St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-02-14
"LucKY" AND "UNLUcKY."
Two Kinds of Farmers to BE Found
Everywhere-TO Which Do
You BelOn4s

Last week we had heavy rain
storm, that lasted all night and put
short stop to corn-husking. The
following morning was passing the
home of a prosperous farmer, and
saw him and his hired man short
distance from the house, busy saving
and chopping. AS I knew that he
burned coal, 1 went in to see what he
was doing. On one side was pile OF
waste wood-old posts, the trunks
and large branches OF apple and ma
pie trees, pieces of rails, short bits
of boards, and all sorts of odds and
ends that had been gathered up about
the place-and this they were con-
verting into fre-wood. "You see,"
said the owner, 1--WE are at work this
morning doing what we can to beat
the coal barons. We couldn't get into
the field to husk corn, so we are put
ting this waste material into shape
for use in the stoves. This stuff burns
nicely in my coal-stoves with the adj
dition of small quantity of coal, and
it will make my coal supply last at
least six weeks longer. Whenever 1
have any waste wood of this sort we
haul it to this pile to get it out of
the way, and when we are shut out
of the field by rain we work this into
fire-wood. 1t saves coal and keeps the
yards Clean"
Al said, this man is prosperous
farmer, and just this sort of manage
ment is what has made him prosper
Gus. He is not noted for being a. hard
worker-one of those late-and-early
fellows who work by lantern-light at
both ends of the day-but he is
known to be a steady worker and
good manager. No one ever heard
hired man of his complain that he is
hard man to work for, but many
have heard them say that he is very
particular and wants the work done
right, and that he knows what right
is. He has no advantages over his
neighbors to speak of, yet he is richer
than any of them, and the reason is
plain. His poorer neighbors lay his
prosperity to 'luck.''
Half mile further down the road
lives another farmer who is very "un-
lucky" He is in debt and close run
all the time. The neighbors say
that he is hard worker and has lots
of good sense, but for some reason he
can't get ahead. He begins at least
an hour earlier in the morning than
the other man, and stays at it full
hour later, but ''luck" is against him,
and it is all uphill. When I reached
his place drove into the yard, osten-
sibly to look at his hogs, but really
to discover the source of his ''bad
luck" He was not at home. He had
gone to town because he couldn't get
into the field to husk corn, so his
wife said. Scattered about Tile yards
lay twice the quantity of waste wood
that the other man had piled up. The
hogs had rooted hole under one of
the fences, and he had "stuffed'' it
with pieces of posts and brush. A
small door of the barn had been fast
ened shut by leaning short post
against it, but the pigs had knocked
it down, and several of them were in
side the oats bin scattering the oats
about. His wife appeared to be very
much concerned about this, and re-
marked that he would be "very mad
about it, An hour later l saw him
in town, sitting on bench with a lot
more farmers, chattering and laugh
ing and apparently having a good
time.-Farm and Fireside.