davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-10-28
JUDGE OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
Something About the Newly-appOinted
Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court.

"Thank you for all the pleasant
words about the Judge. To think of
tiny little boy a judge, and able
to send me to jail if I don't behave
myself" So wrote Doctor Holmes
to Mrs. Kellogg when, in 1889, Oliver
Wendell Holmes, Jr., was made Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of
Massachusetts. Doubtless the ele-
vation to the bench of the Supreme
Court of the United States would
have seemed to the senior Holmes
worthy to be ranked with the various
distinctions which his fancy toyed
with on March 9, 1871, when he wrote
to his sister:
"My Dear Ann:-Last evening,
between eight and nine, there ap-
peared at No. s Montgomery Place
a little individual who may be here
after addressed as
- Holmes, Esq;
or,
The Hon. - Holmes, NJ. c.;
His Excellency - Holmes, Presi-
ident, etc., ETC.;
but who for the present is content
with scratching his face and sucking
his right forefnger."
This literary ~parentage of Mr..
Justice Holmes it is right to insist
upon in any estimate of the man, be-
aus it has left it's mark upon his
character. Lucidity, powerful log
ic, flashing insight piercing to the
heart of complicated questions, the
capacity to marshal arguments in
orderly and formidable array-these
have been the great qualities of the
great judges. In Holiness case there
is added the touch of literary felici-
ty. AS editor of the twelfth edition
of Kent's commentaries" and also
of the american Law Review; as
lecturer on the common law before
the Lowell Institute, and professor
in the Harvard Law School, the son
of his father showed how a judge can
be both learned and witty.
But Judge Holmes knows men as
we'll as letters. It will never be nee
essary to urge him, as an English
chancellor was once besought, to go
out among his fellow-men and dis
cover what they are thinking about.
Young Holmes was among those sons
of the best families in Boston and
Cambridge who volunteered in the
earliest weeks of the civil war. The
disastrous affair at Balls Bluffs,
which laid so many of them low,
brought him his first wound, a shot
through the chest. He was again at
the front, however, the following
year, and at Antietam got a ball in
the neck. This wound it was which
drove his father off upon the now his.
toric, "My Hunt After the Captain
with it's l%aconic greeting at the end
GLOW are you, Boy?" How are you
Dad? Captain Holmes completed
his list of honorable scars by getting
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-10-28
THE HOME CIRCLE
Ike Walton's Prayer"

Ike Walton's Prayer"
| crave, dear Lord,
No bOundless hoard
Of gold and gear;
Nor jewels fine,
Nor lands, nor kline,
Nor treasure-heaps of anything.
Let but a little hut be mine,
Where at the hearthstone l may
hear
The cricket sing,
And have the shine
Of one glad woman's eyes to make
For my poor sake
Our simple home a place divine
Just the wee cot-the cricket's chirr,
Love, and the smiling face of her.
l pray not for
Great riches, nor
For vast estates and castle halls
Give me to hear the bare footballs
Of children DER
An oaken floor,
New-rinsed with sunshine, or be-
spread
With but a tiny coverlet
And pillow for the baby's head;
And, pray Thee, may
The door stand open and the day
Send ever in a gentle breeze
With fragrance from the locust
trees,
And drowsy moan of doves, and blur
Of robin-chirps, and drone of bees,
With after-hushes of the stir
Of intermingling sounds, and then
The good wife and the smile of her,
Filling the silence again.
The cricket's call
And the wee cot,
Dear Lord of all
Deny me not.
l pray not that
Men tremble at
Ny power of place
And lordly sway
I only pray for simple grace
To look my neighbor in the face
Full honestly from day to day
Yield me his horny palm to hold,
And I'll not pray
For gold
The tanned face, garlanded with
mirth,
1t hath the kingliest smile on earth
The swart brow, diamonded with
sweat,
Hath never need for ~coronet,
And so I reach,
Dear Lord, to Thee,
And do beseech
Thou givest me
The wee cot, and the cricket's chirr,
Love, and the glad, sweet face of
her!
james Whitcomb Riley.
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-06-03
WHAT AN UNREAD MAN SHOULD READ.

Among the few general counsels
which | venture humbly to offer on
this matter, the first and most impor-
tant for the unread man to remember
is this: Beware of literary supersti-
ton. Naturally, the timid seeker
whom / have in mind is liable to feel a
little awed before enthroned literary
authority. In a sense, it is the proper
attitude for a beginner, but it must
be accompanied by a courageous ad-
herence to his own impressions. For
example. if some one has advised you
to read the "Iliaad," and you cannot,
for the life of you, see anything n IT.,
while, at the same time, you are
shamefully conscious that it is a
Classic" and that it is your moral
duty to enjoy it in spite of yourself
the thing to do is to be perfectly hon
est with yourself, and put Homer by
at all events, for the time. The day
may come when, through the changes
wrought in your taste by various
other reading, you may enjoy Homer,
after all, and realize why SO many
generations of men have delighted in
him-why, in short, his works are
classic.
Meanwhile, however, there is no use
in your trying to feel what you don't
feel; for reading is nothing if not sin
cere, and its profit is not easily sep
arabic from it's pleasure. I have taken
the "Iliad" merely as an example of
those world-famous books which, gath
cred from every branch of literature,
compose the heterogeneous assem-
blage of the immortals, and all of
which the bewildered unread man,
when he takes his first respectful look
at their embattled names on the book
shelf, superstitiously feels it his
mighty responsibility to digest
Richard lie Gallienne, in June "Suc-
cess"
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-06-03
HE VALUED THE N

His Majesty Edward VII. is credi-
ted with the saying that it is vastly
easier to live up to the obligations of
a play king than to those of a real
one; and the same thought, with a
slightly different turn, was Once eX-
pressed by President Lincoln. In 1862,
says a writer in the Kansas City Jour
nal, Col Alexander of Topeka, who
was an intimate friend of the Presi-
dent, visited him at Washington, and
found him in a greatly depressed state
of mind.
"This being President isn't all it is
cracked up to be, is it, Mr. Lincoln?"
inquired Colonel Alexander.
"No," said Lincoln, his eyes twink
ling momentarily. II feel sometimes
like the Irishman, who, after being
ridden on a rail, said, Begorry, if it
wasn't for the honor av tn thing, I'd
rather walkp"
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-06-03
AUNT JENNIE's LETTER.

I play the rogue this week and give
Social Chat the pleasure of reading a
portion of a private letter from the
PARKWAY State of Michigan. I am so
glad that we have great old forests,
and the birds and wild flowers in pro-
fusion. 1t affords so much pleas
ure to steal away from the hurry and
hustle of the city and wander for
hours in the woods, gathering wild
flowers. And what a sense of graft
tude fills your being as the vases are
filed with their graceful, tender
beauty, and you realize that all beauty
is not dependent on the exertion of
man! We too have the English spar
row but they do not seem to be quite
so numerous as they were some years
since; however, we should be glad to
be rid of them, and then perhaps the
song birds would not fear to come
neal and cheer us with their songs.
Well, Swindell has come again and
we are glad to have her with us. I
wish very much hat we could have a
general and genuine reunion of all the
members of this department. There
are. some who have not greeted us in a
long, long time. l would be delighted
to hear from all of them. 1t may be
that very few of US have learned to
make haste slowly and that has affect
ed our letter writing to some extent.
Bv the way, did you put powdered
borax in the hens nests so that the
little chicks will be free from vermin
when they make their advent? Try it.
Please see if your name is in this
list Il mean to call some names each
week until you hear and answer).
Where are Jack, Blacksmith, Rose B.,
Literature, Alvin Horton, and Lucy?
VIII you let me know?
/ am glad that Hugh M. puts some
new conundrums before us. These
brain-teasers will exercise u knowl-
edge of North Carolina geography.
The Washington correspondent of
the Progressive Farmer reports for us
a quite interesting interview with DR..
Wiley. AUNT JENNIE.
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-06-03
KEEP YOUR promise.

"Ethel, l want you to do an errand
for me as soon as you finish your din.
ner," said Mrs. Dorm to her daughter
"But, mama, you told me I might 20
after dinner to see Flora's rabbits"
ooh, some other day will do as
we'll"
"The rabbits are to be sent to the
city in the morning, mamma; Il I
don't see them this afternoon, I never
SHALL" said the child in a grieved tone
"Well, I can't help it. That erranl
must be done. Laura is away and
there is no one else to send"
Ethel said no more, but her eyes fill
ed with tears and she left the room
without finishing her dinner.
"You might have kept Laura at
home, you know" said MI. Dorm.
eyes," replied Mrs. Dorm, "if | had
only thought of it, but I didn't"
And the errand might wait"
"When I tell a child to do a thing
it must be done, or government would
be at an end. Nv word in such mat
tiers must be respected"
It seems strange that this mother
could be so particular about keeping
her word where her own interests were
involved, and yet break it so easily
where the child's pleasure was con-
cerned; yet there are many such moth
ers, and thev haven't the slightest idea
that they r lacking in consistency
S. Rosalie Sill, in the Housekeeper'
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-06-03
WE EAT TOO MUCH MAT.

Dear Aunt Jennie:-Anent the high
prices of beef, Doctor Wiley, the Chief
Chemist of the Department of Agri-
culture, in an interview makes some
interesting remarks about eating. His
views may interest Social Chat read
ers.
In the first place, he says that peo-
pie a too much. This is especially
true of those who do not take a great
amount of exercise. Although not in
any ems a vegetarian, the Doctor be-
lieves in little or no meat for break
fast, other than eggs. He states that
meat three times a day as many people
eat il is entirely beyond the needs of
the system. On the other hand, he
says that cereals contain all the nour-
ishment necessary to all animal func-
tiOns and hard labor, in a form we'll
suited to digestion and capable not
only of maintaining the body in a per-
feet condition, but also of furnishing
the energy necessary to the hardest
kind of manual labor. The waste ma
terial in cereals, he says, is very small
as compared with meat (Which con-
talns a large amount of water). In
fact, the ordinary wastes, such as the
bran and germ are among the most
nutritive components of the cereals
and both health and economy would be
conserved as a rule, by their consump-
ton, instead of rejecting them as in
the ordinary process of milling.
ut is well known" he states, chat
men who are nourished from cereals
are capable of the hardest and most
enduring manual labor. Meats are
quickly digested, furnish an abund-
ance of energy soon after consump-
ton, but are not retained in the diges-
tive organism long enough to sustain
permanent muscular energy. On the
other hand cereal foods are slowly di-
gested, furnish the energy necessary
to digestion and the vital functions in
a more uniform manner and are thus
better suited to sustain hard manual
labor for a long period of time"
In short, the Doctors suggestion is
of greater use of cereals, such as corn,
wheat, oats, rye, rice, etc, as suitable
articles of diet, and the use of meats
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-06-03
YOUNG MEN AND SPECULATION.

Whether the young man who makes
his first speculative venture wins OF
loses the result is equally bad. L
there is any difference at all it IS III
favor of the man who comes out d
loser in his first venture. With him az
least there is a chance that ne Will
wake up to the hopelessness OF Specu-
lation as a means of acquiring Weal'n'
and that the lesson taught will reSuI'
in leaving him a useful working mem
Der of society, instead of a drone WIN
thinks that he may get along by olp
ping into the honey-pots of Others
So writes James J. Hill, President o.
the Great Northern Railway, IN :p'
Saturday Evening Post. He con'ln
ues:
"Now and then men arise who nap
pen to make a success Of ~sPecuIaIOn'
who make something out Of nothlns,
These men are so rare that the emu
list may be checked off on the hng0Lo
of two hands. Unfortunately they aL'
taken as fair examples, instead OF ea
traordinary exceptions. Their name b;c
and fame are paraded in the publ
prints and the public mind IS lntlaLrTe
by chronicles of their successful ven
lures. That they stand as Survivor.
of a system that has wrecked C " :
sands and hundreds of THOUSANDS =
not taken into account. The unIoiS I'D
mates who have gone down to run a -
beggary are never heard Of. Ihcy ov
not interesting and their hl9Sor+
never finds the light of day eNc Jas.
where, here and there, n more - 70
perate than the rest puts an emu o;r,
his existence under sensational O.
cumstances."
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-06-03
MAxIMs FOR THE MARRIED.

A Conan Doyle gives the following
maxims for married folks in his "a
Duet"
/. Since you are married you may
as we'll make the best of it.
3. So make some maxims and try to
live up to them.
3. And don't be discouraged if you
fail. You will fail, but perhaps you
won't always fail.
4. Never both be cross at the same
time. Wait your turn.
5. Never cease to be lovers. If you
cease, some one else may begin.
6. You were gentleman and lady
before you were husband and wife.
Don't for get it.
7. Keep yourself at your best. 1t is
a compliment to your partner.
8. Keep your ideal high. You may
miss it, but it IS better to miss a high
han to hit a low one.
8. A blind love is a foolish one. En-
courage the best.
10. Permanent mutual respect is
necessary for a permanent mutual
love.
Il. The tight cord is the easiest to
snap.
u. If you take liberties be prepared
to give them.
-. There is only one thing worse
than quarrels in public; hat is
caresses.
II. Money is not essential to happi-
ness, but happy people usually have
enough.
Is. To save some.
16. The easiest way of saving is to
do without things.
II. If you can't, then you had bet
ter do without a wife.
10. The man who respects his wife
does not turn her into a mendicant.
Give her a purse of her OWL.
10. If you save, save at your own
expense.
20. In all matters of money prepare
always for the worst and hope for the
best.
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-06-03
ANOTHER STORY OF STEP TENS

Our readers will recall the story in
last weeks Progressive Farmer of
Lincoln's meeting with that man of
little body and great mind, A. II.
Stephens, of Georgia. Here is anoth-
err story of him, told by L~ippincott's
Magazine:
Alexander Stephens, Vice-President
of the C~onfederacy, was a striking
example of a great mind in an insig-
nifcant body. He used to speak of
himself as weighing ninety pounds,
dressed. History accords him a place
rs one of the greatest statesmen fur
nished by the South. Although he be-
came prominent in secession councils,
he clearly foresaw the folly of seces-
sion, and it was due to his influence
and efforts that Georgia was one of
the last States to secede. Opposed to
him was Robert ToOmbs, the most
rabid f~re-eater in the South, who
made himself notorious by his vindic-
tiveness after the war, and who boast
sd he would die unreconstructed.
Toonbs was of gigantic build, always
spoke in a loud, ~bombastic way, and,
for all his ability, was a good deal of
a bully. Although Stephens and
Eoombs early became leaders of rival
factions in Georgia, they did not
chance to meet until 1857, when they
were retained as opposing attorneys
In a lawsuit at the Washington COun-
ty Court House. Toombs strobe into
the court house before the court CON
Tened, and asked the sheriff in a loud
tone:
SHERIFF, where is this man Steph-
ans I've heard a lot about him, but
Iinever saw him"
that's Mr.. Stephens sitting there
on the rail-" replied the sheriff,
pointing to a little man huddled up
OF the rail to the bar. Toombs march
ed over t. the rail, gazed down con-
semptuousIy, and roared:
$50 you are Alexander Stephens!
Why. 1 could a you for my break
East"
We'll, Senator" replied Stephens,
IN the. shriH falsetto that once heard
was never forgotten, eff you should
eat me, you would have more brains
in your stomach than you ever had in
your head"
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-06-03
OLD TIMES IN THE SOUTH.


Dear Aunt Jennie After a long,
long time, I again make my appear
ance. [ confess that I'd rather listen
than talk. There are so many inter
esting letters in the Chat that it is
truly Disappointing to get the paper
when the department is omitted for
lack of letters. [ am SO glad to know
of the premiums offered to the Chat
terers. Then [ know there will be some
interesting letters for US all to read.
Though my days do not reach back
to the old time before the war, [ will
tell some few things I have heard
from my father and mother; both
we're children of slave owners. My
father helped to look after the slaves,
and I don't suppose that was a very
easy job. When the war came on
father and three of his brothers
fought bravely through and laid down
their arms and came home safe. Faith
er was wounded five times, was cap
tured twice, and had the smallpox.
It seemed to me that it is best that
the slaves were set free. I believe God
in His Almighty power ruled.
Ny father remembers when bread
was cooked on old hoes. The plows
were not half so handy then as they
are now. People then generally wore
homespun clothes, though some wore
silks and broadcloth. People did not
plant so much cotton as they do now,
for it all had to be picked by hand.
There we're not so many railroads, tel
egraph lines, telephones, electric cars,
and many such things as there are to-
day. What changes have been made
in the last century! It is wonderful
[ think; don't you?
SW1NDELL.
Columbus Co., N. G.
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-06-03
CARNRGIE's ADVICE TO YOUNG BU5I-
MISS MEN.

We make the following extract
from the Outlook's review of Mr.. Car
negie's new book, "The Empire of
Business:
The initial chapter in the present
volume is an address to young men on
"The Road to Business Success" and
throughout the volume a large part
of Mr.. Carnegie's observations are
primarily for the guidance of those
entering business life. In this first
address he puts into the foreground
what he regards as the three supreme
perils to business success. The first
of these, naturally enough, is "the
drinking of liquor" The danger
which he puts second to this is specu-
lation-a temptation that more and
more constantly, with the develop
ment of our exchanges. confronts
men of the very finest type in business
life. Says MI. Carnegie:
"When l was a telegraph operator
here, we had no exchanges in the city,
but the men or firms who speculated
on the Eastern exchanges were nee
~essarily known to the operators. They
could be counted on the fingers of one
hand. These men we're not our citi-
zens of first repute. They were re-
garded with suspicion. | have lived
to see all these spectators ]irreparab-
ly ruined men, bankrupt in money
and bankrupt in character. There is
scarcely an instance of a man who
las made a fortune by speculation
and kept it. Gamesters die poor, and
there is certainly not an instance of
a Spectator who has lived a life cred
liable to himself or advantageous to
the community. The man who grasps
the morning paper to see first how his
speculative ventures upon the ex-
changes are likely to result units
himself for the calm consideration
and proper solution of business prob
LIS . "hrF W h lCLLplCA III dShS
you to risk your small savings, that
if ever you decide to speculate you
are determined to go to a regular
and well-conducted house where they
cheat fair. You can get fair play and
about an equal chance upon the red
and black in such a place. Upon the
exchange you have neither. You
might as well try your luck with the
three-card monte man."
The third greatest danger to bust
ness success is the indorsing of notes.
Mr.. Carnegie does not say that this is
never to be done, but he does urge hat
it is never to be done by a person who
is already in debt. "When a man in
debt indorses for another, it is not
his own credit or his own capital he
risks, it is that of his creditors. He
violates a trust"
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-06-03
FROM MICHIGAN
Harrisburg, N. @.

We are having u sprino q
now. I am curious to know how rsa
wild woods" fare in this resnoot y9Q
Grams of the Civil War with VIZ 'et
have talked about it, can't recall ~
the South has wild flowers and |: %a
at spring time as with us. Rn+ ~
they weren't trained to see No+nD
kindlier moods. But our forest,
nearly all slain by the fendisb ns ~'
butcher, the dollar hunger Of II,
North is too omnipotent for them "'
"Soon the birds will all be poo.,
When a child, vast Aocks Of birds WA,
a constant autumn and spring CONN.,
panion of my lonely life-viId oo..l
ducks, black-birds, b~lue-birds. roL;s
[ haven't seen a pigeon in fftans
years, a flock of over two birds ~
kind is a novelty now, sparrovs 4.
cepted.
All woodlands are fenced and CATTLE
horses, sheep and hogs devour on
trample Gods innocent loneliness int
the mire of death!
Mammon, money. and the Colder
Calf!
I send a few of our wild woods Viz,
lets with eyes as "blue as the viI.
dancing sea-" Do you have them
South?
An article from your North Cam.
lima Botanist, and ornithoIora ON
North Carolina spring birds and Hov.
ers, their beauty and usefulness, would
interest me-and perhaps others.
E. Il.
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-06-03
THE WISE MEN OF NEW YORK.
Edward Bck Takes a Gentle Fling at the
"Wise" Men of the Metropolis

The wisest person in America is the
New York man who has never travelled
a hundred miles beyond the borders of
his own city. To him travel is unnec-
essary, for whittier would he travel ?
His city is at once the Alpha and
Omega of human ken. The sun, for
him, rises each morning just beyond
the Brooklyn Bridge and sets each
evening in the North River. In short,
New York is America. To live out
side of it's domain is simply to camp
out. And the few-the seventy and
odd millions-who live beyond the
pale" simply live to watch what New
Workers do, how New Workers dress,
what books New Workers read, what
New Workers say.-Edward Box, in
the May Ladies' Home Journal.
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-06-03
Our Social Chat.
!. EDITED By AuNTJ ENN1E, RALEIGH, y. Q. :.

AS CONTRIBUTORS to this department OF
The Progressive Farmer we have some of the
most w~ide-aWake and progressive young aides
and young men and sOne Of the most entertain
ing writers among the older people OF this ana
other States, the ages of the members ranging
from sixteen to more thOn sixty.
YOU ARE REQUESTED to join by sending
us q letter on some subject of general interest,
and writing thereafter as often as possible.
WHEN WRITING give full name and post
office address for Aunt Jennie's
II you do not wish your real name to appear
in print, give name by which you wish TO be
known as q Chatterer.
TWO lei OR MORE must, as q rule,
elapse between the time q letter is written and
the date of its publication.
The Progressive Farmer. Raleigh, N. Q.
The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-06-03

more in the making of soups, stews,
and the like, with not more than one
heavy meat meal each day.
If the whole American people would
suddenly adopt such a course of iV-
ing. there is no doubt where the price
of meat would go.
GUY E. MITCHELL.
Washington, D.. @.