Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1909-09-24
THE FARMER THAT WAS.
washington Post)

An anxious enquirer wants to know
what has become of the man that used
to carry a cabbage leaf in the crown
of his hat to ward off sunstroke.
We remember him we'll. He wore
other things besides the cabbage leaf
and hat; items, bluejeans trousers, a
brown jeans coat, a cotton shirt, wool
en- socks, and coWhide boots, the last
named coming in wooden box, big at
one end and little at the other begin
ming with No. twelves-men's size
and tapering down to the copper toes
for the small fry. In the winter-time
he creased his boots with mutton tall
low to render them soft and pliable,
but even then it required the COM
bined efforts of bootjack and the en-
tire family to begin his undressing.
He built his barn on the crest of the
hill and his house in the valley below,
SO as to be near the spring. Tradition
and the almanac governed his farming
methods He planted his potatoes in
the dark of the moon and his beans in
the light of the moon, and split his
cows tail to cure her of the "boller
horn" He rose at in the morning,
fed the stock by lantern light, and sat
on the fence waiting for dawn to en-
able him to work in the field His
wants were simple. The farm products
supplied the table with almost every
thing except sugar and coffee These
he traded for at the store" giving in
exchange spring chickens at to 10
cents apiece and eggs at 10 to IS cents
a dozen. At hog-killing time he had
fresh meat as long as the sausage and
spareribs lasted. After that he went
from bacon to ham, and then from
ham to bacon, with a kit of salt mack
erel added about twice a year His
social diversions were few In sum-
mer he was too busy, and in winter the
roads were too bad for much travel.
In spite of that he got to the county
seat occasionally and served on the
jury two or three times Once he went
to the city as the nearest metropolis
was vaguely designated. After that
event he was wont to shake his head
at unexpected moments and mutter,
Such rippin' and rarin'!"
Readers of certain class of maya
zines imagine that his favorite oath
was by Heck" but this is a mistake.
Il granny and plague take it" were
his strongest expletives as a rule, the
former indicative of modified form of
ancestry worship, while the latter
bears evidence of a transmitted Eng
lis oath, it in turn barking back to the
days of London's pestilence. All in all,
his was drab-colored existence, brok-
en- but not frightened by hog cholera,
quarterly interests, and annual taxes.
Like as not, the whole thing ended by
his getting caught in cold rainstorm;
then came sudden chill and pneu-
monia, or, as they called it then, "the
mortgage to his eldest son and told
everybody he was "willin' to CO." and
no one seemed to doubt it.
So that's what has become of him.
Another reigns in his stead, but every
thing has changed. Other times, other
manners. His successor has a house
on the hill, with hot-water heat and
electric lights and a bath tub The
mortgage has been replaced by bank
account. Macadam roads, tailor-cut
clothes, an automobile. scientific farm
ing, rural free delivery, cows MIXED
with suction pump, eggs 80 cents a
dozen, butter 40 cents a pound-cash.
Where is the man with the cabbage
leaf? Non est. we tell you He is as
extinct as the dodo,