SAM DEMPSTER AND THE 

 PRAIRIE-DOG TOWN 



SAM DEMPSTER was a lone bachelor, 

 a tall, quiet man, who made it a practice 

 to mind his own business and to see that 

 everyone else did the same in so far as he was 

 personally concerned. He always wore his 

 pants well tucked into his high-topped boots. 

 A flannel shirt, with a buckskin coat when 

 needed, and a slouch hat which shaded his full- 

 bearded face completed his costume. 



He was one of the first settlers of the county. 

 Just when he came, or from where, no one 

 seemed to know. He owned a homestead 

 which was looked upon as being one of the best 

 quarter-sections of land in that part of the state. 

 Adjoining his farm, down near the hay land, 

 was a small prairie-dog town. They were so- 

 ciable little brutes, among themselves, and 

 [5-] 



