Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-07-25
UNCONSCIOUS WAR TAXES.


Abb aoWh O uuc Olu itub III buHL par
of Broadshire which is richest In sol
and IN men and poorest in mineral
and In smoke. The we'll timbered hill
on each side of the dale were LOOKING
az hopeful and bright as spring ant
evening mellow light could make them
Now then, been fine day, mister, ,
suddenly stopped any dreams in which
l might have INDUCED. Looking up
] saw, leaning over the gate of one q
his fields, one of those few sturd,
yeomen which times OF hurry and greco
have left US in the dsles. Henry Old
sward, and his forbears, had prazet
cattle and bred horses on those fieldt
for more than two centuries. A steady
headed race, with a stake in the countr,
in the beet sense, they had never beet
short Of capital In recent bad times, anc
took pride in the fact that they coulo
keep their SONS on the land instead OF
prenticing them off to the towns, and
letting them build mills and ironworks.
Henry had seen half his century and
more, had all along done his work and
held his peace, proud that he and his
lads could keep the fields as we'll
stocked as his grandfather, ride as
steadily and shoot as straight.
fou know the type of man, reader,
now, II you know Broadshire. Always
hearty, but never laxative, thought by
Cookneys to be stupid, until perchance
they heard afterwards of his comments
upon their inane talks and ways, he
had read solidly good deal, though
few modern books had been 10 his
hhands-he was reading Milton g Fara
disc Lost" for the fourth time last
christmas. But he had thought far
more than he read. IL WINS a pity
(though not to be wondered atl tbat
the fooleries OF young bank. clerks and
manufacturers from the towns had
given him such low opinion as he
possessed, Of all strangers, for this in .
duced an unnatural reserve. [ kpew
him well enough to be admitted behind
this barrier, and was glad that this
evening | had time to stay and talk. /
knew that he only wanted a kindly
listener. We went down the field into
the house, lighted our pipes, and, when
the maid had brought us whisky and
water, Henry began:
"Well.so they've got this budget out.
Sugar, Goals and income tax! Alb, but
I can just remember Golden NV
father cut his speeches out of the
papers, and | sometimes get them out
OF that drawer to read over. But /
suppose IL they will have war il must
be paid for, but what fools All those
.ilions, as might have fetched down
national debt, and paid for lots Of
-ngs that We want, blown away in
green lyddite smoke But taxes are
nothing to what we have to pay. /
nave eeen thinking 1t out. I've paid
my Dit OF income-tax, and, of course.
taken my share In tobacco and so on.
but FOLKS talk as IL that was all that a
war costs us. Let US leave out ali
that is Being borrowed, as ii neither
principal nor interest would ever have
TO be pAid-which ia about the way
THESE lingo fellows look at it. Let us
leave out--God forgive us-all the lives
tnaf have been thrown away. l tell
you, apart from these, and apart from
lakes, we are all paying for war dearly.
why, LOOK at those pastures up the hill
sloe; tney VIII be full Of thistles this
year, LOT labor was SO scarce last
summer that never got the thistles
cu1 ano Gown was blowing about
wholeslle for the first time since 7
came TO the farm. Now WHARF tbsra
are thistles and rubbish of that sort.
tnefe IS 80 much less grass, 80 mapy
fewer cattle fattenod, SO much less haaf
grown. l say nothing about the DAMAGE
done in spelling the land, but many a
poor chap will have harder work IN
make his rent for years to come. And
all because so many men are nj tba
'front.', or serving In the militia that we
cannot get hands to do the work! Then
Gown the dale, where they grow corn.
tnings were worse. sMy wife's brother
George had half his wheat spoiled by
rain, simply because no could not get
men 70 harvest IL, when spell of fine
weather gave him the chance. These
Jlngoes alk.about duty on oorn-let
en- give US a chance to get what our
own land will grow first George has
USED many quarter of wheat for mig.
meat, that would have made as good
nour as need to BIZ if men had been
working for him, instead Of loafinp
around the barracks, on duty as Rarri.
son militia. On duty! I once read a
bit OF FHwcett's political Economy. ),
put never saw the meaning of what |
ne calls unproductive labor till now'
1 have never counted how many staol,a |
OF nasty black hay there are between
mere and Market Horseley, ali caused |
Dy the same thing-we couldn't mako
hay whilst the sun shone for want IN |
men,. Now that's got to be maid for NV |
somebody-there' either worse produce |
or less OF 1T, and they ought to put II |
down to the war. but they don't. y
his pipe needed re-chargine, and then
he took sip of his whisky and water.
put l knew him BETTER tnan to sneak
and ne soon went on, when he was sure
1 was Interested.
Then there's lots of things Wbv
our Doctor, as good fellow as ever
iived, put bit soldier Drained because
DIS father was an officer, he was telling
me last week how he wants a new baoS
70 carry him around. And that aid
camel that he rides does need turning
on. I've told him many time he
wants 2 better mount for these hills
ano mis- night work. Two years since
ne couio nave got well suited for 925.
pvt since then the army contractors
nave bought up everything they can
~, ana tne doctor will have to give
1sy, tnougn ne can III afford 1t. That's
Ieaiiy war tax OF Els il he could see
~ iou cant go upsetting trade and
.apor anu transport without having
70 pay for it, and what you nav 10 the
chancellor of the Exchequer il the
least part of the bill. 'o
We'll. you haven't a wife. but
have, and she knows how TO manaoa a
mouse. She has better temper' too
than most women, but you know ne,
haps what they all are about snrino-
cleaning time. Well, you should have
heard how she went on, because This
blessed militia had taken off all tha
sweeps, and there was no getting either
Kitchen or parlor chimneys cleaned
rather laughed at her at first, til the
damp fetched the SCOT down Ia the hie
oak parlor, and We had TO send a wsaos