The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-09-18

| trust.
''In my time. when considered my
self in de swim, if I ARMED two dollars
\ put away at least fifty cents agin
| sickness or old aige- OATS what we
preached to each odder-economy and
saving Dat looked like good policy,
but / have libed to see how foolish it
was compared to de up to date idea
| De thing am to arm two dollars and
| spend three, and to figure dat you am
gwire to lib a thousand years.
Oar was a time when man,
word was good for somethin' in bust
ness If you went to merchant to
buy he told you the truth about MS
goods If you hadn't de money to pay
he took your word and trusted you
How primitive! how silly compared to
today! Find me a man who'll take a
tradesman's word. Find me trades
man who'll take a customers WORD:
We look upon each odder as liars and
dead BEATS and as a matter of fact we
are. We have to be to keep ahead OF
de odder Teller. When a man says he
will do thus and so you wonder IL ne
hain't lynn When he GIBBS you his
note of hand you worry fur fear dat
he won't meet it. When he sends word
dat he am ready to pay 1t you look
for a niger in de woodpile. When he
has paid it and you have de money in
your pocket you feel sort o con-
tempt fur him dat he was honest.
''In de old days when bought
hoe 1t was a hoe. De same wild shoes
or hat or groceries. De seller made
his profit and his goods war honest.
When you go to buy a thing nowadays
under ris up-to-date system, you am
swindled, first in what you buy, and
next In de price of it. Oar am swim
| dies in verifying you eat, wear and
use. We not only swindle our own
people, but de world at large We
send de heather Chinese bibles and
missionaries and tracts. and we also
send him cottons filled wild clay to
make 'em weigh heavier.
NOW and den, In de old days gone
| nebber to return, I used to. ask few
| nayburs to drap in of an evenin'. We
| had a pitcher o cider, a pan of apples
and some popcorn and all enjoyed
| deirselves. was invited ober to de
house of Brudder Givadam Jones de
| odder evenin'. He said 1t was gwine
| to be a simple affair. Oar was six
! kinds of cake, wine, ice cream and ci-
| CARS and when de eattn' and drinkin
! was ober we had music on de phorio-
| graph. I hain't sayin' a word of criti-
| cism. Brudder Jones Arms SIS week
| and hasn't a cent in de bank, but de
| up to date programme must be fol-
| Tered or he would be out of de swim.
| Even If he can't get a doctors pre-
| scription filed he must make bluff
| ct hope it might be different out in
| de kentry, whar 1t used to seem to
| me dat God libed most of de time, and
| de odder day I took a wander to git
near Him. Wall. found a farmer who
/ charged me five cents for a glass or
/ buttermilk dat was gwine to de pigs;
/ I found a boy who called me an old
| Niger; I found a farmers wife who
| said 1 looked like a thief; I found
| country grocer who asked me two
! cents too much fur paper of smokin'
| tobacco; / found a constable who
| wouldn't let me lie down. on de green
| grass, and 1 found farmers hired
man who wanted me to change a bogus
half-dollar fur him and cuffed me be-
| kase 1 wouldn't. God wasn't out dar.
| 1t was all man. man, man-de same
| sort o. man dat you meet in de city
de UP to date man.
at looked and looked and looked,
but I found nuthin' like it used to be.
| 1t was keep off de. grass bekase de
grass was with money. You mustn't
lean agin de trees. bekase de trees was
sold. You mustn't wander in de wood
| bekase a Trust owned 'em. You mustn't
| fish in de brooks, wander in de med
| ders nor hunt fur blackberries. -
II come home disappointed and dis
/ couraged and wild tears in my eyes. bat
| I'm not gwine to kick. Progress has
| dun all dis. and have failed to keep
up wild de purceshun. I'm has-been.
| I'm back-number. Let us break de
| meetin' in two and go home. -CCopy-
righted. 1907, by P. c. Eastment.)
ri ~