Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-05-07
SECRETARY RUsK's EXERCISE.
He Takes q Scythe and Shames the
Mowers in the Agricultural Grounds.

When Secretary Rusk, Of the Department OF
Agriculture, entered the department building
this morning his somewha. olympian brow was
believed with the sweat Of honest toll. The
warm breath OF the dswning summer was
sweeping with . gentle swish through the
shrubbery of the grounds and agitating with
light, tremulous touch the heaps Of ap-
plication papers on the Secretary's desk,
but this breath was not warm
enough to spangle the Secretary's brow
with such great crystal drops as stood out in
bold relief beneath the mass Of white locks that
tumbles in billowy abundance about his
capacious Uranium His beard, too. was wind
tossed and showed in its disorder the effee is of
a recent struggle. II all came about in this
way. While the Secretary was driving through
the Agricultural grounds, on his way 20 his
office, he noticed half q dozen men in row
moving down with scythes the short ragged,
early spring growth of grass. Either the Sec
rotary did not like the way in which the now
ing was done or the sight brought q rush OF
memories OF the farm out in Wisconsin. At
any rate, he quickly hailed his driver to stop,
and getting out OF the carriage went over 20
the place where the men were at work. Il
viii show you how to mow," he said,
and took scythe from one of the
men. The testimony is not conclusive as TO
whether the Secretary spat in his hands or not.
That seems to be in part an assumption based
on the fact that that method of lubricating the
hands is extremely popular in Wisconsin. He,
however, did grasp the scythe. and his tower
ing form was soon swayins and the scythe was
ripping and tipping in great seml-circles
through the ragged grass. The song OF the
scythe as it tipped, the carol Of the birds the
little swish of the breeze that stirred the trees
and blew through the Secretary's whiskers,
and the e1hilarating motion bringing into
n acraYr hat A. q
reaping, all seemed to have their influence,
aud the Secretary, for the moment. was again
happy, sun-browned. horny-handed, bur
dock-speckled, one-suspendered, hickory
shifted farmer. All the cares of Office were
lifted, and instead there settled down upon
him from the blue empyrean a clover-scented
peace. He moved mighty swath. The
memory OF that swath. that giant
swing, that majestic forward stride, will re-
main with the little awe-stricken band Of
mowers that stood speechlessly by for many
year, and be told by them 10 their grand
children as a treasured Renaissance of the
Secretary. Chief Clerk Lockwood coming by,
| and not liking to be outdone by his superior.
likewise took a scythe and went to work in the
grass, keeping time in rhythmic motion with
the isochronous oscillations of the secretary 8
scythe. Then suddenly the happy dream, the
ecstatic minutes of oblivion to the cares of
state, which the magnetic influence of the
scythe and the scenery had produced in the
mind OF the Secretary came TO an end. 1t may
have been the sight of the chief clerks face
that recalled him to the pressing official
duties of the hour, or it may have
been the peculiar way in which the
chief clerk handled the scythe that destroyed
the illusion and reminded him that he was not
really on a farm. For the Secretary stopped
He looked for d moment under tree as II ex-
pectiGS to see q jug reclining on the shady side,
and then, perhaps, by force of habit, wiped his
lips. With a CHEEKY smile he handed the scythe
back to the man he took it from, and with a
light step and well expanded chest went on to
the department. there TO take up again, fgura-
lively. the reaping-hook of reform. He had
pINnn nracticRl in Instruction in aprinlllfl1ra