The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-07-05
SQUIRE BUNKRR's WAY.

"AAVoE Wu0u . V4SlGOC Op6u00 buo OOOk-
and peeped in.
''Come right in" called the Squire,
I'm just tinkering around to day be
cause it's too wet to be out o. doors
much and the women folks looked as If.
they were little bit tired o. seeing me
around the house. Seems to me I've
seen you somewhere before9" and he
inquiringly looked at the young man
who entered.
YES" answered the newcomer, ST
live over at Richland and was intro
duced to you at the fair last fall. You
remember had some pigs there, and
you we're looking at them"
20, yes, it comes to me now. HoW's
the pigs by this timeG"
81 reckon they're bacon and hams
and shoulders by this time. sold 'em
about a month ago."
ST never sell nice lot of pigs," an.
swered the Squire, ''until they have
been made up"
''How do you means" answered the
young man, his face an interrogation
point.
Il make 'em up myself, have nice
lot of pigs on hand, and generally
try to have that kind, butcher 'em
and salt 'em down, and when the
proper time comes smoke the hams
and sides and keep 'em until the next
summer, when / generally sell 'em to
my neighbors or to the grocery man
over in town for quite a considerable
more than would have got for 'em If
had sold them alive" -
"Tsn't that good deal of trouble3"
''Well, it's some work, of course, but
/ never found out how to make money
without working yet. Wife and I
tend to all Of it but the heavy work,
and she sells the lard and the hams and
bacon when the neighbors come along.
/ make up the scraps into sausage and
head cheese and sell it to the folks over
il town who get butter Of us, and they
are glad to get it, knowing where it
comes from. We sell good share Of
the hams to the same people, for they
know we use the old fashioned corn
cob smoke to smoke our meat with,
and they amt afraid of drugs, though
I don't know as the city packers use
any drugs. Anyhow, they say our
hams and bacon tastes better than the
kind they get in the city"
Seems to me, said the visitor re-
flectively, ''that that way Of doing
would make the money come in in
chips and whetstones, as the saying
is, and it would be hard to keep it un-
til it came time to pay bills"
''There's just the beauty of it, an
swered the Squire, standing back to
observe the effect Of the paint on the
sled, 1--WE don't have any bills to pay.
We always pay cash for every thing we
buy and we get things good deal
cheaper by doing so, and no accounts
to dispute about. No storekeeper is
going to let me go away for few cents
when he knows am going to put
down the cash for everything I buy"
sour storekeeper tells me he sells
just the same for cash or credit"
do you pay cash for what you buy g
''No, don't, because my money
comes in when I sell my crops or hogs,
and I don't always have the cash to
pay down, and I suppose I was getting
the same price on everything, so there
was no object in paying cash."
sI've lived in Illinois about as long
as most men live in one State and I've
never seen the man who wouldn't
favor q cash customer" said the
Squire. "Then there's another thing.
Did you ever notice that your bills
were pretty highp
''They always seem that way, but
believe the storekeeper is honest. :"
ST am not doubling his honesty"
said the Squire, ''but when you're
running bill you buy lot of things
you would not buy If you were paying
the cash right out on the spot. There's
a good many things that We want that
we don't need. You may want pie
three times day, but what you really
need is bread and beef and baked
beans once in while. Do you see the
pointG"
.'You're right, )" sssented the visitor.
'sI often buy things and wonder whas
I wanted them for after get home"
'sWell, wife and started out to pay
cash when we begun for ourselves, "
said tho Squire, ''and there never has
been a time when we haven't been able
to get everything we really needed.
Sometimes it was not very easy to get
along. but we've never gone hungry
nor naked. We've always had enough