The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1904-09-13

III III q q 4AOAh fbUO O4AOhSs
dominion of nature into the freedom of the noisy,
crowded, glittering town. The darkies, too, with
their barbaric delight in show and sound, in pomp
and pretense, and their child-ike love for the new
and the marvellous, derive from the circus an in
tense happiness. How inferior is the pleasure it
gives to the stylishly dressed young lady who sur
veys the crowd with disdainful eyes, and COM
ments on "the queer old creature with the red and
yellow shawl, the green waist and the purple
plumes."
For all, however, the "show day" is a day of
unreality, of detachment from the common round
of life. That is why the fakirs can that day sell
all sorts of things that nobody needs, and why so
many are ready to spend their last dollar to see
the circus or to buy presents for wife or babies,
or candy and lemonade for "the girls and "the
rest of the fellers." Tomorrow will come the
old, familiar duties and csres; to-day we will for
get it all and live only for to-day. We will make
the most of this new, strange, crowded, feverish
world while it is passing, for there will be many
days in which to work and think and live our
wonted lives. Of course, the hard-hearted business
men of the town and the prudent, conservative
farmers do not yield themselves to this feeling;
but the young and the thoughtless, the improvident
and the simple, embrace it with abandon.
Next winter many a hard-earned dollar that has
been spent for an hour of strange sights, or for
worthless baubles, will be needed to buy the neces-
sites of life. Is it wasted then? I am not so
sure. 1t is a great thing to have pleasant memo
ries and beautiful dreams, even if the memories
are only of a day of thoughtless pleasure, and
the dreams are inspired by the tawdy glitter and
dazzle of a circus.
/ went through the day, as did my friends; my
object to have a good time. Accidentally I came
upon a boy and a girl. They were sitting on a
goods box in the rear of a store, and had evidently
forgotten all about the circus and the crowd. He
was holding her hand, and both were looking over
the house-tops at the placid sky. Occasionally,
they glanced at each other, and then |
both smiled, frankly and happily. They were
dressed simply in very evident country style, and
the few words / heard them speak were in un-
deniable defiance of the first rules of grammar.
There was a little bag of som~ething-candy, I
supposed-sitting between them; and as she lifted
her hand to push back the hair which the breeze |
blowing into her eyes and mouth, she knocked
it over. Neither noticed it, and her hand fell
back into his. It was evident that both we're
poor; he was not handsome, and. she was not
pretty; but what did these things matter? They
were in love. .cNl
As quickly and quietly as possible I withdrew.
though they would have needed me no more than
they did the hustle and noise of the crowd. They
will remember that day, not for it's sights and
sounds, but because it was a day of the heart. For
under all the panoramic changes of outward cir
the great realities of life steadfastly
E. E. MILLER.
Morristown, Tenn.
There is an old negro living in Carrollton,"
H. Ro.==>-Ll 49, .-u-.-l