Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1908-04-08
Copyright. by Joseph B. Bowles.)


OF Kindness nor sincerity. It is like
wise fact that If you treat the neigh
borhood in the country where you live
with steady good-nature, an accom-
spirit, and rigid financial
squareness, you will in an incredibly
snort time have gained their good
Will, and they will herald your reputa-
ton abroad as people who are ION
the square,"
10 begin with, people in the country
Will instantly see If you are trying to
obtain little privileges for nothing.
They do not ask to be over-paid, nor
do they want you to get something
for nothing, even If you do hail from
the cities. You will soon be put to
the test as to whether you will lend
any small implement you may have
which they may need to help out with,
as an extra potato-fork, or any tool
which they may chance to have loaned
to someone else, and be out of for the
time. 1t is much more in the manner
of the lender than the value of the
loan. A cheerful lender makes a hit
almost anywhere, and in no place
more than the country. It also is
quite proper to go over and borrow
little salt, -four, lard, or any strict
grocery commodity which you may be
out of, as this shows that you invite
reciprocity in that direction, and have
no foolish pride in pretending that you
are never out of anything.
In paying bills, if you kept neither
cows nor chickens, it was quite as
proper and right to pay promptly as it
was to expect that the produce would
be delivered promptly. Never "dicker"
in the country, or try to cut down a
price. If you think higher price is
asked for than you care to pay, don't
buy. But don't get a reputation for
trying to beat down" on prices. Peo-
pie will simply get so that they won't
sell you anything at all. It isn't
"neighborly'' to assume that they are
trying to get the best of you, and the
standard of honesty is incredibly
higher on the farms than in the cities.
While it is not absolutely essential
that a man should have a good ply
sique in going out on farm, it comes
pretty near it. A man who is too
lazy to work is more respected than
man who cannot work. Everybody
works in the farming districts, even
"Father'-in fact, Father" generally
works the hardest of all; and l have
seen many a gray-haired man work
ing manfully in bitter and stormy
weather, bending sturdily to the task
with all the fire of boy of 20.
Fortunately, my education had not
been neglected in either strength, en-
durance, nor some aptitude in actual
farm work. My year on farm when
boy, and my long apprenticeship in
outdoor life had fitted me in more
ways than one for making something
of dab at various kinds of farm
work. I had forgotten almost how to
hitch up horse, but could still ride
and even drive one after fashion.
still remembered how to "shuck" corn
(and be sure I never dreamed of call
ing it husky, I could and did make
hand" and good one, in the hay
fields or the wheat and oats fields; I
worked my polltax out on the roads
with the balance of my neighbors;
handled an ak probably better than
l did most things, and once showed
a neighbor that 1 had not forgotten
how to draw furrow. He said I lift
ed my feet pretty high as I strobe
down the furrow, but he allowed that
no "tender-foot" could pillow five times
around the field and make as good a
stagger at it as had. Yet it had been
over 80 years since had followed the
pillow. With farm lore I was fairly
proficient, and could probably detect
the salient points of difference be-
tween a two.year-old steer and two
dollar bill as quickly as the average
man.
All this, you may be certain, made
'tneighboring" much easier than it
would otherwise have been. I might
have been the best Greek scholar in
the land and it would have awaited me
not; I might have been able to box the
compass and cap the climax in dozen
different ways and it would not have
meant anything like as much as the
ability to do hard days work with
an ak or pitchfork. Cecile and 1 at
tended the harvesting in all directions
from our place, and she helped in the
kitchens while made a hand in the
fields" It was great fun, as we looked
at it, and while the work was really
hard, especially where the bundles
were heavy and the loads were being
piled high, it was outdoors, and the
watering never paused in its rounds
to the thirsty mortals whose gray steel
tines flashed in the binding sunlight.
We got acquainted with all kinds of
people, and they got acquainted with
US. Gradually the feeling of restraint
which they possibly first had as to the
"city folks vanished and they met us
fully halfway in the desire to be
neighbors.
In the city, you neither look to the
right nor the left as men and women
pass, and it is only to friend or an
acquaintance that you nod. or extend
the greetings of the day. If you are
out for a stroll it is the same. Like
the man in the hymn:
"Whene'er take my walks abroad
How many poor / see:
And as I never speak to them
They never speak to me-"
This would be the height of ill-breed.
ing In the country Won Sau U1o06.