Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1856-10-22
GRLGULTURA 4.
How a Thriftless Farmer was Reformed.

How a Thriftless Farmer was Reformed.
I'VE copy the following story from one
Of Dr. Glen .. Ravens Letters to his Son,
published in life Illustrated:
If you have a place for everything, and
keep it in its place, if you have a time to
co business, and do it in its time, you will
find that you will " drive business" instead
of business driving you, and SO will have
leisure instead Of constant worry. 1t pains
me to sec some men undertake any bust
ness Of moment. They are as sure to be-
com entaHgled, and thrown on their backs,
their business atop of them, as they are to
undertake it. Take farming for instance.
Now | venture the assertion that two
thirds of all the farmers in this State are
burning green wood this terrible cold
weather. Go into their houses, and you
hear the sissing of the beech, or maple, or
elm, as like 10 the dcath-dirge of q cock
roack NJ can be. Out of the chimney tops
comes forth smoke dark as Tartarus, and
their wives and hired girls are cross as
bedlam. These men conld not find time
to cut their wood aud have it seasoned
Now / charge it on you, that you fail not
to have time 10 do all that you undertake.
in order. livery day accidents, casualties,
catas,rophes, providences are taking place,
because men, women and children. have
not time to do things as they ought to be
doae. | must tell you a story-which is a
Gact. When | was a boy, there lived in
my native village a family by the name of
Wilson. There were four boys and four
girl, aud they were exceedingly gifted
Not one of them was there who did not
rank in beauty, intellect and personal phys
ical power a good way above mediocrity.-
They all had more than common education
al requirements, for they learned easily
The girls oil married early, and to young
men Of high promise. The men all mar.
ricd-and to respectable women. Yet al
remained poor. Their failure was directly
attributable to a rant Of order. Not ont
of them was ever known to do a thing il
its time, nor have anything in its place
with one exception, and he is the hero o
my story. OF one of the girls [ may sa,
~truthtulIy that for over thirty-fve years sh
has Heeer seem the sun rise, always going t
bed past midnight and rising past midday
But to my story Erastus Wilson was
farmer shiitless, s%lovenly, disorderly
slip-shod farmer. The winds and the Wa
tiers, the sun and rain, darkness and broa
day, all conspired to do him harm. Hi
gates were unhung, his hogs noses wer
unwrung, his sheep could leap his fence
like wild deer, his cattle were seen wit
boards over their eyes, great spiked chair
on their nCcks, Jokes on, and "tied hea
and foot" His horses were as thin as
Rhode Island spare rib-you could 81
sunrise through them. His windows ha
old hats, old coats, old newspapers, al
shingles, instead of glass. His corn W
stunted, his meadows half covered wi
grass, and around and about him the spil
Of decay seemed to brood. Yet he work,
hard, did not drink, nor gamble, nor gu;
rel. In fact, he was a pious man, but
did everything at the wrong time and
the wrong way.
Thus he lived until his hair turned gro
and poverty sat at his table an ackno,
edged member of the family. One CO
December day he was going to his bal
and it happened that he lifted up his ey
anG afar oft in one of his lots he saw son
thing to him like deor,horns sticking TN
the top of a snow-drift. He was all ali
He would make a conquest-so over
fence he leaped and made for the deer
He waded the drifted and the undrif
NOW till he reached the spot, when,
hold! instead Of the horns of a buck, tn
stuck up the ttoo handles Of his plow
He was very angry, and started to go ba
when he said be heard a vvice as aud
as ever a voice spakc, say, " Erastus '
son, you deserve a good fogging for Il
ing your pillow out in the snow. 1t Is
such heedlessness you have come to DO
ty. Pick up your pillow and take it to
barn."
He Immediately set about it, anG
what means he did it he never could
But thro' that deep snow and over
drifts he dragged the implement to
barn. Once there he took a raw b
stripped himself naked, aud adore
himself thus:
Erastus Wilson, you are a mean,
ty, poverty-stricken-man. All your
life you have been too lazy to save
you have earned, or too careless to do
You deserve a iogging. Here is your
whose handles you could never see, till
thought them the horns Of a deer,
you could wade drifts waist deem b
them. You deserve a good Hogeing,
careless ~blockhead, aud you shall have
and he laid the raw hide on to his
legs and feet, till he raised great wi