Indiana State University - Sycamore Yearbook (Terre Haute, IN)

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imlD)ir[i € ' Tom Jones come home the other day. the first time fer awhile lie ' s wandered many a year away and travelled many a mile I met him at the station, and when he left the train. I hurried up to welcome him to his old home again. How old and grizzled he has growed, yit healthy-like and sou I slapjjed him on the shonldei- and when he ' d turned around, He reached his hr: Kememher how vc ,-ny hand ised to lis -Yes sir. says he. as home we rode Away from old Clay County land ; I got a drink from old Eel river boyi And the proverb says where ' er you gi .Vnd so I ' ve come. — what ' s that you a l Until I leave ferever fer the fairer land lliau I guess you ' d say I ' m homesick, well. I ' ll own To git to go a-tishin ' once again on Briley C id hollered: ' Howdy. Dick! lown on Briley Crik? ■I felt I couldn ' t stay other lonesome day: hood ' - thirM to slack. ). you ' ll be a comin ' 1); :1ck. i.k Von bet I ' ve com e to stav that I • ' Remember how in sunuiier linie wli ' An ' grandpa ' d say how ii woubl Mo Then how we ' d dig tlic i ' ai-tli drni- i An git the tackle readv wi An ' Ma would have the dir Biled eggs, an ' Ijeans an ' buttered In-t ' ad With lots o ' salt, fer we knowed where w i An ' we alwavs eat our dinners there, on t d was the help ( L-rpaH,.h :gs to eat.— roasted meat roiiicl thick. Bnlev Crik. • ' Away we went wi ' lines an bait. — we had no poles o ' cane. Apast old Chaml)er Mhoolhouse an ' down the narry lane. A ' seein ' an ' a-heariu o ' the duntrv sights an ' sounds, So filled wi ' joy o livin our hallooin ' s knowed no bounds. Until we turned the corner, an ' seen so lone an ' still. The meet in house o ' Friendly Grove a-shinin ' on the hill. With the tombstones o ' the graveyard a-clustered all too thick, — Tlu ' u we walked awhile in silence as we went toward Briley Crik.

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Host important piece tile .-ougTess of the iIh ' ])i-iiR-iples of the 17s. ). Bv it. credit this act. that it •• va of hind legishition confederation hi id ( American land ysi was abolished, and the minimum price was re- duced from $2.00 to $1.2.j per acre. The mini- mimi tract was reduced from 160 acres to 80 acres, as had been done for certain sections in each township in 1817. ' RECIPEKATION. The west could not expect to return to its normal condition at once. As David Brown, the new president of the bank at Vincennes, wrote to the secretary of the treasury, April . . 1821, It must be a gradual work, and a steady perseverance will accomplish it. ' ° The new land system helped in this, for it required that prospective land jjurchasers bring their money with them. The General Land Office helloed. too, by arranging to deposit the surjDlus money from the sale of puljlic lands in various state and private banks throughout the west, so that it might enlarge the amount of much needed sound money Tiie mania fur M-lling tnwii lots sulisided. and men gave ii|i their dreams of immediate weahli. for more -oher considera- tion- . The west va- Ix ' giuning to recover from its awful delirium. One hundred years ago Indiana was engaged in a five year period of frontier hostilities. which lasted till the middle of 1814 on the eastern border, and till the end of 1815 on the Wabash. During this period the continual migration consolidated the territory in the older regions, and the increased migration in 1814 and 1815 enabled the territory to liecome a state in 1816. As hostilities began to cease, a period of excessive speculation and reckless banking began to affect the economic situation. The e causes were stimulated in IslC wlicji In- diana heranii ' a state, and the middle Wal.ash began to till up with settler... The climax to these operation,, came in the form of the Hnan- rial depression of 1819. No new territory liad lieeii -eciired for settlement from 180! to IMS. I ' ut in till ' latter year about all the land as far north as the Wabash was secured from the Indians. For some years the people had been looking () er the Indian boundary line with some liad already squatted on Indian territory. With Ihis purrhas.. of IMS. the li.Miudary was taken away, and the while- h; gaii to moxc to- ward the interior. In 1820 Indianapolis was located,™ and five years later the legi lalure lirst met at the new capital. A new common- wealth was growing up where only a few years before there was nothing but wilderness. Just at the beginning of the growth in the Xorthwest, Philip Phreneau, in 1784. j)eiuied these stanzas, fi ' om his poem. Peopling the Western Country. ' They were in-o}5hetic of what was to be. ••T,. western w.H.ds and lonely ])lain.s. I ' alamon from the crowd departs AMiere Nature ' s -wildest genius reigns. To tame the soil and plant the arts — AVhat wondei ' s there shall Freedom show. AVhat nnghty states successive growl What charming scenes attract the eye On wild Ohio ' s savage .stream I =:= ::: From these fair plain-, these rural seats. So long concealed, so lately known. Tiie unsocial Indian far retreats. To make .some otlier -linie his own. AA ' heiv other stivanis, less [jh ' asing. flow. . nd darker forests round him a ' l ' ow. s Treat. National Land System. ' State Paoers, Cong. 17. Sess. 1. Doc. 66, ' Ibid, Doc. 66. ssThwaites. Early Western Travels, IX. P ' See Tipton ' s Jnurnal. on locating the c Mag. of Hist.. I. P. 9-1.5. and P. 74-79. Tlie sources used lia e been listed in tiie foot note. ' No historian lias yet written a first-rate history of In diana since 1816.

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' ■Across the fields we skiirried now. an ' thru the Dalgarn wood, An ' climbed the old rail fence again where that big jDoplar stood, Then down the road to the ha ' nted bridge,— we ' d a ruther run than not. A man was killed there once, you know, at night the dreaded sjjot Wi ' jack-o-lantern ' s all lit up, an ' the spirit that is free Comes back, — at least, they said it did, we never stayed to see. But hurried on past Maple Bend an ' the old canal crossed quick, Fer Tumble Hole ' s the place to fish down there on Briley Crik. An when at last we reached the place an cut a hick ' ry pole. We tied the line an ' baited hook an ' dropped it in the hole; Then waitin ' fer the cork to bob, as quiet as a stone, We listened to the redhead ' s i-ap. er skeeter ' s monotone. But not fer long, — then quick as scat, a cork would bob an ' sink. An ' soon a yaller-cat would flop an ' wiggle on tlio Itrink, An ' the boys would crowd around to see. — remember, don ' t you. Dick? That ' s just the way we used to fi-li way down on Briley Crik. ' Well, I ' ve been to Californy an ' I ' ve sailed the coast o ' Maine. I ' ve climbed the Alps o ' Canady an ' come back down again : I ' ve hunted in the canebrakes o ' swampy Arkansaw, And throwed some shovelfuls o ' dirt down there at Panama : I ' ve lived in South Ameriky, been clean around the Cape, Had many a wild adventure an ' many a slim escape. But, tell you what, in all the years. I ' ve never done a trick To compare with goin ' a-fishin right down here on Briley Crik. My, how the years ha Our lives are like a hi- ' Fore long we ' ll be a-r( A-learnin ' o ' the niystt I don ' t like lea in all raced away, how fast we ' re growin old, ry that soon will all be told : uin ' far among the isles o ' Eest, . s imfolded to the Blessed. : friends, an ' the joys o ' livin ' here. An ' all the scenes e u-ed t( An ' dyin ' ll be the harder. Cause we have to quit fereM ;ii(iw an ' hold in mem ' ry dear; lue it slow er comes it quick, fishin ' down on Brilev Crik. But say, when Gal)riel comes at last an ' lights the eastern skies, An ' blows his horn to wake the dead an ' says it ' s time to rise, If I git up wi ' all the rest, — here ' s hopin ' that I do, — Along with all the other boys, say Bill an ' John, an ' you. I ' m goin ' to ask if we may have on earth just one more day, — Say, Eichard, are you listenin ' ? — I ' d turned my face away; Yes, says I, I ' m hearin ' . — and I thought my words would stick, An ' he says, To go a-fishin ' once again on Briley Crik. —Walt Woodrou: llllustrated by Ben Davis.)