The It’ll Do
by Peyton Breckinridge & William J. Conaway
Copyright, William J. Conaway, 1989
Episode 3 – CHERRYVILLE
There aren’t too many people who know it, but Prom Puckett’s great-grandfather founded Cherryville. One night at the It’ll Do, Prom talked about it. He told us what happened so long ago when Prometheus Puckett built a town. A town that was then, not much more than a bump on the prairie.
He had come (hadn’t everyone?) from back east. He wasn’t very skilled at anything. Since he didn’t have any idea where he was going, this place looked about as good as any other. At least it didn’t have any other people on it. In some ways being empty was good, particularly if one is low on money and doesn’t have a trade. Prometheus Puckett wasn’t lazy, he was smart.
Cherryville has a spring on the north side of town. Back before the building of Lake Fenian or before we had windmills there just wasn’t much water in this part of the country.
Prometheus went over to Madison and collected every empty whiskey bottle he could find, or empty. He brought them back to Cherryville, and filled those old bottles with spring water. He hand-labeled them “Pottowatomi Salving Water” and sold them in Madison. Pretty soon he was making enough money that he could get into something else. He opened a General Store, and that’s, more-or-less, how the town began.
It was only a store stuck out in the middle of nowhere. He was getting along. You could say that he had prospects, but wasn’t exactly what you would call prosperous.
He began hunting a wife. The natural place to look was over in Madison. Now, Madison at that time was just a small raw town. It did have a Methodist minister, by the name of Rev. Sellman, who had three unmarried daughters.
From what Prom Puckett told me, they must have been the kind that would shy away just about any young man. Having a father like Rev. Sellman probably didn’t help very much to improve their prospects.
Mrs. Sellman wasn’t of the same disposition as her husband, having a good deal more sense, and she was actively encouraging all comers. Prometheus Puckett looked like a good prospect to her. It wasn’t long after he went wife-hunting that love blossomed between Leticia, and Prom.
One thing, though, the Reverend insisted that Prometheus show himself to be a man of substance. All he could show the Reverend was a raggedy store and some bottled water. It clearly wasn’t enough.
At that time about the only fruit trees growing in the vicinity of Madison, there were none in Cherryville, were cherry trees. Prom seemed to have a knack. He knew he had to make some more money. He was pretty sure he knew just how to do it. So he started buying baskets of cherries.
With the water from his spring and those cherries he started making some of the stoutest Cherry Wine you could imagine. He did not try to call it Pottowatomi Fire Water, but it would have qualified.
When Puckett had donated $500 to the First Methodist Church Rev. Sellman consented to give his daughter, Leticia, away.
According to their great-grandson Prom, the marriage was a happy and fruitful one.
That’s how Cherryville got its’ name.
Many years later another great entrepreneur came to town.
When Todd Northcutt arrived in Cherryville, he came with money. No-one really knew him. Todd wasn’t a good-looking man, he had a way with words that had no equal in Cherryville.
He started with the Chamber of Commerce. He told them that he was looking for a business opportunity. At the same time he wanted to provide the young people of Cherryville with an opportunity to work here, at a good salary. Instead of leaving their families and going away.
McGinty, my partner, was on the City Council—although he wasn’t exactly what you would expect as a civic type. He got pushed into the position by some well meaning types that didn’t know any better. He was the only one who thought that Todd was a bull-shitter of the first order and said so.
Todd had a way about him. He told the City Council that if they floated a Municipal Bond they could get a matching amount from the Federal Government. Then he told them some story about how the THING these days was Memorabilia. He had the best idea for a non polluting factory that anybody ever had. They were so anxious to get their hands on some federal money, they didn’t take a very good look at the idea I guess… The Municipal Bond,
was for half-a-million dollars.
He would take on some twenty employees—and work from there, he said. Of course he had showed up in Cherryville with the fanciest car in town—better than any of the local doctors were driving. Started putting on expensive parties in the mansion he had rented. Everybody thought he was the best thing that ever happened to Cherryville.
He must have had some pull to bring Alf Landon to town, though. He said it was for publicity.
We were proud to have the famous Alf Landon in Cherryville. It’s true that Mr. Landon was somewhere in his 90’s. He was still sharp, though.He didn’t come into town in a big parade. He came in more-or-less unannounced. So there wasn’t any particular fuss made over him. He didn’t do much about the factory or Todd Northcutt either. Nobody could figure out what publicity they were planning.
Alf Landon came in to the It’ll Do and ordered a beer just like anyone else would do. To tell the absolute truth, no-one recognized him. He started up a conversation with Mavis, our
librarian. It didn’t take her more than a minute to figure out who he was. Pretty soon everyone gathered around to hear what Mr. Landon had to say.
“At my age there is only one dream that still holds my interest”, he said, “world peace,”. “The pictures taken from outer space showing the earth as a pretty little ball hung out there in all that darkness showed how we’re all truly brothers.”
He stopped and looked around the It’ll Do and then continued. “Even if brothers will fight once in a while they’re still family.”
You’ll have to give it to Mr. Landon. He lifted what was left of his glass of beer and tipped it in a salute, tipped his hat to all of us and left.
You might think it would take quite a while to go through $500,000 Dollars. No, it took less than three months, and then no Todd Northcutt.
He had managed to get into trouble with our bankers, and one (as far as we knew) of our doctors wives. He had run up a truly spectacular bill at the Elks’ Lodge, owed for a new Lincoln from the Ford agency and the rent on the mansion had never been paid.
Looking back on it all, you had to admire Todd. He put some life into old Cherryville. When he left town, he left the City Council with a very difficult decision. One of those they would have to run a country mile to get out from under. What to do with a manufacturing company that made buggy-whips?
Living and Writing in Mexico 
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