The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-12-03
A LETTER FROM ALAMANcE.

NOAAOn'-AA year 1000 40 OIL
most gone. It's joys and sorrows,
victories and failures, together with
lost opportunities, will soon be written
on the pages of history and forever IN
the past. The farmer is looking for.
ward to a brief rest before he begins
again to pillow and plant. It seems to-
me the farmer ought to be the hap
piest people on this earth, his calling
is devineiy given. God Himself
selected it. 1t is the very time that a
dry goods store in the Garden of
Eden would have looked well, but
certainly it would have been a failure.
Pictare Adam standing behind the
counter, his hair parted in the middle,
a pencil behind his ear and a cigar in
his mouth and rugged up in the style
of a modern clerk. No, he was a
farmer, and 50 far as We know, made
a success; and after he was turned out
Of the Garden with, perhaps, no
tools save the hoe, he still lived the
life of a farmer, and, no doubt, sue
ceeded well, because there was no
sugar, coffee, iron, jute or any other
trusts to monopolize his profits; and
you reckon he had a good time.
Well, this has been a year of
success and prosperity for the farmers
OF old Ala nance county. The Lord
has blessed the seed we have sown,
and we have reaped a rich harvest.
The Alliance has also been at work,
and through it we have been able to
buy our supplies at a cheaper rate
than usual. There has been very lit
tie sickness Or death, and so the M.
DIS and undertakers have not grown
very fat.
And now as the Chief Executive of
our nation has set apart a day in
which to return thanks, let us one
and all observe it in a most solemn
manner. Our songs of gratitude
should go up to God for past bless
ings, and ~invocations for the continu-
ance of the same. Let US sing that
grand old doxology, "Praise God,
from whom all blessings fow," louder,
longer and more from the heart than
ever before. Lay aside all work
(secular) that day, go to the house of
God, come home to dinner, bring
some of the more unfortunate, share
your comforts with the poor. Re
member ''inasmuch as We did it unto
me-" etc. Remember the old folks at
home. Ye youths, who last year selpt
at your fathers home, but now are
trying yo~urfortunes in a strange land;
your mother thinks lovingly of you
and wishes you home once more
Some may perchance have been gone
many years; never mind, if your locks
are rel silvered with age, there is
still a welcome in the old home as
long as mother is there. Go home
and make her dear old heart glad
once more. 1t may be cold and still
next Thanksgiving day, and then you
will be glad when you think of the
pleasure your visit gave her. Re-
member the sick and the needy, and
out of the abundance the Lord hath
given you, give to your more unfor-
tunate and worthy brother.
The boys of this generation will
soon be the men that will control this
nation, and so I want a word with
them. First, boys, 1 would have
you be boys while you are boys. I
don't object to lively, wideawake, fun
loving boys, but bear in mind you
will soon be men, and that now is the
time to lay up a store of knowledge
to serve you then; and oh! my boy
don't try to be a man before your time
comes, for if you do there is more
hope of a fool than of you. No boy
can hide away boyhood and then
come into a we~ll-furnished manhood.
Do not deceive yourselves, boys, it
has never been done yet. Some men
have wasted the golden days of youth
in dissipation, and when failing health
warns them they cannot go much
further, they give it up and reform
and spend their latter years in regret
ting and trying to atone for the past,
but they find it hard work, for habits
formed in youth follow a man all his
life. So be careful that no bad habits
are formed. Good books and news
papers are in the reach of all, and de-
termination is the watch word to sue
cess; the way to fail in anything is
not to try. Be men in the highest
sense of the word. The number of
oaths you swear, drinks you take,
| cigars you smoke will not add either
to your statue or your good name.
The same will apply to girls as well as
boys. Spring time of life will never
come but once, girls, SO improve each
hour; do not spend your time in
longing for opportunities that will
never come, but be ~contented in the
sphere the Lord hath placed you in.
IF the Lord had intended you for a
preacher or a lawyer He would have
given you alpair of p%antaloons.
Before the Lord made the woman
1 TT - C1~ a. 11r% I'D