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A Reminiscent Letter of Regret - by Thomas W. Buell Milwaukee, Wis., Feb. 10, 1912--My dear sir: Nothing could give me greater pleasure than to be a party to the "Excursion" of the early settlers of the "Old Town," the town whose cow paths, the angles of which correspond well with present day streets, and with which I was very familiar 57 years ago, often floundering in the mud in efforts, with dinner pail in hand, to reach the railroad station where I was the "king bee" and boss of a gang of men consisting solely of Barney Teekapee (Tekippe) and myself. I wonder if there are those now living who remember faithful Barney. Between Barney and myself, you can imagine the part myself played in the game. We pumped the water for the old Racine & Mississippi horse, often from six o'clock till any old hour at night. Those were days when there were no "unions," no eight-hour stops, one pegged all day for his little dollar and slept sweetly at night. I well remember when the cows, the geese and the pigs, occasionally an Indian, were cocks of the walk. There was only one auto in the town and that was owned by "Bill" Meadows, and it's power was the ox-team. Knowing the "pilots" for this excursion, as I did fifty years ago, and their willingness to yield to the then temptations of the infant city, I can appreciate the influences that have led them safely to gray hairs, and to become sober, industrious citizens, and strong factors in the new Burlington. Accept my grateful acknowledgments for your kind invitation to be with you the 13th instant--but, but and but, I will leave you to guess the great reason why more than four score years are unwilling to brave the 20 below zero weather. Very sincerely yours, Thomas W. Buell |
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Notices: Disclaimer and
Restriction of Liability |
Mr.
Buell was born October 4, 1829, and died March 23, 1913. At the time of the
get-together, Mr. Buell was 82 years old. Mr. Buell was the Racine &
Mississippi Railroad Company's depot agent at Burlington from 1856 to 1860
and at Beloit for the next three years. After moving back to Burlington, he
engaged in general merchandising for a short time, and then took up life
insurance, working for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company for 18
years. He moved to Milwaukee in 1869.