Note: The Peabody Gazette gives us some real insight into life in Plum Grove in the late 1870s and early 1880s. In this weekly newspaper, we find columns entitled “Plum Grove Items.” These columns were submitted mainly by two authors. The first contributor signs his name “A Star Cus,” It is easy to deduce from the style the columns are written and the similarity of the character that this is Starchus M. Spencer. The other contributor signs his name “Num Skull.” Unfortunately, we are never given a clue as to the identity of Num Skull. In these bi-monthly columns, both authors garner a lot of information about the people, the area, and the climate of Plum Grove and its vicinity.
Plum Grove, Butler Co., Kansas 25 March 1881, Fri
PLUM GROVE ITEMS.
Plum Grove and Vicinity.
Editor Gazette:
I should like to catch the man that wrote that poem on “Gentle Spring.” I would tie him to a post out on the prairie and let one of those “gentle spring” blizzards fan his cheek, and those “gentle spring” snowstorms pelt him in the eyes. Plowing is intermittent in this weather. Sometimes we plow, and sometimes we don’t.
☞ Mrs. Stark Spencer is sick. Stark will move to Newton as soon as she recovers.
☞ Asa White is very ill but is getting better slowly at this writing.
☞ John Montgomery of Montgomery Bros . of Plum Grove is going to Colorado this spring. Harve will still run the smith shop.
☞ Rev. Budd and his family moved to Greenwood county in a few days.
☞ L. B. Spencer will move to Newton this spring, also Mr. A. Jones.
This means that all of our wealthy farmers are leaving the county. ☞ Will Robinson left for Texas last Monday. He will bring home a herd of Texas cattle in the fall.
Feed is getting scarce in this part of the world, and if those blizzards don’t stop pretty soon, some gaunt cattle will have to live on short range.
NUMSKULL.
𝚨nything for A Quiet LifeΩ 