The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1908-01-24
NO FARM LIFE FOR THIS ONE

mo FARM LIFE FOR THIS ONE
A reader who has taken the moral
aud agricultural guide for good
many years tells us that he is glad to
su. wncup 1t up Ia the i'erest OF
the farmer and dilate on the beauties
of farm life but that so far as he is
personally concerned he cdunoC work
up as much enthusiasm over the joys
of q farm life as perhaps he should.
1t is all we'll enough lie says To sit 10
a comfortable office and tell people
about the JOY of living on a farm,
but that he was raised on farm
which fact dulls his bucolic enthusi-
asm TO considerable degree.
He says mat IL wash 3 so Dad up to
the time he was about 10 years old
when the real strenuous life for him
began. In the glad srrlngtime when
he wanted to run 10 the woods or sit
on the creek bank and fish he was set
70 dropping corn. After che field had
been Flowed and narrowed aud cross
| narrowed hlS tSJarf furrONed ana
Oss-furrowed 1t win iigu p!Ow.
LIZ WAS his business to take a bucket
filled with shelled corn and drop or
grams of cOtn a. each intersection
Of the burrows. There was a man
right after him with hoe.
He Insists mat he knows more In
| minute about The man with the hoe
than Edwin Markham did 10 month
He was ustled out OF bed ut O'Clock
III the morning, got breakfast by day
break and was out IN the corn field by
$50 He put 10 seven ana hail
ncurs 10 the forenoon and eight
nours 10 the afterloO1 carrying ri Lin
pail that wound hold gallon oil H. II
ed corn. STUN bling over the clods and
dropping corn
La the afternoon he put In eight
aud hatf hours the Same way. Dc
caslonaily through the day the men
with the hoes wuud get under the
branches of tree and rest while he
Or some other boy Who was dropping
corn would take the water jug and
20 quarter of mile for fresh water.
BY night his legs ached, his back
ached, MS arms ach d, In tacb he
:ched all over. All the consolation
ne got from the elders was the state
ment mat he had growing pains.
He would get TO bed by 8 O'Clock.
He would 60 to sleep 10 spite of the
fact that he was achlng all over and
dream that the man with the hoe
wa pursuing him aud trying 10 chop
off his heels
After the corn sprouted and got big
enough to pillow his father would pillow
the corn with single shovel pillow
and II was his business to trot along
behind and uncover the corn that the
pillow covered with dirt. Dropping
corn out of a tin pail was no oriental
dream Of idle luxury but it was better
than uucovering corn after single
shovel plow. That was a job that
tried boys soul. But about the
worst Job he remembers was the Job
Of whipping potato bugs of the pota
10 vines. That was before the day
of the C0urd 20 beetle.
The old fashioned potato bug was a
long trim built bird that could fly.
Paris green he thinks would have had
no effect On the old fashioned potato
hug. IT. would have thrived on IL
His business was to go along the
potato rows with switch and drive
the hugs off and out OF the path,
Now and then a bug would find its
way under his pants leg and hasten
upward on los way. He would invol
UNFAIRLY slap at the bug and maybe
mash 1t but II was the worst thing he
could do, One of the old fashioned
Jugs was more terrible in death than
ia life. As blister mashed potato
Dug had the Spanish fly skinned a
olock. Az the end of the days drive
his person was generally pretty well
cuyered with large watery bllsters
watch made life seem to him like
otter moskery.
Part of his duty on the farm was to
milk eight COWS Of widely different
compilations and dispositions, nights
and mornings. Some Of the COWS
were of obliging dispositions and gave
down their milk without objection
Others were inclined to be suspicious
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