The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-07-12
THE PROGRESSIVE F

the water al down through the fo@eeSS
upon a friend who is visiting us an
paying his board, he rose and followeng
up the stream. When he got to wher
l was he told me what o'clock it wa
and then went to bed again.
So did I.
The whippoorwill once more opened
up and played his tune over and over
again till 1 put an old pair of ear muffs
on and stuck my..head into the bedding
as far as / could, but l could not get
the noise out.
Then at 1 o'clock an old rooster at
the barn seemed to have something on
his mind and began to crow till he was
black in the face. l was not very
hungry for breakfast, but I managed
to eat the second joint of that rooster.
l wanted it raw, with the feathers on,
but the family thought it would be bet
ter fried a little on the outside.
After the rooster an early bird began
a roundelay, and a pack of hounds
near us made a few statements, lasting
till 4 o'clock; then I was just getting
sleepy from actual exhaustion when
two cats fell on the roof from a great
height, possibly out of some other
planet, l judged, and began to bite off
and spit out fragments of each other.
They did that till the whippoorwill got
good and rested. Then he took up the
exercises and attended to business until
the servants began to get up and open
the house preparatory to ushering in a
gladstone new day.
The country is full of rest and repose
and longevity they tell me, but they
are confined largely to deaf people and
COWS.
During the past week I have been
resting quietly and noiselessly trying
to grow together again. Two weeks
ago 1 began horseback riding at the
suggestion of my physician, who is a
thoroughly good man and senior war
den and tyler in our church here.
To-day my pulse is normal.
Respiration noticeable.
Temperature 49,.
My physician reports some abrasions
and one severe conclusion Of the
c~ornice. He says that if l had been
fatter there would have been a number
of flesh wounds.
[ was trying my new riding habit
from Boston. Ny riding habit was
formed there, But where | erred was
in trying the habit without blinGing
the horse, You can't come into full
bloom that way all of a sudden on a
horse that has had no advantages and
who has never been accustomed to a
great big burst Of loneliness.
So we came home from the trial by
different roads. When my wife saw
the palfrey coming home wearing the
saddle over his stomach, she said that
it was just like me to send home the
horse draped that way just to please
the dear ones before I got there myself.
My fall reminded me very much of
Adams, it was so sudden and so hard.
1 fell more painfully than the author
of Beautiful Snow" but I can over
come it in society quicker. 1t was the
most painful thing that has happened
since the war, and inside of twenty
minutes I met all the people of North
and South Carolina with whom l am
acquainted, besides seventy or eighty
from New York, who are here for their
health and watching to see better PEG
pie fall off their horses.
1 have always said that the roads
here should be macadamized, but if
they can be upholstered at the same
price it would suit me better.
This horse grew up on the frontier,
and is a sort Of self made horse. Civ
ilization scares him almost to death.
So he unseated me as though 1 had
been the snap delegate Of a rump con-
vention. l still remain so.
A correspondent from DC ia wants
to know which, in my Judgment, is
Walt Whitman's most enjoyablep poem.
Without hesitation I would say that
the most enjoyable one, because the
only one, bearing my Captain" per-
haps, which | can understand without
vel -stimulating myself, is one contain
ing the following:
l think I could turn and live with animals, they
are so placid and self contained.
/ stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their con-
ditiOn;
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for
their sins;
They do not make me sick discussing their duty
to God.
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with
the mania If owning things;
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that
lived thousands of years ago;
Not one Is reSnectahle Or unhanDN over the