The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-06-26

doers
Fret not thyself against him who
deviseth iniquity
Trust in the Lord and do good. Wait
on the Lord.
Those are good sermons and there
are others like them in David and Sol
ONION. \ man can shorten his life and
wear himself out by borrowing
trouble, and fretting and worrying
about the iniquity of other people.
There is sight Of devilment going on
more than ever before. | reckon
more war, famine, pestilence, unrest
and dlscontent all over the world, and
here in our own blessed land crime is
on the increase in our cities, and what
with the negro and the corruption of
politics and the strikes as sdeshOws
there is enough to run q worrying
man crazy. OF course we should feel
concerned about CRIME and do what we
can to prevent it, but worrying does
not accomplish anything. Let us
preach and practice and be happy still
'Carpe Dlem, enjoy the day, saith
| the poet. Why can't everybody in the
country be as contented and law-abid-
| ing as our people here in north Geor-
| gia. There are no murders, no out
RACES, no lynching, no fights here in
| Barlow county There are no d-
vorces nor burglaries, and no stealing
| Of any consequence. A good old ante
| bellum darkey did come to see me
| the other day to get me to sign his
sons bond and get him out of jail.
! What is he in there fOr?" said /
"Well. boss you see de mans corn
was missin' and he find de basket al
Jim's house, but he didn't fine nc
corra But Jim aint 'cused of stealin
de basket THE basket is to be the
witness, ] reckon,' said I. ",Jes' so
| bosS-dat's all-and de basket cant
talk and tell how it got dar."
l was ruminating how easy it is
for any we'll man to make fair liv
ing in this region. During harves
| a good worker, white or black, gets
! 0nes dollar q day. and at other time
seventy-fve cents day, and there i
| a demand for labor. Uncle Sam il
very old, but he gets seventy-five cent!
every day for working around in tht
| gardens. His four girls cook anC
wash and each makes about two dol
| lars a week. There is about twelve
dollars Il week earned by that family
and they are always happy and don''
| give themselves any concern about
politics or social equality or Bishop
Turner or Booker Washington. 1t is
the highstrnng, lazy negroes who are
making all the fuss. Now, just con
traSt the condition of laborers hoe
and in other countries. In India they
are starving by the million. In the
| Philippines and South Africa they are
fighting and dying in battle or from
| disease and pestilence. In Germany
a peasant is rich if he has two OF
three acres of land, and his wife and
daughters carry heavy loads Of vega
tables on their backs to market, while
the sons are serving in the army. In
| Italy the poor work in malaria
swamps or beg in Naples. In Mexico
the poems get 37R cents day in
Mexican silver, which is worth about
half as much as ours. In England
the poor are kept alive by charity and
in ireland the peasantry lose q croE
about every third year and the little
children go hungry and in rags. What
is the matter with our people? Why
don't they quit fussing-quit envy
ing the rich? Why not lift ZIP their
voices and thank the Lord for His mer-
CIV and goodness unto us? \ di1igent
| man or woman can live for five or six
| months from a good garden-and be
sides the garden the country abOunds
/ in fruit Peaches, apples grapes,
| blackberres, wberries and buckle
berries. ! never saw the like. From
our own garden we can have eight
| different vegetables every day besides
berries for dessert. 1t makes me
proud to gather them and show them
round to the family before breakfast,
for it is my garden. | dressed it like
| old Father Adam did Eden. I'm still
| the boy. | am the man with the hoe
| and / don't esteem it any hardship,
| either Mr.. Markham needn't preach
| his foolishness to me, nor do | like the
| tone of that picture-a pltlful man
leaning on his hoe and bemoaning his
hard lot Work, labor, toll, sweat, IS
| the common lot and they are the hap
! pieSt who do it. Solomon said the
sleep Of the labCring man is sweet.
| love to work with the hoe. l love to
| get all over in persplratlon
! II opens the pores and saves medicine.
l love the smiles of approval when |
| find a new blown rose and bring it to
| Mrs. Arp and hear her say isn't 1t
| beautiful?" She reproached me gent
| " Yesterday for cutting down her poke
| stock down by the garden fence. She
said she liked to look at it when the
| berries were ripe. for it reminded her
of the home Of her happy childhood,
| when she and her little brothers used
| to pick the berries and make red
paint from them and paint dogs and
cats and monkeys on the smOkehOuse
and dairy Well, there is another one
coming and | will aet that grow for
| her sake. I want to see her painting
dogs on our smOkehOuse. They re-
(; mind me of the time when Polk ran
against Clay for president and every
| farmer Democrat who came to town
| brought a poke stalk with berries on
It sticking up in his wagon or dang
| limo between the horses ears. II used
to make the Henry Clay Wings mighty