Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-05-24
FARMER JOHN.
BY WILLARD GREELEY.

energetic ana sue csSlul farmer iii tho
great wooded belt of Central Wisconsin
The heavy timber of nearly two hun.
dred acres had melted before his brawny
arm, and months at time the ring oil
his heavy axe had accompanied the sun
from its rising to its going down. Great
farm buildings mad risen slowly by tho
rude sheds which were first called home,
and drovcs of sheep and cattle fed where
the one COW and unbrokcn steers first
found pasture.
Farmer John had fairly met all the
discouraoements usual in pioneer life.
and, aided only by his equally energetic
wife, had honestly acquired a compc
tencc. hat he was an honorable neigh.
Dor and fair dealer none could deny,
but somehow, rs the years passed and
the farm was improved, there had grown
up toward him on the part OF his neigh
bors feeling of distrust ana aversion.
AS rule, they called him honest but
"closc." Some of them thought him
selfish. "The almighty dollars all he's
after" was the often repeated remark of
uncharitablc neighbors, who, less thrifty
and industrious than lac, found it hard
work to feed their large families, much
less accumulate stock buildings and
machinery, as Farmer :. ohm had done.
The fact was, when John Sanbourn
came into the new country, times were
extremely hard, and it required strict
economy to make the few dollars he had
brought with him from the East provide
Tor his wants until he raised the first
crop poor harvest and still poorer
market the second year caused Farmer
John to pinch almost to the verge of
nakedncss and starvation. A habit of
closencss W., thus formed which time
did not diminish, and which grew in
the eyes of his neighbors into fault of
the most exaggerated dimensions.
One little grave had been made dur
ing these troubled years. and another
trouble which we shall presently mention
had contributed to leave the old man MS
We find him -overworked, morose and
selfish
On this particular morning he ap
pcared rather more surly and gloomy
than usual. 1t was Just as the springs
work was beginning, aud the ncver-end.
ing round Of toll was swelling into even
greater proportions than usual On every
hand look where he would, there was
iomethngto be done and TO his business
eye there was no more chance of rest
ing spell than there had been thirty years
before.
Something must be wrong, yes,
something must be wrong" he repeated
to himself, as he walked on up the wide
lane leading to the old barn
Something WAS wrong. Like n good
many men who are anxious to do well.
and have little to do with, Farmer John
had saved and worked till he thought of
nothing but saving and working. Ambi-
tious as he was, he dreaded to see any OF
the boys start out in life unless he started
-auit above all he could not bear
the thought of one of them marrying
into family not well supplied with
money or land. So when the oldest
boy, Will, had reached his twenty
second year, and began to call OCCASION
ally on the Widow Baldwin's bright
little Helen, it surprised no one to hear
that bis father had told him to stop
going there, or to leave the farm.
Will was deeply attached to the old
place, and had worked faithfully every
day since he was big enough to pile
brush. So one morning, when the old
man found the breakfast little late
and Wills mother trying to hide tho
tears when she called him, he was no
prepared to hear that he had gone-pone
no one knew where.
Although in his heart the father fcl
as badly as any one, he was still in
exorable, and declared that no boy of hi,
should marry beggar no, if he ncve
saw him ngain. So Will went away, an.
the autumn and winter came and went
and the springs work was upon them
with all the extra labor Willis absenc,
entailed
Thus things stood when we find thu
old man talking to him elf along tn,
path to the great red barn. The bow
had gone over to the hill pasture to repai
the wall before turning in the stock
which, impatient to go, was still fed a
the barn.
Farmer John had come up in tn
middle of the forenoon to look afte
things, and carry back Jug of fires
water, and while there he stopped at TIL
barn to feed out little before going i
the house. He had thrown SOME stalk
over to the sheep and COWS, showed
bright bit of hay to the new bossy. an,
now, after giving old Kit all the oat
she needed, found himself with n laro
iorkful left.
Just what to do with it did not seer
to come to him at once. So, mechanical
leaning his fork against the pile. he 81
I. down upon it. Yes, sat down TO think
and the way he did it, and that he did
at all, showed he began thinking beloI
he sat down.
That Farmer John should stop work
and above all in the middle of n bripL
forenoon, was something quite out Of Ii
usual way OF proceeding Farmer job
seldom did think much, and what thinl
ing he did was generally done upon h
feet; but whether this particular morn
ing found him in more troubled sta,
than common or the great pile OF so
hay proved too much of temptation f.
his tired legs. here we find him.
''Well, well, he exclaimed, as he r,
moved the worn straw hat and rested Il
sun-burned arms on his knees, there
mouse talking! I've had bout all | ca
stand Of this: It's nigh onto thirty yea
since We roledup the old log stable til.
used to stand here, and sakes alive! v
thought then couldn't stand mut
more
Here ne paused, and while the CO
breeze through the great doors fame
the wrinkled face, his mind seemed aw,
Blackjack 'nigh onto thirty wears y
~ "POOr Mary 70 and nc hn cont;,,l