Every so often, a humor piece surfaces that feels like it wandered out of another century, dusted itself off, and asked politely whether anyone still appreciates a slow‑burn joke. Settling on the Land is exactly that kind of story—part frontier sketch, part deadpan character study, and entirely the sort of understated comedy for quick read.
Written in the dry, matter‑of‑fact style of early magazine humor, the story builds its laughs quietly, letting the landscape and the people speak for themselves. Nothing is exaggerated. Nothing is rushed. The comedy comes from watching ordinary decisions accumulate until they stop looking ordinary at all.
What gives the piece its bite is the way Tom Hopkins gradually comes into focus—not through speeches or drama, but through the small, practical choices he treats with absolute seriousness. One moment in particular, involving a stubborn tree and the equally stubborn man trying to “grub” it out, becomes a kind of accidental character test. By the time the story moves on, you already feel that Hopkins’s relationship with the land isn’t quite what he expected. And his experiences keep on going downhill. All the while though Henry Lawson keeps the reader in stitches.
Read the full story: Settling on the Land
Leave a Reply