The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-11-16

Sense and Nonsense about
and Texas--North Carolina a Good
Place to Stay in--The Arkansas
Traveller snd the Texas Cowboys.
DALLAS, Texas, Nov:~9, 1897.
B.-"Hello! air. Eiitor. The phones
betwixt here an Raleigh hev awl got
the yaller fever, so 1 will just make a
few remarks on paper an then let the
postofis authorities perfrate it sc it will
look like a pepper box. When / writ
you last I wuz up In Yankeedom tryin'
ter larn how In the dickens they draw
so many pensions. I believe they git
up before daylight an wurk until nine
o'clock. / found one teller who wasn't
an he sed that he began ter shrink up
erbout five years ergo an he'd bin git-
tin smaller ever sinse. He now claims
that he il go small that you can't see
him without a microscope, but he de-
cIares he amt small enuf ter be draw
in q pension without beln' entitled ter
it. So I've cum ter the conclusion that
Diogenes couldn't wurk that lantern
skeme nowadays. If he wuz ter go out
lookin' fer an honest man up North he'd
hev ter use a microscope instead ov q
lantern. I've bin travelin' incog, 6Z
we skollars say. Ter be plain, l amt
lettin' anybody know who / am. I
don't want EN- ter be meetin' me with
brass bands. l struck Dixie" down
In Arkansas the other mornin' an /
oon began ter feel frieky ergin. I
looked out ov the cars an the first
thing that met my eyes Wuz a cotton
field. The next thing wuz an ole Niger
smokin' a cob pipe. Then 1 saw a
couple ov mules. felt so guide I wanted
ter go ter Cuba an lick the Spanish
army. Arkansas IL a funny Safe. You
hev awl heard erbout the Arkansas
Traveller" an the job the Arkansas
equator" put up on him. The squat5er
sed he din'G cover his house bekRse it
didn't need any roof in dry weather
an he couldn't stay out in the rain ter
cover it in vet weather. The State il
full ov them folks yit. I struck L
ov them feliers in the piney woods. He
had a little cabin near the road an
erbout half an acre ov cleared land. 1
axed him If he farmed much. He eed
''no, I hevn'6 much ov a crop" l axsd
him W Y he didn't clear up sum land
an raise gude crop. He lowed: WAL,
you see, stranger, if l clear up sum
land I'll bev ter cultivate it or it will
grow up ergin, so 1 jist let it stay
growed up Of course he il an exsept-
shun. Sum ov 'em clear land by cut
tin eroung the trees an waitin' fer EN-
ter die. If the owner ov the land don't
die first he finally gifts sum land ter cul
tivate. Most ov the Arkansas people
put in their time waitin' fer Little Rock
ter grow into a big rock. After awl
Arkansas il a good State. IL it wpzent
where i5 z people would hev ter go a
roundabout way ter git into Texas
frum the East. 1 put in a guide deal
ov my time htrtin' with health off GERS
In Arkansas an Texas. They seemed
ter take more interest in my health
than Ia my spiritual welfare. Texas
IL g big State, bein' erb0ut the sizs ov
Europe. Texas IL 900 miles long an 700
wide. She hez pa counties, awl ov
them large ones, oneov 'em bein' nearly
az large z North Carolina, an az large
az four or five ov the New England
States. AWl ov the people, awl ov the
cities, towns and villages, schools, fac
tories, railroads, In the United States
mite be moved ter Texas an still the
State wouldn't be ez thickly settled az
New York or New jersey il now. In
fact aWl the people in the wurld mite
be placed In Ttxas an they would
everyone hev several square feet ov
earth ter stand on. The principal pro
ducks are cotton, wheat, cattle, prairie
dogs, pecans an cowboys. The State
produces more than one-fourth ov the
cotton crop Ov the United States. The
populasLun IL erbout two an q half
mllllons, SO you see it amt very thickIy
settled. Dallas, the largest CITY. hez
eroout 90, 600 ~populashun. Texas voted
$500 DOC straight PopuliEt votes last
year an they support 1O4 Populist
papers, 30 you a see that the Populists
will soon capture the State, az they are
gainin' awl the time. The Pops carried
the city ov Dallas by 700 majority last
year an Dallas county by 1000 ma,
jority, so you see the business and pro-
fessional people are Pops az well az
most ov the farmers. The popuIashun
oV Texas an Arkansas il made ND
mostly ov North Carolina people. Our