26 UNION COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



chopping axe, grubbing hoe, and maul and wedge. I began 

 low down in " Egypt," where thousands of our countrymen 

 who live at a distance think it impossible for a man to keep 

 the wolf from the door. This is a delusion, which, ere long, 

 must, and will be dispelled. There are but few places so 

 favorably situated. The Ohio River just a little on one side of 

 us, the Mississippi just a little on the other side, and three rail- 

 roads just between, terminating at Cairo, twenty-seven miles 

 south, our position for marketing facilities is indeed to be 

 envied. The lands are all well adapted to agricultural pur- 

 poses, and for horticulture can not be excelled. While thous- 

 ands of good homes can be had on easy enough terms now, 

 such will not be the case long. " Egypt's " resources are get- 

 ting noised abroad ; so much so, that before another decade it 

 will take thousands of dollars to buy a home that might now 

 be bought for hundreds. 



I have been blessed with a family of sons, who, as soon as 

 they attained to years of maturity, relieved me from hiring 

 any help, except an occasional hand a few months, so that it 

 would be nearly correct, so far as hired help is concerned, to 

 say th^t my expenses have been nothing. Through a series of 

 about twenty-four years of good farming, and clearing of my 

 land at the same time, I have now a verj'- comfortable home 

 and am provided against future want. I am fifty years old, 

 and beside the farm, I own a large dry-goods and general mer- 

 chandise establishment, the result of careful, prudent farming. 



