ng business and reap a handsome profit on their wares.

The old mill, weather-beaten and white with the accumulating flour dust
of ages, and with the cobwebs hanging thick and heavy from its dingy
rafters, stands near by, and this too is an object of interest to the
sturdy farmers of the surrounding country. From morn till night its
wheels go round, transmuting the grain into the various articles of
consumption for man and beast, and bringing a goodly share of "honest
toll" into the coffers of the unimpeachable old miller. The mill is a
great place of meeting for the farmers, and the yard in its front is
daily filled with teams from the country, whose owners congregate in
groups and converse upon topics of general interest, or disperse
themselves, while waiting for their "grist," about the town to transact
the various matters of business which had brought them hither.

In common with all progressive American towns, Geneva boasts of its
school-house, a large brick building, where rosy-cheeked children daily
gather to receive the knowledge which is to fit them more thoroughly for
the great battle of life, when the years shall have passed and they
become men and women.

Here, too, are banking institutions and warehouses, and every element
that contributes to the thrift and advancement of a happy, honest,
hard-working and prosperous people.

Of its history, but few words are necessary for its relation. Not many
years ago it was the home of the red man, whose council fires gleamed
through the darkness of the night, and who roamed, free as the air, over
the trackless prairie, with no thought of the intruding footsteps of the
pale-face, and with no premonition of the mighty changes which the
future was to bring forth.

Then came the hardy pioneers--those brave, self-reliant men and women
who sought the broad acres of the west, and builded their homes upon the
"edge of civilization." From that time began the work of progress and
cultivation. Towns, villages and cities sprang up as if under the wand
of the magician. Fifty years ago, a small trading post, with its general
store, its hand grist-mill, rude blacksmith-shop and the fort. To-day, a
busy active town, with more than five thousand inhabitants, a hundred
business enterprises, great railroad facilities, and every element that
conduces to prosperity, honesty and happiness.

Such is Geneva to-day, a substantial, bustling, thriving and progressive
village of the west.