The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-11-18

condition of the working classes through
out the country, 0 easily traced to the
acts of that fend in human form known as
Thomas B. Reed, of Maine, who has been
very properly called by a free, fearless,
but perpetually outraged press the Gar
OF America, leads US to inquire what is a
car a-d whittier are we tending. If l
had been told forty years ago that amid
the citron and spruce gum vineyards of
Mount Katahdin, or in ONE clover enam-
eled of pasture the mighty Pine Tree
State, q great big coarse czar would be
born, whose iLhueLce would be felt
throughout Europe and as far back rs
Rome City, Ind, | would have hesitAted
in selecting Maine as a site for my own
birthplace.
Had l known that there where
it's benefcent sunshine wooes from
hiding place the scarlet which mGntles
to the brow of the wintergreen berry,
and where the crystal sap of the somber
spruce tree comes forth to gladden. the
heart and stimulate the salivary glands of
nations yet unborn; that in the quiet of
some hotbed of shingles, wher9 the white
birch spool is made, or where the scream
of the sawmill or the snore of the Single
I'LL Sd1UJCS Vic DG1S6u UuEOSLlGu ali, "Oulu
spring up, with blood in his eye and side
whiskers on his front teeth. a cruel and
corpulent czar who would enjoy biting
old people, [ would have controlled
myself and been born elsewhere.
Maine is the hotbed of progress and
American freedom. Everything in Maine
is. free except rum The work of giving
to the colored man the divine right of
voting, as he was requested. was inaugu-
rated and assisted in Massachusetts,,
which was then a part Of Maine. Free
dom has always been a characteristic of
Maine-freedom to be, to do or to suffer;
freedom to be born there and then go
west to grow up with the country; free
dom to remain there and behave ones
self or go away to some other state; free
dom to fish, cut bait or go ashore, and
freedom to utiliz9 I'D her halowed precincts
as a birthplace, provided they be returned
in good order as when first received.
1t is. then, to me a most serious n a
most bitter truth that Comes to me now
knocking for admittRnce ct the storm
door of my recently reitted and return
ished temple of reason. 1t is the great
sorrow of a lifetime to know that in
Maine, where the only true, deep and
earnest dried apple pie of the grea, work
adaY world was first discovered, there
should arise a middle aged car with q
knout in one hand an OK CAD in the other,
at the end of which is a sharp brad three
fourths of an inch in length.
And what is it to be a czar2. Ask of
the blood spattered history of Europe,
where you cannot ever trust n hen to lay
for you a pure and noble egg. Ask the
man whose life is today embittererd by
shivering fears and the chilling horror
that wen his W long trusted hens must
be watched lest they insert some deadly
poison in an egg while preparing it for use.
Ask him at night as he cooks his own
supper over a kerosene oil stove because
he dare not trust the hand of his slave.
Ask him as he unl&ces his sheet iron cor
set and Ranges it on q chair, or jumpSin into
his Mosler folding bed and screws the
copper ~eoverlet down so that people can.
not stab him in the night. Ask him Is he
runs his eye carelessly over this column
which [ am now writing, and then blots
it out by means of his mucilaginous roller
and a handful of black sand, regardless of
a deep and earnest kick of our entire list
Of shocked and outraged subscribe in
his empire!
This is not in the nature of q threat,
but in order to lead up to the great ques-
ton whittier are we tending. Is the time
coming when one man is to have the re-
sponsibility of this mighty govern uent
upon his shoulders? Is the day at hand
when one man will have to be responsible
and have to personally pay all the bills of
the government Are we to be ruled by
l. Ill - z--- -
think one disrespectful thought Cf him
without danger of the knout2
Think Of the time, dear reader, if it
must come, when q nice, pleasant old gen
tleman like Mr.. Holman, Of Indiana, may
become the parent of . diSrespecful
thought regarding the car. 1 fancy l
can see William now, brought forcibly
along the aisle, clutching eagerly and yet
impotently at the desks and clothing of
members as he is dragged to the desk of
the speaker, with his tongue hanging out
like that of a hunted stag ut q stag party.
Then in fancy l see him compelled to re-
move his Prince Albert coat and vest, and
then remove sufficient of his shirt so that
the car can get at it with his knout
Then 1 hear the loud and echoing PUNK
of the knout rs it descends upon the
spinal xylophone of the great Objector.
Oh, it is too terrible to think of 1t is
to- sad to anticipated Let us hope that
the day be longer in coming than some of
the papers go on to state.
What is the general tendency Of the
hour in other countries ? Is it not toward
the dissolution of empires and the disrup-
ton OF dynasties? Most assuredly it is.
Moreover, the monGrchs. themselves are
not at all feeling we'll. The king of Hol-
land is quite i'll. His %victuGls instead of
doing him good seem to be productive of
boil in the stomach. He is often heard
to wish that he was dead, and his staff
have promised, so far as possible, to
crafty his every wish.