The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-08-29
The Contrast; or Children and Money.

hood. They had married and started
out in life about the same time. Each
became the father of children-sons
and daughters-and soon the subject
of education was presented to these
men.
Mr.. Brown and his wife, while not
highly educated themselves, and poor
withal, yet determined to do their best
to educate their children. They first
taught them at home, thus giving them
little start before they were sent to
the neighborhood school. At this they
were always kept for the full school
term unless their labor was absolutely
| needed at home, as was sometimes the
| case. In the meantime the Browns
| home was as well supplied with good,
fresh books and papers as their means
| would allow. After some years John,
their oldest boy, having received,
| through diligent application, his prep
| aration for college, was sent away to
take his course at a safe and reliable
institution. OF course hisparents and
brothers and sisters had to wear their
old clothes and live little harder gen
orally; but it was thought better to ed
| ucate the children at almost any sacri
fee than to have them grow up in ig-
norance.
After term Of years John finished
his course and returned home, having
| in the meantime taught or otherwise
| worked during vacation TO help pay his
| way. After graduation he went to
| work on the farm till more lucrative
| business was found. His sister Emma,
next to himself in age, was also at col
lege now, and their father, notwith-
standing the diligence and economy
practiced in the home, found it neces-
| sary, on account of increasing expen-
| ses incurred in educating the children,
to sell off part of his farm, which
was already small. He had no diff
| Guilty, however, in disposing of his
land, as his friend and neighbor, Mr..
Long, was pleased to take it at a fair
price.
The last named gentleman though ht
we'll Of his neighbor Brown and fami-
| ly, but persisted in quietly criticising
Mr.. Browns management of his home
| and business affairs, sometimes going
SO far as to say to Mrs. Long if the
Browns did not give up their big no.
| tions about their children they would
leave them as poor as ''Job's turkey"
| when they died.
But the years went slowly by; and
after many hard struggles and much
self-denial the Brown children were all
we'll and carefully educated. The pa.
rents, in their advancing age, showed
signs Of hardship and toll, their stoop-
| ing forms and stiffened figures bearing
| evidence of long years Of labor. But,
for all this, there was a bright and
cheerful look about their faces, which
always grew brighter still when they
spoke Of their children. True they
had no property to leave them except
the old homestead and its remaining
hundred acres; but their children were
all contented, and while not rich in
material things. were living under the
| influences Of high and ennobling pur-
poses, making the world better and
meeting heroically the trials and re.
sponsibilities of life; and the secret Of
it all was they had something better
than money-something which thieves
could not steal-cultivated minds and
hearts.
At last Mr.. Brown and his good
wife passed quietly away, peacefully
conscious in the dying hour that they
had not lived in vain. And now their
children rise up and call them blessed.
Mr.. and Mrs. Long took quite diff
ferent view of life from that which the
Browns held. They, while kind and
well-meaning in their way, thought
their main business in the world was
to Ian up something. Nobody knew,
they said, what they might come to in
old age; and, besides, they thought
they ought at least to give their chill
dren good start in life. Of course
if they did all this, not only them
selves but their children would have to
work hard and continuously; and they
did work year in and year out, especi-
ally the parents, who took no holiday,
but only rested from labor on Sundays.
Sometimes before the crop was set,
and again after lay-by time, the chill
dren would be sent to the neighbor-
hood school for few weeks or per-
haps fora couple Of months at time.
AS soon, however, as ore got big
enough to do good work on the farm
he or she had to give up school alto
gether; and 30 most of the Long chill
dren could only boast of having gone
as far as "baker" or horseback" in
the blue-back speller; and as their
home was almost entirely destitute of
books and papers there was small pros
pect for "book-learning" in the fami-
ly. Meantime, however, Mr.. Long
was getting rich. Every year, by hard
work and hard living, he would save
up few hundred dollars, which he in
yariably invested in land. He was
afraid to lend his money, as he might
fail to get it back; and as land was
about the only thing that could not be
burned up, he thought it the best in
vestment. So it came to pass, after
some years, chat Mr.. Longs farm wi
| dened itself into many hundreds Of
acres; and yet, for all this, when the
children grew up he did not give each
the good start he had thought he
would. Somehow, he disliked the idea
Of cutting up his lands; and SO, when
the boys came of age, he either hired
them at the same price he paid his
colored laborcrs; or else they sought
work on ncighboring farms.
There was little satisfaction in thc
lives of Mr.. and Mrs. Long now.
Their children were coarse, boisterous
and discontentod. The little world in
which the family lived and moved and
had their being was all they knew
about. The boys, it is true, were
strong, vigorous young men, and could
do a great deal of hard work, but then
the same could be said Of the mules
they ploughed. And while the daugh;, ;
ters were active and could do field
work and house work and the rest, yet
they were not superior in these re-
spects to the colored women who