The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-01-28

Copyright, 1902, by The Constitution).
My special pets, the mothers and
children Of this blessed land, have been
neglected of late, for l have had a time
of it in taking care of myself. For a
month past l have been p~erplexed and
burdened with a correspondence that l
could not avoid. l have answered more
than a hundred letters concerning the
Monticello fraud, but that trouble is
low about over and once more l am calm
and serene. 1t was a most marvellous en-
terprise. Nothing equal to it has ever oc-
CURED in TIE South. One woman writes
that she has written over eleven hum
dred letters. The area covered by 1t and
the victims who suffered is astounding
My correspondents are all women, de-
pendent, struggling women, and they feck
the land from West Virginia to western
Texas. ! learn that Monticello has sur
rendered and assigned, which means, Of
course, that the army of these agents
will have to surrender and be resigned.
Blessed are they who expect nothing, for
they shall not be disappointed.
Just now there seems to be a lull in
tho excitements that have agitated the
press and the public for some time past.
The negro has almost retired from dis
CT sSion and is the same unconcerned
creature he has always been. Professor
Stone, who has been studying them in
Mississippi, says that in the Delta where
they constitute 81 per cent of the popu-
lation they are more contented, more
Industrious and more laW-abiding than
in any region that he has visitd. Maybe
Bishop Turner is right and they can take
care of themselves if left to themselves.
But my philosophy is, let the problem
alone and let it work out its w solu-
ton. 1t may take twenty years, it may
take fifty, but it will solve itself.
Politics, too, is somewhat tired and in
q dormant condition. The country has
ceased to make much edo over the antics
and romantics of the new President and
is just waiting to see what he will do
rext. HI is a Sphinx. He is going to do
what he thinks is right, but the trouble
is he thinks wrong too often. He is what
you might call f~iniky-that's all. The
word is not in the dictionary and has no
definition. Finiky is fniky.
Well. our State politics has subsidized
for a time. The pot boiled over at first,
but has simmered down and we are not
making as many Governors and other
officers as we did before Christmas. I
don't feel very anxious about the next
Governor, for with those who are in the
field we can't hardly make a mistake.
AS Cobe would say, It's all optionary
with me-" There is nothing left hardly
to fuss and fume about except the At
lanta depot. This is enduring stock. /
have not been to Atlanta since last
March and l am not going until they
build a new depot. Nevertheless, we
still have the usual amount of horrors
and wrecks and homicides. 1t takes all
the big type to keep the head lines 60
ing. Forty years ago there never was a
displayed head line nor the picture of a
woman in a newspaper. The RlchmOnd
Wing and The National Intelligencer did
not even have a caption to their edito-
rails. You had to read it to find out
what the article was about. Now We
glance at the heading and read Moth
ing else and as for the pictures We old
men can't tell the difference between
Lydia Pinkham and the belle of Frog
town.
But the mothers and their children are
still left us. l was eliminating about the
books we boys had to read in the olden
time and how hey had disappeared and
gone out OF print. There were the ara
ban Nights" and Robinson Crusoe" and
"Gulliyer'S TrayerS'' and Baron Nun
Cnausen"-aIl were made up lies, but the
bigger the lies the better we liked them,
for children are imaginative. and the lit
tie stories Of Jack, the Giant Killer