Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-06-17
HOW BECAME A FARMER.

One fine summer afternoon ! deter
mined to become farmer. Don't, for
goodness sake, think that / was going TO
buy farm, for such were not my inten-
tions. No, not by any means. Why l
had never joined the Patrons of Hus-
bandry was because ] had been black
balled by that same organization SOME
thing less than half dozen times. And
why / was not going to buy farm the
reader can easily guess-I hadn't the re-
quired amount of funds.
But / am wandering away from my
fine summer afternoon. To return, i will
tell you why and what way / was going
to become farmer:
Nv bank account was no more, and
my landlady would not wait with me for
another weeks board, hence my depart
nre from the city and my arrival among
farmers The time was spring when 1
wandered among the rural districts.
The grass was just starting from its
mother earth, and looked inviting in the
extreme to lazy young man with the
world before him, and no one 10 take
care of but himself. When | say invit-
ing | don't mean inviting to eat, but to
lie down and take comfort thereon. |
threw myself on the green sward meath
near the roadside. l was lying thus,
dropping into delightful snooze, when
voice from the highway disturbed my
calm repose.
"Say, young fellow, what's the mat
teri"
I remained perfectly quiet, turning
the matter carefully over in my mind. i
was lying ON my back, and, with very
little bodily exertion, | raised my left leg
to perpendicular position and gently
moved my foot up and down, and waited
to see the effect. And to this day l sol
emily believe, though know am liable
to be killed for saying it, that this motion
was the sign of distress among the Pa
irons, for in an instant the man in the
wagon was at my side. Bending over
me, he said:
"What ais you, young MANI"
/ said nothing for a moment, wonder
ing "if what ails you" was the test
word, and, if SO, what would be the
proper response. Finally | groaned out
with mysterious and unknown work
ing Of my fingers-the words, Corn
bread" With bounding heart l saw
had beyond a doubt hit the nail on the
head Without a word my fraternal
brother assisted me to rise, and led me
limping toward the wagon which stood
in the road near by He helped me into
the wagon, and after | had imbibed
something from little brown jug l was
able to tell my rescuer the story of my
wrongs. This / will not repeal for rea-
sons best known to myself. Suffice il to
say that the farmer was deeply touched
by my tale. wound up by telling him
l wanted to get work on farm.
"Well, now" said my rescuer, | am
OH oh 4S,t
farm Did you ever shear shcep?"
ooh, yes" l said, II have done as
much of that as any other work about the
farm"
This was the truth, for j had never been
on the ground of homestead in my life.
/ was just going to tell him what a jolly
time / had experienced last Christmas,
when the idea struck me / might be
treadng on dangerous ground, so / de-
termined to remain silent on the subject
until learned something about it.
How much will you pay month for
a good shearer" / ventured, determined
not TO air my ignorances
"How much a month, said he, with
unmistakable establishment. "Why, man,
won't have shearing enough to last
week"
"Oh, yes" / replied, "shearing on a
small scale, ] understand"
'Small scalep he repeated with
emphasis. "How many sheep are you
used to shearing in the spring."
"Oh, that's all right" replied, coolly.
"Of course you will not shear as many
sheep in the spring as in the fall" And
here commenced to whistle an unknown
melody.
"Young man." said my companion,
sayagely, did you ever hear of shear
ing sheep in the fall?"
Without paying any attention to this
pointed question / asked:
allow much will you pay month for
farm hand, generality"
"Well, I'll give about eight dollars
month, and feed"
gave prolonged whistle, wondering
what would have TO feed, but net dar-
ing To asa.
What do you say, young man, do you
hireg"
| didn't exactly understand him, but
said yes at once.
We arrived at the farm little after
dark and at ten o'clock ] got into bed
between two burly farm hands, and soon
dropped asleep to music of quacking
geese, barking dogs, and my two bcd-fel-
lows snoring an accompaniment. In the
morning, or rather in the night, at half
past three, ! was aroused from shearing
sheep by the man behind me rolling
over me and standing on the floor.
When ! was able to speak | said:
"Who's sick?"
No reply.
Where's the fire."
"No foolin'. young man." was the
gruf reply. You'd better be tumblin'
out, or you'n miss your breakfast
During this speech the speaker was
jumping hurriedly into his pants and his
boots.
swell, you're hungrier than ever was,
although I've often been in need of a
square meal But think would have
to be pretty bad of before would hurry
as you do