down at times,
Though we have nerve and grit;
You're worth a bet, but don't forget--
To lay down means to quit.

"Columbus, Ohio, is a long ways out west and I don't hope tu ever git tu
see you all agin but I hope you won't fergit me, kase I'll never fergit
you. I'd go with you all but I'm 'bliged tu keep my promise. I hope my
married life will turn out all right but you kan't never guess whar
you're goin' tu land when yu sail on the sea of matermony.

"They say the reason men don't practis what they preach is bekase they
need the money. Well, if he practices what he preaches, he'll be a good
pervider and that's all I'll ask of him.

"I hope John will do better when you git settled in Columbus an' I know
he will. Alfred's mos' a man grown an' he'll be a big help to his pap if
ye'll jes' take him right. I jes' told John day afore yisterday--I ses,
ses I--'Alfurd's no child enny more and you ought not tu treat him like
a boy.' I want you all to write me and tell me how yu like it. I s'pose
when yu git out in Ohio you'll all git the ager. Uncle Wilse's folks did
and they shook thar teeth loose. They moved to Tuscarrarus County.
Newcomerstown was thar post office. They wrote us they wanted to kum
back home afore they was there a month.

"It's bad fur ole peepul to change their hums. Hits all right fur young
folks kase they're not settled an' they soon fergit the old love fur the
new, but I hope you'll like hit. John says the railroads kum into
Columbus from both ways an' the cars are comin' an' goin' all the time.
If you live close tu the depot you won't sleep much kase you hain't used
tu hit."

Lin's fears were not realized. Alfred's home was far from the depot. It
was in the South End, in fact, the South End was Columbus in those days.

Those who guided the destinies of railroads were as wise in those days
as these of the present. The site of Coony Born's father's brewery was
selected as the most desirable location for a passenger depot. The good
people of Columbus (the South End) were more jealous of their rights
than the people of today when a railroad is supposed to be encroaching
upon them; therefore when it was proposed to locate a depot where the
noise would disturb their slumbers and their setting hens, the
opposition of not the few, but many, was aroused. To locate the depot in
their midst was an invasion of their rights. Not only would it disturb
the quietude of their homes but it would