104 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



day, and it may be so, but if it be a dream, it is a pleasant 

 one. Bear in mind that we are now considering conditions 

 as they existed in 1876 and 1877, but the statements now 

 to be made will apply equally as well to 1878 and 1879. 



The very strenuous days of the first years that attend- 

 ed the settling of the county had passed away. The In- 

 dians were no longer troublesome — the "grasshopper" had 

 almost ceased to be a ''burden," and the ravages of the 

 April storm of 1873, the worst ever known in the history 

 of the state, were but a memory. Better times had already 

 come to our new settlements, and still brighter days were 

 in prospect. There was a buoyancy of spirit and a pervad- 

 ing feeling of hope and expectancy that thrilled the minds 

 and hearts of the people of the community to a much great- 

 er degree than is apparent at the present time. There was 

 a community of interest and a brotherhood of feeling that 

 warmed the hearts of the people toward one another, and 

 that prompted unusual interest in each other's welfare. 

 People still lived in log houses, in sod houses and in dug- 

 outs, but they saw that this would not always be. They 

 looked for better things than they then possessed, and felt 

 sure of their coming. The soil had been productive beyond 

 their greatest expectations, and although they did not ex- 

 pect to live to see their farms worth a hundred dollars an 

 acre, they did hope to soon have good improvements on 

 these farms, and to have all the other accessories of older 

 communities, such as a railroad, market towns near by, and 

 schools, churches and good roads. If they did not then 

 possess all the conveniences and luxuries of our communi- 

 ties of the present day they were also free from many of 

 our present ills and afflictions. There were no mortgages 

 falling due, for the loan agents had not yet invaded this 

 territory. If they had no automobiles to get out of fix and 

 to vex and worry the owners and spoil their tempers, they 

 did have good driving teams and good saddle horses. There 



