The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-08-15

luty to rise up against a ruinously lavish |
and wasteful expenditure Of public mon |
", and the diversion Of trust funds from |
their sacred purposes 1t i, | believe, |
even now, his duty 10 demand some legal !
restrictions Of the gong at large of stock. I
| knox of no other part OF the world ,
where law and custom allow man who |
does not own an acre, TO turn loose upon !
his neighb0r's fields herd OF famished /
hogs, to break down fences, root up pas /
lures and devour crops.
4. But perhaps the most formidable I
oection which is urged against the grange /
is that it is an enemy to the merchant. /
L Is true that in its endeavor TO reform
he disastrous policy OF wild credit 1t
must at times come into antagonlsm with
good men, whose business has been de
veloped under that system and chiefly
founded upon it. But the warfare has
never been on ndividuals-solely and
entirely upon vicious system.
The merchants can have no worse en-
envy than the reckless customer ready to
put upon his table and his back what
ever products Of foreign soils can 90
Town on the book, always looking for
ward to one good crop which never comes,
4 q
involving often tue financial ruin Of all
| concerned rider and horse. friend and
foe, in one rude burial blent." This Is
not to be merchant, it is to run lot
terry, faro bank, lottery without its
| fairness, all the changes and chances OF
| fortune superadded to the incompetency
| and dishonesty OF man. 1t ls against
| this, which deserves not the honor Of be-
ing called "A system, that the Grange
! lifts its arm, and that arm has been felt.
| Blessed be God it has already done some
| thing, but it will do more. Nor will
that arm drop until integrity, honest
dealing and sound principle, have taken
| the place of rottenness and bankruptcy
| To do this it will seldom be necessary
| for the grange to enter into the arena Of
| mercantile speculation itself. 1t will be
best always to buy at home and sell at
| home-a home market working both
ways. Our merchants ought to buy and
! sell for Us better than we can do 1t our
| selves But is better for Us and them,
/ that they and we should know we are in
| dependent, or rather that there is such a
| mutual dependence that the interest of
one class is bound up in that Of the
| other Following the pillow or superin-
| tending squad Of laborers may be warm
| work but ii Is infinitely more dignitied
| than treadiDg. the pavements for adj
vances on crops not yet grown. Too
many have the handling Of what we buy
and what we sell and it IS a good season
| to cut them down to a stand.
Such, brethren, are some Of the objec-
tons to our order. Were these not suf-
| ficently overruled by the separate con
| sideratiDa we have given each, we might
20 on to urge ceeta II positive advan
! tages not touched by any objections.
The mere bringing together men and
women at stated periods for an avowed
honest purpose, is in a community like
ours, productive Of benefits which can
not be measured any more than you can
weigh the breeze.
Go out into remote communities, what
a harshness gradually comes oyer the
character, how unspiriuaI the thoughts,
how uncoth the language, how untidy
even the dress and gait and whole style
of life, how unmannered the children
grow up, how bold, yea, how gross and
| sensual all the associations of their
| childhood.
There is a moral power in the very as
! ISOLATION for good which o4e4co4le9 all
| this. Before the fall Of man, labor was
pleasure, duty and joy went hand IN
hand, and happiness was the offspring of
| the young welded pair. BY the fall was
| changed, labor became irksome, JOY
turned her back upon duty, and since
then there has been no employment so Of
the earth earthly, so dark, degrading as the
mere tilIage of the soil. Sanctifed by
true thoughts of life and its immortal
destinies, the life of the husbandman be
comes ennobled Thus we reconcile the
warning instincts and bring peace into
the depths of mans disordered soul. JOY
and toll again 90 hand in hand, and a
new happiness springs from their re-
union. Spring stfews her starry flowers
in their pathway and autumn brinss her
mellow fruits to deck the feast.
We were not born, brethren, merely
to stir the soil, eat its fruits and die. Our
| lives are laid to us as moral, spiritual
| beings. We have aestinies that outlive
the stars. The sun is but . speck of
| fire, transient meteor in the sky. The
soul, immoral as it's sire, shall never
| die.