Epistles from Pap: Letters from the man known as 'The Will Rogers of Indiana'

, as time went on, he turned over most of the cases to Frank, quit his lobbying position for the railroads, ce

rite scores of letters about numerous subjects to various parties. It was probably

w inventions (such as a carvin

rs who had less confidence (or at least l

, offering investment a

rk-barrel spending and adv

dry-iced beef being shipped to a daughter in New England, beseeching

eck up on his property in Kansas or to visit with old frien

ays, he

ng on his youth and past glories. He was not shy about relating these memories, even to tota

EDGED CAR

ber 1

Safety Ra

on M

was, or is on the market, consisting of a thin metal holder in which, say, three or four used double-edged razor blades can be insert

tores, butcher shops are passé, and chain-store managers look on you as a sort of moocher when you ask them to sharpen your knives . . . Then too, a dulling carving knife slips up on you like a heavy wine. Sooner or later you come home and there

college sometime between 1900 and 1904. I still have it. I have used no other kind except trying an electric affair the folks gave me one time for Christmas, but I couldn't ge

ON A

27,

el for Saturday night, and up we went. . . to see Ida at the Peabody Home-an elegant place for a place of that character. Ida now is one of the oldest inhabitants and has a front room. . .After supper we drove all over town and a short way into the country and Ida liked that very, very much. Then back to the home wher

he started quoting: "The Lord made Heaven and Earth in six days and on the 7th He rested . . . Six days shall thou work and . . . remember the Sabbath to keep it holy (etc.)" -Really, sometime she had taken a goo

do that we would have to go out of our way and over a lot of loose gravel and through a lot of dust with the new shiny car, so, after a proper interval, I said: "Well, I don't know whether you

a that night and tell her we were coming. . . She wrote, but along about Wednesday she asked me if I still wanted to go out to Arcola. I said: "That is up to you". . . Friday ev

ry crowded and uncomfortable in that small a car; that on LONG trips a Ford didn't ride as easily as a larger car; and that he was just wondering if he might take the Buick for a long hard drive like that, etc., etc. Lord! How my sympathy for those old veterans-two of whom were over 30 years of age-welled up in my throat and almost stifled me. Of course they couldn't be asked or expected to submit to the jo

ome and washed it, then came past Aunt Margaret's and told her what a nice

bout 30 miles south of Terre Haute. I told her it looked like more rain-and it did-and then asked if she wanted to dr

ARITY'

t 13,

character I have heard from all of you except Ann Drew at least once. You will have to show this

t at that you have a start of $33 on me-$2 is the munificent sum I received as Head Janitor and Assistant Bookkeeper at staid, dependable, conservative, old Russellville Bank. . . Anyway and however, don't let the starting salary get you down. Everybody has to start, and those who start on a small scale sometimes get to be

specially on children who have reached maturity. . . . The big roads now have a rule of issuing only so many passes to each family every y

s mighty bad. It is quite probable I could buy a whole carcass or half a carcass for her here, but there is no easy way getting it to her. It would be very expensive, because it would have to be processed here, then shipped to her in dry ice, and dry ice is h

bit dirty when you got away, and now it looks like the one at the old hi

THE COMPL

ary 3

able Fran

er, I

after-dinner talk in March. There are many, many reasons why I should not, among them being I

old fact, however, I am oratorically about where old Anthony Battle, an ex- slave, was financially a long time ago when Uncle Bob Black operated a horse and mule sale barn here. N

TO THE

h 17

Ryall

Chan

rvis, N

ear

March 10th, concerni

el reservations f

and all require advance deposits. . . Your entire room bill will be $53-$45 of which must be paid in advance. . . The Claypool is the Royal Bakin

the best tickets available, due to the fact the Race people always retain desirable seats-just in case. I tried to get you in a box within hailing distance, at least, of His Honor, but in my judgment, if you ever see him there at all, he will appear about the size of a blue-bottle fly. Remember the t

, Chryslers, Buicks, Packards, Goodyears, Nashes, Goodrichs and Perfect Circle Rings will be among those present, and you will look over a squ

INDIANA MAP

h 24

urray, Gene

k Centr

lle S

go, I

from adulterating his molasses with anything whatsoever, as is now pretty much the custom by reason of the fact maple molasses prices have soared about like I did the time I first took the oath as a Member of the General Assembly at Indianapolis in 1913 . . . adulterated flavor is almost forgotten. Children, generally speaking, do not like it. They

er never speaks of the Indiana bra

'S TH

to a package of frozen

oever re

Southwestern). The old pappy and his meat will probably part company at Buffalo, where his car will be transferred to N.Y.C. No. 28 (New England States) that evidently does not carry baggage

. . the 1947-48 and 1948-49 winters in Indiana weren't exactly like Miami Beach of a sunny Sunday afternoon. . . Rain, snow and sleet. Cold rubber boots in February mud. Sockless shoes in July dust. All the clothes y

onveniently placed manure spreader. Fresh bedding, feed grinder going every other day, a handy block of salt, a little ground alfalfa hay, the gates and corn crib doors kept shut. .

well-trimmed sirloin steak you see on th

lves, they will say, "Well, the old fellow was a pretty good sort after all, but, on the other hand, it does see

ell of Seminole's progress and last whereabouts, I am enclosing some addressed post car

RCE, NOT H

17,

or Homer E

ngton

ar Se

on easily available to you there in Washington? If so, I would greatly appreciate such inform

ack home." This inquiry of mine should rank rather high. A year ago . . . I could not the

Jefferson's Manual. In due course of mail here came a rather well-bound copy of "The Diseases of Horses," and a note saying he had had cons

E FOR 'REMO

24,

e &

on, Il

osed the case (no intended pun on your name) as the water in the cold faucet having cut or worn a groove across the top of the removable seat for that faucet. He had none to fit, so he sort of filed the groove out, said the repair would probably be temporary, and in the meantime we'd both begin a q

of its alleged quietness. The girls were in the University here. It was brooded among my womenfolk that every time they had company the "old man" started the water going in the bathrooms and it sounded like Coulee Dam after a hard

or gremlins had again cut a channel across the top of said removable seat. He thought he had a removable seat that would fit-it seemed the same size as the original-but it didn't. In desperation he gave up the job. We turned off the cold water int

s I am confounded by removable seats. Time was only yesteryear when I didn't know, or care, what a removable seat was. Within a fortnight

ine what kind and size of removable seats we are needing, and send me four (two for each lavatory, just in case)? I need removable seats. I long for removabl

tion. I have mentally canvassed our one block. If you can devise a practical feminine removable seat, I can give you every reasonable assurance you will get from one to two orders in every house and apartment in our block. I personally guarantee one order. This being true, then vi

it. Do somethin

erfu

w E.

ffect, because by return mail the company sent him four removable seats, at no charge. However, the wo

TIONABL

ber 5

Claud

nister

ago,

ou made some very forceful and logical speeches backed by excellent oratory. I attended and was fascinated-got the political bug. I am not quite sure I got in on what we called the "Week's County D

e expect to arrive on schedule if humanly possible, provided I retain my heretofore good health and reasonably fair mental facilities. I have been vaccinated and "shot" for about everything except treason, but my lack of a criminal record is universally questioned south of the Equator. Our

mocrat to boot. And so, if on or about December 20th, you see a rather sprightly young woman leading a doddering old

d be immensely pl

ity South of the Border for small-to

N NO, BOAR

17,

you. You evidently have 32 shares of the former and 10 of the latter-not a bad showing for one of your age-far more investment than I had at your age. Looks lik

. Good stocks do not rise or fall rapidly. It's the "cats and dogs" that do that. And there is where the speculators come in. They are supposed to know a good deal about "cats and dogs" . . . Two or three or four years ago, I bought 100 shares of General Motors for about $4,000. It sells for more than double that now. All of which is quite fine, but you bet your boots I am

ole south side of the kitchen-a formidable array. Munny was bent on having two big sinks, and now, by golly, she has them. The kitchen

elion count i

a

ST IN FASH

l 2,

r & B

n, K

Mr. Clyde

r Mr.

wrote my nephew in

sed sale of our quar

un

ks, especially the latter, looked pretty common to me. Also a lot of other things about him and the family

I've accordingly made arrangements. Next September you are going to a Military School (in those days considered more or less of

after, Pap's 10 cent black socks and unvarying gray suits got to lookin

'HEARTS A

er 22

yes, Graham,

oad S

ork 5

, but subject to enough whereases, to-wits, here inserts, and/ors, etc., as to make me wonder just what it is I do have. . .I say "faded and washed-out." That is a true Churchillian understatement. I feel rather s

e when ready for delivery." That is more or less encouraging but a bit vague. Who or what is referred to in that state

And anybody who has ever been a groom knows grooms are totally non compes mentis on such occasions. So here is what happens to them. . . The affable Clerk says nothing about the $1.50 license, but with solemn and measured tread goes to the safe, which is always in plain view, fumbles with the combination and, after a bit more fumbling in the dark recesses of the safe, as solemnly returns with three shiny, crackling parchment roll

'em your corn-fed Hoosier customer, while considerably puzzled with what he has, is onto the County Clerk's racket in Indiana, and he doesn't want any Heart and Hand permanent D&B Certificate, but just an unin

dable Certific

NG IN A REV

ary 5

Cecil

use of Rep

ngton

"Red" Purnell, used to say. I wanted to know who they were and what sort of axes they had to grind. Hence, here is a short pedigree of your correspondent. I live in Greencastle; am a farmer, small town banker (Russellville Ban

e of those busses that had a spiral stairway at the back leading up to the open air top (it was January and we were up there alone of course), the better to get the panoramic view, we alighted. . . "Red," being the prospective purchaser, led the way to said door and into it-and came around and right back again. At Indiana University I had taken a course in Public Speaking with the ultimate object of

ort but something led me to thi

your attention

? I don't believe we've had a Congressman regularly in the house since

and a change in the top bracket

PA

23,

e George

s Trust

ngton,

a Monon pass. Naturally it was none of the asker's business, but when in telling I had none, it was a trifle embarrassing and caused a sort of wonderment on the part of the inquirer, because, among other things, I never failed during the years when talking at the University or the various Service Clubs to get in a thought as to how the

onon. I have virtually retired and turned things over to my son, who is Pro

FAMILY AR

30,

phone and Tel

Broa

ork 7

July 26, I received a telephone call from your New York office saying you had received the subscription. The woman to whom I tal

lusive smiles, precious lights and shadows, inconceivable imagination and some superlatives far, far beyond my ken. Suffice to say, in my corn

est October private family showing of Art at

BY THE

ber 16

ational Ban

go, I

r S

ing 3 certificates o

y (New Jersey) as f

ve certificates be c

f Transmittal to your Bank. That done, I would carry said letter back behind the safe to the "letter press," open the thin sheeted copy book and . . . lay my letter face up below a clean sheet. I would then pick up the 3 gallon bucket and go to the town pump down the street toward the railroad and get a fresh bucket of water. Next I would put a rectangular piece of cloth made for the purpose into the bucket of water and then squeeze it to a proper stage of dampness. Then spread it ov

l times, as was becoming a future teller and money changer, but the real artistry and measure of responsibility lay in getting the proper dampness in th

"Why all this junk when the main idea is to get a new Certificate?" The answer is I got a bit retrospective as

th too much regularity, I could slip an educated hand under the bottom of a sleeping infant and measure the dampness thereof to a nicety and judge to a fraction just when the clot

r posting machines, et. als

VORITE PICT

. 27

Sugar

last evening from a s

at Culver, Indiana,

spelled. Had a

re, Ind., away up north of Lafayette on old No. 43. It used to be a private bank, but I

After seeing Elizabeth we came home by way of Veedersburg, where Sina and said husband now live. Sina's parents struck oil years and years ago, and built a rather pretentious house in Veedersburg. At the time of the striking of oil, Red Purnell said to me that the "oil would agree with Sina," and it has). If ever I saw an adventurer for a rich widow, he is it. She is about 75 and he is 12 years younger than she. Therefore he will outlast her, in all probability. I dou

nyway, it was one of Hitler's favorites and Bro. Hitler kept it on his desk. In some miraculous way, this new husband of Sina's got hold of it. I think he said he stole it, maybe meaning he gave so little for it that same was next to stealing, but however he got it, it is now valued at $250,000, which I would say was a dam sight too high, but sitting there

t. Above all things on this Earth he wanted to be a farmer. That was his life's ambition, a

dress up on 5th Ave. near Tiffany's where

ll do f

a

PIONEERS T

ber 1

get a little deafer, and God knows I am too old to try to learn any Spanish. . . If we could rent a modern furnished house and get reliable servant(s), then I don't know but what I'd try it. I just don't like cold weather. At the same time, I don't want to get into any particularly tight place. The article in Holiday was very favorabl

out 35 years ago. His mother was a Durham. Well, since we were there, the Pioneer Mothers or DAR or Methodists or somebody have erected a granite monument to my great, great grandpappy, one John Durham. He owned the farm, and in 1783 he organized the first Methodist Church-then called "Methodist Society"-west of the Allegheny Mountains. He built a log church on his farm about 300 feet from where the monument now stands. The marker says that, and the records in the First Methodist Church of Danville back it up. My great Uncle Milton

k of all that? And t

e 50 odd years ago br

me 24 hours to leav

oming

a

for organizing a fraternity dance during his student days. He beat them to

ITABLE BE

ghter Ann to deliver at a convent

rity lore and literature-was no hand for dalliance, amorously or oth

r a debate that started on a high level after much prayerful thought and meditation and ended in a knockdown and drag-out verbal fight that divided the dignitaries,

ther young ladies of a more timid disposition presented themselves and begged registration. . . Two years later, Kappa Alpha Theta-co-founded by Bettie Locke Hamilton, A

eta Convention at Estes Park, Colorado, was in the summer of 1930 or '31. My oldest sister, Joan, was a delegate from Alpha Chapter. Bettie Locke Hamilton went along. It was near the last convention

d far between . . . He was standing in front of the stairs leading to his modest office when along came Bettie Locke. She saw both him and his head piece, a cap he had acquired in col

t don't get me wrong in the inference of those last words. No one, no where, at no time ever heard Bettie Locke utter one profane, vile or smutty word. She was too cultured and had to

ront porch. And sooner or later the conversation would turn to the Thetas, and college girls in general and how they were doing, or drift back to her days-the 1860s and '70s. Bu

and plates substituted, but allowed them to go one by one whenever the pain became unbearable. Among the last was a big molar, that by the time she had to come to her dentist had

stormed into the office and went straight to the point, as was her custom. "Doc, I'm going to sue you. Indeed I am. And you needn't try to talk me out of it. You had no right to pull that tooth with

ved alone. The house was dark and rather forbidding. Some . . . who had felt her verbal barbs sometimes referred to her as the "witch of Walnut and Locust Streets." In la

others herself. . . Bettie Tipton, the one and only Bettie Tipton so far as we are concerned, and my Grandmother Durham were cousins-their Mothers were Blacks and they all lived on farms near Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. Bettie Tipton was opposite of Bet

EARLY

ber 1

. Garnett R

rling,

n Montgomery County, Kentucky. You are a most considerate couple. On behalf of my sister, Mrs. Margaret D. Bridges, now about 90 and almost blind and quite de

-of thing. And here came Bettie, bringing along her charming southern ways. Females were frowned- on by the young college men as interlopers and undesirables, and were subjected to some indignities. Bettie et. als. persisted. Bettie, along with three other young women students, founded the first Greek Letter Sorority in the world, Kappa Alpha Theta. That brought another blast. Toda

ass Valedictorian? The College authorities approached the formidable Bettie on behalf of the young man. He was to become a famous Methodist minister and would go out into the world preaching the Gospel. It wou

ng, Kentucky, to Greencastle for her education and at considerable expense, and with much trepidation and prayerful contemplation. She a

ed Methodist Asbury got an unexpected socia

ecided list to the south and had to be shored-up. More sh

EST PLACE TO E

h 15

Lacy

uff, Mis

ome of pecky cypress at its best, and Frank was getting a second look at his beloved paneling. . . Frank is well-pleased with his

ank said, "All right. I'll look for a good place as we go through." Pretty soon we were out of town. It had been ra

. It had eight revolving stools. I said, "Let's walk to that filling station yonder. I know this town has a better place. I saw an intelligent first class looking trucker just outside and asked him, telling him I hadn't eaten anything except segments of big Hershey bars all day long and I wanted good food and a table to sit at. He directed us "around the Court House following the traffic, then north to the place next-door to the Adam Shoe Store with the big electric

oup to nuts." I asked, "Does it have tables?" He said, "Why hell, yes-and pepper and salt too." I felt we were on the right track. And

short of 650 miles. Thus endeth our

VICE TO A WO

h 16

th Ross

evon

hurch,

vation there before all the space is taken. I thought I had gone hog wild going to South America three years ago with Sugar Foot for the winter, even if we did have direct connection with, and were p

ill be on safari . . . but rather indic

ond interest is bringing in-or more. Of course everybody should diversify-I mean everybody whose working days and moneymaking days are about over. Those out of business. . . Time was when careful investors had about 40 to 50% bonds, 10 to 20% in cash, and say 40% in high grade stocks, common and preferred. All that has changed. Bonds and cash on hand are losers from an investment point, but not so much so from the view of diversity and security. Careful investors now go as high as 80% or even higher in common stocks (good ones of high standing and long regular dividend experience, not cats and dogs and speculatives). . . The common stocks of AT&T, Standard of New Jersey or Indiana, Internatio

the time and inclination, and the ink isn't at the

always be on time-

E

OUR O

l 3,

Cecil

use of Rep

ngton

ost packages will begin rolling in. Our parcel post man is an understanding fellow. It has become a sort of standing joke when he stop

Why? Parcel post rates are evidently too low. Mrs. Harden, that is wrong. Some helpless somebodys, somewhere, wil

is still up around 100 millions. Now the boys who use parcel post at the partial expense of the general taxpayers want 199 repealed, and have introduced HR 2685 to that effect. It also r

it takes that or 5 cents or whatever amount, to break slightly more than even? If my letters or packages aren't more than paying their way-and I mean just that

TORS BETTE

l 4,

ctors of American Te

mp

seem to find out that I own a few more shares of your excellent Capital Stock than a majority of your Directors individually own. A shocking

ur Directors only, patterned after that proposed by Standard Oil (Indiana) for Key Executi

t that 30-share man because he is fairly well-up in an organization whose System pass I have proudly carrie

up the AT&T stock ladder, maybe he in gratitude would have me appointed Special Attorney for the Atlantic Coast Line and Louisville and Nashville Railroads (

s pointed out to me, I shall strike him for those two passes before all and sundry. He will refuse, and then I'll publicly expose his puny holdings in our most excellent Company. The Chairman of the Boards of two big Railroads has no business humiliating us by such niggardly holdings in our fine

r., my Kiwanis standing on Mr. Craig, My Law School diploma on Mr. Taylor, my Masonic associations on one or more big stockholders who aren't Catholics, etc.; nominate myself for Director; conduct another whistle-stop campaign,

st be done for our l

o it-an

await your composi

uat

but apprehens

ORS AND WAT

nderson, a g

18,

g ladies. Hospitals are traps for old people with sore backs and failing minds and memories

der women, glory in t

y recorded and verifi

he owner the same as

si

is conscience would permit-and in 48 hours it was well. Now what happens? The neighborhood is alerted, the ambulance called with orders to ring the gong vigorously enroute, doting grandparents are deluged with telegrams and telephone calls, the cigarette- finger stained family doctor is called and frantically urged to meet the ambulance at the back door of the hospital. He does.

White, Bob White." If you weren't too anxious to work you would stop and try to figure him out. . . Once I was working diligently near the east fence line. All at once I realized a squirrel was barking at me. I kept still and located the sound, but I never got to see the squirrel. But I did see birds, woodpeckers, blue jays, rain crows and robins flying into a certain rather small tree, and I knew what

t other things, so I didn't look in for the calf. About mid-afternoon, when I was working within hearing distance of the tool shed, I heard a cow bawling. It was the bawl of a cow that had lost her calf. When I came out, I stopped near the shed, walked over and looked in. There was the calf on the hay, and silent as your Uncle Frankfurter when he broke the stock of my shotgun. I went around to where he had gotten in and went in the same way, climbed up over the five or six feet of baled hay and

the agricultural

ND CHAM

ber 1

Frank J.

resident of Penn

thern B

ngton

, . . . part of an unbelievable success story to New Englanders and others east of the Alle

and grocery store in Waveland, Indiana, population about 500, and four miles from Russellville.

, held a contest open to all pork processors of the United States and Canad

sented by a big platter, on the bottom of which a ham was engraved. Not completely satisfied with taking first prize in its Class, our hero then entered it in the Grand Sweepstakes-the Grand Champion Ham of all Hams Class-of the United States and

his winner in cellophane and tin foil and brought it and the prizes ho

chance and fate or pure gall did not, in some manner, enter into that decision. I just think the Champ is mighty good, and

FOR THE

ary 2

slie A

Music

S. Gre

dsville

irst time a Democrat had ever been elected from Montgomery and Putnam Counties), I began to hear a lot about my so-called personal popular

reaching from your store to the Court House. So, I shall not try to set them down on paper. But I do want to thank you wholeheartedly for the generous com

, LET CANAD

nnaire from Congressw

h 4,

ing to Que

At a very recent press conference, if he is quoted correctly, he said that if employment did not pick up in March, that fact would necessitate taking action, and tax reduction might be one of the first measures to be considered, and that the government wouldn't hesitate a second t

e ways to bala

pending and

revenue (incr

o b

er ways under th

et) to carry 10% of the present ocean-going freighters. Which probably means it would end up nearer three billion in cost. And what would it cost to build it deep enough to carry the other 90%? To say nothing of the cost of dredging lake harbors, building docks, and dozens of other important ex

t year. Will St. Lawrence and this increase in exemption help balance the budget? They will not. Neither should pass until that budget is bala

CAN B

h 29

I.C. Wiatt

County Co

n, K

the effect your Board had received a signed complaint that our land is in a "blowing" co

r I, while returning home from California in a cold January, I stopped off at Lakin. As is the case everywhere, there is always someone who knows the location of land. In my case he was a man who owned about the only Ford in town.

e land and pay the taxes. . . I never saw him again. He moved away before my next trip. I was also told he grazed the land, but I know he did n

lone. Her husband was away working. They had come from Ohio. She was terribly discouraged. She cried as she talked. Two crop failures-possibly three. They were near desperate. . . I asked who owned the cattle. She

d. . . I was worried. Then I thought of William Allen White and of his famous editorial, and of other great and honorable men Kansas had produced, a good part of them farmers, like me. I decided to beard the lion in his den. . . He sort of bra

tract in duplicate to the effect the woman was to have possession of the land for her cows until I gave her written notice to the contrary. No rent or charge of any kind wa

it was leased for oil and gas. . . Kansas can, and has been cruel. In my early boyhood a few of those I knew went to Kansas to make their way in the world. Some came bac

my land for not more than a month? . . . I have been short on feed a few times, but never out. I told him I would most certainly help in any way I could under those circumstances. Two months later I arri

I wanted to lease the land, would prepare a contract. . . I told him that if he did not hear from me rather promptly to just forget the land . . . You can imagine my utter amazement when, last Fall, I went out and found a good pa

Whatever I have to do, I will have to do. . . I am a long way off. I do not drive a car as much as I used to. I am getting older. . . But

IME FOR E

7,

ukee Chai

kee, W

, I think is the nam

na

ur office. They look and sit quite well and we feel s

chairs this letter is directed. We hope to have a sort of "opening" for our new offices and building about June 1, 1954. Naturally, we should like to have these leather chairs on hand . . . If

at next to a boy two years my senior and far, far more sophisticated. He was a member of a really rich family in St. Louis. He invited me to spend Easter vacation at his home. I w

over carefully. In a

u forgot to bring yo

d, "I never owned a dress suit. Boys my age

said, "I know what we'll do. Both you boys will wear your uniforms. You are more used to them and you'll feel m

eliminaries, asked, "Andrew, do your parents have liquor on the t

champagne?" I said I had never tasted ei

Older people might get a little tipsy. . . She told me many things. She said that at the first serving of the champagne we might all rise for a toast. My girl (for whom she had arranged) and I would

mething. I said, "I'll behave myself and you'll not have to be ashamed of me. All this is new. I have never been in a fine home before and have never been to a

let go, saying, "Andrew, you are just about the finest young man we ever had in our home. Of cou

he middle-aged woman at my side. The awful and really devastating mistake was due to my appetite. Military School diet was rigid. I was young, healthy and hungry. I noticed my girl minced and toyed with the fish

too distended in front. One good woman couldn't see her plate and would have to pull her fork from under to see what its tine had speared. The guests graded from mild exhilaration to pretty dam tight. M

this boring life history from an almos

and by easy stages or else find myself in the same uneasy situation as that of a 16- year-old small town bo

X CAR, NORTH

icle written by Pap,

, June

ided to seek his fortune elsewhere. Of uncompromising Republican political stock, he i

here the silt of countless overflows of the River had produced a soil more than 60 fee

d his dog, a span or two of mules, his scanty farm

ups and downs was the time I closed that box car door on familiar scenes I might never see again-and the wheels began to turn. It was

some days. Some days just the mules an

e a house

ketch, Mr. Lacy Simpson Stoner, and inform you

he Gulf. Fortunately it lodged in some nearby trees, and as the river receded, he, aided by block and tackle,

ys to have some man from up the River come along and inquire, 'Did you se

d back the profits into more and more land

ome back to Indiana a

l, the presen

t up with them. They tied some of the better and more useful articles up among the rafters, and had just selected the spot to chop out t

ion in

d, more mechanical equipment and less sharecropper help. Mean

house. This home has a large and beautiful living room paneled and beamed in "pecky cypress", an

combines, tractors, a vast amount of modern equipment and enough rubber-tired low grain wagons to fill a small-sized parking lot. He has a

n to other and better-paying crops that require less manual labor. These are a part of the secrets of his asto

but not in a box car. Their mode of travel is a June, 1954-v

and Mrs. Stoner at a

en by Mr. Andrew E.

rham were members of

apolis, and lived as

y.

armer

und town to eat hamburgers or some such food. They invented a pastime they called "the farmer's game". . . Slips of paper were sha

n the game, one of whom was the "sucker". One of the conspirators would prepare the five slips. He did that by writing "treat" on all five slips. In the meanti

y. Those in the know would draw, give a quick sort of look and put the slips in their RIGHT vest pockets, a

ing to admit him as a full blood brother. They told him to prepare the slips and conduct the drawing, which he of course did according to the "official" rules-four blanks and o

, "we saved him for another night, un

the baths, a semi-annual pilgrimage; then probably to Denver and the West Coast; then perhaps north

ng to

he co- owner and Editor of Jessen's Weekly at Fairbanks, and also newscaster for a local radio station. Frank alerted his friend to the possible invasion of Alaska by Mr. Stoner and his "

NG ON T

20,

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me of your Uncle Cha

t is who gets to pa

Church for th

sed new carpet. He extolled the brethren and sistern to "Give, give until it hurts. If you do not have the cash, just sign a piece of paper setting out the amoun

hispered something in his ear. Charlie straightened up and said, "Brother Raphael, Mrs.