Perry

By Jason Wesco

I remember. Kunkle ran

the ferry. Three cents for

a man, five for a hog. Rising

Sun wasn’t yet under the plow.

I heard ladies there were kind

in their ways. Our place was

up in the bluffs, mostly pasture.

Three veins of hardwood and

rolling slopes. A nice treed draw.

We ran fifty head. And shoed

horses some, too. Town had

a common well, a band, an opera

house, two hotels and an African

Baptist Church off Second. The

Presbyterians were there and

Methodists. A milliner and cobbler.

The Plug made runs through to

Topeka and Lawrence. Stopped

off at Grantville and Williamstown.

Mail came thrown from the train.

They grew potatoes in the Half-

Breed Lands between the tracks and

the Kaw. Shipped them out on U.P.

freights. Folks from Valley Falls

boated down the Delaware once

for the July 4th picnic. Eddie

Rickard was my best friend.

Stark was mayor.

– Jason Wesco lives in Topeka.