The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-09-04
RECOLLECTIoNs OF THE STATE ALLIE
ANCE.

~ OOS A1U4
and 18th of August. And as we see
things a little different from the re-
mainder of mankind, we will give
a little sketch of things as we saw
them. We left home at 5 a.. m.
sharp, Wednesday, without break
fast arrived at Hillsboro at g :O5 a.
m. We swallowed cinders and dust
enough en- route, by taking a few
draughts of ice water, to answer the
purpose of breakfast. We we're met
at the depot by Mr.. Frank Parker,
the g~ood-looking son of our S. B. A,
and conveyed to Headquarters and
found the State Alliance in session.
After rubbing off what dust and
cinders we did not care to swallow,
and thinking up the password,
which is Rashiyuar, we wendell our
way up stairs and past the doorkeeper
and into the hall, Hope no rules or
regulations of the Order has been
violated in writing the word, as none
but Alliancemen in good and regular
standing, with dues paid up, will IN
derstand its meaning. We found the
hall well filed with that class of the
people who create the wealth of the
State, who feed the State in time of
peace and furnish the men who bare
their breasts to the enemies of the
nation in time of wharf.-the farmers,
the tillers of the soil. At a glance
over the hall we saw many familiar
faces, old stand-bys. At a second
glance we saw quite a number of
new faces-men we had never seen
at a State Alliance We dotted that
down as a healthy sign. We counted
and found that about 100 delegates,
officers and visitors were present.
President w. A. Graham was de-
tanned at home on account of serious
illness of his daughter. We found
Professor John Graham, of Ridge
way, ex-State President, in the
chair (and, by the way, the State
eve had any purer, truer Alliance
man than Bro. Graham). Among
the old stand bys we saw at a glance
Bros. w. S. Mercer, H. P. Alexander,
g. T.. Lane, j. w. Denmark, w. B.
Fleming, T. J. Oldham, J. E Per
son, and many others whose names
slip u memory at this moment,
About the time we had surveyed
the hall from all points, a recess was
called. It was then that we were
panied to learn that since our last
State meeting the boarding house
keeper, Bro. Booker, had crossed the
great divide and was hid forever by
the green curtain of earth and his
family had moved away. We were
informed that Bro. T. B. Parker, u
State Business Agent, was running
the eating works for the assembly
and we yer soon around the large
tables in the spacious dining hall.
We saw at a glance that no man Was
running that eating works. We sup
pose that Bro. T. B. Parker furnished
the raw material as was his duty to
do; but a w~ay-faring man, though he
vas a member of the Alliance, could
see with n eye that the good things
nicely prepared and nicely arranged
on the tables wa done or superin-
tended by ladies who understood the
business. So it was all done under
the supervision of Mrs. Parker and
her accomplished daughter, Miss
Emma. It would have made a lean
man fat to stand off and watch the
old hayseeders eat. In that respect
some deserve honorable mention.
They followed the examples of their
parents-one eat fast and the other
a long time. We will not name any.
one, but the readers know Bros. Lee
Query, of M~ecklenburg, W. S. Mer-
Ger, of Currituck, G.. T. Lane, of
Guilford, D. A. Montgomery, of
Guilford, and H. P. Alexander, of
Washington. We had up-to-date
fare three times a day during the
three days session.
The most harmonious meeting that
has ever been held in the State by.
the farmers was held on the 18th,
18th and 10Th of August, 1900. The.
minutes of the session will prove the