Irish Ribbons . are ripe in the Land of Mears

FIFTY CENTS A YEAR

Irish Ribbons .

Of the beginnings of Mears I know a little , having listened to the remnant of the pioneers who were here 35 years ago . Moses White came to Golden township as early as 1856 and when he went shopping he had to carry his flour from Pentwater . I well remember when he lived on the Ketecki place with his daughter Mina . Ed Allen came in 1965 and about the same time pionereed Sid Branch and William Henry Beebe , and William Meyer told me he brought his flour from Pentwater . A mile west of Mears Mr. Beebe put up four log walls and left a square in the roof for the stars to shine through and the smoke of his inside campfire to go up . Then he went back to where he came from and brought up his bride . When they did their washing they took their clothes to Morris Lake , and returning brought along a jug of water to drink . There was no road to Mears then , only a footpath through the woods , and that didn't lead to any village for it wasn't started yet . Although he lived but half a mile away from it , Mr. Mever had never heard of Silver Lake and when some traveler came inquiring , he told him : " No , I never heard of Silver Lake but I know where AuSable Lake is . " That was the old name for it . Well now , what did those old timers have that we haven't got ? They were happy with earth , air , fire and water and woods , potatoes and pork , blackberries and turnips . Wives loved their husbands , they worked together in the fields until they were tired . They heard the music of the rain on their roofs , saw the flicker of firelight on their evening walls , went to sleep and woke to find the world was made new . They had work . love and adventure , fire . food and shelter . Great Scott , what more did they need ? Nothing . It was like James Oliver Curwood in the valley of the Canadian Rockies or the fir woods of Hudson Bay . They were busy and so they were hap- py . Mrs. Beebe told me how once she and her husband were invited to a party at Round Lake in the Col. Framble house , I think , and bow it was so late after the party that they stayed all night and drove home with the horses the next morning in time to do their chores , It must have been six years after the coming of the Beebes before Mears was created . The coming of the railroad along about 1871 was big business . When a new baby is born in a home there is excitement in that liouse , Wien a new town is being born and its buildings geing up there is alertness and busyness all about , logs being cut and run through the

mill , lumber being framed into houses all around , plenty of work for everybody all around , even if it is at $ 1 a day . A dollar in those times would go as far as five now . There were no benzine buggies in 1870 to ent up half the profits of your labor . Potatoes grew large and many in the new earth blessed by the leaf mould of centuries in the open spaces among the pine stumps . There is something thrilling about being a part of the scene when a new town is created and boarding houses are springing up and the chips of the lumberjack's axe and the sawdust of the mills are making song together . I once lived in a town near the Straits with lengthwise wooden sidewalks and new - born houses with tar paper sides . There was scarcely a house in town more than nine years old . The nails were new , the mills , the people , the up - and - coming progress of everything was fresh and contagious . There were no dry - as- dust traditions , no ancient feuds or prejudices . The town was young in age , in spirit , in rollicking courage . Then I can remember the odorous sawdust perfume of the great stacks of lumber in Menominee . So I can picture the hustle and bustle of the days when the carpenters were hammering up Mears . I know where some of the mills were . Over back of Mrs. Beardsley's in the hollow I have seen the bricks . Over by John Kraus tomato patch the whistle blew . Two lots I own on Fifth street where there are holes to this day where long ago the sawdust piles caught fire and burned for days until their licking flames consumed the very earth and it went up in smoke , leaving the moats that are there to this day , Tom Shober told me . Across one of these moats my children built a bridge ten years ago to their " playroom " in the wild cherry shade . There are some towns along river banks or following pioneer trails in New England or southern Michigan where the roads are winding and angular and cross each other acutely like a saw - buck X , where the town just grows up like Topsy , farm house and store and wagon shop for the benefit of the pioneer . Their geometry is accidental and incidental , like the cow path and the calf path through the mead- ow . There are other towns that are drawn up on paper first and Sur- veyed out into lots and blocks and built up afterwards . Mears was such a town . No doubt Charles Mears and Samuel Odell had great dreams for the village when as founders they subscribed their names to the plat and the sun began to develop the blueprnts of the new town . I wish I could have been there then and could have seen the stage coming in from Hart to set the passengers down by the Mears depot , which was down near Jonassen's gas - heated apartment buildings . Among the early structures were the three - story hotel , the Slaght store and the Will Kraus house which was a boarding place . Divine services were held in the house next door before the building of the church that became a Macabee hall . I can remember two old blacksmith shops , one of them where Elmer Krantz built bis restaurant , and the ham- burg counter sits where the old forge used to flame when the black- smith pumped the wooden handle and made the bellows roar The Henderson shop was back of George Reid's house even until 1915 . Charles Mears and Samuel W. Odell were the co - founders of this vil- lage and the co - starters of a great work which we should take up and be the co - finishers . The business section of Mears has in the last two years taken on a new spurt of life . Carl Brandel did a noble work in putting up the garage on the corner where limping cars can get a good running start . Arthur Anderson brought us city convenience with his big self - serve grocery . Elmer Krantz built a bread factory and manu- factures jelly rolls to sweeten your belly . He has elegant tables and booths in his restaurant , with music while you eat for five cents extra . Upstairs are four modern apartments to bring comfort and convenience

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to as many families . Downstairs is Lola Fuller's ultra - smart and mod- ern beauty parlor , a glorious glamour studio to accentuate the feminine charms of face and hair . In a business convenience Mears is doing alright by herself . But scattered about the village , in the open spaces between the houses , are hundreds of vacant lots which should be the door yards of new homes . All you renters and home hopers who tossed about from pillar to post , never daring to plant a rose bush of your own for fear that next week the house will be sold , how can I in- spire you with enthusiasm and imagniation enough to buy a $ 50 lot in Mears and put up a $ 500 house to get in out of the April rain ? If you are a good adder you can always be increasing the size as expanding family shall have need . When the sun shone again and the ark rested on the mountain the animals filed out two by two all except all a couple of reptiles . And Noah called in : " Come on out ! What you waiting for ? Go forth and multiply . " And the reptiles called back : " We can't , we're adders . " Well , if you are a good adder you start home with a small beginning in Mears and add to it as the years go by . Freddy and Mabel Dean established a home in their basement cel- lar and found it as snug as a bug in a rug . Start today to write your declaration of independence by buying a lot in Mears . A few loads of cement blocks will give you the units for your cellar walls . There is a saying sometimes carved in fireplace mantels that every man's chimney is his golden milestone . It means that when you build your house and establish your hearth and home you have arrived at a crowning mea- sure of success in your struggles of a lifetime . From that time on you can feel like John Hancock and Thomas Jefferson . You have signed a discover declaration of independence . Cast your lot in Mears and

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that it is a good town to live in . - When Norma Beggs was seven years old her mother gave her a birthday party on Saturday afternoon . T Julia Joslin died after an illness of two months . She was a woman of business and social charm and personality and had long been in the a restaurant insurance business in Hart . She suffered a stroke in around Christmas time and was in the Hart hospital since . Surviving is a son , Gayle , who has recently been looking after her insurance busi- ness . - Elmer Webb runs a grocery store up Apple street in Hart . It is open all day and after supper , also two or three hours on Sunday . El- mer's store is a great convenience to the people west of the west bridge in Hart . Besides groceries he carries soft drinks , adv . - On the seven- teenth of Ireland there will be an Irish potluck supper in the glorified free will offering . cellar of the Methodist church in Mears with a Bring your pot with beans or scaloped potatoes or something in it.- Lenore Peterson , the x - ray girl who can see right through you , is going to get married to Stanley Seelhoff at a church wedding in Mears on Easter Sunday . Sister Elaine is going to jot down a few mental notes to decide on just what variations and improvements she will have in and sound effects when she gets married . - When the stage scenery fishing season comes if Harland Fuller wants any trout he will let Dorothy Ketchum . - Some say John Kraus will arrive back from Flori- da most any day , but if he could see a picture of the current existing snow he would stay another week among the alligators according to allegations . - L . D. Estes will not return to Mears from Florida until he makes a few more hair brushes out of coconut shells , or what does be make them out of anyway ? Grace is going to make a necklace out of sea shells . - Karl Giese and his beloved Joyce came back to Mears and Karl walked out to do his lathe a good turn . One good turn deserves another so he kept it going . Frank Brabbs has been enjoying a visit from his son , home on a furlough from the service for a short time .