old Samuel, John L., and Isaac, and with them many more who have stood in the shade of the old tree. Their glorified faces are types of peace and love; no more the unhappy bickerings of earth cast their shadows o'er their lives. "They know each other better since the tnists have cleared away" and their happy faces reflect the eternal brotherhood of man. Is there a soul so deformed, a heart so contracted between the narrow w'alls of creed and dogma, that it denies to these subjects of my imperfect sketches the heaven in which I leave them?

Vi. Olp Lone Tree

There is something sort o' lonesome about this history of Merrick County. It gives me the "blues" to have such old associations stirred up. If there wasn't a little streak of sunshine glim¬ mering through it at times the "blue" devil would reign supreme with his somber wings shadowiug the past.

If old Lone Tree had given the world an ante-mortem statement, how much of sunshiue and how much of shadow it would have contained! It would have told us of savage scalp dancers; of vic¬ tims tortured to death. It would re¬ count the amorous wooing of the dusky swain, and in later days of some not so dusy. And how softly and mournfully its leaves would rustle as it depicted the laying away of loved forms from the sight of men forever; were those forms dusky or white, yet were they followed by tears wrung from bleeding hearts. It would have told us of love and of lust, of noble deeds and of hellish crimes; for its bright leaves have fluttered in the pure atmosphere of the prairie above, while under its spreading arms the air was polluted by tne presence of Jack Slade. It has been honored by sheltering the noble form of John C. Fremont. In my mind's eye I see the tent of Hrigbam Young nestling beneath its shelter after a hard day's march as he led his persecuted followers into the wilderness, w here they could serve God according to the dictates of their- ow n consciences. And they did serve the "meek and low ly one" in a manner that could be profitably imitated by '.lie socalled Christians who were their perse¬ cutors and murderers. Their history, divested of the rancorous lies that cling about it, would shine out much more white and free from crime than our own, and while we deplore their falling into the polygamy so much practiced in old Bible times, we should also deplore crimes of a like nature that, unlike theirs, are sneakingly hid from the view of man by those who were the first to cast a stone. How often the skirt that is haughtily kept from contact with that of a fallen sister is worn by one as frail! This has been proved true so often that we have learned to look with a shade of suspicion upon those who are too ready to condemn others. Well now, I wonder if this is digressing Please come with me out of the long ago into times nearer our own and listen to the stories of the old tree. It is telling you now of smiling on dear old Mother Martin as she hur¬ riedly passed under it on her many visits of mercy to the bedsides of the sick. It tells how often our quaint old Grandma Hilton rested in its cooling shade after ushering into the world so many of the little ones who now fill places left vacant by death. It has laughed as John L. Martin stopped to free his mind on some imaginary foe, and at Uncle Isaac as he would menac¬ ingly shake his crutch in the direction of John L.'s ranch. Old Sammy would quote scripture under it by the hour, and Uncle Jason would quietly sit on its protruding roots and take a big chew of tobacco, while h*is honest old face shone with good will to all.

It was under the muse-awakening rustle of its leaves that young Beery composed the famous impassioned poem to the idolized but unresponsive Delia Hurley, ending with these reproachful, tear-stained lines:

Who blamed him for being captivated by the fair, roguish Delia! By Joe! she had us all at her feet, and she could have packed her pretty, bright dresses in any of our trunks, begging our gunny bags' pardon.

One day I copied some of the hiero¬ glyphics carved on its bark by thought¬ less but friendly hands, little thinking that 'they were wounding their eld friend to death. The name "Sid" was plain, and a living "comedy" came into my mind- On the other side of the tree - that is, in the deepest shadow "on moonlit nights" - were cut several series of initials. It seemed that in the long ago someone had cut the initials

"J. V. & -. (blur)" and I think that if the carving had d scovered the hand¬ writing of the carver, Jim Vieregg would have been detected; and it would not take a great stretch of the imagination to see a Miss Martin at his side, smiling up at him as he cut their initials in the old tree in commemoration, perhaps, of a freshly spoken betrothal. Prompted by the above, no doubt, another series appeared, and "J. K. & VI" were plain¬ ly visible. So, John, you and "Vi" also did seme sparking under the old Lone Tree, did you? But you didn't dream it would tell! Well, she was mighty pretty in her girlhood days; and better still, she hasn't gotten over it, and never will as long as her honest, jolly soul sparkles through her brown eyts. And I am glad that she has had a tender arm around her and a manly man at her side all these years since you disfigured the old landmark. Lower down and fresher showed the letters "T. J. & E." and I'll bet a bright new penney that Tom Johnson and Ella Doolittle were not far away when this engraving was done. I hope life is as sweet to them now as it was in those their wooing days, for Tom was brave and handsome and Ella - lord, but wasn't she sweet!