Conclusion Of Uncle Johnnie, Honey Creek Correspondent, 1895-1903
“July 6, 1899- Glorious rain. Happy Fourth. Sam Wheeler took a case of eggs to town last Monday and it commenced raining and excited the kids so he brought the case back without emptying it.
October 12, 1899- Roe Morgan put his feed lot in potatoes last Spring and is now digging 80 bushels a day. He will have about 400 bushels to sell.
November 30, 1899- The ponds have been helped greatly by the recent showers. Winter will be gone before cold weather commences, if this fine weather continues.
February 15, 1900- The early bird gets no worm now for it seems to be froze up for keeps. We don’t believe in ground hogs for it is not a Kansas product.
August 30, 1900There have been six buggies purchased in this immediate vicinity since the 4th of July. If the country is going to the devil, we’re all going to be comfortable while taking the trip.
September 13, 1900- We are happy to acknowledge another fine rain. It was a great surprise though, didn’t have a single barrel in position to catch it.
May 2, 1901- Branding cattle, driving to pasture and planting corn keeps farmers so busy that scarcely have time to deposit their surplus cash these fine days.
August 28, 1902- The first load of new corn the writer has seen on the market was brought in last Monday by Loss Graham, an enterprising farmer from Farmington. It was the yellow variety know as Long John and the ears lacked only a few inches of being a foot and a half long.
February 12, 1903- John Beitz over on Tadpole sold a bunch of fat cattle recently that average 1700 lbs a head. Three steers in the bunch weighed 20 lbs over a ton apiece. He got $5.37 a hundred.
BUSINESS: August 30, 1895- Mr. Bassett, of Eureka, was out here the other day showing a small and select audience how his new fangled corn cutting sled operated. If he depends for a revenue on the selling of that thing, he need never worry about the income tax, as his corn cutting sled is as useless as a dog that sucks eggs.
March 20, 1896- The last quilting bee held since we wrote at Mrs. Belle Kirkpatrick’s and there were thirteen women present( that unlucky number), which however, means one addition instead of a loss before the year is out., on this creek. As usual we were not invited but had revenge by sending a sewing machine agent down there; but our revenge acted as a boomerang, for the agent talked machine till we got one, and it’s a dandy.
July 29, 1897- Mrs. Anderson visited the creamery the other day to see with her own eyes how they were running things. She reports everything neat and sweet and thinks sending milk off is a great saving of hard work for women folks. Our milkman, Mr. Warner has a milk route that takes 60 miles’ travel every day to cover. He has already worn out two teams, but now has a span of mules that will stay with him although they run off from him three times recently.
July 21, 1898- In our travels to and fro our attention is often called to neglected machinery that is being exposed to the elements. Writers for magazines and other papers also mention such things and some fellows with a taste for figures tell us every once in a while, just how much farmers lose each year through wasteful extravagance. One of these writers mentions a model farmer of his acquaintance and holds him up for a pattern. This man bought a wagon twenty-five ago, also a plow, mowing machine and other tools. Every night during this quarter of a century these tools have been housed and according to this writer are good for ten more years. He then proceeds to picture the blessings thousands of farmers would enjoy were they likewise as careful of their tools. Now I’m going to change cushions for about five minutes and sit down on this model farmer business. Where in the thunder would this country be if a few hundred thousand farmers hadn’t bought an implement for twenty-five years. There wouldn’t be a factory or a machine shop in all this broad land; grass would be growing over the highways and barnacles would be rotting the ships of commerce.
Now let us turn for a moment to his opposite, the careless machine-leavingwhere- he-used-it-last man. The hustling, bustling, rustling cuss seventeen irons in the fire all at once red hot and more heating. How the factories hum and the freight cars run to supply his demands. Owes the groceryman, banker and merchants? Granted. But he takes the children to the circus and not only lets them see the parade but buys tickets for the big tent. I would place this friend of all trades upon a pedestal higher than Bartholdi’s state of liberty.
March 29, 1900-Corn is worth 30 cents a bushel in Severy. That’s the busiest little town in southern Kansas. Farmers get more for everything from hogs down to chicken feathers than anywhere else, all on account of the Frisco road, so they say.
August 14, 1902- Eureka found what? Gas! Well yes I gas.
GOVERNMENT: July 3, 1896- I would suggest that the cowboys call in their base ball charter and form a neck tie association to furnish suitable neckgear to bad boys who are so well posted on trashy literature. The laws of this country, that they can steal whole herds of cattle with no punishment in sight except a few months in the reformatory and a cigar box full of money.
March 5, 1897- This neighborhood has been infested with genuine tramps, such as we read about, fellows that scorn a “ hand-out” unless accompanied by hot coffee. They sleep in the school house and we would rather have them there than in our dwelling houses, but it’s the first time the genuine article ever struck this locality.
May 26, 1898- I wish the Commissioners would hurry and get the bridge fixed. I’m getting tired of going clear around Fall River to get into the city with the Greek name (Eureka).
April 5, 1900- I wish the rich philanthrops would donate some of their surplus cash towards improving the highways. $1,500 is the cost of a mile of macadamized road. If Carnegie, for instance, would give that sum provided a county would build an equal amount and distribute his generosity over the country in a manner to thoroughly advocate the system, it would help and build up civilization far more than this public library business.
May 16, 1901-I hope the ladies’ Town Improvement club will see to it that some seats are placed along side the east walk in front of the courthouse. It would keep the Weary Willies off the grass and also the chiggers off of Willie.
February 5, 1903-Hurrah for the mail route. R.F.D. He’s got a brand new mail wagon. The first one shipped in by Evans & Son. Price $85. Charley Downs was the first patron on the route to get mail. There seems to be a scarcity of mail boxes. Patrons cannot get them so baking powder boxes and other homemade contrivances will be used until the regular box arrives. I tell you the R.F.D. business is a big step forward. It places the farmer in daily touch with the world and everybody should do all they can to encourage and perpetuate the system. Hurrah for Uncle Sam.
DRINKING AND GAMBLING: May 8, 1896- There was a dance over in the Farmington neighborhood last Saturday night. From all reports they had plenty of whiskey and a rocky time generally.
March 29, 1902- We saw a handsome young looking boy drunk as he could be last Saturday. If that lad could have known how disgusting he looked to others and heard the jibes and curses that were directed at him as he was carried to the manure pile, he would never touch liquor again.
JOURNALISM: December 27, 1895- We are sorry to see that the man who corrects our bad grammar and spelling got a stiff neck. I have had the same kind of complaint, several joints lower, and know how to sympathize with him.
July 29, 1897- Many country people attended the theatre last Saturday night. It was a hot show. I saw “Pansy” there hunting for a place to roost and would have offered her a knee only I was afraid she would accept.
May 11, 1899- Somebody called me a “crepitus” last week and accused us of cribbing spring poems from 12-year-old-almanacs. I care nothing for the party of the first part for we don’t know what “crepitus” mean, but I will give six bits toward starting his opera or furnish the cat gut for his string band, if my brother from the south can show almanacs or any other kind of book that contains our spring “kibosh.” I’ll admit it wasn’t much, such as it is its mine. And a darned sight better than you could do if you worked all week and Sundays too.
February 12, 1903(This was submitted by a correspondent from the Star community) Uncle Johnnie we are glad you are living on a R.F.D. but you needn’t feel so blamed proud about it. All the same Uncle Johnnie we will expect to hear from you every week hereafter.
HEALTH AND DEATH: July 26, 1895- Clint Lockwood broke his leg when a mule fell on it and broke both bones between the ankle and knee.
April 22, 1897- One of John Cochrane’s hired men fell from the barn loft and broke his neck. Dr. Dillon set the injured member and the boy will be ready for work in a week or so. This sounds rocky but that’s the way the colonel fed it to me.
June 24, 1897- Dr. Dillon lanced a very vicious tumor which had found lodgment under S.T. Cline’s arm. If Sim would raise more blackberries, he would not have such things.
June 2, 1898- Jerry Nichols, who had a large boil right on his mouth, is now better and able to kiss his loved ones once more, that is if he indulges in such foolishness.
September 14, 1899We are sorry to hear that Myrtle Millhorn has broken her arm again. This makes the fifth time for the same arm.
March 19, 1903- JOHN WOOD FOUND DEAD. Several years ago, he had a surgical operation performed on his skull. He had a serious time of it, but seemed to entirely recover. However, lately he complained that his head troubled him greatly. Last Saturday, the day he left, he said his head was full of strange noises, which bothered him so much that he could scarcely think, talk or act. It is probable that his former affliction was returning with increased vigor, and that he was irresponsible for his strange acts. Everyone knows that “Uncle Johnnie,” as he was familiarly called would never have committed suicide while in position of his mental faculties. That disease, should sometimes cause men to take their own lives when not aware of the horror of the deed.
March 26, 1903-IN MEMORY OF JOHN WOOD. It was with the greatest sorrow that we read in last weeks MESSENGER of the untimely death of our old friend John Wood. This death is a sad blow to the citizens of Eureka with whom he was a great favorite. The news came with stunning force. But the shock came with greater force to his family and forever cast a cloud of sorrow over the once happy home. We had known “ Uncle Johnnie” for years and during that time he was always the same John. A pleasant word and smile for all he met. During his long sickness several years ago, he bore his pain and suffering with remarkable fortitude living through that of which many men would have perished. Never discouraged but on the contrary always filled with hope. Through rain and droughts he always wore the same cheerful smile and had the same greeting. His friends were numbered by the hundreds, his enemies would scare reach ten. When sickness or death came to any of his neighbors, John was the first one to offer his services and assist in alleviating the sufferings of his friends.
Old Honey Creek will be lonesome without happy John. He will be greatly missed in the summer time by the numerous housewives of Eureka who were his patrons. No more will he make the rounds with his farm wagon of produce.
This shorten article was published in the summer and autumn Kansas History Journal in the year 1980.”
