The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-05-08

have made all true Reformers look with
much distrust upon pledges from the Con-
servatives."
Papa, are all farmers Reformers ?"
"Why no, my son. There are quite a
number of farmers who are Conservatives,
just as you will find some mechanics howl
ing and fighting in the defense of monop-
olists, who are ready to crush them when
they get power enough. Some are against
their own interests through Ignorance,
while some are against their best interests
simply because they are toadies."
"What is toady, papa?"
ga toady, my son, is man who al
heart feels that he is an inferior being.
The dress, pomp and display of the wealthy
classes dazzles his eyes and adde's his
weak brain. He does not envy so much as
he adores them. His aim in life IS to lml'
tate these people in every way posslole'
He walks and talks like them; he goes TO
their church whether he has any religious
belief or not he conducts all his afIalrs
as near like them as possible; his chliafen
must 60 to the same school and must ac'
as the children of the models act they
must affect o style in dress and manners
exactly like the pattern before them
though it entail an expense that leads 70
final destruction One patroniznS smile,
one-only one-short visit from the adored
suffices for. life Of rebutfs and con-
tempt. and is red-letter day IN the Cal.
endar of these miserable beings"
"Well, papa, what made me ask you il
all farmers were Reformers was what Billy
Simkins said to-day. Billy is in my class
and he says that his pa is Conservative
and don't believe in the Reformers, who
are all poor trash, anyway, and his pa is Q
farmer"
''Yes. son, James Simkins is Conserra
tive. He is also farmer, it is true, and
there are several more like him in Tulipel
township. They are of the class I have
just described Simkips, like many Of his
kind, has mortgaged all his possessions te
keep up this style. He has been recog
nized by the leaders as what Is called 9
very progressive farmer. II has ruined
poor Simkins. for now he devotes all his
time, energy and money to culhratlng
few heads of cabbage, some turnips,
squash and pumpkins for the diferen,
county fairs. Last year he got nearly S3C
in prizes, as we'll as whole lot of blue and
red ribbon and sheets Of parchment with
great red and gold seals distributed all over
them also half column N the Weekly
Bugle Blast. All this glory cost him only
S4lS.63. You will find, as rule, that these
glory-hunting farmers are Conservatives"
seWell, papa, amt fairs good thing fo1
farmers?"
mo, son, not as conducted by profes
sional men or sidewalk farmers
sEWhot 5s ciSpuolG farroar nam 2'
ga sidewalk farmer is a man who lives il
town and has garden filed with jimpsor
weeds and dog fennel where in the early
spring he buried two or three dollars
worth of garden seed. He has read grea
deal about how to manage farm crops II
the 'hints to farmers" which nearly every
almanac contains, and can give you more
remarkable information on farming thar
would be wise to follow II you ask hin
why he let the weeds get ahead of him he
will tell you about the unreliabiity o.
labor in the South, and deeply deplores
the fact that s'the damned niger won
work" But he makes your hair fairly
stand on end by the glowing accounts o.
what he is going to do next year. Give
him an empty soap box or vacant space OF
q shop counter upon which to rest him
self-for he is always very tired-and he
will keep store full of people listening tc
his eloquence. His knowledge is varied
and by no means confined to agriculture
He can tell you exactly how much money
per capita there was in each nation up 20 las
Saturday night; he can tell you exactly
when the next war between the HottentotS
and the Laplanders will break out, and
just how and in what particular it will af
feet this country. BE handles the Bible
without gloves, and can point out its
glaring errors to his own satisfaction. he
can show you the weak spots in SHAKESPEARE,
and philosophy is easy to him. he is an
al-round oracle he never seems any older
than he did twenty or thirty years ago
his species seem never to die, but live on
and on, and no one every knows what
finally is their end. A dead town or cross
roads oracle and dead grey mule are two
sights rarely ever seem
Papa, why do you object to fairs?"
81 10 not object to fairs if conducted by
practical farmers. What do object to is
the so-called fairs, which are merely places
for the gathering of bunco-steerers three.
card monte men, horse jockeys, fakirs OF
kinds, swindlers, pickpockets, etc., etc., in
which farmers and their produce are only
permitted on suferance, and where the
city or town professional men pocket large
sums by the sale of rights and privileges
to these scoundrels. who get fat on the
gulhbiity or innocence of the country
people, who are attracted to it by cheap
railroad fares and highly colored posters
much as circus attracts the negro, where
he is likewise robbed"
"Papa, Bill Simkins says his pa is going
to be some kind of manager at the next
fair, and that they can all 60 in free. Can
they?'
''Yes, reckon they can, for Simkins is
superintendent of the machinery depart
ment because he has run horse rake aud
8 moving mrchine fer two years. He
knows no more about machinery than old
Uncle Toby Jackson, but he can do about
as well as any of them. He can look
knowing and wise when examining q new
kind of cane mill and tie . ribbon on it
for the best cider press on exhibition
or threshing machine and separator
for cotton gin and condenser. These are
small errors very common and are easily
and pleasantly adjusted. simkins is a