The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-05-17
4 PROSE POEM on SPRING.
The Difference Between Country Ituispd
and city Knised Children.
Southern rnItir1f.U..

| Southern CnIirnfJ
On this pcllucid day when the sky il
80 beautifully blue and the sun 80 warm
and cheerful, when the jaybirds are
chanting their safe return from purgato.
ry and the crows are cawiDg over the
sproutlug corn, when the sheep bells
tinkle 40 mcrrily in the meadow and
children and chickens are cackling
around it seems like everything in ma.
ture was happy and everybody ought to
be. The larkics are singing to the mules
i'll the cotton field and are happier with
II little than the white folks with good
deal. The darkey never borrows trouble
and | wish our race would take n few
lessons in cOntentment from 'em-not
enough TO make us shiitlcsa and with no
ambition to better our condition, but
enough to stop this restlessness, this wild
rush for money, this wear and tare upon
brain and heart that i. getting to be the
curse OF the land. wish everybody
was happy and had nothing against no.
body. | wish every farmer had fine
horses and fat cattle and plenty of pock-
ct change, and dident have to work only
when he felt like it. l wish | had a
winter home in Florida with orange
groves and pine apples and bananas, and
Il summer home up among the mountains
and ~ railroad and palace cars between
the two, and free pass over the line
and plenty Of money at both ends o: it.
| wish was king with mint of gold
and silver at my command, 40 could 90
about in disguise and mingle with the
poor and friendless and lift them up out
Of distress and make 'em happy. wish
/ was genii like we read of in the
Arabian Nights. and could, ut breath,
build palaces and make diamonds and
pearls and marry NIL the poor girls to
rich husbands, aud all the struggling
boys to princcsses and kick up a cloud
of golden dust wherever / went. No |
don't either, for | know now that the
like of that wouldent bring happiness in
this sublunary world. The best condi-
ton for man is to have neither poverty
nor riches. Old Agur prayed good
prayer and he knew how it was
For riches bring trouble when they come,
| And there's want In thu homes Of tho poor,
hut IT'S good for n man to have little sum
To keep away the wolf from tho door.
Some folks are never happy unless
they are miserable. Their lives are green
and yellow like melancholy and they
want everything they can get and would
rather see mankind going to hell than to
heaven if they could stay behind and
play .-wreckers on eternity's Shore l
have seen men whose very presence
would dry up all hilarity as quick rs a
slack tub cools hot iron. Men who never
smile willingly, and when they force one
the cadaverous visage is lit up for a mo.
mcnt with birthstone light and then
relapses into its natural scowl. Such
people arc nuisance upon society. and
ought to be abolished or put into lower
asylum like iuniacks I've no more toll
Grafton for 'cm than for mad dog, and
If there is any apology it is in favor Of
the dog.
| How inspiring is the earliest breath of
spring when nature like blushing maid is
putting on her pantalets and preparing
i TO Bang her siken hair. How quickly 1t
brings to life the slumbering emotionR
which, though chilled by the frosta and
| the winds Of winter, were not deaS. but
| only lay dormant like bear in his den.
What harmonious feelings spring up in
| ones bosom aud gush forth to all man.
kind. This balmy weather fills all the
chambers of the soul with music that is
not heard and with poetry that Is not
expressed. The very air is redolent
with love and peace. Turnip greens are
running up to seed, the plum trees nre in
fragrant blossoms, sanG by and by will
sweet south wind 10 breathing upon the
violet banks. Alder tags hang in grace
fnl clusters upon their drooping stems
Jonquills are in q yellow strut and the
odorous shallots are about right for the
frying pan. The little silver. aides and
minnows have opened their spriDg regat-
tas. The classical robin has ceased TO
get drunk on the China berry, and the
ferocious chicken hawk catches about
one day from our earliest broods
Everything is lively now
Over the meadows the new born lambs are skip
Over the aelt he little boys are ripping.
The country Ia the best place for chill.
dren. What glorious luxury it is for
| them to 90 berefooted and wade in the
branch and 90 seining, and climb trees
and hunt birds nests and carry the corn
TO mill and run pony races. 1t is we'll
enough for man to live in town or q
city when he Is young and active, but
when he gets married and the little
chaps come along according to nature he
ought to get on farm to raise 'em. An
old man with numerous grand children
has got no business in a city. What q
burlesque on childhood's JOY it must be
to visit grandpa and grandma in o city
penned up in brick walls with a few
sickly flowers in the window and gar.
den in tho rear about as big as wagon
sheet. Might as we'll try to raise good
| healthy, vigorous colts in a stable yard.
There Is too much machinery about rails,
! ing children now q days anyhow. The
race is running out, and nothing but
country life can save it. Tho old back
log is gone and the big open, friendly
fire place, and the cheerful blazing
family hearth, and now it is hole in the
floor or iron pipes running around the
walls. ! reckin that Is economy, but In
my opinion q man can't improve sfhe
stock that Eay nor keep itsas good ssaa it
was, The: children viii Fbs ,picayulish
and over pice and sharbs sSieafhTed land
potty before and gimletty behind. They
tgont do sto bet on n1like those chaps
Brought up around b Fireplace Oh o
hundred acre farm. S}slS I
g Raining children 10 the principal bust.
ness Of human life and Is about all that
the majority ofmankind are working for,
though they dcn't know It. ;tItiis the ex.
cuse for all the mad rush of bnsiness