The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-05-02

are not commended to u lmlta-
tion-those who believe and trem-
Bile. but co not mend their ways.
Multitudes believe AMI ackno"l-
edge that the old system Will bring
them and the State TO rum, ana
they tremble at the prospect, but
what are they doing about 1t In
nv recent tourings through more
than a score of counties IN the
eastern, middle and sub-western
sections Of the State, (from which
| have just returned) | have taken
careful note IN this direction, and
/ must say to you frankly that |
scarcely see "the shadow of a turn
ing" can not discern the first gray
streak of the promised dawn, do
not find a symptom of the needful
reforms, almost nowhere the intro
duction of superior modern agrl-
cultural implements, nowhere the
cultivation of less surface and bet
ter tillage, none of the changes and
improvements of which everybody
acknowledges the necessity. So we
come back to that wisdom which
cries aloud from the corners of the
streets and from the highways OF
human experience, that good reso-
lutiOns are not reform, that amend
ment involves something more than
the consciousness of error, and that
the knowledge of duty only aggra-
Yates the misery as well as the con-
demnation of those who do it not.
My friends, farmers, North Car
olinians, | propose to speak to you
plainly to-day. | shall not do any
withdrawing. That is not in my
line. | take it for granted you
wish me to tell you the truth. But
if you don't, | mean to do it any
way.
1t is too much our custom, on
such occasions as this, to please
ourselves with self-gratulatory
speeches and beastings about the
immense resources of North Caro-
lina-agricultural, mineral, manu-
facturing-as if the very presence
and abundance of these were not a
shame to us rather. The red In
dian had as much right to boast of
these things as we, and they did
him about as much good. Pearls
scattered all abroad under our feet,
and we too ignorant or too indolent
to stoop and gather them! 1t is
matter of reproach instead of glori-
fication. The path to improve
ment does not lie that way. 1t is
through humiliation, rather. |
shall regard this as a sort of pre-
liminary, confessional meeting, pre-
paratory to III amendment.
Confession, you know, is good
for the soul-good for the individ-
ual soul, and good for our collect
i've North Carolina agricultural
soul here to-day. But let it be I'M
derstood that it is not to go abroad,
what l am about to say. "Tell 1t
not in Gath /; publish it not in the
streets of Askalon, lest the daugh-
tiers of the Philistines rejoice"
These ubiquitous, tell-tale newspa-
per men are not to say a word /; and
if there are any outsiders that don't
belong to the family-any Virgin
ians or South Carolinians,-I am
sure they wouldn't lisp it; but if
they should be SO disposed, | give
them a good reason for their reti-
cence. In my frequent perigrina-
tions | have sometimes looked over
the border, North and South, and
let me tell you, you are Gin
the same condemnation" perhaps
"more So"
But let us return to the cOnfes-
sion. | say that, as to all these
changes and betterments in our
agriculture, SO a%bundantly preach
ed but SO ~scantily practiced, that
after an extended and microscopic
observation, l do not see it, cannot
find it, with a very, very few, very
honorable exceptions (rari nantes,)
which | should be happy to indi-
viduallze and to signalize. Our
people have, as a general thing.
returned to their idols. which they
worship with the old e1clusiveness
and in the old fashion. One has
recrowned the dethroned monarch
of tie southern fields, and seeks.
with his old devotion, wealth from
the flowing whiteness OF the boil.
Another has waded again into tar.
pitch and turpentine, until You can
almost light him with a lucifer
match. A third has gone again
after the tobacco worm until YOU
would imagine he looks a semi
translucent green, and his feel
ers' black" but not "comely."
And still another ardently affects
the high and ancient chymic art of