The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-05-08

~ UHaO UnaU q @ called forth
Twas an angels picture, a fairy's re-
Election, a cherub's form. I looked
and loved this fancy of the mind.
Say, Joe, what the devil makes Won
snore so almighty loudG Sounds like
a steam engine out of water. The devil
couldn't sleep if you were sleeping in a
hundred miles of him. Stop your snor-
ing or I'll swear I'll drive you awav
from this hay.stack. eff you are a
tramp, you ought to snore like a GEN
tleman," said my pard. And I awoke
forgetting all about my love dream.
n l never snored again till morning,
Joe jackson, in his trampings through
q State, finds that the lamented Polk
Is dear to the hearts of the people.
Everybody has a kind word, a sympa-
thetlc tear for his memory. No one
dares to say an evil word against this
great mans life. He was above CEN
sure, above malice, above hatred. And
when he died the world wept as it sell
dom weeps. North, South, East, West
everywhere he was loved and hon
ored, and he was one of those illus,
trious sons of patriotism "who were
not born to die"
North Carolina has the reputation of
having produced many noted and great
men-great in the truest sense of the
word; but to-day / wish to mention n
OF her loved children who ranks FIRST
In the hearts of her countrymen," and
his name is Col. L. L. Polk. What a
familiar name all over these United
Statesl Every school boy and girl has
lisped it time and again. Shakespeare
says, whats in a namer' Well, there
is a great deal in this one, for the names
of great men are synonyms of great
deeds. Ere the golden sun had set in
matchless glory over the hilI-tops of
Arson county, North Carolina, on the
Oath day of April, 1882, the subject of
this sketch was born, and that was in
deed a glad day for the world. Others
may strive to thwart the efforts of this
son of a grand thought, but 1 am glad
to pen the time, the place the glory of
our loved leaders, birth. It is child
hoods sweet dreams were fringed by a
Gro wn of sorrow at the age of II when
he vas left an orphan boy. See from
what seemingly vas a tiny twig of
meekness has grown to be a giant oak
of power. He began as a plow-boy and
many's the day his plow share cleaned
in the mellow earth, his scythe sung it's
his brow was Drowned by the summers
heat and the winters cold-he was a
f~armer-boy. What an inspiration to a
thousand such boys this life should bel
And not until forty years had decked
his head with ''silver threads among
the gold" and forty years of toll had
written burrows in his cheek, did he
cease to be apractical farmer. Bsliev-
ing in the efficacy of matrimony as a
panacea for every ill that flesh is heir
to-" he, just in the dawn of young man
hood. at 81, entered this mysterious
arena. This step, no doubt, was the
golden incentive that urged him on
ward and upward to grander fields of
exploits. I don't say that every plow-
boy who marries at 81 will naturally
make life a success, yet good exemplar
is worthy of imitation. (Perhaps.) He
served in the Confederate army several
years-1860-64. He was a member of
the North Carolina Legislature for sew
eral terms prior to 1865. But, now,
his real life-work had not yet begun.
He was only making that character
which to day is so illustrious on his
tory's page. Not until 1886 did he
strike the genuine keynote to his true
mission, when he established THE Pro
GREssIvE FARMER. Here hespent some
of his hardest labors in fighting for the
good of the farming interest in general,
and especially of his own State. His
paper frat eepoused the Farmers ALI
aDce in 1887, in which year this organ
ization had it's birth in this State. In
this paper Col. Polk first advocated
and brought before the people the prin-
ciples of the Alliance. It was the first
organ of this Order in the State, as it
is the best organ to day.
Step by step he rose, until he was
made the President of the Farmers
Alliance and Industrial Union Of the
United States. And he cast a halo of
glory about this position. It will ever
be an exalted position, if nothing else,
because L. L. Polk once stood there.
But in the climax of his greatness,