Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1890-10-04
Then take all them fields!"

Then take all them fields!"
He rises and waves his fat brown
hands toward a surface of corn, am
other of potatoes, third of wheat"
"Now that tells the story! All
that there was flat and bare as my
wife's kitchen table after dinner, but
what q feast nature is a-spreadin'
there in every field, and a-glowin',
too, risin' higher, more and more
beautiful. / tell We it takes hold of
my soul at such rate sometimes that
1 feel like standin' up and singin' the
doXology, and l never did sing it
in the meetin' house even,-for 1
can't tell one note from another, you
know,-and what folks would say if
they saw me standin' off in one of
them fields and heard me singin'-
1 can't say. 1t is jest glorious, though,
SEEM things grow. / once read about
a man they charged with bein' an
atheist, and threw him into prison.
They say he teched with his foot a
straw that was a-lyin' on his dun
geon floor, and he said from that
straw he could prove the existence Of
God"
"Vanni, was it?"
81 guess so, he or some other man.
Now understand that mans feelin's.
He was right about it. Oh, / must
live where things are a'growin' and
a.provin' somethin'W
"Hooker said he wanted to see
Gods blessing spring out of his moth
er earth, and so he asked to live in
the country"
"Hooker? A very sensible man,
Now you let me ask you question,
Do you like to see things grow? You
are teacher. Souls grow jest like
my corn and wheat, my beans, my
trees. Do you like to see things grow
in the school-room-boys grow, girls
grow? For it is jest as much a-gettin'
bigger and bigger and more beauti
full, a-takin' in ideas, a-buddin', a
bearin' fruit. should think you'd
be real enthusiastic"
"Y-y-yes, though sometimes the
details of the cultivating essential t.
| growth are rather wearisome."
"Oh, yes,I understand that. Wher
my big-weed and my smart-weet
and all the other nuisances get t.
gOin', that isn't so pleasant, but wher
patch is gone over with my hoe
bed weeded, a path cleared, a row
of hills of corn all nicely piled up
and the weeds cut off the way, it doe
look well! Even weedin' has it
pleasures. Now should think you'(
jump to be teacher and have tn,
chance to see souls grow. Take thi
boy out there in the road-Neighbe
Blossoms boy. You take him ant
l know you'd do fust>class work OF
him. You stir him up with new
ideas and set him to thinkin' ant
seed him down well, and you cult
vate him, and you watch him com
right along like my corn, gettin' t
be bigger boy all over, up here il
his head as we'll as down where hi
feet are, a-buddin', you know, an,
a>puttin' forth and a-bearin' frui
why, it is tremendous! And tina
boy is a-goin' to grow forever, RICH
along, through eternity, KNOWN
more and doin' better, let us hope
! why, it is positively tremenjou;
Why, should think you'd jump t
be teacher--and l don't see hoy
you can stand still--the yer
idea"
) She laughed. 81 guess you mu:
; take my school, Farmer Tomkins.
And it would not be a bad thin
for the school if the farmer coul
have the book drill necessary an
take that school. He has the MOI
: important qualification, ardent, Ell
4 thusiastic, passionate enjoyment an
0 appreciation of the processes of sol
;, growth. journal of Education.
[ Gust as Cool