EARLY MANHOOD IN THE MIDDLE WEST 115 



Time fails to tell of all the other living things 

 there were in that lean-to besides men and boys and 

 cats, but I must not forget to say that the family 

 did everything it was in their power to do under 

 the circumstances to make us comfortable. 



Close by the house a railway ran along an un- 

 fenced right of way and one day the cowcatcher 

 caught a steer one of the Colonel's fattest 

 and pitched it into the ditch. For a month there- 

 after we feasted on beef, the weather being cool, 

 and with plenty of other food fairly well cooked, 

 we had nothing to complain of except those filthy 

 sleeping quarters and the vermin that bunked with 

 us. As the two girls were fairly proficient on the 

 violin and the boys could sing a little, the evenings 

 were spent not altogether unpleasantly, so long as 

 we took no thought of the night. I have already 

 taken so much time in describing the surroundings 

 and the first part of our stay in that land of flat- 

 ness, mosquitoes and ague, that I will have to 

 pass over certain unique local characters and hasten 

 on with my story. 



As might have been expected the ague returned 

 upon me and after battling with it for a few days 

 I boarded the cars on a Saturday morning and 

 went to Salem Junction where I expected to get a 



