Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1873-02-03
PAST AND PRESENT.
Reud By q. b. Jameson, at a meeting Of
the Patrons Of Husbaadry. Irasbargh,
.JdnudrV 81.

The wilderness vast unbrOken,
Covered all the land,
The fish leaped in the waters,
In solitudes so grand;
The wild beasts roamed in safety
Among the hills and glades.
The savage among the shadows,
His habitations made.
The stiffness at last is broken,
The woodland melts away,
The farms are on the hilsides
Mills by the rivers spray.
Far among the valleys lived
Good honest farmer Brown;
He built his own log cabin,
And cut the forest down.
His ak awoke the echoes ring
As he clears up the lands;
His voice rings out with manly shout
As he his team commands.
The charred and blackened earth
Is tender green in spring.
Away by the distant brookside
The lonesome cow-bellS ring.
The products of the fertile soil,
And housewives busy care,
Save food and clothing plenty,
And few loads to spare.
When nature in winter slumbered,
Then in .he common way.
His rr, ducts he took to market
In his old two horse sleigh.
Away in distant city,
He went from door to door,
Directly to the consumers,
He I,eddled out his store.
But prOdI cts became abundant
With Brown and his neghbors,
This retail business greatly
Added to their labors.
Soon with thankfuness they sold
To those who went about
For cattle, wool, butter and cheese,
And made great gains. no doubt;
Yet every week the paper came
From the distant. busy town.
And the reports Of the markets
Perplexed good farmer Brown.
For the butter sold at forty
And fifteen for the cheese.
Spectators in the country,
Give only what they please.
In this financial darkness
There came CLEAN of light.
railroad was coming through
TC set the matter right.
Take stock take stock urged farmer B.,
For We must have the road
The dealers now have the profits,
While we bear all the load.
Soon all through the valley swarmed
The little Irish huts,
The hills and meadows dug away
With deep uncOmely ruts.
Soon the engine and the cars
Came with rush and rattle,
The bows and men all hurrahed-
Frightened were the cattle;
The shrieking whistle, day and night
Echoed along the vale,
And all the products of the land
Were forwarded by rail.
Farmer B. increased in wealth.
With market at his door,
A hundred things he now could sell
That never sold before
His cord wood, bark and lumber,
Potatoes, hay and milk
Gave cash to educate his boys
And dress his girls IN silk.
But soon he found his railroad stock
Save him no dividend
For all the earnings of the road.
Just helped the road extend
The heightened burdened trains rolled past
From states and plains a-far
His customers supplied their wants
While he acaited for the car.
About depOts in mammoth piles
Were lumber, bark and wood
Waiting store were all these things,
Valuable for food.
But what was worse for farmer B.
Were the unequal rates:
For hundred miles he paid as high
AS did the western freights.
He made the road to help himself
The help went to another
His freights were as great as with teams
And almost as much bother.
The things that once sold the best
AS beef pork. corn and wheat
Bring ruinOusly low prices.
With the west they must compete.
It's hard to change the old routine.
Farmer sells his place,
Puts his money at interest,
Grumbles against his race.
It's hard to make new plans and crops
And make successful farming,
Even If the best is we'll DONE
Profits are not alarming.
The producer finds from profit,
He is completely shorn;
He is the OK that's muZzled
Yet treadeth out the corn.
The Patrons. a numerous host,
Are gathering for the fight,
While they do no men wrong,
Aspire to find the right.
They seek not to hoard up money,
But wish what money brings
The luxures now enjoyed
BY speculation rings.
They are the corner stone despiscd
Iu the building national,
Tax payers, mud-sills constituents
Almost irrational.
Changing conditions slowly bring
New ideas to the world,
The producers are combin ing
Their banner is unfurled.
They ask that honest industry
Shall have its fair reward,
And in the law that rules them,
Their voices should be heard.
Our desires are almost as shapeless
AS clouds in summer sky;
May results he like genial showers
When earthis parched and dry.
We hail each fellow worker, who
Without despair and change
With earnest hope for mutual good
Stand by the Patrons Grange.