The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-03-11
i" "Slab's" Rurlilations.
Editor The Manning Times:

Editor The Manning Times:
It's been a good while since l wrote
anything for you, and if I thought
there was any good in it, could fix up
pile of excuses high as a low pine
tree. but there amt no good in that.
People are all the time making too many
about every thing that don't go exactly
right any how. 1t don't matter much
what happens to a fellow, he can al
most in general fix up good excuse.
For instance we can take our same old
''wool hat crowd" You just let a fellow
make poor crop and he'll pile up ex-
cuses for you IN hurry-Says he ooh
there was too much rain: nobody could
make crop if it rains all the time"
Next man: "Oh that plagney old land
is LOO poor: how you expect me to make
crop on land that makes COW peas
grunt to get up." Well that's out of
| 20. You fellows know how it is. Just
once out of every fifty you will find a
fellow honest enough to say, well, 1
must tell the truth: that there crop
didn't get justice: if I had just plowed
it one more time, or if l had fixed the
land right before I planted, it would
have done better" Amt that right?
Amt that along in the line of facts
and ''fggers?" 1t don't take the best
land nor the most manure to make the
best crop every time. But you just
show me fellow that hits 'em" and
';hits 'em" hard and regular from Mon
day morning, sunrise, until Friday
evening. sundown. and 1 just bet youa
nickle against dime he'll make crop.
And especially if all this elbow-grease
is mixed along with little good Judge
ment.
Two fellows was going along the
road, and they were in their own coun-
ty, that is they lived there abouts and
knew the land and the farmers that
worked the land. They came to one
farm that showed thrift and energy: a
good crop well worked, enc Of the fel-
lows that knew, remarked: That
there crop amt got nothin' under 1t
but elbow-grease and the grace er
God :" The very next farm they came
to was just as good land and II anything
better. 1t was half worked, grassy
and little puny looking crop that wasn't
goin' to make anything. One Of the
fellows asked the other one, who was i
regular cid one CALLERS wool hat farm
er. How come that crop so little and
poor:" The fellow studded little and
said: ';That's jist about as good as
Godermity could do by his self" The
fellow was in dead earnest. He knew
the man hadn't worked his crop and as
a consequence hadn't made anything,
and that was his way of telling a plain
fact. And just tell you what's fact,
he came about as near hitting the nail
square on the head as any 30 dollar
lawyer could have done.
It seems to me that we have got a
promise some where that the good
Master is going to help a fellow if he'll
try to help himself, and don't know
whether he has promised to help a fel-
low that is proportional with 9 streaks
of ':laZv'' 10 one of ';smart" or not. Oh
it's so nice and easy to sit down in the
shade in them ''valler June days, and
listen to the singing of lark that sits
in a tree close by, and all the time that
same larl, is a singing as hard as he
can Lazy kill you. Lazy kill you"
Fellows, listen for that lark and don't
let him sing that song. Ifyou happen
to be sitting down in the shade and he
comes and lights on a tree close to you
and starts to sing that little song, jump
up and run him off: make him go tc
somebody elses field to sing. Now
some of YOU fellows what's got an Of
! fee, and can sit down in the shade and
get living, may think this all bosh,
but the wool hat brigade. the bone and
sinew of the land. the fellows that work
in the broiling sun until their hands
and faces are as ''yallers'' as a pumpkin
they know. They know it takes man
to stand. There's an old saying, III
YOU can't stand hot grease. get out OF
the Kitchen That's it! Don't be a
hallway nethin'." Either be good
farmer or go to Manning and be a good
loafer. We don't,need any loafers on
the farm. Farm work don't agree with
'em nohow.
Break up your land good fellows. and
half the battle will be won. And don't
plant to much crop. That's the trouble
with lots and scores of US. We get too
greedy in the spring and plant too
much. Plant less and fix it better.
There amt many of us that can see
very far ahead of our noses, but it
strikes me that that's extremely the
case with the tobacco farmer. With
the trust toughling up things as they
are now. it just strikes this here scribe,
that the fellow that can't make a quail.
ty of leaf this year that somebody will
want and want bad, there won't be
much price hitched to it. Try to make
big tobacco fellows, something that the
buyers will want.
Local news is scarce Everybody is
trying hard to plow some between
showers.