The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1896-12-19
Letters from the People.
Whittier Are We Drifting?

Whether man is TO be quietly and peace |
ably permitted TO manage his affairs as
he elects. having or supposed to have.
full knowledge of his resources. know
ing the demands and necessities of his
liabilities, should, at the hehest of some
clamor, cast aside those safeguards that
make his bushes remuneTatiye, for the
means invested and the risks involved,
or whether he should direct his affairs
so as 10 meet the views and appreciation
of the seller, and his allies and abettOrs,
are propositions that have recently been
discussed i'll the press and by the people.
Anarchistic as it is. the latter PROPOSE
ton has been warmly espOused, and
strongly urged as matter OF equity
and right, and the contention So insis-
tently maintained as to create some Bit
terness of feeling.
However. as general proposition, 1t
is safe to assume that any one in bust
ness would resent. with all the strength
! that he is capable OF mastering OfficiOus
] interference in his private affairs. He
would, without the shadow of doubt, i'll
dignantly repell any advice that would
tend to COMPEL him to pay more for ali
article than his interests or inclination
would suggest that he should pay. and
this in spite Of competition or no conf
petition.
Should the day ever dawn, which Hea
Ven forbid, when force, coercion or init
midaticn shall dominate private affairs,
private efforts and private investments,
we can ring the t0csin, exclaim, ito
your tents. D, Israel" for then anarchy
!, will reign supreme,
Into this general discussion, comes
our friend \ Ito thrash over old wheat"
In his misguided enthusiasm, he grabs
the English language by the butt-end
aud swshes it about with the seeming
I desire to create a little diversion to
amuse the public. This is clear to our
mind, because with his theme he wab-
bles in and wabbles out like an unhap-
Ply man trying to find his way home at
, three o'clock in the morning" With
his deductions he has that happy GO luc-
, ky stride, that is a confusing compro'
=, mise between the long swinging lOpe OF
one of Jinmy's raw bones, and BOg's
white-capped, black-nags gait, SO fash
ionable with our wedding people.
But it is when he refers to the owner
, of the plantation, and what to expect
, from him in the future that he wakes
caIoric, and grows so heated that il
wouldn't be so chimerical to suspect
that while penning those lines, he had q
+ black" boy throwing cold water OH his
! posteriOr to prevent his shirt tail from
: catching fire. And. then, figures! Grea,
Jupiter, how he does manipulate them
He wields them right and left with tn,
, yig0r Of the maid OF Sarag Ossa, he load.
b, them and fires them off from his old
smooth bore with all the impetuOsity o.
Charley Gutekunst with the old can
non on Fourth of July. Like the Qua
ker Bottom fellow. who wasn't much or
geography but hell on the blue black spell
er our friend Y may be little veal
} on facts, but OH figures he's simply hell
p Col. Mulberry Sellar's imagination i
a vacuum, a barren spot, a Saharan de
scrt, when it comes TO handling figure
with X.
There is but one parallel. 1t is fount
5 in the instance when Bud E., thought o
A engaging i'm the poultry business. Blu,
had pencil, a large sheet OF paper, an,
a dOllar-in his mind. lie spread OH
the paper. whitfield his pencil to fin
| point and began thus: One rooster. 2
= cents, two hens. 80 cents; etc., % cents
etc. stood for his pipe, tobacco ant
matches. Two hens will lay 2 eggs I
, day. In 80 days 90 eggs; sell 60 eggs a
10 cents a dozen-50 cents. Buy tw
more hens. In 80 days l2O eggs. Sci
= 100 eggs at 1871 60. and when Bu'
had gone on in this way for a year
there was not an unmarked spot on tn
sheet; and Bud found himself Mont
Christie on paper. And so it is will
most theorists on paper. Figures cal
be made TO tell stories of fabulous re
G suits. But in practice they sing differ