The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1904-07-16
FARMER AND PLANTER.
THE THINKER THE WINNER.
rhe Man who Deyises Labor saving
Appliances is Not Necessarily
Lazy Man.

A few days ago saw boy harrow
ing a field for corn. The ground was
very rough. He had three horses
hitched to the harrow, and small log
weighing about a hundred pounds tied
on top Of 1t. and he was walking. 1t re-
minded me OF the happy days Of yore,
when | used to do the same thing,
trudging back and forth across the
field until every bone and muscle ached
like bad corns. 1t also reminded me OF
a certain occasion when was hired
man. The farmer | was working Tor
was first-rate fellow, but he had an
exalted opinion of his own methods,
and took suggestions from others
whom he considered his interiors with
very bad grace. One day ] was har-
rowing, like the boy mentioned, with
small log fastened on the harrow to
make it take hold" better. AS Twas
Obliged to lift the harrow up once or
twice every round to clear out the
trash, it@occurred to me that 1t would
be o. good idea to throw off the log,
lay on a short board, and ride. This
would not only save leg-Inuscle, but
also back-muscle in lifting the harrow
to clean the teeth rendered the sug-
gestion in a modest way, and was told
that if l was too lazy to walk mule
would be purchased to carry me. An
other of his methods was to throw the
manure cut of the stable every morn
ing during the week, and on Saturday
afternoon load 1t onto an old sled, draw
it direct to the field and spread it. /
suggested that it would save time and
considerable labor to leave the manure
in the stable all the week instead OF
throwing it out to be scratched about
by the hens, and on Saturday draw the
sled close to the door, and throw it di-
rectly upon the sled. He said he
thought l must certainly lie awake at
nights contriving plans and methods
for avoiding work. About q week
later m uncle Of his dropped in just at
noon. He lived about thirty miles dis
tant, and farmed seven hundred acres
of land, and his opinion in matters
agricultural was considered in that
household as equal to gold. After put
ting up his horse. came in, and was
introduced as a "natural-born genius
for avoiding labor" Then my en-
ployer related the harrow and stable
incidents. After the laughing was over,
the uncle dryly remarked, "If / had a
man On my farm who would weight a
harrow with log and walk after 1t
I'd have him examined for lunacy, and
IT, one of my men should move the
manure out of the stables to any other
place than right onto the field where l
want it he would get his discharge be-
fore light Don't you know, Jim, that
one rain-storm will wash out third
of the value of stable manure? If it is
in the yard, that third is wasted; if it
is on the land, that third goes into the
soil" After that my genius for avoid
ing work" was never referred to.
once heard lady speaker at a
farmers institute tell how her mother
gave her a little object-iesson that
lasted-one that had helped her
through many difficulty. She was
very busy woman, and that day was
making pies for the threshers expected
the next daV. MARY" she cried, "go
Into the pantry, and get me the CHINA
mon-can off the third shelf" Little
Mary went into the pantry, and found
that the third shelf was just beyond
her reach. She came out, and said she
couldn't reach it. Her mother wrapped
her hand in towel, grasped chair
that stood just outside the pantry, set
it close to the shelf, then turned, and
giving Mary a little spat, She said:
Now, Ounce, get me that cinnamoni"
Mary said she otter afterward Won
dered why she never thought of the
chair when she found she could not
reach the shelf. After that lesson she
said she had done hundreds Of things
that would balk nineteen out of every
twenty women. Whenever she found
that any one way of accomplishing
certain object was impracticable, she
Immediately set her wits to work to
discover some other plan, and rarely
hail she failed. If anything connected
with her cooking went wrong, she at
once set about finding the cause and
remedying the evil. Where most
women sit down and cry over what
they term their bad luck, g said she, II
roll up my sleeves and seek out the
cause and a remedy. And do not con-
slider myself one atom smarter than
thousands of other women. l make
mistakes-lots of them-but I try to
never make the same one twice. One
of the greatest steps to success is to
do things. If you can not do them one
way, do them another, and you are
bound to WIN"
One Of tho principal hindrances to
success, find, is the desire to avoid
responsibility desire to let some
one else solve the problems of manage
ment. 1t is much easier to follow the
lead, or be guided by some one else and
do as directed, than to think and plan
and manage for ones self. We have a
thousand men and women laborers to
one tliinker-to one who can success
fully plan and manage. The man VINO
thinks for himself will not remain
mere laborer very long. We see him
step forth and resolutely grapple with
the problems of management, and in
q short time he is the owner Of farm
or business of his own, and has that
air OF independence about him that no
mere laborer ever acquires A little
fellow who few years ago was
farm hand, but is now the owner of a
good sorty-acre farm, all paid for ex-
cept about i've hundred dollars, said
to tho writer. Il tell you, 1t took some
mighty close thinking and working.
didn't have any thoughts for the po-
litical situation, nor what my neigh
bors we're doing My whole mind was