The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-12-15

home. for / done want you 10 be away
so. ii you get drunk again II Will be
with the understanding you are gong 70
leave. of your own accord
4 few days after that conversation
l announced my determination to 20 =
fishing. and asked my vile 70 give me
Il basket 81 provisions, enough to la~,
two men a day or two, Is / cTpectei
a friend OF mine to 90 with me. The pro
visions We're packed in the basket while
l was in the garden digging bait. or pro
tending to be digging: tor that was oniS
a ruse. The truth was l was gong Of
to get drunk, and had no need OF bait.
l thought l was throwing dust into my
WIte's eyes, but | wasn't. She saw
through the whole thing. while she acted
as If she though l really was going a
fishing.
a length my friend and |, after We
had gotten several bottles OF liquor.
started out TO Peace's mill, on Steep
Hill Creek. thinking. and laughing over
how nicely we had fooled cur wives; and
every time we had a hearty laugh We'd
take a drink, and then we'd take another
drink to make US have another hearty
laugh. Well. we got down to the pond
Just about the lIme we We're trunk, and
then We forgot all about home ana wives.
We fshed some, and caught enough fish
to make our provisions hold out as long
a. our liquor lasted. | don't know just
how many days that was. | think il
was about a week. We had not become
cool sober when we came back to RAJ
cigh; but, it seemed to me / never did
want to see my wife SO badly, IN all my
life. | passed my house a time or two,
to see how things looked, and finally made
up my mind TO go home, anyhow, be the
consequence what it might. Just before
reaching the house | saw my wife come
out on the piazza, and she Saw me com
ing. Thinking I'd be a little funny, /
pulled off my hat and threw it at her,
trying the while to look sober and walk
straight; but, no sooner did the hat hit
the floor than she kicked it out, half
across the street. knew what that
meant; so, picking UP my hat | went of
and spent another week fishing | had
TO fish that time, for | had no proviS-
lons to go upon At the end OF the week
l was 50 hungry and tired OF fishing !
was determined to go home, and stag
there, if | mad to take a beating, which
l deserved. / walked around town, going
by home every now and then, until my
wife had gone to bed. Then went
around the back way, craWled in at a
window, and crept softly into my wife
room. There she was on the bed, but /
was AFRAID to say q word. | was 50 nun
cry | could have eaten anything. There
was a little light in the freplace-enough
to enable me to find some cold hominy
in the cupboard. As noIselesslv as a
mouse, / got the long handled pan ana
put the hominy into it and putting the
pan on the fire, | sat down to let the
homlny warm a little. But, | dropped
off to sleep, as bad Ia, would have
i, and got to dreaming; in my dream !
thought | was fishing and mad a good
bite. l gave a tremendous jerk, carrying
the pan over my head and throwing all
my pan of hot hominy right over into
my wife's face. She came out OF the bed
like a tornado, and l went through the
nearest window like a whirlwind, carry
inc the sash like q yoke, around my
neck, Tor more than 4 hundred yards, be
fore | got clear Of it. You can all laugh,
but i you'd been IN my fix then YOU
would have felt as badly as | did. / laid
in a fence corner, just out of town. that
night, and as I looked up at the stars,
and thought OF Cod who made them, and
all else, for his creatures, and how goo6
he was even to the ungrateful and the
sinful, and how unworthy ! was, even TO
look TIP toward heaven, I determined, if
L lNeu 70 see the QdyIlSnt, 1 would be
a better man. Yes, | went home the next
day, made peace with my wife, put Ia
the sash | broke out, and Here he
stopped for a moment, while wiping the
tears from his eyes-"and, thank God,
have not tasted liquor since. / am SO
glad to be d member OF this temperance
order, and | do pray that none Of these
young men VIII ever bring the trouble
into their homes that l brought into mine:
nor waste their time anG money as
wasted mine"
l think it was in 1917 that ! heard
that speech, but as go back in nv
thoughts to that incident, it seems as ii
It were but yesterday. Most Of the faces
| looked upon that night are gone to be
seen no more in the flesh. Yet. on how |
real, ! see old uncle John Palmer, Lewis |
Peck. William ~Stronach, a. NJ. German
j. J. Litchford. James Puttick. Mark VIII
liams, Rev. Daniel Culbreth. Sevmore w.
Whiting and many others, who, fifty years
ago We're laying the foundations Of i
mighty movement that viii, l trust, sweet |
the liquor traffic, with all of It's evils. from |
this community before another generation |
has passed.
/ have before me an address. on the sub |
Ject OF temperance, delivered by SEYMOUR |
W Whiting, Esq, father Of the Whitirg |
Brothers OF this city, at the dedication
OF the Wake Forest Division Hall, April
md, 1898, which shows how wisely and
firmly and ~resolutely the temne~anco
OF fifty years ago, were pIanninr
a campaign that WIS to be carried on |
until the enemy had been, not only driven
from the held, but vanquished. I remern-
Der Mr.. Whiting as a polished gentlemen
and pleasant speaker, and more than
that, a man OF unusual ability. as =
thinker and writer: a man who !, ~
Conclusions alter mature thought AID
thorough investigation, and when con
were reached, did not fear n
speak his sentiments. not to do vhat
an enlightened judgment dictated. Il i
rot saving too much. and / take plea SIRE !
IN writing It, that he left behind him
VINO are following in the footsteps
ana whose goodly examples they take
in initiating.
l paid my taxes a few weeks ago and
1~1