USA > Kansas > The northern tier: or, Life among the homestead settlers > Part 6
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"A departure from the old landmarks thus established, leads to new and doubtful theories and doctrines; and little by little the first principles and original doctrines are lost sight of, and infidelity, spiritualism and kindred dogmas usurp the place of the grand apostolic doctrines in the mind, and the original truths are discarded by those who seek the seductive paths of science and embrace the 'liberal' tenets of infidelity. Therefore, disturb not the old doctrinal landmarks of faith, lest you meander too far from the true line -the original witness-trees or monumental corners of the true survey.
"The hewers of wood and drawers of water produce more happiness in the world than the nobles and aristocrats who bask in the sunshine of idle- ness, and subsist on the products of the honest toil of the laborers. The blood of a king whose commands rack a nation from center to circumfer- ence, and whose sword awes a continent into submission, is no better than that of the serf whom the king holds in bondage or in servile allegiance. He who was rocked in a sugar-trough for a cradle, and reared in the moss-
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grown log cabin, may be a better, happier and wiser man than the aristocrat, whose infant cries were smothered with gorgeous drapery in a magnificent cradle, and reared amid the frescoed halls of a palace.
"The honest laborer and Christian who 'hews to the line,' and makes society better and happier, and causes the light of civilization to penetrate the wilderness, thus dispelling the gloom of ignorance and barbarism, and causes Christianity to spread its genial rays wide over the world, may truly be classed as one of Nature's noblemen.
"Many there are who, unhonored, have left in every footprint, from the cradle to the grave, brilliant examples of honesty and integrity ; whose energy and enterprise have caused the rose to blossom upon the desert waste, beautified the forest wilds, and gathered the splendors of the valley into the storehouse of usefulness. They hewed to the line, and won their reward in the sweat of honest toil. It has been written, 'Whatsoever thou findest to do, do it with thy might;' and, I add, when thou doest it, 'Hew to the line.'
"Pope said, 'An honest man is the noblest work of God.' What kind of a job would the old poet have designated a 'dead-beat,' or a dishonest rascal whose daily life is a routine of rascality, blasphemy and wickedness? Christianity, when professed and practiced sincerely, not only makes men better and happier, but also causes them to exhibit honesty and integrity of purpose in their intercourse with their fellow-men, thereby aiding to diffuse happiness throughout society. 'Remove the beam from thine own eye before thou searchest for the mote in thy brother's eye,' is as applicable west of the sixth principal meridian as it was nearly two thousand years ago on the shore of the Mediterranean.
"There are many men, however, who bottle up their religion on week- days, and make a regular soda-fountain of it on Sunday."
Here some of the audience at the rear end of the building began to laugh, which soon spread among the entire congre- gation. I expected to hear the preacher reprove them; but instead thereof, he smiled one of his peculiar pleasant smiles,
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and looking at the audience for a moment, exclaimed in an emphatic manner, "Laugh and grow fat, but hew to the line!" This was too much for the audience, and they enjoyed a hearty laugh, in which the preacher joined. As soon as order was restored, he proceeded as follows :
"There are other men who whittle their religion, like a boy whittling a stick, down to the fine point of nothing."
More merriment among the audience, in which Romulus joined, after which he again proceeded, as follows:
"Charity begins at home, and with many people remains at home. It. has been written, 'Love your enemies;' and I do try to love mine, even the Indians, according to divine command, if they will stay away from this country so far that 'Distance lends enchantment to the view.'
"A philosopher may learn wisdom from a fool, and a Wall-street broker may learn integrity from a homestead settler. The difference between a. sea captain and a stage driver is not so great as most people imagine, as both are clothed with grave responsibility. The Ten Commandments are a wise collection of rules, and if strictly obeyed, the people would be better and happier-peace and good order would reign. But some strictly ob- serve one of the commandments, and perhaps violate the others. A deacon may swap horses with a layman and get the best of the bargain, or a man of the world practice chicanery with an easy-going Christian without any check of conscience. Others assume the voluntary responsibility of attend- ing to the affairs of an entire community, by dictating their duty in detail, making telegraphic announcement of the short-comings of their neighbors. throughout the neighborhood. All persons have their friends, some more, some less, but everyone is the recipient of more or less censure from the gossip-heralds of the community. But those who 'hew to the line,' regard- less of the fault-finding of others, sooner or later will brighten the pathway of Christianity.
"Human nature is the same in all ages of the world; cultivate it in the
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right direction, and it develops the beauty and ornamental design of the Creator; debase it, and it becomes the opposite.
"While the pagan is worshipping his idol, the civilized Christian read- ing his Bible, the Indian is daubing his face with war-paint, counting his scalps, or reconnoitering a frontier settlement, to rob and murder-all done by the light of the same sun that illuminates the universe. States- men wrangle about the affairs of government, kings go to war for suprem- acy and power, while the homestead settler breaks prairie, plants his crops, and reads his Bible in his rude dug-out, and is the happiest man.
" Though his dug-out is rude in architecture, it shelters him and his family; and the wind may whistle through it, the wolves howl around it, but his little family gather closer about him as he reads his Bible and offers his devotions. He is in his castle, across the threshold of which no po- tentate dare venture without permission, and no sectarian scepter deters him from his Christian duty of hewing to the line, and training up his family as he was trained in his old Christian home in the East. There are many such dug-outs and such homes up and down this valley, and scattered over the frontier, before the doors of which my pony has often been hitched while I preached within.
"The line should be straight, not zig-zag. Every bee-hunter knows full well that when the bee leaves its field of labor and starts for its home, the hive, the course it pursues is in a straight line. Though it may have wan- dered into new floral fields hitherto unexplored, or threatened by the near approach of a storm-cloud, its instinct teaches it that its chosen straight line is the shortest route to its home, and no deviation lengthens its jour- ney. A true man may learn wisdom from the flight of the honey-bee.
"The zig-zag line is often followed in the journey of life, and in the scramble for the almighty dollar, and, like a cottonwood-board fence, is alternately warped and straightened by the storms of misfortune, or the sunshine of pleasure and happiness.
"The straighter the line of conduct, the less the pressure on the con- science; and when the end is reached, the memory stretches backward to the paths of the past, lingering a moment at the guide-posts that pointed the route of travel through the moral world.
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"Many men during their evil days tear down the partition wall between their conscience and their daily practice, and fail or neglect to repair or rebuild it after they make profession of a change in their moral conduct, or dead-head their way into the church. The evil one erects false guide- posts all along the pathway of life, primed and painted with the allure- ments of vice, that sooner or later cause the traveler or hewer to deviate from the true straight line, and he wanders into the wilderness of wicked- ness and despair.
"There are no proxies in religion, and as every tub stands upon its own bottom, so verily, 'he that tooteth not his own horn, the same shall not be tooted.' If you are on the down grade, put on the brakes.
"Chalk your line with the best intentions and resolutions you have, then hew to it without disturbing the 'old landmarks,' all along the journey of life, through evil as well as good report, on week days as well as Sundays, amid prosperity and adversity, with charity and Christian duty inscribed on your banner, and you will have a morality that will neither rip, ravel, nor rust.
"I do not preach for money, and I never ask for any contributions for my preaching; but if some kind friend will invite me home with him to a good dinner, and furnish some provender for my pony, he will receive his reward."
He usually sang all his hymns in the same tune-Old Hundred -and he closed his services by singing the words of the Doxology in that venerable tune, with his musical voice and original variations, while a few of his congregation sang the words in the proper air; and if the discord was de- tected by anyone present, due allowance was made for the privilege of having a sermon and time-honored hymn-singing on the frontier.
CHAPTER 9.
HOLDING COURT.
During the interval between the completion of the build- ing for the Land Office, and the opening of the office for business, the fall term of the District Court for Cloud county was to be held in Concordia, the new county seat, for the first time. On the day fixed by law for convening court the judge of the district failed to put in an appearance, and a message was received that he was unable to appear and hold court on account of sickness. A goodly number of law- yers, clients, witnesses and the regular petit jury were in attendance, all anxious that court should be held. The trial docket showed sufficient cases for a whole week's work. A number of criminal cases were docketed in which the defend- ants were on bail for their appearance, and having appeared were in charge of the sheriff and his deputy, the sheriff having been advised by the newly-elected county attorney-who, by the way, had not yet qualified nor entered upon the discharge of his official duties -that he (the sheriff) must take the pris- oners into his custody. The prisoners were anxious to be
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tried and know their fate, and their vigilant bondmen were present desiring to be released from further responsibility. A number of divorce cases were docketed which the plaintiffs were solicitous should be tried, for some reason unknown to all save their attorneys, who, from the statements of their clients under the ban of professional secresy, were doubtless aware that executory verbal contracts of marriage with "num- ber two" had been entered into and could not be postponed. Hence the attorneys were determined that court should be held, ostensibly, as they insisted, for the reason that some of their clients were in the custody of the sheriff, restrained of their liberty, but a more potent reason was inferred to be that their fees were not to be paid until the cases were tried, and were contingent upon a successful termination of the litigation.
A meeting was held to determine whether a pro tem. judge should be chosen and court held. At the meeting Judge B- made a speech, as follows :
"Mr. Chairman: Court must be held. My clients and others are in cus- tody and restrained of their liberty. They are here demanding a full-grown trial, by an impartial jury-if we have any in this free country-and I be- lieve we have." (The last remark was made for the benefit of the regular panel, who were in attendance.) "There are a number of yeomen here as prisoners, restrained of their liberty-that liberty for which their forefathers fought during the Revolution; that liberty for which Washington crossed the Delaware amid floating ice, under a moonless sky at midnight, on that night of nights ever memorable, Christmas; and that liberty written in let- ters of living light by the pen of Jefferson in the Declaration of Independ-
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ence; that liberty the centrifugal force of which radiated from the hearts of the Green Mountain Boys, verified and sealed with the blood of patriotic Puritans on the brow of Bunker Hill, on the banks of the Brandywine, among the snow-clad hills of Valley Forge, and at Yorktown, where Corn- wallis threw up the sponge and laid his British sword at the feet of the father of our country; that liberty that was inserted in the bill of rights in our American magna charta, and defended by Dan Webster, Henry Clay and Andy Jackson, and all the other great statesmen who nave crossed the shadow of the rotunda of the capitol of our country, and which has been for eighty years the boon of every American citizen, native or naturalized." (The closing part of the last sentence was intended by the Judge for the naturalized Swedes who were on the jury.) "In behalf of the aforesaid liberty, and my clients who are in durance limbo, I demand that a judge pro tem. be chosen and court held !"
The speech of the Judge decided the question, and it was resolved to elect a pro tem. judge and hold court; and the members of the bar retired to a room to choose the judge. I was sitting in my temporary room poring over the dry pages of "Lester's Land Laws and Decisions," and the circulars of the General Land Office, when three members of the bar ap- peared as a committee, of which Judge B- was chairman. The Judge, as chairman, addressed me as follows:
"Most potent, grave and silent denizen! Thou profound, sun-tanned, weather-beaten relic of the Eastern Kansas bar! Our judge having failed to put in an appearance owing to sickness, caused by overloading his stom- ach at a festival, and the welfare of the country depending upon court being held in this embryo city, the future emporium of this valley, and that the peers of your Honor and members of this committee, who are restrained of their liberty, may be released, the innocent acquitted, and the guilty pun- ished according to the statute in such cases made and provided, and the
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long-delayed creditors receive their just due, the members of the bar of this county have held an election as provided for in the constitution ; and learn- ing that in the land from which you have journeyed you were an expounder of the law, and knowing that you are a stranger to all our clients and the parties litigant, and not of kin to the County Attorney, we have concluded that you are the most suitable person to represent justice, as the goddess of that ancient and mysterious theory was represented as blindfolded, which, however, is not strictly in accordance with that maxim from scripture, 'If the blind lead the blind they will both be mulct in the cost.' However, we have chosen you pro tem. judge. Will your honor please accompany the committee to the Clerk of the Court, and be sworn to support the con- stitution of the United States and of this State, and all acts and parts of acts not in conflict therewith, and otherwise discharge the duty of pro tem. judge."
For some reason, not well founded, the Judge imagined that I was a member of some church of the strictly ortho- dox school, and being well read in the scripture, and of a retentive memory, in his address as chairman of the com- mittee, he drew largely from the Bible for his reasons and illustrations, the most of which quotations I have forgotten. History was not neglected in that address, and "The restless Romans throwing aside the trappings of place and pride, and calling Cincinnatus from his plow in the corn-field to preside over the Roman Senate," is a sample of the histor- ical eloquence of the Judge in his elaborate address to me.
In vain I begged to be excused. The Judge informed me that the meeting had directed the Clerk to fine me for con- tempt if I refused. I protested, that being a Federal office-
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holder I could not legally act as judge pro tem. He replied that they would waive all technical advantage of that, if any existed. Said he:
"There are no politics in this election. I am aware that your Honor is a member of the Republican party-the dominant party - and I have no doubt, sir, but that you are one of the bright lights along the pathway of your party, 'a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night' to guide the be- nighted followers of the leaders of your party; but, sir, there are no poli- tics in this election of pro tem. judge. I know not the politics of the other two members of the committee. I believe they belong to your party ; but as for myself, I never deny my politics. I am a time-serving, moss-grown Democrat of the Jackson school, in favor of the constitution and suprem- acy of the civil law. The constitution provides for a pro tem. judge, and the time for which we have elected you is one week, and, as a Democrat, I am willing to risk a Republican in office for one week, especially when there are no emoluments attaching."
Further objection was useless, and as an accommodation to the attorneys, litigants and jurors, I consented to serve, and was sworn by the Clerk, and opened court in the land office building. It was a lively court, and elicited more enjoyable fun and rollicking humor than any court I had ever attended.
Without specifying each case in its order, suffice it to say that I called the docket each day, granted all the divorces applied for, and in order to preserve the untrammeled right of parties to bring suits, presuming that each party who had commenced an action by filing his petition had legal grounds for doing so, I overruled all the demurrers. There was one
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case tried before me, however, that I deem of sufficient im- portance to be described in detail, as it involved an unique feature in practice, then new to me, involving the question of making profert of the countenance of the prisoner ( the defendant ) to the court.
As near as I recollect, the case was docketed as-
The State of Kansas VS. Breach of the peace.
Hans Von Sederland.
The complaint, in the shape of an affidavit, contained the following language:
"The said defendant, Hans Von Sederland, without the fear of God be- fore his eyes, and instigated by his Satanic Majesty, with a double-barreled shot-gun, loaded and charged with gunpowder and bird-shot, with malice aforethought, in and upon one Casper Boonfelter and his cattle, then and there being, did commit an assault with intent to wound, maim and injure him, the said Casper Boonfelter, and his cattle. And the said defendant, Hans Von Sederland, with malice aforethought, with the aforesaid double- barreled shot-gun, so as aforesaid loaded and charged with powder and shot, did flourish in a menacing manner; and the said defendant, Hans Von Sederland, with malice aforethought, the said double-barreled shot- gun, so as aforesaid loaded and charged, did point at and towards the cattle belonging to him, the said Casper Boonfelter; and the said defendant, Hans Von Sederland, with the aforesaid shot-gun, loaded and charged as aforesaid, did threaten to wound, maim and injure the person and cattle of him, the said Casper Boonfelter, then and there being, contrary to the stat- ute in such cases made and provided," etc.
The defendant had been arrested, and examined before a justice of the peace, and bound over to appear before the District Court, and in the meantime, to keep the peace
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toward Boonfelter and his cattle, and mankind generally. The case was called, the prisoner arraigned, and the ques- tion at issue before me was, whether the prisoner should be held to bail further to keep the peace, or be discharged- a case that ordinarily would not occupy the attention of a court but a short time, but which engaged this court, as the proceedings show, nearly an entire day, owing to the lengthy argument of counsel. It is necessary here to give a brief description of the defendant, in order that the reader may fully understand the action of the attorneys and the finding of the court.
The defendant, Hans Von Sederland, was a German, and in the course of a long service in the army in Europe, and in the volunteer service of the United States during the war of the Rebellion, had received many wounds, in consequence of which he was somewhat deformed, and at the time of the alleged offense was obliged to walk with a cane. While his countenance bore every indication of honesty and a peaceable, quiet nature, he was perhaps the ugliest man in Kansas; though in that respect, according to Judge B-'s speech, he had but little advantage of the County Attorney.
The evidence submitted showed substantially the fol- lowing: That Boonfelter was one of those enterprising stock-raisers who had sought to establish himself upon the 8
1
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boundless prairie, where his cattle could range at will, and had built his corral in a belt of timber skirting the banks of the Republican, in close proximity to the homestead of Sederland. Boonfelter's herd was not a large one, consist- ing of the old bell-cow-about nineteen years of age-(in the opinion of the witnesses, calculated from the number of wrinkles on her horns,) with her progeny, grand-progeny and great-grand-progeny, of both sexes, down to the twelfth generation, including the youngest, a rollicking month-old calf picketed in the back yard. The old bell-cow had com- mitted many trespasses, notwithstanding the herd law was in force; and having reconnoitered the least guarded and weak points surrounding Sederland's corn-field, and taking advantage of the afternoon nap of "Bub" Boonfelter, who was herding the stock, made a dash for the corn-field, fol- lowed by her numerous progeny. This was more than the impetuous Sederland could endure, and seizing his old rusty shot-gun, that had been loaded for many months, sallied forth with the two-fold purpose of peppering the old bell- cow with bird-shot, and corralling the remainder until Boon- felter paid the damages. In vain he tried to fire the old gun that would have required a gunsmith with suitable tools to draw the charge.
Boonfelter with his tardy boy, the herder, appeared on
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the field, and an amusing scene transpired, according to the evidence. The shot-gun was flourished; high words were uttered in strong language, accompanied with the usual amount of profanity on such occasions. Sederland, being a foreigner, somewhat reversed the natural order of profane words-that is, he swore backwards, or in such an awkward manner as to emphasize syllables differently from the style of American swearers; from which, and upon which circum- stance, Boonfelter founded his belief that personal violence was threatened by Sederland. Much more evidence of an amusing character was adduced. The affair terminated by Boonfelter obtaining possession of his cattle, without a scratch or blemish at the hands of the deformed Sederland, and the arrest of the defendant for breach of the peace, in which action the magistrate had found sufficient conclusions of fact and law to hold him to bail to keep the peace, and for his appearance at the District Court.
The County Attorney appeared for the State, and Judge B- for the defendant. After the evidence was all in, the County Attorney requested the defendant to stand up, and he having complied with the request, the prosecutor took him by the arm and led him in front of me. I could not imagine what was his object. I was soon relieved of suspense, however, for Judge B- immediately arose and
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said -" What are you doing with my client ?" To which the County Attorney replied, "I desire to make profert of the prisoner to the court. If your Honor please, just look at that countenance"-at the same time pointing to the face of the prisoner. " I object," said Judge B-, and supported his objection with the following speech :
"SIR: It is the most ridiculous proceeding I ever witnessed in court. Simply because my client is not handsome-the ugliest man in the com- munity -to offer his countenance in evidence to prove that he is a crimi- nal, is a diabolical attempt on the part of the County Attorney to injure the character of my client, after failing to make out his case. But since I cannot prevent your Honor from looking at the face and features of my client, I implore you to compare his countenance with that of the County Attorney, and then decide, from the vast stores of your knowledge on the subject of physiognomy, as if you were not otherwise informed, which countenance would be likely to adorn the prisoner at the bar, arraigned as a criminal, and which the County Attorney.
"Things inanimate are sometimes made profert to a jury; but who ever heard of the countenance of a prisoner arrested on a peace warrant being made profert to the court simply because he is ugly? Sir, you may ran- sack the musty records of antiquity down through the devious paths of the common law, through all the practice of centuries before the King's Bench, at Nisi Prius, or even before the learned justices of the peace in Kansas, and you will not find an instance of such an idiotic attempt to disgrace the practice and noble profession of the law, as this profert of my client by the County Attorney. It will have about as much effect upon your Honor in this case as the light reflected from the putrescent scales of a decayed mackerel in the streets of Chicago would have upon the inhabitants of the planet Uranus !
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