The patron of husbandry., 1882-05-27

Just how to provide a pleasant rest
for alfred Granger. Next morning
we had some six or eight miles to
reach our first appointment. 1t
was in a beautiful grove on the
banks of the San Marcos river.
Patrons and farmers had come
down from the mountains, across
from over the river, up out of the
valleys, and some few from the
neighboring towns. At half past
10 o'clock the Marshal of the day
called to. order, when the members
broke forth with that beautiful
"Wc will rally to the Grange"
and then
"Work, for the night is coming,
after which, he introduced to the
audience your humble servant, who
endeavcred, as best we could, to
give them what we believed and
understood to be the princi-
piles, purposes and work of the
Order of Patrons of Husbandry
After we Iclosed, dinner was, pre-
pared, and such a dinner, well,
am not going to try to describe any
part of it, only let me say, that the
Matrons of San Marcos valley
know how to please hungry
Lecturer.
1t is due to that large audience
for me to say, that never saw bet
ter order and closer attention given
speaker in my life. This seemed
to inspire me for the work | had to
do. After dinner, Bro. Walker, in
a short address, smoothed up the
rough corners of my speech. He
is the best Granger outside of the
gates have met. The audience was
then dismissed, seemingly well
pleased with the days work.
1t was arranged that Bro. Hub
bard should take me over home
with him and spend the night and
take me to the next appointment
Bro. Hubbard is one of those large
hearted Grangers that seems to
grasp all the grand possibilities of
our beloved Order He is now,
and has been for over six years Mas
ter of his Grange. His Grange has
never slept or felt drowsy.
The meeting next day was at
Kingsbury on the "Sun Set Route, I"
some eight or ten miles from Sc
guin. The people seemed thirsty
for the word The same good
Order uad atrCutOu was gfvcrr as
on yesterday. Our labor today
was attended with some pain, ow
ing to disease of the throat Bro
Smith took charge of us here and
carried us back in the neighborhood
of Prairie Lea, SO as to be able to
reach the appointments at Clear
fork Church, Caldwell county, on
Saturday. | wish to say that the
dinner at Kingsbury was all that
hungry Granger could wish for if
he had dozen trials / can almost
taste it yet. We spent the night
with Bro. Bob Smith. He is as
true to the Grange as the needle is
to the north star.
Next day his bachelor brother
took us in his buggy over to Clear
fork Church, some twelve miles
There was good turnout, fine or
der and good attention here. After
speaking, another one of those
Grange dinners was spread, and
your Bell county Granger was right
there in the thickest of the fight.
After dinner, Bro. Whittenburg
gave us nice little talk on the
tariff and railroad monopolies With
regrets we parted with these peo-
pie; we felt that it was "good to
be there"
We returned TO Bro. Smiths, and
after supper we had the pleasure of
meeting Prairie Lea Grange, and |
declare to you. Mr.. Editor, that /
have not met a liver Grange in all
my travels. tits under perfect con-
troll of the Master, and he knows
just how to make it seem smooth
and easy. Some Is or So members
were present, and / was told by
Bro. Daugherty and the Worthy
Master that it was less than an av-
erage attendance. We gave them
a short lecture, and then exempli-
fed the unwritten work. This
closed the labors of this trip.
We can not say too much in be-
half of these people. We met them
at the public stand and around the
Grange altars, and they seem to be
thoroughly enthused with the true
principles of the Order, with a fix
edness of purpose to press the bat
tie to the very gates of the enemy,
and never halt until victory flashes
along our ranks and perches upon
cur banner.
l was agreeably surprised in every
way. San Marcos valley is one of
the finest portions of Texas; the
people are kind, generous and true
The tree of Grangerism is taking
deep root there, all that is needed is
more earnest, faithful, devoted and
self sacrificing laborers in the field,
men thoroughly imbued with the
spirit of the Order, possessed not
only with thorough knowledge of