The Elbert County tribune., 1906-08-30
HONOR The FARM
FARMER SETS THE STANDARD OF
INTELLIGENCE.
IS NO LONGER sNEERED At
Cannot Be Distinguished by His Dress
Is Not Awkward in Manners-is
Educated and Has Come to the
Front in Politics.

Is Not Awkward in Manners-Is
Educated and Has Come to the
Front in Politics.
| Time was, and not SO long ago, when
| 1t was a common remark that the audi
ences in the agricultural districts could
be identified by their clothes. The
countryman was dressed as laborer.
and had no best suit. That time has
passed. The political lecturers who go
out in all sorts of weather to instruc.
| the people, find that the farmer is
likely to come to the meetings good
deal better dressed than the dweller in
the small town. The farmer takes a
pride in looking well, and his wife and
daughters do the same. He is no more
the creature of the caricaturists' pic
| lures and has more the appearance OF
well-to-do merchant than that of a
toiler in the fields. He has the pres
ence and the ability to preside over
the meeting If called upon, and it has
not been unknown that the farmer del
egate was the victor in a tussle for su-
premacy between the smart lawyer
and the representative of Wayback
township. The lyceum that the teacher
of the district school was so eager
to organize has become fixed educa-
tional feature of the country, and 1t
often happens that the farmer is SO
well grounded in the principles of par
liamentary practice that he is the SUI
perior of many of the city inhabitants.
He Is thus informed on many matters
of usage that are not to be picked up
in the field, and he remembers to
practice them when he comes to the
city for business and pleasure.
To be sure the green goods man and
the bunco steerer are not yet out OF
jobs, but they are shorter and shorter
on victims every year, and when they
do get a victim 1t is usually one from
tho remotest backwoods, and who has
not read the papers. The chances for
making living out of the farmer by
selling him lightning rods and taking
his note for patent right are getting
less each year and soon there will be
none so poor as to do reverence to
these old stand-bys. The early pro-
moters of these tricks were good liv-
ers. They found the farmer could be
worked" in the easiest possible man
ner. They took his money with an ease
that was the envy Of the business man,
and showed that there was nothing so
simple as humbugging. But they find
cold comfort now, and the papers are
parture of some sharper from farm
ing community to avoid the vengeance
of awakened people.
The cause of education is favorite
one with the farmer, and here is seen
the most startling progress. There is
an advance that ought to be convinc-
ing as to his forward march in the
| worlds graces. The days when the
boy on the farm was considered suffi-
| ciently educated If he had the three
| RE at his finger ends-or fairly within
reach, which was the more likely-are
no more. The schools of the coun-
| try districts over the West are fully
| equal to those of the cities, compared
with the respective needs of the COM
munities. The country districts that
| have only three months school, as
provided by the laws of most of the
states, are few and far between.
Nearly every western state has at
| least six months school in every dis
trict. and many have eight and nine.
Then there are county high schools
| for the benefit of the country boys and
| girls that were unknown in the old
| times. Then the boys who went to
the town school got along very well be-
cause they could whip those who
] were not civil, but the girls had many
| a crying spell before they were able
to get on the right side of their school
| friends. The line of clothes and bear
ing was drawn, in spite of the best eff
| forts of the teachers. and the country
| girl had to suffer. Now they have their
own schools, and are making the same
| progress as their city cousins-and
| good deal larger number of them are
| becoming well educated. Time was
when only the very rich people of the
| towns had the enjoyment of carriage,
but now there are few farmers who
| cannot go to church or to the county
seat In spring wagon or buggy. The
| farmer boys have their side-bars ana
the country correspondent of the local
paper duly chronicles the fact and
warns the girls to look out and see If
they cannot get a ride. When Virgil
wrote so blithely of the joys of the
farmers life he had little conception
of the real thing. He knew nothing
of the comforts that have come in
| these latter days to ameliorate the lot
of the dweller in the country, or the
many appliances that were, after his
day. to give relief from the cares and
| burdens which his countrymen so
thoroughly realized. = Agricultural
Epitomist.