The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-10-01
WHAT DO WE THINK OF 1T?

What do YOU think or a TapDiA
being paid as a marriage fee
Wen. thai il what was paid one
Of our popular Chatham preach
crs gone time < by a happy
groom as the Zee for marrying
him.-Chatham Record.
what do We think OF it," We
think that this is the hnal proof that
the non Of the world viii never
be satisfied with a single standard 81
currency. We think that what the
battle OF 1896 was fought about has
been proven in history in spite OF the
result. We think that it = a homelF
and practical Illustration Of the truth
that you shall not place upon the
brow of labor the Cross Of Cold or
anything else. SO long as the ood
and the fields and the great primal
forces Of nature produce for mans en-
engagement, happiness and profit, the
meats OF the field as we'll as the fruits
thereof. We think that the rabbit
laid upon the altar or Hymen is tie
recognition of two things that are tie
consolation Of him who would view
the world through optimistic glasses:
that a nan will give up anything for
the woman he wants to wife, and that
the Chatham rabbit is now in theors,
as he has long been in practice, a good
and sufficient legal tender.
1t is surprising, also, that in the
conflict that was waged about the
question of a monetary ~tandard the
claims Of the Chatham rabbit should
have been overlooked. He had every
thing to commend him. He was uni
form in quantity II price. Ills un-
limited coinage never exceeded the de-
mand nor has it ever been Of 4 sort
to disappoint the supply. Times may
change, panics may come, good crop
years and bad crop years may en-
barrass in a hundred different ways,
but the Chatham rabbit is inexhausti-
bic in quantity and invariable IN
No matter what the condi-
ton of the market. the Chatham rab-
bit takes his place and holds it. Ac-
cording TO the fiXed ratio tive the
modern devices for his capture n
ham rabbit constitutes a source of pro-
duction that is at once ample and GER
tain. The demand prevents deprecia-
ton; the supply balances enhance
ment. In fact the Chatham rabbit
affords the compromise of legal tender
between the old tobacco currency of
Virginia and the modern fallacy OF
a single standard based on one rare
metal. The rabbit is rare and yet plen-
lIn &c NOT AurnnI Nv n tIl1SI
requires no elaborate machinery
to produce. He is not subject to finaE-
cial stringency, to the inroads of
vegetarian societies, to the Sherman
or the Elkins bill. He is. or all
the farms of all the people, for him
self first and the people afterwards.
survives and continues in a con.
slant iteration of fairness and sweet
ness and juiciness a standard of bar
gain and trade that has existed from
antiquity and will continue into per
petuity.
The Chatham bridegroom was 4
wise man and the author of his hap
piness a contented parson The bride
groom gave for what he received not
in value but in the coin of apprecia-
ton. The minister received, not only the
full satisfaction that follows from be-
the agent of the highest bliss, but
the most savory remembrance of ser
vice we'll performed. Between the
twO-as the token of gratitude and the
of duty-the rabbit dispensed
odours about the manse and gave
freely to the feast. Barbe-
cued and vinegary, he steamed into
nostrils of those that gathered
him the promise of the inner
satisfaction that he did not deny,
While, to the bridegroom and his
bride, in the first flush of marital joy
it bore the satisfying consciousness
they had left behind them a
fragrantly symbolical of h de-
light that they too one in the other,
AS a perfect medium of compensa-
ton and of JOY what could exceed the
b~lushing carcass of a Chatham rabbit?
contend that his s~uperlative is not
known and we are jOyed to consider
that his kind viii never decrease. AS
the ~sternest enemy OF "race-suicide'
as well as the complete fulfillment of
requirements of a tender that is
never Observation-Disclosures legal or not
commend the Chatham rabbit,
in his long ears to mark his
and nativity, as the perfect
marriage fee!