And now a Vignette created with permission by the Author:
FARMING THE PRAIRIE:
James Caney sat under the vast sky of the prairie looking out over his land and taking a smoke break with his pipe, even taking off his hat to better take in the fading days good weather. Description and images in the post could never quite capture the feeling of being out on the prairie where even trees became a precious rarity. Why even with all the land he owned, and his tenants worked, the house at his back was made of sod brick rather than expensive wood.
He still called it a good house, a head and half better living conditions than most of his hearty tenants, who along with him had busted sod and worked plows long and hard to turn this stretch of savage prairie into farmland; with a side business of dairy cattle he had hopes might pay dividends in the future.
Yes, he lived in a 'house of dirt' as some of his fellow great landowners mocked him for, but his finances were more stable than most for his trouble. Like most of them he came from a respectable Southern family and with seed money from the family had set his sights out West to make his own fortune. But while so many of his peers were obsessed with rebuilding a genteel way of life such as their fathers had back east, his eyes were on the money.
Expensive wood aside he had also refrained from trying to build a proper plantation. Slavery was all well and good in the South, but these near untamed lands brought out the savagery in even White men. Introducing a mass of slaves too it would be foolish for that reason alone, inviting trouble. But add in the knowledge that freedom awaited among the Mexicans and the British, and well you would waste too much time watching or chasing to turn any profit.
And besides, much as he was loath to admit it, slavery could be more trouble than it was worth. He was no firebrand or foreign agitator but the uprisings and the poverty of so many White men these days made him question if there wasn't a better way for America to achieve her rightful wealth and power.
But having no patience for the salon crowd he had decided to do the checking himself. Hence Big Skies, his parcel of land was worked by white tenant farmers, who lived much like the homesteaders but in exchange for rent he also offered them a certain patronage. The only slave on his property was Jacob, his personal slave who had been with him since he was sixteen.
Jacob was a good fellow, who in the absence of a wife kept James house and saw to the cooking while James saw to his business. Why when General Gaines went mad and freed every slave he could find on the Prairie Jacob had accepted the decree, but remained in his place; and once the real army restored order Big Skies had gotten back to their business as if nothing had happened.
Which reminded James, he really needed to do something significant for his man; to reward that loyalty. Because as Gaines had reminded America, loyalty could be a rare and precious thing. For James himself a more personal reminder was held in his hand. A letter from his fiancee, or rather ex-fiancee.
He had not married her or let her accompany him west. He had made it clear it was all for her sake, that until he could accommodate her as befit a fine lady she would best stay in her father's house.
And he was on his way. He was! Yes his crop had only recently started turning a considerable profit, but compared to so many big landowners going bust, especially after the slaves walked off or burned them out thanks to Gaines, he stood to one day be the toast of Calhoun city.
But no, like his own father she questioned if he would ever be more than a man living in the dirt; and broken their engagement off for a lawyer of all things.
Did no one remember how America became great to begin with? It was by men taking bigger risks, working harder, and living rougher than anyone back home was willing too; to tame a savage land, and turn it into America. Why it wasn't just his own fortune at stake here, he and his people were securing this corner of the continent for the stripes and eagle. The Frenchies who had betrayed not only the country but liberty itself by crowning a European king, of all things, over the Mississippi lurked greedily to the South. And the British longed to make the continent kneel to them again. And of course the British held a dagger to America's throat in Tecumseh's kingdom to the east; where the Indians ever plotted revenge and and destruction against America.
The previous generation had grown complacent, and squandered what the Founding Father's had won. Jackson was a right bastard who wouldn't make any respectable church's list of saints; and the fool had tried to dump all those Indians on them as if they didn't have enough trouble with the locals bands. Truth be Jams liked living out here in part to be away from Jackson and his goons, and men like his father who saw no problem with throwing your neighbor under a carriage just because he was a Catholic. But Jackson was right that America's enemies were all around them, and even had wizened up to actually get rid of one problem by having the army drive the savages off American land for good.
America had to keep pushing, or they'd get pushed over themselves and be subjects of one crowned head or another and the dream of free citizens would vanish into a fable of history. Jackson was a poor choice in leaders for such a time in James mind, but if the only other option was madmen like Gaines, he'd swallow his pride and salute the bastard.
He was here in Big Skies, and James Caney wasn't going anywhere, except up. Putting the letter away and pocketing the ring that came with it, he resolved to sell the ring when next in town and use the money to buy Jacob a new set of clothes including a new pair of boots. The letter he'd have Jacob scrape the ink off of it tonight, they could reuse it.
It might not be much to look at, he decided tapping out his pipe and getting to his feet. But this prairie was his future and America's he reflected putting his straw hat back on. They'd stun a doubting world yet by making something worthy of boasting from it.