The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-03-10
would care II were to stop there


and let me work in payment 81 will
work all day for either one" offered
land will try to do good days work. "
But neither the man nor woman
answered, 1 sat ten minutes, perhaps,
feeling anything but comfortable, and
then babe them good-morning and went
out. ~ While l stood hesitating in the
road, boy came out into the yard.
1.-THE old man SEE you can go to saving
this ere pile of woodn' he called to me.
The next night / was the owner of a
peck of potatoes, and the day after |
went to several of the neighboring farm
houses, obtaining from a man named
Fawcett a job to pick up two acres of
stones on new clover piece. For this
l received four dollars in potatoes, pork
and meal, and completed it in five
days. ,
MY LETTER TO sold MAN SMITH"
Meantime l inquired and learned
more of sold man Smith" of Boston,
and in few days l wrote the following
letter to him:
DEAR SIR:-A young man in his twentieth
year, recently. of Boston, is now living on your
| old farm in A, N. fl. He was in search of
| work on a farm, and came along to the old
/
| ago. Having nowhere else to stay, and the
night being rather cold, he went in there and
When a he could get saeae job the people
about. This young man would like to go on
| for while living there, for he has no other
abiGing place, He would take the farm of
you for the coming season, If the farm is
| for sale, would buy it if the price were not
too high, and pay for it as soon and as fast as
81 am the young man above referred to, and
| my name is
CHARLES EPHRAIM WINDsER.
A fortnight later received the follow
ing characteristic letter from Mr.. Smith;
well, Charles Ephraim, 1 have received your
| rather odd letter. That farm-which you seem
| to have taken possession of-has cost me over
| seven hundred dollars in one way and another
| But any man who will pay me a hundred and
| fifty dollars for it may have it. L do not sup
| pose you have cent to pay me. But it is not
much Use for meto order you Off. for you will
stay if you have mind to, unless take the
| trouble to come up, or send up and drive you
off, and shant do that. SO go ahead Charles
| Ephraim; plant and sow and reap to your
| hearts content this year, and whenever you
| can raise the hundred and fifty the old farm is
| yours And if you are in earnest (which don't
believe, wish you success.
| Vertruly yours,
Whenever 1 felt blue l used to get out
that letter and have laugh.
MY SPRINGS WORK.
The farmers about were now doing
their springs work-planting and sow
ing--and | borrowed a neighbours OK.
team to pillow three acres of the old
stubble ground, paying for the use of the
team by my own labor.
1t was all hard work. Every fair day
was day of toll. L used to sleep like
log there in my straw. But, somehow,
began to enjoy it; the world looked
brighter. After my crops were in the
ground L mended the fences about the
fields and the house; and l. worked out
and got new glass panes for the broken
windows. These l set myself on rainy
days
By June the people about had begun
to treat me as friend and neighbor.
Indeed, they commenced, laughingly,
to call me their new neighbor." At
first, coming among them as 1 did, they
distrusted me. But when they saw that
Twas not afraid to take hold and work,
and that l really meant business, they
turned about and treated me like fell
low-citizen. Twas shown great many
kindly favors.
HoEING AND HAVING.
1t was no great task to do my own
work in hoeing, and was able to work
out enough to purchase a set of haying
tools, consisting of scythe, snath, fork
and rake. For there was tolerably
good crop of grass in the fields and
down in the meadow, which [ resolved
to secure to the last straw. l began my
haying on the first day of July. For
three weeks | worked early and late.
had no team for drawing the hay into
the barn. Every pound of it 1 hauled
in myself on a little Crack which l
rugged upon pair of old carriage wheels
that found abandoned beside the road.
In these three weeks got in about nine
tons. Seven tons of this hay | sold the
following winter, in the village nine
miles below, for seventy-six dollars.
did every stroke of the work alone and
unaided; and after that 1 worked out at
haying eight days at dollar and quar-
ter per day.
My oats were now ready to harvest.
This occupied me a week; and when the
threshing machine came into the neigh
borhood about fortnight later L had my
crop threshed out. After deducting
threshers toll, had sixty bushels
l then made trade withIMr. Cum
mings and traded sixty bushels of oats
for one of his COWS; and Mrs. c.
threw into the bargain a milk pail and
four tin pans. This was my first invest
ment in live stock. After that / had
plenty of new milk and also butter
which churned myself in a twenty-cent
earthen pot. But l did not let any one
see, nor know of, my dairying process.
On the twenty fourth day of Septem-
Der, began digging my potatoes; and
from my well-dressed field, dug a hun
dred and seventy-one bushels of as hand
some early Rose' potatoes as one would
wish to see
1 picked out barrel of the very best
and sent them to "Old Man Smith"
in Boston.
BUYING THE FARM.
In January chopped ten cords Of
wood for Mr.. Cummings, and in pay
ment had ,his ox-team to draw my hay
down to the village, where 1 marketed
it. After receiving the money, wrote
again TO Mr.. Smith, telling him that L
was now ready to make payment of
seventy-five dollars on the farm. The
business of ''doing the writings" as they
call it in the country, was entrusted, on
his part, to a LAWYER in the VILLAGE. named