The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-08-16
Copyright, 1892, by Edger W. Nye.7

Last summer when flowers and fruit were rec
AZ the end of that summer my uncle was dead
AIaS! we laid him on a messy bed
To sleep forever.
He left five children on this world to live
And in the sorrow of life to dy
And meet him.
The American song writer has here.
tofore been too graphic, perhaps. He
should merely touch a note here and
there, leaving the reader to fill in OF
imprOvise the connecting interlude.
The poet should say to his reader:
LET us wander on towards the
beautiful West. We will meet at a
certain point and you a go your own
way through the meadows, and there
at the end of the stanza we will join
each other and compare w~oodticks."
Poetry, like music, should inspire
those who are capable of receiving in
SEPARATION, but it should not be too
graphic, like the report of the United
States Coast Survey. Now we have
here a song which is brought to an
abrupt conclusion, leaving the reader
to easily supply the last words himself
and complete the stanza as follows:
He left % children on this world to live
AMI in the sorrow of life to dy
And meet him.
oh, yes,
Well meet him,
Well meet him
When the sun goes down.
Mr.. Ransom could write a good cam
paign song if he would turn his atten-
ton 10 it. Campaign songs I more
CHEEKY than the moan we give above.
Here, where we regard clay as v~ictuals,
it is not pleasant to think of Folks
uncle turning to kindred clay and be-
coming edible at his time of life.
Let Polk turn in and write a cam
paignsong. Let it be a reversible song
that can be used by either party. Any
man who can paint such a word pic
ture of his uncle's death could build a
campaign song that would easily be
heard above the notes of the workmen
engaged in mailing the campaign lie.
But let us pass on to speak of more
agreeable subjects. Those who are
interested in the subject of wells will
be glad to know that workmen on this
well-known structure of mine struck
water on the evening Of the 8th inst,
and were compelled to get out with
great haste to avoid being drowned.
Two feet and ten inches of water were
reported by my well superintendent,
who tapped me for another assess
ment and went home to obtain much
needed rest. I thought that two feet
would hardly be sufficient for our
family, several members Of which use
water exclusively as a tonic, sc 1 got
another man to put in a final blast.
The blast was i'll advised, as it cracked
/ open the bottom of the well and let out
the two feet and ten inches Of water
which had been put in there on the
night of the 9TH inst. It is low enough
to salt a gold mine, but the man who
will carry water from the "branch" "
all night to salt the well of a kind
hearted Northern invalid who is willing
to let bygones be bygones and ready
Ito let the dead past do it's own under
taking is not going to encourage cob
webs on the mouth of your cannon the
way l feel like doing.
did not murmer when l found that
in charging 81 per foot the well-digger
meant 81 per foot down and 81 up, or
81 for digging and 50 for slowing.
Also I paid for hands, materials, dam
ages. medicine, &c. l never said any
thing unless it was that I did not hold
myself responsible as late as this for
the damage that Gen. Sherman did in
the heat of passion, while I was too
young to be held responsible, and that
a little deal over a well, l thought, was
a poor place to work in the entire ex
pense of a a
Even when l found that the we'll at
the depth of 100 feet had tapered so
fast that it was merely a little feverish
point in the thirsty bowels of the earth
did not murmer. Even when found
that 1 had II, 900 yards of earth piled
up at the mouth Of the well on top OF
my strawberry bed l did not speak
bitterly or refer with acrimony to the
wooden n n which were so placed
as to keep Mcclellan falling back to
the Arlington Hotel in Washington
every evening for weeks. l did not
rake up old personalities even when |
went down once to see the well and