The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1902-07-31

~ EAR SON:-Yonrs of some
time ago received. The ad-
vice you gave about the treat
ment of hired men worked
like charm, but / am afraid in trying
to better your instructions went lit
tie too far, as consequence cf which
came very near losing nay life. I had
'Zeke Straitrow and Eli Longfurrow as
regular hired hands and Ruben Hoe
we'll as extra hand. Well, Hiram, /
gave them all dram of whisky three
times day, and told them I might in
crease the dose if they worked well. It
would have done your eyes good to see
them at work. / declare to goodness
have never seen men work like them
before. One day it struck me all of a
sudden if ten cents worth of whisky
will make one man do the work of two,
twenty cents worth of whisky ought
to make one man do the work of four.
Right there, Hiram, is where I made
mistake. / did not know the true ma
ture of whisky, and think it was right
down mean of you not to have given
me warning about OVERRIDING the treat.
ment For when had given my men
a double dose in the morning, I'obserY-
ed they behaved in queer way at the
breakfast table; they laughed and they
talked in a strange way, as if they had
rheumatics in their tongues. After
breakfast they went to the barn to
hitch up and get ready for the days
work-that is, supposed they did; but
they didn't.
When a quarter of an hour had pass
ed and | saw no one stirring, followed
them to the barn and asked the cause
of their delay. They were sitting on
hayrack talking noisily and foolishly.
Zeke spoke first: 81 don't see that it's
any of your gol-durnded business, yer
old skinfint," he bawIed at me in an
insolent manner, which greatly irrita-
ted me. / was at the point of making a
fit reply to his impudent remark when
Eli jumped up and gave me by no
means gentle poke in the ribs and asked
me in anything but respectful man.
ner when | was going to pay that 500
l beat his brother out OF about seven
years ago. He also called me an old
amiser, and said was so mean that even
bedbugs were afraid to bite me, because
they feared poisoning. / was getting
hot under the collar, Hiram, but before
[ had a chance to lay down the law to
them, up jumped Ruben Hoewell. shook
his fist under my nose, and shouted
loud enough to be heard in the next
county: "You c-c-ca-can go to bub-
Observation-Disclosures, for all ca-ca-
care, you Observation-Disclosures old
ho-ho-hossthief. I'll wo-wo-work for
you n-n-no l-l-l-lon-longer." you
know, Hiram, Ruben always shutters
when he gets excited
Well, Hiram, all this was SO strange,
and SO contrary to my notions of pro-
priety that felt it my duty to rebuke
them. For, yoll know, I have no pa
thence with these newfangled notions
which would make. the common work.
man the equal to his employer. There
must be masters and servants, and the
servants must be respectful towards
their masters. All the sages of antiq-
uity upheld this view, and it is hallowed
by the experience of the ages. We
were taught to believe this in our youth,
and I, for. one, will not change my ways
or my opinions in my old age, even if
some do call me an old fogy and a
mossback. Those agitators, those low
principled, loud-mouthed stirrers-up of
discomfort, who go about the country
teaching that before God all men are
equal, and therefore should be on terms
of equality among themselves; or that
the master and the servant are under
mutual obligations to each other, and
that the relation subsisting between
them is but as the relationship between
two parties to contract those per-
nicious fomenters of strife, those up
rooters of long established customs,