The Morrills and Reminiscences - C. H. Morrill

among them several times, driving them about to keep them from getting covered with snow, drifting under, and freezing. In this way I saved my entire herd. Thousands of cattle drifted under and froze. Many people perished during this storm. School children froze to death on their way home.
After the storm we proceeded on our journey, arriving in due time at our future home. Prior to leaving Iowa I had contracted for the erection of a house on my Nebraska claim. The house was sixteen feet square. It was enclosed when we arrived. My family then consisted of five persons. The house was small, but we managed to get on very well. All the houses in that vicinity, with one exception, were made of sod. Nearly all the early settlers in the western part of Polk County were Swedes. Nearly half of them had come without horses or oxen. They took homesteads and exchanged work with their neighbors for team work to break a few acres and to haul sod for their houses and stables. These Swedish settlers were a very honest, industrious, and hardworking people. Generally they had large families. With crop failures it was often impossible for them to meet their obligations, but they never repudiated a debt. In all my transactions with Swedish people, in the sale of merchandise, and for many years in the banking business, I never lost one dollar by giving them credit. I consider my prosperity in later years due very largely to the absolute honesty of my Swedish patrons. In due time prosperity came to them. They now con-

stitute the most wealthy farming community in Nebraska. They won by industry, thrift, and square dealing, which is a verification of the old adage, "Honesty is the best policy."
My first crop of wheat, consisting of about twenty acres, grown in 1873, was cut with an old-fashioned cradle. In 1873, in company with Mr. J. P. Smith, I opened an agricultural implement store. At this time practically all business was done on credit, and the early settlers being poor, we soon found ourselves in trouble. 'After two years' experience I sold my interest to Mr. Smith and became a partner with Lewis Headstrom and John B. Buckley in a general merchandise store, which was, in fact, the only store in Stromsburg.
About this time the Stromsburg Townsite Company was organized. I was afterwards elected president. On the Fourth of July, 1873, the celebration was held in my grove south of town. Thomas Record, known as "Uncle Tommy," delivered the oration. He appeared on the stage barefoot, with his pants rolled up to his knees, and his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows. In this garb he proceeded to fly the American eagle. At that time it was admitted that Uncle Tommy had more political influence than any man in Polk County. It was said that his relatives numbered more than thirty voters. He opposed the voting of bonds to induce the construction of the railroad in Polk County, saying, "Boys, if I ever live to hear the whistle of an engine in Polk County, I will move away from this locality all-fired quick." .

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THE MORRILLS AND REMINISCENCES


		"As one who cons at evening o'er an album all alone, And muses on the faces of the friends that he has known, So I turn the leaves of fancy till, in shadowy design, I find the smiling features of an old sweetheart of mine. I can see the pink sunbonnet and the little checkered dress She wore when first I kissed her and she answered the caress With the written declaration that, "as surely as the vine Grew round the stump," she loved me - that old sweetheart of mine. And again I feel the pressure of her slender little hand, As we used to talk together of the future we had planned When I should be her lover forever and a day, And she my faithful sweetheart till the golden hair was gray; And we should be so happy that when either's lips were dumb They would not smile in Heaven till the other's kiss had come." From the Biographical Edition of the Complete Works of James Whilcom Riley, Copyright, 1913. Used by special permission of the Publishers. The Bobbs-Merrill Company.


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