Image provided by: Talent Historical Society; Talent, OR
About Talent news. (Talent, Or.) 1892-1894 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1893)
A MOTHERS TROLIM.ES. BY J. W. * • t A PAMS. It was in the spring of 1 SGI, when death held high ca nixal in the slavestatei of America. The roving guerrilla bands not oidy carried off or destroyed property but did not hesitate t<» take life also for any trivial offense, real or fancied. 1 he sub ject of this sketch, with her husb^r.d and “ children, 1 “ * *’ * forty * miles three email lived eolith of Springfield, Mo. Their cattle had all been taken and they were left to make a living as last they could, for to One get away was next to impossible. day while sitting at their noon meal, a band of passing guarrillas shot through the open door, killing the father, and then rode away. The horrified mother, leaving the children with the dead, went to procure help. After a time she got two boys to assist her and, without codin, the laxly of her husband was laid away ah because lie was a Union man and hoped to see the old stars and strij es again wave over an undivided country. The mother remained at the old home, with out means to get away and without sym pathy from her rebel neighbors. She Boon had nothing to eat save wlrnt the little garden produced from the toil of her own hands. Three months had passed since the family had tasted bread and the mother had heard the pitiful cry of the children for bread until it became unbear able. Leaving the little ones all alone she set out on foot fora mill twenty miles awav to beg if possible a little flour or meal, but after her wearisome walk under a burning sun, she reached the mill only to find the mill shut down and neither meal nor flour could be had. But being permitted to sweep the floor and bolting chest she obtained in this manner about fifteen pounds of dirty flour which she carried away on her back. On reaching home she soon had bread baking in an ■ oven by the fire while she, nearly ex hausted, lay down to rest. She was soon awakened, however, by the children to find that the heartless guerrillas had en tered her cabin and bad taken not only the bread from the oven hut the remain ing flour also ami r<xle away. The mother gave up in utter despair as she looked forward to the long winter with nothing in store but trouble. But for tunately one day a company of I nion cavalry came that wav; she hailed them and told her pitiful story. T hey at once sent her and her little one«- to S| ringfield where the Northern army was stationed. Here their wants were supplied by the gov< rnment until the war closed. 4 LETTER FROM DAIRY. Dairy, Or., May 10, 93. » To the Editor of the T alent N ews : I thought a squib from this lo cality might be of interest to your readers. Dairy is a small village consisting ot one store, a hotel and a school house. It is situated in Alkali \ alley and is alxsut twenty miles east of Klamath Ealls. The name, Dairy, would naturally bring up ideas of milk maids, gentle cows, butler and cheese, but if one expects to find any of these in Dairy he will be greatly disappointed. True here are cows nut their eyes are wild instead of mild and if a maid should approach them on foot, bucket in hand, saying “So boss,’ they would either toss their heads and run or else lower their horns anti come as if they intended to make a solid mash on that girl and the girl thinking that she had caught a tartar would suddenly con clude that she was needed on toe other side of the nearest fence. The picture of a miik maid scaling a seven rail fence with a wild eyed cow in persuit would hardly comport with the common ideas of miik*maids leading the mild eyed cow by tiie DC I i strap across the field ot clover. Although the girls of Dairy are not strictly speaking dairy maidensand the poet has not commented on "their fine singing and the painter has not taken them as models; they are none the I.ss charming and would be fit subjects for a poem or would grace a picture. What ever Dairy has been in the past or may be in the future, at present the dairying business is not flourishing. It is an un usual thing to see a roll of butter on the market and if there is a cheesejt is man ufactured somew here else. As there is in Dairy a conspicuous absence of milk maids, mild eyed cows and butter ami cheese, therefore the name Dairy is a mis nomer and should lx? changed. I It has l>een a very wet spring here as elsewhere and the farmers have been de laved in putting in their crops, but the present fine weather is in their favor and they are sowing their grain rapidly. 'I he farmers are expecting big erup tion year. Although crops are rather un certain here in Klamath county on ac count of latg frosts, nocountry’ can lwia.-t of more easily cultivated, or latter soil. When a railroad strikes this county and creates a market it will lieone of the liest counties in the State. There is plenty of government land here now and .. young man will do well to take time by the fore-lock ami takeaclaim. It Hmac< I