The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1875-04-01
sKuEK's MISERY. March .. fs75.

SKUNK MISERY, March %, 1870.
Editors Democratic StatcsmnB-Why do
some newspapers always rhine when coun-
try produce commands something like 4 re-
muneratiyo price, and rejoice when eggs
are ten cents dozen, butter fifteen cents
pound and chickens fifteen cents apiece
Did Il ever enter into the minds Of ye locals
TO conceive the travail through which we
'hard-fsted yeOmanry must pass 20 FUR
nish you "blOated aristOcrats OF the city
with the aforesaid Did they ever rouse
Themselves from their tired siumbers at mid
night 10 do battle with the valiant skunk,
or. BY some strategic movement, to outwlt
the willy opossum Or did they ever wade
into the cowpen, rope the hind legs of a
dozen mustang COWS, and by 'sskilled labor
induce them TO yield enough milk 10 make
that one pound Of butterG Or did they
ever pull of their coats and sweat Through
one summer between the handles Of pillow
Did they ever set out potatoe slips, or pull
fodder Did they ever consider that the
drought or grasshoppers, or bad stand, or
some Other internal contingency. cuts short
our just expectations by half nearly every
yearl Or, lastly, did It ever occur to their
besotted imaginations that, once in q while,
farmers like few decent clothes to wear
and something good to eat, as well as other
people7
The fact is, siFs, that although farmers are
rather independent of the world and the
balance Of mankind for their mere subsist-
ence, they work harder for less pay than
anybody else. A fright smart man, if he
has good team and Implements can tend
twenty-five acres Of corn where the burrs,
crab-grass and other nuisances are not more
than ordinarily plentiful. But to do this he
has got to slump himself" OF this
twenty-five acres, if the season is favorable
and his neighbors hogs and cows do not
break through and steal, he will probably
gather five hundred bushels of corn. Out
Of this he must reserve enough TO ''bread
him" and feed his team until corn comes
again. This will leave him a surplus of,
say 400 bushels 10 sell, which, at the adver-
age of sevOnty-five cents per iJushel, should
bring him $500. But does he realize that
amount2 Not much, my Christian friend,
because the ways of the principal corn buy
ers IN town are mysterious and past finding
out.
now HE IS DONE ron.
Our farmer, living some distance from
town, hears that corn is bringing one dol
lar q bushel, and wantinga little sugar and
coffee and few yards of jeans and calico,
he loads his wagon, which be can swear by
all the rules of arithmetic holds good
twenty bushels, and starts off to market
chuckling with inward satisfaction as he
innocen.ly thinks of the twenty dollars he
is going TO have very soon. But, alas, how
soon does he find the vanity of human
hopes. On reaching town the highest bid
he can get for bis corn is seventy-five cents
q bushel.
, At first he swears he be "dad blamed y
II he don't take his load back home. but
that rOffaa 81 he ia
standing on the streets till near night, he
concludes to let it 60 to one of those child
like fellows who keeps livery stable or q
feed store. But what is the chagrin Of the
rusty euss when he finds that instead of
twenty bushels his load does not "pan
out more than fifteenl A big barrel, with
two or three handy chaps standing by to
ram in and shake down, does the thing
very neatly. With choky feeling in the
throat, our countryman receives his eleven
dollars and quarter, and drives home in |
the dark with a fresh wrinkle on his face.
But the great law Of compensation reaches
even his case, for be derives solid comfort
from his fixed belief in the good old ortho-
dox lake Of Ere and birthstone, where
those Flyers in wait, who lie
IN measure also, will doubtless do
their fair proportion Of the weeping and
wailing and gnashing Of teeth, for, verify,
in that day Il will be more tolerable for
ten-per-cent. than for such citi-
zens. So you see, Mr.. Editor, what
''hard row for stumpsn we poor husband
men have on the success of whose labor de-
ponds the prosperity Of the country. There
fore rejoice not when our truck Is low!
but rejoice and be exceedingly glad when
1t Is quite the reverse, for then will your
paper be taken more abundantly, and your
progeny will rise up and call you blessed. i
o. ZIP Coon.