Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1901-11-30

make the forest echoes crazy with thei
wild halloo or fish In the waters Of TIN
still lake. Now tribes challenge, ant
council fires blaze, and warwhoop
ring, and chiefs lift the tomahawks 70
battle. After awhile wagons from th'
BY day trees are felled, and by nigh
bonfires keep off the wolves. Log cab
lns rise, and the great trees begin t.
throw their branches In the path Of th'
conquering white man. Farms arr
cleared. Stumps. the monuments oi
slain forests, crumble and are burned
Villages appear, with smiths at the
bellows, masons on the wall, carpen
ters on the housetop. Churches rise IL
honor of the Great Spirit whom the
red men ignorantly worship. Steamers
on the lake convey merchandise to heI
wharf and carry east the uncounted
bushels that have come to the market
Bring hlther wreaths Of wheat and
crowns of rye and let the mills and the
machinery Of barn and field unite their
voices to celebrate the triumph, for the
wilderness hath retreated and the plow
hath conquered.
Triumph of Husbnndry.
Within our time the presidential cab
met has added a secretaryship Of agri-
culture. Societies are constantly being
established for the education of the
plow. Journals devoted to this depart
ment are circulated through all the
country. Farmers through such cul-
ture have learned the attributes Of
soils and found out that almost every
field has its peculiar preferences.
Lands have their choice as to which
product they will bear. Marshy low
lands touched by the plow rise and
wiring out their wet locks in the trench
es. Islands born down on the coast OF
! Peru and Bolivia are transported to
our fields and make our vegetation
leap. Highways by this plow are
changed from. .boggy sloughs into roads
like the Roman AppiaD way. Fields
90 through bloodlcsS revolutions until
there the farmhouse stands. In sum-
mer honeysuckles Chamber over the
trellises. On one side there stands a
garden. which Is only a farm condens-
ed. On the other side there Is Il stretch
of meadow land with thick grass. AID
as the wind breatlis over II it looks
like the deep green Ccean waves. There
goes a brook. tarrying long In its wind
ings. as If loath to leave the spot where
the reeds sing. and the cattle stand at
monday under the shadow of the
weeping willows In winter the sled
comes through the cracking snow with
huge logs from the woods, and the
barn floor quakes under the thumpiDgs
of the fail or the deafening buzz OF
the thrashing machine. Horses stand
beneath NOW poles bending under loads
Of hay and whinny to the well filled
oat bins Comfort laughs at the wind
rafting the sashes and clicking the
iclcles from the caves.
Parts Of our country. under industri-
Gus tillage, have become an Eden or
fruitfulness. in which religion stands
as the tree Of life and educational ad-
vantages as the tree Of knowledge or
good and evil, not one Of them forbid
den. We are ourselves surrounded by
we'll cultured farms. They were work
ed by your fathers, and perhaps your |
mothers helped spread the hay in the |
field. On their headstones are the |
names you bear. As. when you were |
boys, In the sultry noon you sought for
the harvest field with refreshments for
your fathers and found them taking
their noon spell sound asleep under
the trees so peacefully now they sleep
in some country churchyard. No more
fatigued. Death has plowed for them
the deep furrow Of grave.
Agricultural Prosperity.
Although most OF us have nothing d.
rectly to do with the tillage Of the soil,
yet in ali our occupations we feel the
effect Of successful or blighted indus
try. We must, in all our occupations,
rejoice over the victories Of the plOw
today. The earth was once cursed for
mans sake. and occasionally the soil
revenges Itself on us by refusing a
bountiful harvest. | suppose that but
for sin the earth would be producing
wheat and corn and sweet fruits as
as now 1t produces mullen
stalks and Canada thistles. There Is
hardly hillock between the forests Of
Maine and the lagOOns Of Florida, be-
tween the peach orchards Of New Jer-
sey and the pines Of Oregon. that has
not sometimes shown its natural and
total depravty.
Praise Cod for the great harvests
that have been reapPd this last wear!
Some OF them injured 10y drought or
Insects or freShets were not as bOunti
ful as usual. others far In excess of
what have ever before been gathered,
while higher prices will help make up
FOR any decreased supply. Sure sign Of
agricultural prosperity we have in the
fact that cattle and horses and sheep |
and swine and all farm animals have
Turing the last two years increased In
value. Twenty million swine slaugh-
ered this last year. and yet so many
hogs left. Enormous paying off Of
'arm mortgages has spoiled the old
speeches OF the calamity howlers. If |
he ancients In their festivals present
I'd their rejolcings before Ceres, the
goddess of corn and tillage shall we
neglect to rejoice in the presence Of the
yreat God now? From Atlantic to Pa
,ific let the American nation celebrate
be victories Of the plow.
come next to speak Of the conquests
If the American hammer. Its iron arm
has fought It's way down from the be-
ginning to the present. Under It's
swing the city of Enoch rose, and the
'oundry of Tubal Cain resounded, and
he ark hoated on the deluge. At its
,lang ancient temples spread their
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