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Show o TOO MANY GRUMPIES IN UTAH Editor Truth: A few years ago with a party of land seekers from Illinois, who had visited Bear River Valley, we stopped at the little town of Snyder on the South Platte river in Colorado to look at some land there on our return re-turn journey to Illinois. Wc were met at the depot by the local land agent, who, with a good team and observation wagon, showed us the farms he had to sell. He, as all good land agents do, told us of the good soil, crops, markets, the general satisfaction, sat-isfaction, and prosperity of the farmers farm-ers in that section of the state. He also spoke in glowing terms of the schools, the climate, the irrigating canals, and everything else that made the farmers contented and happy. Wc all enjoyed the day's ride with him looking at the farms and saw that the story he told us was true. There were quite a few drawbacks and disadvantages that wc also saw, but which the land agent had neglected neg-lected to mention. Wc arrived back in town at night and learned that we would have to wait until the next afternoon af-ternoon before wc could get a train eastward. While sauntering around the town the next morning we saw a sign over a door, John Rash, Blacksmith. Wc all went into the shop and soon saw that Mr. Rash would rather talk than work, and as wc wanted to know about the town wc listened to him. He told us that he had lived in Snyder two yenrs, and that the reason he left Ohio was because the people there were so mean, stingy, narrow and self' ' that he would not live among them, and that the people in Snyder and the farmers around the out-skirts of the town were meaner than all the people in Ohio. He was so full of. gossip, hatred, and delighted delight-ed in slandering his own town, that the words ran out of his mouth like filth from a sewcr. Wc asked him how he had prospered financially since he came to Snyder; prosper, he said, in this miserable little one-horse townl I came here two years ago with nothing, I have accumulated nothing since I came here, and I am BHJ now over six hundred dollars in debt. BBB Every storm, every early or late BBB frost, every failure in crops, or busi- flflj ness, every scandal, and in fact, every- flflj thing bad that had happened in Sny- BBB dcr for the two years he had lived flHJ there he magnified and enlarged till III some of our party wantcd to get out flflj of the town before train time. BHJ Just as the blacksmith was pouring flflj out his venom the strongest the land BflJ agent arrived, and said to our little BflJ party, "boys come with me." He BflJ took us to a blacksmith shop in an- BBv other portion of the town, and before BJ wc reached it wc heard the anvil ring BBa and the cheerful song of the man who . BBJ swung the hammer. When wc arrived BBa at the shop wc saw a young man about 27 years old, busily engaged in welding a wagon axle. When he BBJ saw he had made a ncrfect weld and BBJ the axle was straight and just the BBJ right length, he stood it against the anvil, came over to where we stood BflJ watching him and said, gentlemen, BB what can I do for vou? The land AH agent replied: Mr. Hustler, (the black- BflJ smith's name), I want you to tell BB these gentlemen from Illinois, how BH you have prospered since you came BH to Snyder, and how you like the pco- BH pic here. The blacksmith replied: BflJ "A little over two years ago my wife BH and I, just married, left our homes in Iowa and came to Snyder. I had BflJ tools as you sec here, and these with BH just enough furniture to keep house BflJ with wc brought with us. When we BflJ arrived here we had just fifty dollars BflJ in money. I rented an old wagon shed. In one end I put my forge BB and in the other end I fitted up a liy- BB ing room. I then went to work in BB dead earnest, and soon had plenty of BB work; the farmers soon saw I had BB an interest in the town and the coun- BB try and brought their work to mc. BB "The land agent sold me this lot BB Where my shop is, and the one next BB door where my home now stands. BB He gave mc plenty of time to pay for BB them, and helped mc to buy the lum- BB bcr for my house and shop. It only BB took mc a few days to build my shop, BB and every spare minute since then I BB have put in working on my house; BB you sec I have a comfortable little B home. Wc hated to leave our old BB home in Iowa because the people flj there were so kind to us and such BJ good neighbors, but I knew there flj were so many more advantages for a BJ young man in the west than he could HJ possibly find in Iowa. HJ "Wc have found the people in Sny- HJ der even better than those wc left HJ in Iowa. Through the kindness and HJ patronage of the people here I have BJ a nice home, a good business and will HJ soon be out of debt." As the black- HJ smith was talking along in the above HJ strain, a bright, neat looking young HJ woman wit'h a baby in her arms came BJ to the side door of the shop and said, HJ "James, dinner is ready." BJ At this wc thanked the blacksmith BJ for his talk and went back to the ho- BJ tel. Snyder had risen 100 per cent H H in our estimation, everything looked H better, the storey and homes, the H people on the street, the clerks in the H stores, and the children returning H from school, all had a happy smile H and all seemed to hold out a glad H hand of welcome, they seemed to say. H come to Snyder and live, it is a good H place for a home. The lessons taught H by the Snyder blacksmiths should be H a guide to all. Wc usually find what H wc arc looking for. If wc are look- H ing for bad neighbors, bad business, H debts, slander, and gossip, wc usually H find them. If a person wants to know M What kind of neighbors he has, what H his neighbors think, what his ncigh- H bors do, and how he likes his ncigh- H bors, let him look in the glass. M Everything wc want, do, or have, is M a reflection of self. Tohn Rash saw H that his neighbors in Ohio were bad H and when he came to Snyder they H were worse. It was not John Rash's M neighbors that were getting worse; M it was John Rash. The acts of his H neighbors were a reflection of his H own mind. M On another occasion with a party m of homc-scckcrs from Nebraska, wc M had a man of whom we got to H calling "Grumpy." When wc left H Grand Island, Grumpy began to com- M plain. The cars were too hot or too M cold, he did not like the brakeman, m and he got in a row with the con- H ductor because he would, not let him H spit on the floor. He kicked at the H lunch his wife put up for him and H howled at the coffee he got at the H lunch counter. He said the scenery H in Wyoming was no good, and the H person who stated that Cheyenne H and Laramie were beautiful little H cities, was a liar. Wfc arrived in Bear H River Valley the next morning. Grum- H py complained about his breakfast H and growled because the mountain H shaded the early morning sun. He H snarled at the conveyance the land H company furnished to show 'him the H valley, and whined at the dust in H the road. It was a beautiful clear, H cool summer day, just right for sight- H seeing. At about 10:30 in the morn- H ing wc drove up on Point Lookout, H a spot overlooking the Bear River H Valley. And like Moses of old, wc H viewed the promised land. By the H propogation of crops and scientific H farming down through the centuries H from Moses to Utah wc saw a more H fertile, productive and beautiful val- B Icy than' did Moses. Wc were dc- H lighted and carried away by the won- H dcrful sight. Wc saw the Wasatch H Mountains on the cast, whose lofty M summits 6000 feet above the valley M wore white snowy crownsi as cra- M blcms of grandeur, stability, and fl protection to the beautiful valley at M their feet. These mountains seemed m to rise from some undiscovered vale fl in the north and extended southward M till their beauty was lost in the hazy M dimness of a mid-summer day. The M great Bear River canal almost at M our feet, which gave liquid life to M the meadows, the orchards, and the H corn fields, seemed to be a graceful H and beautiful line of intelligence, H which scparacd the main strength, t awkward hit miss, rain storm farmer H of the past from the scientific sure H crop irrigation farmer of the present. H As our eyes followed this canal, in H places it would be hidden behind high H embankments or projecting foot-hills, H or lost in the dense foliage on its H banks, and then it would come out in H the open fields' where the bright H noon-day sun shone on its clear sur- H face, till it looked like a thread of H pure silver. We saw that the Bear H River Valley was truly the garden H of the Gods, and more beautiful than H the hanging gardens of Babylon. The H, songs of the lark and the robin I came to our delighted ears like sweet I chimes in some distant belfry. Our nostrils were filled with the fragrant I aroma of the alfalfa blossoms, more spicy than the perfumes from the vineyards of Engcda. And thus we stood wrapped in awe, wonder and admiration at the most gorgeous panorama that man could look upon. At last Grumpy discovered discover-ed something he was looking for, and pointing in its direction said: "Boys, I'll bet that that old dead horse way down here in the sage brush stinks worse than a Chicago glue factory." Wc have too many John Rashes and Gruinpys in Utah. Brother C C. Goodwin is a fair sample. Ever since he has lived in Utah he grumbled at his neighbors and kicked at everything in general. His paper is filled with hatred, bitterness, and contention. He would rather see Joseph F. Smith or Heber J. Grant put in jail than to see prosperity, contentment con-tentment and happiness; come to Salt Lake. Like the Ministerial devil fish society, he lives on contention and hatred, and is always looking for a stinking dead horse. Read the back numbers of his little knocker and satisfy sat-isfy yourself. Yours Very Truly, V. S. PEET. Washington, D. C, Jan 28, 1907. |