Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1901-09-12
ARP KEPT At WORK
His Wife Reminds Him When Repair
ing is Needed.
BILL ALWAYS OBEYS HER ORDERS
He Then Tells of the Times When He
Was Young and How the Boys and
Girls Used to Act.

broken glass on the roof OF the flower
pit and the sash needed repainting and
the shelves renewing and | might
whitewash the brick wall and 80 forth
and so fifth and SO on. Well, | have
done all that and was hgmbly waiting
for the next order when she tod me
that Sam, the darkey, wasent coming
to run the lawn mower over the grass
in the front yard and maybe | could
do it and save Is cents. Well, l have
done that, but nobody paid me the IS
cents and next thing | knew she sent
one of the grandchildren to me for Is
cents to pay her debt to the aid soci.
ETY. These women have got nearly as
many clubs and societies as the men,
but they stay at home of nights and
that is better than the men do. There
are the Masons and Odd Fellows and
Nights of Pythias and Nights of Da-
mon and the Royal Arcanum and the
Elks and the Nights of Jeriocho and
Nights of Labor and they are all nights
or midnights, and the women have to
stay at home and nurse the children.
If | was a marrying woman | would
strike out the word obey and put in a
promise fer the man that he wouldn't
join anything that took him away
from home at night. It's bad enough
for young folks to tramp around a.
night hunting for the moon. They
are Crazy about the moon. and that's
why crazy folks are called lunatics--
for lunah means the moon and the
ticks are not far off on moonlight
walk in the woods. Last Tuesday night
there were six couples Of our lunaticS
who went up the river road in search
of the moon. They wanted to see it rise
from out tie water and they had to get
out to the big, fiat rock in the river tC
see it. and they had to slide down the
bank to reach the rock, and the young
men coOned it down first to clear the
way and the yaller Jackets were
waiting for them and by the time the
girls were on the slide the little devils
began the attack and they took EN- on
the slide in the flank and in the rear,
in the face and shirt waist and arms
and legs, and took the young men. too,
and such screaming and scrambling
was never heard or seen in that part
of the country. The young men did not
desert their partners, but showed them
up the slide again with great alacrity.
amazing. Eyes and ears and noses and
hands and legs began to swell, and
they never got to see the moon at all.
The girls cried with anguish and the
boys moanod and groaned and these
was no ammonia, no soda, no doctor
and no house within a mile. They
could just see enough to find the
Hrses and by the time they got back
home some were blind in one eye and
some in both, and you couldn't tell
a hand from a foot, nor a nose from
a turnip beet, nor the ankle from calf
calf of the leg, I meant. Well. they
got home about midnight ard that s.
mile ride was the longest and most
miserable OF their lives. The young
men have not yet reported for duty nor
have the girls dared to look into a
mirror, for fear Of breaking it. 1t is
wonder that those girls with such thin
apparel were not stung to death, but
l suppose that the stuffng and pad
ding about the breastworks saved
them.
We old school boys know something
about yellow Jackets. 1t is bad enough
to tackle a nest in the daytime in open
ground where you can run and fight,
but to slide down into one near the
water on a dark night must be awful
In the extreme. The last time | came
in conflict with the spiteful things |
located the nest and went to the house
and got the wire fly catcher and set it
over the hole. 1t worked beautifully
and vas fast filling up when an outsider
took me, 'ker-bim." on the back of the
neck. and l departed those coasts with
alacrity. By and by the boys came and
built little fire not far away and set
the fly catcher over the smoke end
killed the whole concern. But you must
look out for the outsiders-the SC pits
and sharp shooters. Bees can't sting but
one time, but a jacket can keep up as
long as the poison lasts. The sting of
bee is bad. that of a jacket is Bladder
and a wasp is the baddest of all, ex-
cept hornet or, perhaps. the DEVILS
packsaddle on fodder blade. They do
say in Texas that a tarantula is worse
than all the rest put together and fire.
guently proves fatal. They say, too
that any sting is a cure for the rheu-
matism, but | never found man that
had tried it. Some poisons affect one
person more than another. A good cit
iZen Of this country died in "a hours
from a bee sting. but my faithful SER
want, Tip. can take them up in his
hands and let them lite" on his neck
and face and sting him furious'y, and
he brushed them off and laughs and
says they tickle him. I have picked
the stings off his flesh by the dozen.
and he has never had rheumatism. 4
Of
yellow jackets SEQ and hornets 200.
But this is enough about such pesky
things. though the sting of mosquito
seems to be attracting much attention
from the men of science
But | was Illuminating about things
that have to be done before long. Nv
wife says it is about time to make a
lettuce bed for the winters supply and
it is about time to transplant two or
three rows Of strawberry plants from
our own runners, for it is a good plan
to have some new ones coming on
every year. | receive so many letters
from good women asking about how
to grow them and so forth, that | will
say briefly:
Prepare the ground about like you
would for any garden herb or vegeta-
bic. fork deep and manure literally,
open fu"rov and scatter ashes in it
any kind OF ashes. wood. cCa, o.
mixed. II you can't sift the ashes, be
sure and throw out the cinders and
Jumps. Place the plants about foot
apart spread out the roots, draw the
earth around lightly. If ground is dry,
use water to each plant, then pull
some dry earth over the wet. That's
all. Have the rows two feet apart If
you have no plants OF your own, then
order some, and get Brandywine, Lady
Thompson. Gaudy and Excelsior.
There are several other good kinds.
but l know what these are. If ashes
are scarce use a good handful to each