The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-04-23

fits of such union as well as anybody
else?
They own the land, the fields, the
focks and the cattle, the timber, the
water-power, the grains and the fruits,
the cotton and the wool, and why,
then, should they be menials and pau.
pers and go like dumb-driven cattle"
all their mortal lives?
with patience long,
We have have borne our wrong:
And bent to the yoke that CALLED us
Have come and gone,
AT the beck of the hand that called u.s."
If the farmer could only see his
own interests, and seize this. the
grandest opportunity of the ages, to
free himself from the oppressive bur-
dens imposed by the greed of trade
and the slavery of his own thriftless
habits, the whole horizon of his future
would blaze with a new hope and
new courage. We must bring into
our farm work more intelligence and
skill, and infuse into every blow we
strike more physical energy and soul
vigor. .. ......
We must practice economy, and
stop this universal and inexcusable
waste. We must buy with more
Judgment or do on less. Please par
don me, if it should seem that I was
over-stepping the bounds of propriety
when 1 make a few further sugges-
tions in what I conceive to be,impor-
tant. Don't invest one single cent in
patent county and farm rights. Thou.
sands of dollars are thus wasted in
North Carolina every year. We, as
farmers, have no business with them.
/ would not give a peck of leached
ashes for a car load of such useless
trumpery. Never buy one cents
worth of the nostrums so famingly
advertised everywhere and which
promise to do so much for you. /
don't care who makes them, or who
sells them, or by what high-sounding
name they may be called, whether
Salvation Oil or Resurrection Pills,
they are all alike-a vile cheat. And
further, allow me to say, that after q
wide observation and a mature delib-
GRAFTON, I have come to the fixed con-
clusion, that any man who is fool
enough to spend his money and waste
his time and energies in strong drink
is not worthy of your confidence
"leG no such man be trusted" Let
every heart in the entire brotherhood
join me in raising to the very heavens
the anathema-curSed be rum!
If the people in the cities and towns
must and aOaU destroy themselves, I
see no way to prevent it; but for the
sake of coming generations and the
love we cherish for our common coun-
try, let not the country population de-
teriorate and thereby fasten upon
posterity race of spindle-shanked
dwarfs. Our cities are building up
most rapidly, but 1 am sorry to say
mostly at the expense of country life,
and were it not for the renewing tides
of healthy blood from a country pop
ulation, city life and city business
would fall into irretrievable decay.
They may boast as much as they
please about the superior educational
and social advantages, the magnificent
palaces, the refinement and culture of
city life, and after all, it is mainly
mere tinsel, glitter of fashion and a
vain show.
Our greatest and best men in public
life come from country homes. l had
rather have a boy educated and trained
for the real duties of life out in
natures open fields, where he can find
soul-growth and physical manhood in
the curriculum, than place him in the
grandest university of the grandest
city on the globe, and have him come
away a sharp-headed, weazen-faced
fool. Our country life is grand, but
we can make it thousand fold grander.
Let us do it or die trying. Oh, my
friends, what grand and inviting fields
of usefulness are opening up before us
There comes message to each and
every one of us, to go forth from this
glad hour, carrying a halo of light
and joy upon our heads and bearing
in our hands help to the needy, and
our hearts swelling with the invoca-
tion: "Come forth out of thy royal
chamber, o Prince of all the kings of
the earth Put on the visible robes
of thy imperial majesty. Take up
that unlimited sceptre which the
Mighty Father bequeathed thee, for
now the voice of the bird calls thee
and all creatures sigh to be renewed"
Amen" D. REID PARKER.