The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-05-14
A Farmer on Politics.

Soliloquy of Vermont farmer: Am for
Edmunds? Hay' Wal, calkerlate be! This
amt no great shakes of hat, but it'll go
bout as high as any on EN- when the horn
blows. | sha'nt do much THROWN Jest yet,
though. Time enough to holler when yer hay
is in the barn specially if the wether is a
little catchin'. It's singler thing: here's
every body sayin' that Edmunds would make
ripper of president and that he would be
one OF the best runnn' men that the repub-
licans could get-and then all hands say that
there amt no possible way Of nominatin' him.
WAL that amt jest it, but you get the idee.
It's curtis; it is. Presidential lightnin'" they
call it, and so tbs. Lightnin' don't alters hit
the biggest tree. You'd nat'rally think 'twould
but 1t don't and that's the end ont. It'll
go right by whalin' big maple somtimes, and
then come down on some plaguey little Saddle
that nobody wouldn't think of and knock it
higher'n a kite No; the biggest man amt
always made president. There's Webster and
Clay-Im an old-line wing, / be- Clay-and
Harrson-old Tippecanoe, We know! "'Tippe-
canoe, and Tyler too Why, / went with
Nathan Gushing in 1910 when he drove two
boss wagon-oad of us from Woodstock Green
to Burlington to Harrison convention with
broom tied to a stake on one side and a
fleece of wool on t'other. Folks come pilin' in
there from all over the state. Log cabin
and hard cider" tell ye politics meant
suthin in them days! Wal, there's one thing
about it; if Edmund's don't gain nothin'
of folks have good luck mindin' there own
business. man runnin' onto spring when
he's plowin' makes so much, we know, clear
but mortgagin' his farm to dig a well is
different. And there's Blaine--thinks he's
about the biggest toad in the puddle now,
don't he? Been writin' book. One O. them
agents tackled me with it t'other day when
was plantn' pertaters, and folered me a whole
row, jabberin' away and shown the picters
and red covers. got sorter sick OF his clack
mad fTNld r. ind hAnr call Nl.nN
boots made out of book-agents' hide would
wear like all mater. Hel He! That Teller give
me up, | didn't want nothin of his book
and don't want nothin' of Blaine, nuther.
Smart? Yes, he's smart enough, If that's all.
But when go to town meetn L III Just leetle
slow bout helpin into office man that
common kind of farmer wouldn't das to trade
bosses with. He's a little trickey, | guess,
that Teller. | Supposed that after tryin' it
twice, Blaine would sorter call it half a day
and quit, but no; he's at it again, with his
head up like ine-back steer in corn-field.
He's cud, and no mistake, Blaine is: but
reckon some of them fellers will upset his
applicant before he gets through. There is
such a thing as bein' too smart Then there's
Arthur-they make lots of fun of him cause
his britches set 80 snug. ! s'pose he oughter
wear clo es that wouldn't hardly do for me to
burn brush in. though-and mebbe he's better
lookin than be Anyway. hain't got nothin'
| agin him, but he Amt jest-um-wal-I dunno.
l ike 10 see man, III ne Calls nlnsell Ihriner,
build a little good stone wall every year, or
sutbin' of the sort-that's about it. And |
| haint nothin' agin young Lincoln, neither.
Got nothin' but a great name" they say.
| Mebbe that's so; but a big name is better n
| little one. It's critters of good breed that's
most likely to do well. And, speakin of light
| min, after all there amt no tree that grows
| that's as likely TO be hit as big, high, solid
hemlock, with the bark on. Anybody who's
| been in the woods knows that 'Taint best ter
| give up Edmunds too easy: 'twont take much
| of a hyste now to set him on his feet, and I'm
| goin to keep my old hat handy till after the
convention / tell you be! lot of fellers
are cipherin' up the delegates and settlin'
| every thing all comfable, but there don't no
two of 'em agree, and, tell ye, there don't no
| one on EN- know what he's talkin' about.
| The smartest man in the world can't tell how
| a field of pertaters will turn out jest by look
| in at the tops. -SprinQfeld' Republican.