The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-01-16

persons can become on the eve of an
election when their salvation is at
stake. When the plowshare CLEANS
IN the summer sun and the song of the
toller echoes over the heath and the
seed are cast beneath the sod and the
couatry is alive with q new enthusiasm,
do these fond friends of yours come
and give the helping hand, ease the
tired limbs, or cool the fevered brow7
Well, sometimes only. And when the
mllkmaid sings of harvest home in the
eVentlde and the plow boy whistles
over ungarnered fields, and the corn is
ready for the bin and the wheat is
ready for the threshing- floor, and the
cotton still hangs it's white, weary head
in the fields longing for the gin, say
do these efriends-those who weep when
you weep and smile when you smile
come, and with word Of cheer and
hand of strength, help you9 Well,
sometimes of course(O But when cleo
tlon time comes around with all the
elcquence, the oratory, the wisdom Of
these earnest workers for the grand
old farmers you have your re-
ward. They tell you that you are the
standard bearers of their nations
greatness, that you made it what it is,
that you are the very best, the noblest,
the most enlightened and Industrious
in fact the very ideals of human per-
fection. OF course this is all true and
you are proud to boast of such great
gifts. You are proud to exist in an age
that can produce su ;h matchless won
ders as you are and have been. Yes,
sirs; your past record needs no eulogy.
You hail from the cotton-kissed land
of the South-a land renowned for its
loyalty to patriotic principles, re-
nOwned for it's adherence to every just
cause, renowned for its fertility of soil,
renowned for the industry of it's peo-
ple-renowned for a thousand bless
ings given by nature and by natures
God. When the old war-horse
neighed his wild shrek far back in the
appalling wing of death over the home
of the brave and the land of the free,
where oh where, were your Like
heroes you stood before host of sol
diery ready ito do and to die for the
eternal right" as you believed it. And
our noble women of their loved South
land, their hearts on fire with patriot
ism and love and glory, watched our
lone firesides-guerded the old home
steads by the sweetness of their own
innocence. History can repeat no
sweeter story of allegiance to duty, to
love. And now when the rainbow of
peace circles. every wave and wind and
we stand a nation united by bonds of
mutual interests, and when those who
wore the blue and those who wore the
gray meet on an equal plane, standing
side by side-one hope, one faith, one
destiny, why should we naurmur7 Be-
cause we have to. 1t is against human
nature to shout for joy when every
thing is going wrong. The kickers of
to-day are the patriots of today and
they will be the heroes of the next
century. Cotton is low, money is
scarce, taxes are high and getting
higher, farming interests are waning
everywhere and if it is not time to kick
now don't know when there will ever
be a time. But, says some one, see
you no faint gleam Of sunshine In the
distancei Hear you no songs Of pros
perity near at handl For six thousand
years this old world has fed and
clothed and blessed her children, how
can she do less nowG Prospects are
good for another years crop, 80 let's
smile as the days go by. The poet
says, "hope springs eternal in the hui
man breast" but there is a limit to
hope, it is a false philosophy which
teaches us to expect anything good In
the future unless we do something hav-
ing a tendency to better things. Times
will continue hard until we destroy
their cause. Cause and effect are as
forcible laws in economic as in nature
and logic. 1t is well to hope for better
while we work for better. l used to
say don't tell me that years of toll and
tears produce no fruits until you de,
stroy the laws of nature, the story OF
human history and the principles OF
divine justice, but under our present
conditions all these things seem to
count for naught. Fortune does not
now weave her threads of gold around
the bold and the brave in life's battles.
The bravest and best of earth to day
IA Ahn nnas laaa hnnnfitad hH laoisla-