Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-08-17
Hin ArP-What NE Thinks of Bind
ing the Shevek.


ing the shelves.
Mr.. Editur: The harvest is over.
9reatisxpectations have not been re-
allied. Farmin' is a good deal like
fishin'; every time you start out you
can just see yourself eatehin' 'em,
but after tryin' every hole in the
creek you go home sOrrOwfully,
with a fisherInan's luck. But we're
not complainin' by no means; for
we've got enuff for biskit every
day and lite-bread on Sunday, and /
a few bushels to spare for them |
angels that cum along unawareS /
sum of these days.
We finished cuttin' the oat crop
this mornin,' and what with them |
and the clover already housed, the
katie ar safe for another year. /
imagine they look sassy and thank
full but as for me, Mr.. Editur, Pm
used up individual. Durin' har-
vest / have had to be binder, and
if you don't kno what that is, ask
Harris. The ends of these fingers
which ar now inscribin this epistle
ar in bad fix. Skarifide and stuck
up with bull nettels and briars, tina
are as sore as a schoOl-boy's bile.
There wos sum variation to my bis
ness, such as catchin young rabbits
an findin partridge nests an pickin
du-berrys; but the romance wore
off the first day, and by the end of
theneXt my wife says / was as hum
BILE a man as any woman could de-
sire. It's nifty purity thing to rite
about and make up Dads and poems.
The.gOlden grain, the manly reapers,
the struttin' sheaVes, the song of the
harvesters, and purtyMiss Ruth CO.
kettin' round the fields of old man
Boaz, and show jokin' they did
drive their team afield," is llsweet
and nice to man up tree with an
umbrel /; but if them poets had to
tie wheat half a day in June sun,
their sentimentality would hense-
forth seak anuther subjek.
l tried swingin' the cradle awile,
but somehow or somehow else l
couldn't exakly get the lick. 1t
wasent exactly the kind of a cradle
I've been used to, and Pm too old a
hog to learn new tricks now. The
swing of the reapers cradle is a very
peculiar mOtion-Very regular in its
irregularity, and goes for the weeds
and bushes and briars and the wheat
all the same. Somehow or other it
reminds me of an independent cam
| didate a side wipin' around to get
offs in a twistitied way. Well, l
like independence, and that's why
j like farmin-nObOdy to look to for
a livin' but Providence. l like to
see a man Independent in opinion,
andin action, too, and if he suckseeds
it shows there is gum in him but
| it won't do to run that schedule too
long or too far in politics or religion.
BOnaparte and Beecher tried it, and
if they couldn't keep it up, nobody
can't. Every body has got to fall
into line some time. For a while
all sorts of people will pat an indie
pendent on the back and say, $50
it my larkey-bully for you :" but
before long they'll begin to think
over what a good thing he's got,
and then human nature, which you
kno is as mean as the devil, will
crop out, and the next thing they'll
drop him so easy he won't knO it.
On the whole, the aspirin man had
better go along smoothly with his
party or his church or his copartners,
as the case may be.
General Black says to me, says
he:
"Bill, as you're goin' to farmin' :,
let me give you a piece of advice !:
Don't go off on new lines, but watch
your Majors and do purity much as
they do"
VTo1I
bOrs went barfOOted in the summer
time and slept in shirt and wash
ed their feet in a skillet, and their
darters worked in the field and dip
ped snuff, we must do so too, by no
means. But he meant that the kind
of farmin that was sustained by the
majority of farmers was nifty apt to
be the best.
Jesse with gettin Offis-the best
way is the old way. 1t may be,
however, that Providence duz raise
up man to reform society, but the
instrument is very likely to think
he's dOin' it all on his own hook ;
and he'll keep on refOTmin till mil
lennium if the people will let him.
l think it would be well enough for
him to report progress sometime,
and maybe the good Lord would let
his servant depart in peace. But
you let Teller git taste of Wash
ingtOn, and it bOes look impossible
to even git him away from there.
81 will stand for reelection" OF
course he will, but it does seem to
me that if had held a rotation of
flee right straight along for forty
years 1 would hunt the shade of Lii
berty Hall and quit. Why, there's
forty men in that district been patti
emily watin' twenty years for his
chance, and he's now propOsin' tC
OutliVe 'em all and himself, too
S'pOse he does want to die in harm
ess, what's that to Berry HOuck
There's sum other gentlemen wOr.
thy and well qualified, who would
take the gears kindly, and work in
'em, too. But if | had a horse that
wore Outhis breachin'a hOldin' back
up hill, and hadent pulled nary
pound in seventeen yeres, he would
not die in my harness shore. He
mout hunt another wagin. I've ne
idee of tOadyin' Il man who tOadies
every body and everything
don't like, from patent
medicine down to General Grant
and thar's a heap of foxes my way
of thinkin'. Every time / think
about it | hear myself eXClaimin'