The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1891-01-30

ing crops and fodder from impending
frost. The human machine wears out
fast enough, given time to cool and oil
the gearing, without the endless day.
in-and-day out hurry and worry.
Iclaim all the worth there is in a
man is not the amount he goes over
in the field. The horses and stables
them fed to the measure, and managers
filed, after q fresh pail OF water every
time.
The colt is brushed two or three
minutes, and tied up like a horse
half-hour while am by to watch him;
sometimes blanketted, or a harness
laid kindly on his back, or rubbed
with the whip, or the bride fitted to
his little mouth; and the colt is rea-
sonably well broken at four months
old. At any rate it may save the old
gentleman damage and dismay at four
years old.
take care of the hogs as l would
my own; perhaps not intelligently to
suit the hog or the owner; but they
eat all they get, and grow in the sum-
mer and fatten in the fall; and neither
he nor she has ever had to tell me to
empty the swill pals.
l sometimes stop few minutes in
the fall to watch the setting hens, and
bring in hatfull of eggs to save a
flock of little dwindling chickens a
short LIES misery.
When it rains there is the wood-shed
to split and rank wood in, or corn to
husk in the barn. A hired mans life
is not mostly filled with roses, despite
the fact that he has none OF the losses
to bear. He has a number of the
crosses to bear without fail. 1t does
not smooth his days ofhard work nor
heighten his interest in the care of mat
ters under his charge, to have a sneer-
ing question asked about the horses
getting tired on top of the dry knoll.
The knoll was q bed of June grass sod
from previous bad plowings; and every
rod and half-rod the team was slowed
Or stopped to kick and lay over the
tough sod and cover all under. |
knew some other hired man would
cultivate that field another year: and
l hoped he would have an easy lob 10
keep it clean.
And the harsh word of blame was
sharper than a serpent's tooth,
when the old checked whiffletree broke
at a strong pull OF the steady team to
lift out an old loose stump that had
the soil piled up one side and scooped
out the other for the generation since
the land became a field. If setting
the old rotten roots out again, and
watering them morning and night for
month, would have made that old
stub grow again four times as big and
deep down, l would have cheerfullv
done it. 1t took half an hour to
change the old irons onto new Whit
f1etree stick had shaved out one bad
day when the ax-helve was broke, and
| saved dozen times driving round
that stump during the season.
Maybe the laborer in these times is
not worthy OF his hire, and yet he does
not get rich. Is there not a capital
WHY? to be answered, running from
the wages up through the deprecated
real estate values, the tax burdens.
the hlgh-priced machinery, compul-
sorlly used through the competition
OF 1ow-priced products, the interest
on the unpaid and unpayable mort
gage, the freight on wheat, to pay div
ldends on the rich liquid railroad foun-
tain, the $3.50 figures on hogs, and
Sl.5O on cattle? That all shows there
is a power abroad in the land that
can make a cheap commodity from
hlgh-priced production.
While the toilers trust to the even
handed justice OF the blinded goddess,
the wolves OF greed gather round her.
and unbalance her scales with the all
powerful lodestones of wealth, and
labor goes up us a paper weight.