The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1901-11-21
NOT AS BAD AS PAINTED.
Exaggerated Statements About the
Condition of Southern Farmers.
Wilmington Messenger.

Wilmington Messenger.
The Southern farmer ordinarily
fares badly at the hands OF lecturer
or a peripatetic journalist. We have
before US an extract from paper
read ST a late congress" held in
Texas city. 1t contrasts the home OF
the Northern farmer with that OF the
Southern. There are no log cabins
now in the North, but all is comfort
and neatness- perhaps. But there is
the lugubriou. and solemn picture OF
the Southern farmer, and his life IS
sorrowful indeed among his barren
and repulsive surroundings:
Take the average home, home
which offers shelter neither from the
heat OF the sun nor the fury OF the
storm. barren in is equipment, want
ing in most of those things which
make up ordinary comfort; the life OF
it's inmates daily grind of drudgery,
fringed with no gaiety and unrelieved
by hours of thoughtful repose; un-
ceasing labor varies only in its form,
and care and misfortune press upon
the heels of each other with such
rapid tread that the symbols of deep
anxiety are rarely missing from tho
conscious brow on its pathway from
the cradle to the grave.
If Southern man wrote that he
ought to travel, to apologize, and
then quit the use of the pencil. If he
was describing the ''average home"
in Texas, then that great State is to
be pited, and the farmers should pull
up and make for "green fields and
pastures new" but we have not
quoted it correctly. For ''ticlds" put
the right word. That there are in the
South thousands of poor average
homes is true. That the conditions
by this time should be better than
they are is equally true. But the
above account is exaggerating and
misleading. In the mountains and
elsewhere there are many homes that
are not pleasant to look at, and where
squalor and poverty abide. But then
there are tens of thousands Of farm
er.' homes that are cheerful and COM
Portable and hospitable.
The Baltimore Herald, in which we
find the extract above given, says OF
tho unreasonable description that
never improves:
Climatic conditions may reduce
the energies Of the Southern farmer,
in q measure, but wonderful natural
productivenesS more than makes up
for the deficiency. The average coun-
try home in the South is comfortable,
nor is the daily life Of its inmates one
of grinding toll. Almost every
Southern farmhouse section has its
churches and schools and its pleasant
social gatherings in summer and in
winter. Nature supplies IN abunance
of fruits and vegetables and flowers.
''In all the country there are to be
found no happier people than the
Southern farmers and their families. "
While we recognize the utter want
of attractiveness, of comfort or taste,
of human interest in many homes,
and We have seen many such, there
are sections, some covering entire
counties. in which no such homes as
we mention, or as are mentioned by
be seen. You may take buggy and
starting from Windsor. in BERTHE
| county, in this State, you may travel
| through that county and next through
| northampton and through upper
Halifax and through Warren, and
thence through Vance, Granville,
Person, Caswell, Rockingham and
| rio
will not meet with any such home az
is mentioned as characteristic by the
| Texas speaker. You will find com
| Portable and often fine and elegant
| homes all that distance indicated.
We select that trip through the nine
counties named because we were forty
years ago familiar with the condi,
tons, and know whereof we affirm.
We may mention another interesting
fact-you may travel the whole dis
lance and be entertained in the incest,
most refined homes without the cost
of cent to you. Upon leaving each
morning you would be urged to be
sure and stay with hosts whenever
you travelled that way again. Hospi'
tality literally abounded between 1914
and 1865. 1t may be 50 now, and we
hope it is so. We might have chosen
another trip with as satisfactory re.
suits probably. Edgecombe, Wilson,
Franklin, Wake. Orange, Alamance
Guilford and Forsyth might have E1et
all demands to complete the picture
of comfort, happiness, good living
nice homes and Astounding North Car
olna hospitality. We know some Of
them would have done so. In some
of the counties the best farmers have
generally much success.
1t is very clear that some of the
witnesses in the Schley Inquiry lied
like a sailor.
| A Wisconsin man swallowed a silver
dollar the other day. And now he i,
dollar in and a dollar out.
| Snap Shots.
Orange (Va.) Observer.
Silence is the fence around wisdom.
The parlor is probably the most fire.
| quented Of all court rooms.
Less argument and more work will