The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1891-04-16
Letters from the People.

M. Editor: Ii you have room in
your seive | would like to drop in a
few kernels of grain, perchance some
may fall on good ground and bring
forth IN due season, My subject will
be Practical Economy, taking as a
text words found in Haggai, chap
ter, 9th verse.
"Ye have sown much and bring in
little great, but We have not enoughi
We drink, but We are not filled with
drink We clothe you but there is none
warm and he that earneth wages,
earneth wages to put it into Il bag
with holes"
Surely the land is filled with mourn
ing and the cry of hard times comes
up from all sides, and none are loud
er or longer than those from the poor
brother farmer. Farmers, who were
once lords of the earth in point OF
honor, aflluence and influence; the
name carried respect whereverit went,
but show have the mighty fallen. "
Ask man now his occupation and
he will wish to hide himself behind q
post or shrub as he softly whispers
"farmer." Surely an evil day has
come upon them. They have sown
much and bring little; their eyes have
wandered to the ends of the earth for
help; they have sought it in high tar
if and low tariff, and a multitude of
schemes and petitions have been sent
to congress in hopes of relief; and
last but not least was the birth of the
maple sugar bounty bill which seems
not to catch its breath until two years
old. Yea they have eaten upon tina,
and are not satisfied. The Grange
and various other leagues and notably
the Farmers Alliance, which all have
as an object the remedy for all the
ills which beset the poor farmer, they
avail but little or nothing. That there
is wrong somewhere cannot be gain
said, such was not the case in thu
days of our forefathers. In the Ian
guage of the immortal Longfellow
"lhe richest was poor and the poo
lived in abundance" Now something
has brought about this change. AL
seem TO work and struggle, yet sue
cess is small and each years end show
little or no gain. Where is tn
trouble Look to yourselves, arr
there not holes in the bag through
which your earnings fall. In the orr
entail times money was kept and Car
ried in a bag. Now imagine wha
the effect would be if that bag wa
full of holes the money being silve
and gold coins. Aud now, brothe
farmer, (pardon me for saying)in
a sense you are carrying just tina
kind of money bag when you bu
something you could get along with
out, there's a hole. That carpet yo
bought and put in room you neve
use, the money ought to gone towar
your interest, the bag leaked again
The young man who hired farm
owed the rent on it, then borrowe
two dollars to 60 to ball, and tn
family who bought a new organ, pal
part and lost all because they coul
not pay the rest-whose farm wa
: under mortgage-those are holes
the bag, and let me quote an ancier
g proverb: ''If thou buyest that whic
thou does not need, etc., long tho
q will be obliged to sell thy necessaries,
+ nor are these all, they are many, the
"name is Legion" the various wa,
money gets out of the bag. A fe
more samples and Il close. 70,
farmer A, who left your horse-raE
out doors since you finished hayin,
and neighbor B, who housed his O,
cart under maple tree all white
and still another who left his ploy
share in the mold just where he III
3, hitched from it last fall, those are gel
erous holes in the bag. In the wol
r OF old farmer Simmons, "you do n,
n keep your silver picked up" all tn
goes to waste is so much money los
J. See to it. If you will take care
It your earnings it will take care of yo
but if you do not see fit, why there
n but one hope remaining for you, D
0 tiently wait for the year 1000 for Il
good times when the government W
n provide for us all-predicted by E
ward Bellamy,
% Yours for prudence,
A FARMER.