The Project Gutenberg EBook of Prairie Folks, by Hamlin Garland

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Title: Prairie Folks

Author: Hamlin Garland

Release Date: February 27, 2007 [EBook #20697]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRAIRIE FOLKS ***

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PRAIRIE FOLKS

By HAMLIN GARLAND, AUTHOR OF
"MAIN-TRAVELED ROADS," "A MEMBER OF
THE THIRD HOUSE," "A SPOIL OF OFFICE,"
ETC., ETC.

F. J. SCHULTE & COMPANY

PUBLISHERS CHICAGO. M DCCC XCIII

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Copyright, 1892,
by HAMLIN GARLAND.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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Prairie Folks.

Pioneers.

They rise to mastery of wind and snow;
They go like soldiers grimly into strife,
To colonize the plain; they plow and sow,
And fertilize the sod with their own life
As did the Indian and the buffalo.

Settlers.

Above them soars a dazzling sky,
In winter blue and clear as steel,
In summer like an Arctic sea
Wherein vast icebergs drift and reel
And melt like sudden sorcery.

Beneath them plains stretch far and fair,
Rich with sunlight and with rain;
Vast harvests ripen with their care
And fill with overplus of grain
Their square, great bins.

Yet still they strive! I see them rise
At dawn-light, going forth to toil:
The same salt sweat has filled my eyes,
My feet have trod the self-same soil
Behind the snarling plow.

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CONTENTS

UNCLE ETHAN'S SPECULATION 11

THE TEST OF ELDER PILL 33

WILLIAM BACON'S HIRED MAN 73

SIM BURNS'S WIFE 101

SATURDAY NIGHT ON THE FARM 143

VILLAGE CRONIES 169

DRIFTING CRANE 187

OLD DADDY DEERING 201