The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-10-17

rural population of the South still forms
rine tenths of the total, while foreigners
o. ulpose only two per cent of the popula-
ton.
And yet according to the government
statistics in 1895 there were only two
of the Southern States that raise enough
grain for home umption-Kentucky
and Tennessee-in which the production
exceeds one ton per inhabtant: the 9th
ers subsist four months of the year on
grain from the prairie States" An"|Ler
disagreeable fact should he state here,
namely, that the savings banks deposits
| in the South hardly reach - cents per
| inhabitant. as against So in the Middle
| States. AS soon as any discussion of the
| South which means largely agriculture,
| IS begun somebody flies up with Il string
| of facts like cheese, but ! reply that if
| the remedies for these evils be in immi-
| grafton we may he gamers in many
way but n homogeneous American civil
| liZdtion and peace and hOme-WOrship
| may have fallen somewhat III the shad-
| ow There is such a thing as progress
! ing to progressively, as finding fault too
| fast. We have much to be thankful for
| If we do but know it, the mortgages of
| the South are very light, the total not
exceeding S40S,00000, or s per cent of
the value of real estate. the farms be-
| ing mortgaged at II per cent and the
houses at 5 per cent of their value.
No, these Tarheels come up to their
fairs year after year, welcoming i'm
provement and progress, but clinging to
the field and the home. 1t has made
great folk of them. They are as differ
ent in peace from other States as they
| were in war. They walked across Get
| tysburg field as staunchly as they come
| across the low grounds, while Pickett,
plumed and sashed, waved banners and
blew trumpets. A meteor among men of
war that Pickett but the Tarheels rose
along the halls like a stubborn. slow tide,
| till they struck the flood, and don't you
| forget it, and the virtues which bot
toned this stolid valor is celebrated this
| week in their agricultural fair, which is
| the festival of their highest aims. If We
will not turn away from progress, we
will at least diverge slowly enough from
| the old lines that have bound all together
strong as a uniquely, conservative peo-
pie, with the farm and fireside fore
| most Just the other day the st. Louis
| Republic was telling about some foreign
| er taking wife in Kansas. Il do not
| believe in love- said Mr.. Lefferty, "and
| | cannot be fooled with pref
lty letters and nice clothes" The
couple became acquainted through
| the medium of matrimonial agency and
| the more Royal Lefferty saw of Rosetta
Mcpherson the better he liked her. He
| finally induced her to come to his kins
folk at Reading and undergo Il weeks
probation as to her housewifely abilities
He tried her cooking. examined her
housekeeping, watched her temper and
disposition and finally concluding that
she was all right loaded her into his
wagon. went to town and was married.
Here then is sweet Kansan home
which. no doubt, some day will be full
of little Leffertys. but North Carolina is
not hunting for such fresdes But
they come with the coming of the Lief
fertys. We are getting to give up the
old too quickly. We are raising child
rem in new fashioned way-each have
separate roOm-governeSses with tluted
caps and streamers 0n-Single brass
tipped single bedSteads-One apiece for
the children-daddy and nanny in
suite of three roomS-sitting room in the
midde--same light brass finish to the
light iron bedstead-lots o style-with
a languid mother hardly intimately
known to her children. What's the mat
ter with the wide old bed with patched
quilt on it, repaired by the old woman
many times in spots-with square of
yellow or pink torn off now maybe
here the old man and old woman and the
two youngest children of any size sleep
altogether-the baby in cradle with
solid rockers mo crib)-trundle bed for
the rest of the children and a big fire
place just a singin' a song of a sleezy
old backlog. Out of such rooms
walked the big men of the nation, in
cludin' of Andy Johnson, late of Raleigh,
n. &. And when these children grow
up they marry right-a straight shot
from the heart, the only thing left that
has been spared by the mock of the wit,
while it remains still a holy thing even
upon the lips of blasphemy.
A LOVE SONG.
He saw her cross the autumn hills
Halloo! Halloo!
/ love you truei / love you truel
He heard her voice from lips of rills
Halloo! Halloo!
| love you true.
And tenderer than the twilight bells
Halloo! Halloo!
Or lilied breath from fern-haired dells
He heard her song,
The Bells ding dong,
l love you truei
Halloo! HallOo!
And then their lips met on the hills
Halloo! Halloo
/ love you true! | love you true!
Where daisies flirt with daffodls
Halloo! Halloo
l love you true!
/ love you true above all men,
Hallooi Halloo!
For he was forty and she was ten!
They sang their song,
With bells ding dong
Il love you truen'
Il love you true,''
w. Il. CHRISTIAN.