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SURING SCHOOL DISTRICT LOCAL HISTORY
1979
Page 37
Page 38
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A SOLDIER'S LONGING FOR HOME I've wandered round this world a bit,
I've been some places through, The Exposition, Honolulu, Guam and Manila, too;
But of all the places I have seen Pray listen now, take heed,. The very best of any of them is the Good old town of Breed.
I've lived among all shades of men
I never cared a rap, Whether they were Irish
German, Greek or Jap, Or the Southern Greaser,
Or maybe Northern Swede, For the finest men I ever met
Lived in the town of Breed.
And I took a look at the women
As I went from town to town, The California girls look good
And the Kanaka maids so brown, The Guger women dress real odd,
A change of style they need. But the sweetest girl I ever saw
Lived in the town of Breed.
I've seen live oaks and lemons,
Pine apples, figs and palms, Bananas and bamboos growing
And the sugar cane of Guam. But 1 would care much more to see
A plant, even it be a weed, If it was grown away back there.
In my old home town of Breed.
I've swam all kinds of water,
In surf at Cliff House Beach. Among the sharks in the Bay of Guam,
I kept carefully out of reach: In the China Sea it's fine to swim,
But not so good indeed, As in the lake called Anderson's
Just two miles north of Breed.
I've eaten lots of funny things.
Like mangoes and fresh figs, I've seen train loads of grapes so cheap
The fed them to the pigs. Ripe apricots are very good.
But I want a feed Of buckwheat cakes and maple syrup.
On my Dad's old farm in Breed.
I've seen a lot of dwellings,
Nipa hut, and mansion grand. One with a yard just four feet square
And one with four acres of land. All of these were beautiful,
But hark now, and read, One of the happiest homes I ever saw
Was in the town of Breed.
When my enlistment's over
And I'm allowed to go. I'll make a bee line homeward
At a pace that won't be slow. I'll settle down and stay there,
With no thought of fame or greed. But to live in peace and plenty
In the quiet town of Breed.
F.E.B. of the C.A.C. Philippine Islands
MAPLE VALLEY POST OFFICE
This log house, with one floor
and a loft, was built by a Norwegian immigrant, August Pederson, when
he
came in the 1880's to settle in the sparsely populated area that is now
the Town of Maple Valley. August, his wife Sophia, and their six
children
had traveled by cattle boat to get to this new land, bringing their
belongings
in trunks handmade by August.
In 1892, Pederson was appointed postmaster of "Strand", the name given the settlement at that time. In addition to being a home for eight people, the little log cabin had to also provide room for the carrying on of the local postal trade.
The certificate of appointment, signed by John Wanamaker, Postmaster General of the United States, was presented to the Beyer Home Museum by Mrs. Eleanor Stoviak of Lena. Mrs. Stoviak is a granddaughter of August and Sophia Pederson. Records show that the post office operated through the month of December 1899 and the receipts were $1.67 for that month.
As the farm prospered, August
was able to build a larger house for his family. The last of the
children
to live in the white frame house was the youngest son, Edmund, who made
it his bachelor home until his death in the summer of 1977 at the age
of
82.