The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-10-27
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
copyrighted by the Author.I

lPge. lie worked tor hire on q farm al
$40 a month and his board, and saved
| his wages and went to school, and
during vacation he hired out and lived
hard did his own washing. That boy
is in earnest and needs watching |
am going to watch him if l live and
see what becomes Of him. They are
not common. [ knew one in college
about forty five years ago. He walked
from North Alabama to Athens, Ga,
and his clothes were all homemade
and coarse and didn't fit well. L re
member that his pants were too short
at the bottom and to long at the top.
| and the waist seam of his brown Jeans
| coat was high up on the back. The
bows laughed at him on the sly, but
| they dident laugh long, for he soon
took the lead and keptit. If he hadent
oot killed in the war he would have
| been a leader in his State right now.
This is a great and glorious govern
ment. There is none like it upon the
face of the earth. The fact that the
highest places in the nation are In reach
of the humblest citizen-that a tailor
can become a president and a millboy
a senator, and a lad who plOwed a bull,
for lack of ~"something better" has
held more offices and higher offices in
Georgia than any three of her most
gifted citizens-is a wonderful thing,
England and Germany have good gov
ernments, but over there a poor boy
has got to have help to rise. He must
have a cousin in Berlin or an uncle in
parliament, but the field is open here
open to all. AristOcracy is not the
passport here. 1t is merit and dill
gence.
Honor and shame from no condition rise.
\ venerable gentleman quoted that
to me, and said: Il used to be proud
of my lineage, and was inclined to
boast of the good blood that was in
my veins: but one day [ was talking
to an Old kinsman about u ancestors,
and he said: well, yes, my son,
| there was some good people away back
there, but the stock sOrter run down.
Your pap and your grandpap behaved
mighty we'll, but some of the boys
didn't. Your Uncle Dick stole a bag
of taters often a fatbOat, and they
cotch him at it, and took him down In
| the canebrake and whipped him. And
there was so much talk about. Tom
markin' every stray sheep and shote
i'm his mark that he took a sudden
notion to move to Arkansaw, and l
hain't heard of him since. Some of
the stock was good, but some was
powerful covechus.'"
Well, of coarse there is something in
luck. for Solomon says: Time and
chances ]happeneth to all; y but as a
general thing merit and diligence are
rewarded in this country. Andy John
son became a president, and John Tyler
did, too, but John was reduced after
| his time was out, and the county com
m~issioners made him an everseer of
the public road, which shows the
ups and downs of fame and politics.
But good conduct and good principles
pay in the long run, if they don't in
the short. l was Illuminating about
this yesterday as our train passed a
lot Of cOnvicts who were working the
road between Atlanta and Decatur. 1t
is a sad and melancholy spectacle to
see them in their striped uniforms and
hear the clink of their ankle chains as
they came down with their picks into
the hard ground or tossed the earth
away with their shovels. They looked
healthy and strong and cOntented, but
| don't know how they felt. They
were all negroes, and they don't feel
much-nOt much penitence and less
modification. There are /, 737 cOnvicts
now in our State-that many in our
State system under lease. There are
some more on the public roads of the
counties, and nearly all are negaOes.
There are only 10 white cOnvicts, and
not a white woman Nearly sixteen
| hundred cOlOred are wearing the
stripes, and forty-seven of these are
women. What is the matter with the
negroes? When will they do better?
| Nearly all of these convicts are be
tween sixteen and forty, and but a
very few were yer in slavery. They
have been to school most of them, and
most of them are from the cities and
towns. The oId-time negroes are not
in the changing. They had no school
ing, but they hadmoral training. What
is to become Of the negro? He has less
! eXcIsn for crime than q white man.