The Van Buren press., 1897-09-25
HARVEST is LARGE.
Arp Writes of Great Yield of Got.
ton, Corn and Fruits.
He Looks for better Ttmes--Bartow
Philosopher Declares Politics Has
Nothing 10 Do with the
Change.

And gives lift to the clover.
But my humble friend Cobe says
we've had bout enuf and he wants 1t
to stop right now. We've had a bun
dance,n says Cobe, land I'm afeerd.there
won't be any nubbins to feed the steers
OH this winter and no seed taters to
plant next spring"
Another one-horse farmer says he IS
afeerd he will make more cotton than
he can get picked out.
Was there ever sSch bountiful crop
year? Wheat, corn, cotton, potatoes
and fruit Mr.. Roberts, who farms on
Pumpkin Vine creek, says he feels sure
of / 900 bushels of corn from one field
of ten acres-that he can select one or
two acres that will yield 1870 bushels
each and there are several square rods
that will make bushel to the rod. That
would make 100 bushels per acre, IL
every rod was as gdod. Mr.. Roberts Is
no brag. He is a conservative, truthful
man and a good farmer. Mr.. Alderman
made % bushels of wheat to the acre
right in the suburbs of the town and
he has more beautiful fruit than was
ever grown here before. Our market
is running over with good things-ap-
pies, peaches, pears, grapes and melons.
Old folks lose their relish for meat, but
they never get tired Of fruit. | was
ruminating about the kindness of Prov
idenee in arranging the succession to
suit our health and appetite. Straw
berries, raspberries, dewberries, huek-
leberries, blackberries, June apples,
cherries and then peaches and grapes,
with melons thrown in, and before long
the town will be flooded with apples.
Oh, the jelly and jam and preserves that
my folks have put up, and the sugar
that have had to pay for. Thank good
ness, l bought it before the Mckinley
trust cornered the market. A clever
republican neighbor told me that the
Almighty was smiling on the land be-
cause good men were now in power and
he quoted Scripture which said when
the righteous are in power the people
rejoice.
"Yes," said [, "the devil can quote
Scripture to suit his purpose. David un-
derstood the situation when he said: l
have seen the wicked in great power.
spreading himself like a green bay tree,
yet he passed away, and 10 he was not y"
| don't think the Lords paying much
attention to congress or the administra-
ton, but He does seem to have pity on
the people, and is showering blessings
upon them.
There was a camp meeting story that
old Allen Turner told when | was boy
that | have not forgotten. He was
preaching about the perils of riches and
said that there was good old darky
who had kind but un-Christian and
slleptical master, and he tried in his
| humble way to convert him, but his
master only laughed at him and one
day said to him: Nov, Uncle Jack,
if the Lord is so wise andiso good and
loves us all so much, as you say, what
makes Him let Jim Austin get so rich
and keep on buying more land and
more niggers and mules, when you
know that Jim Austin is the meanest
man in the county. He swindles his
neighbors and oppresses the poor. He
drinks and CANDLES and curses, but
everything he touches makes him rich
er and richer. How do you explain
that?"
master! master!" said Uncle Jack,
"dat is all jes' so and it's becaus' de
Lord don't keer nothin' about Jim
Austin; his name amt on de book.
No, sir, de Lord amt payin' no ten
ton to him at all and de debil is run
MIN him. No, master l tell you how
it is. When de Lord takes a lilfin' to a
man and got his name on de book, He
don't let him get fat and slick like jim
Austin. Whom the Lord loveth lie
chastiseth, and dats de reasonyour gin
house git burned up and your buggy
mare die, and maybe dats why Miss
Julian take sick away off at schoo
and come home in de coffin. She was
a blessed child, she was, and seems
to me dat sometimes away in de night
hear her calm you. Master, old Jack
don't like to trouble you about desc
t'ings and he wouldent if your name
wasent on de book"
Uncle Allen used to finish up the story
with the masters conversion and jim
Austin being killed
Better times are coming, sure enough
but politics has nothing to do with it,
Politics didn't give us great crop OF
wheat and a short crop i'm Europe. My
friend kirkpatrick, of Atlanta, says
4
go by cycles of seven years and that
our cycle of distress and disaster has
about expired. He almost proves il
by reference to the past and tells how
the failure of Jay Cooke precipitateo
the panic of '73, and our trouble lasted
seven years, and the failure of Barring
brothers brought on the next panic
and that lasted seven years.
But wheat and cotton are filling the
farmers pockets with money and by the
time the cotton crop is marketed new
era of prosperity will be fairly on MS
Within the last three months the min
ing business has revived in our county
and labor is in demand; nobody, neither
white or black, is going about begging
for work in this region. l haven't seer
a tramp in Fix months. The gardens
are teeming with vegetables and tA'
flowers are more beautiful and mvi
abundant than ever before, but Me
Kinley didn't do it, nor the tariff, noi
his party. If they won't undo it is al
we ask just let things alone. Thel
arc determined @ humiliate the south
but as long as the Lord smiles on N
we viii be content-Bih Arp, in ~
Ioptn C~-rz4ffufioa