The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1874-01-16
An Essay on Compulsion.

| Council of Patrons of Husbandry, Mr..
| Bennett made a motion that one of the
brethren prepare an essay for reading
at the next meeting upon the subject OF
the proper ann of managing pur-
chasing agencies, &c. The brother OBJ
iected, saying he had no knowledge to
impart which would assist Mr.. Bennett
IN his duties, but the motion was in
sisted upon and carried, and at tie
meeting on Tuesday the following was
read, with which Mr.. Bennett must GER
tainly feel satisfied:
MIR. PREsIDENT-The action of this
| honorable body, mt its last meeting, re-
| quires that | should write an essay tor
| the benefit of Brother j. l.. Bennett.
| This being my duty. l shall proceed to
| give Brother b. my views in regard to
the peculiar duties that devolve upon
him as purchasing agent tor the Oranges
of Patrons of ~lIusbandry of Andrew
| county. The honorable and digniiied
pos ton which Brother Bennett holds in
this organization is known as Agent.
Now, an agent, in the vulgar acccpta-
ton, means one who exerts power or
has power to act, viz: an actor-not nee
essarily Il stage performer or q gym
mast: in fact. we think Brother b. not
exactly adapted to that peculiar duty
and we hope this Council, if it should
deem such performance necessary to Il
proper iullillment of his duty, will let Il
brother more accustomed to tight-rope
exercises, at least, be deta. led to mpart
such instructions as nav be useful in
this arduous operation. The word agent
is spelled agent, rs You will per-
ccive. We think it originally meant Il
gent" but words are so changing their
Specification in this fast age that we
scarce know to-day what 4 given word
will mean tomorrow. l. I us assume.
however, this to be the true intcrprcta-
ton. But we are puzzled at the outset
to discover the precise character of this
gent" There il, for instance. Il gent
of lcisure-,Iz: freedom from business.
Now, that cannot be Brother Bennett.
tor he is an actor. On the other hand.
there was the gent of the olden times
tiIstt plt lNiiph IL 'AAVlitS II ttlI~lItt-
uous place in nearly every community,
and who is cited to as Il character in the
community in every way worthy our
emulation - when We become oh
enough. And, lastly, there was 9TH
rail Guild Irish gent" who could Use hi,
shillalch still with alacrity. and cox! /
drink punch or potoen. which v.r was
most convayniant. The business q.
Brother Bennett is evidently not in co,n-
petition with either of these. We this,
he is Il noun. Yes. he IS 4 noun. Bat.
then. what kind of n noun: Surely. 4,
noun plural. lie was 4 noun singular
before he was selected, and we Shall
proceed to consider the duties that -
pertain to his official charact T.
Firstly, he should be all things to al
men. that he may gain some; hut r.
suavity-we believe that is what the
phrcnologists call il; yes. that is it
seems to he a constituent element of
Brother BIS private character. this sama
principal should shine ont more bril-
liantly conspicuous in his public charuc-
ter. The operation of what is called
button-holing he should thoroughly I'M
dcrstand. We don't mean punching
holes in buttons-that is not it. Az We
sometimes learn lessons of wisdom from
ON enemies, ut least from those whose
and pursuits are entirely d.
verse from our own we would respccf-
fully refer him to some OF the political
of this city; for what they
don't understand in this particular linz.
it will hardly pay for him to try to learn
We have been to some considerable
trouble to investigate the derivation Of
the term ''agent," and we have sur-
to such an extent that cavaliers
may hereafter not interposc an objection.
McGuffey's entire series OF school pub
LEGATIONS has been drawn upon tor this
purpose; and. not satisfied entirely
with the information such series con-
tanned, we have even drawn upon those
immortal productions of DcFoe and
Swift, entitled respectively, Robinson
Crusoe" and .'Lemuel CULVER" After
so much research and investigation, We
think it cannot be denied that il j. de-
either from the Sanscrit or some
other 'scrit"-we think Some other
.'scrit."
In conclusion, we consider that, rs
this essay cannot hut he satisfactory To
Brother Bennett in the pursuit of thos,.
duties that devolvc upon him in his Dill
cial relation to this Council: rs also
beneficial 10 those who may succeed
him in a like official character, that it he
required to have the same electrutyped,
it may 20 down to unborn genera
with other immortal produc,ions-
for instance: "Mother Goose" and ..Old
r. !