The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-10-14
Copyright, 1902, by The Constitution PUB
fishing Company

III Sh0AA
amusing with many errors or IT may be
dull without o single absurdity. The
hero in this story unites in himself the
three greatest characters on earth-the
pri,st, the husbandman and the father of
a family"
Strange that the author could write
such a charming story about the very
three characters he knew least about,
for he had no fitness for nor experience
in either. It is not recorded that he was
ever in love or sought the company OF
yirtuous young ladies, yet his ballad of
! the Hermit in the Vicar of Wakefield
is admitted to be the tenderest and most
perfect love poem ever written. My faith
err made me commit it to memory when |
| was young and there are at least a dozen
| verses in it that | can cry over now and
| it does me good. 1t is a comfort TO weep
| over these sad, sweet things. Langhorn
| wrote a verse about a poor woman with
a babe at her breast hunting over the
| battlefield of Minden for the body of her
husband and when she found him she
knelt by his side and wept and the big
| tears fell upon the face Of her child and
| mingled with the milk he drew. "A
| child Of misery baptized in tears \
| painting was made of it, and Walter
| Scott says the only time he e"er saw
| Burns he was looking at that painting
! and crying like a child. To read the lines
| and imagine the painting IS enough Tor
| me. But if | had been Goldsmith | would
| have set down the mother of a family
as greater than the father. Evan Howell
! said he would not vote for a curfeW, for
4 his observation was that if the fathers
would stay at home at night the boys
| would and that song of "Nhere IS my
81 - 49,.
| wandering boy tOnight?' would not lave
been written. But the fathers can't all
stay at home at night. They are wanted
at the store, the office, the counting
room. for on them depends the support
of the family. But many a tired mother
can sing, where is my wandering hus-
band tonight?" Alas, too many can be
found at the club, at the pool room or
the hotel. while the mother is straining
her mind to untangle that hard sum-, If
A. and B can build a house in thirty days
and B can build it in forty-fve days,
how long will it take A to build it?'
Take it all in all. it is the mothers
who are the hope of the world-the saw
tours of the children. They certainly
save the girls, for nobody has yet sung,
Where is my wandering girl tonight !?
If the fathers would do their half and
save the boys it would be all right. Oh,
] but for the mothers and wives and Sis
tiers, what would become Of us without
them? Since l lave been sick sometimes
away in the silent watches Of the night,
when, as Job says, Deep sleep falleth
upon a man." it does not fall upon a Wo-
man, for l feel her gentle touch arranging
the cover and feeling whether l am
breathing or not. Since | have been sick
| have never caught her fast asleep and
tho othor pjUht chp DOT hTrt with me- he
cause l slipped out in the hall and called
the girls down to make a fire and heat
some water, for l was sick and suffering,
and there was no hot water in the boiler.
It is Just as Scott wrote:
when pain and anguish wiring the brow,
A ministering angel thou"
And as Coleridge wrote:
a mother is a mother still:
The hottest thing alive"
I may have written it before, but Will
write it again, that one night / agreed to
stay with two dear little girls While their
father and mother went out to tea at a
neighbor's. This pleased me. for | am
| always happy in their company, and they
- ibiA1C' ~ NiiAA1 poH'o N'h 100
cd them and they knelt by my knees and
said their prayers; one Of them was soon
! asleep, but the other fingered and said
tell him | love him Yes, | Will" said
l. What must l tell your mamma ?" she
| closed her eyes and said, "Nothing-sh
knows l love her" That expresses it
G That child's father loves those little girls
: dearly, but he keeps d drug store, and is
the prescription partner. He goes to the
: store before his children get up. He has
c but an hour with them at noon, and has
to return to the store soon after supper
No wonder these little girls want him tt
know that they love him. Boys are very
n different, and when they get up in theil
$ teens mothers lose their influence. Somt
say it is bad associates. OF course tina
has something to do with it.. but Cai1
{ didn't have any that we know of, and We
e he killed his brother. Environment is
big word, but it covers everything that
boy fnherits or that he gets from asso
citation. One day q friend of mine.
Hebrew, said to me, Major, / believe yo1
does love your shildurn better dan any
body in de own" ooh, no, l reckon not,
said I. Don't you love your children?
e wy, yes, of course; but I believe yo1
" | u NiS ~ NouI L IL OtlIcl udI
d anybody in de town. 'Oh, no. I reckon
e not said I. Don't you love your chill
q dren?" IVY yes, of course, but l peliev
you would die for your shildurn.
d wouldn't YOU die for yours" said
h He pondered a while. Yes, l pelieve
would; dat is. for all-except Frank.
: Frank was his bad boy. and gave hir
1t trouble; but Frank turned out to be
,e good boy, and is one of the best citizen
s of Atlanta.
n One OF my best old-time friends was
lie Norwegian, and was killed during tn
war. He had some good, amiable daugh
ters, and had two sons. who were bat
very bad, and, as l was mayor of tn
town, they gave me trouble. Their fathe
was a member of the council, an elder
my church, and l had favored his box
= as much as possible; but one night, ju:
- before Christmas, they broke into a hare