Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1909-05-08
A FARMERS TALK TO FARMERS.
Contrast-What Makes the Difference in Appearances
Who is to Blame for the Dfferences-Worry
Makes Wrinkles and Doesn't Advance Crops-Points
for Improvement

can't plow and SOW and plant when
we want to. In May and June and
July and the rest of the months we
worry about something else. 1t doesn't
make much difference what it is or
when it is, We worry; get into a regu-
lar stew" sometimes have what our
wives call "conniption fits"
Bless your dear hearts, don't ! know
how it goes? When ! write this way L m
lashing myself as often as you. The
same poison is in my blood. Why, this
very May morning, sunny and bright,
but with a raw, gusty wind blowing
after the long storm, I'm starting Il
new crows track on the northwest
corner of my massive brow by worry
Ing over the danger that the wind will
break down my Lima bean poles, as il
did last summer And the Limas aren't
even planted yet! Did anybody ever
do anything sillier? Can l possibly
charge any one of you with anything
more absurd? Let me own up, frank :,
", that one object l have in writing
this Is to shame myself out of my own
morbid foolishness. l haven't yet
reached that state of moral perfection
when l can strenuousls lay the CAD
on myself without wanting to side
wipe the other fellow, just to have
company in th4 discipline.
Now, what's the good of this sort of
worrying? We know what annoyance
it breeds; what good does it dc? None;
none at all Mind you, worry and fore
sight are two very different Thugs.
Webster defines foresight as "a provi-
dent care of futurity; prudence in
guarding against evil" That's a good
thing, q necessary thing; indeed, the
one essential thing upon which we CO.
workers with freaky Nature depend for
all the success we can squeeze out of
the enforced partnership. We've sim
ply got to look ahead and plan ahead;
to foresee dangers and provide against
them; to prepare for accidents; to
make insurance of some sort against
ulpredfctable chances. We need to use
in this way, all the knowledge we can
gain and all the experience we have
acquired from the past. But having
done all this having gone as far as
we know how. what-on-earth is the
use Of worrying about what we can't
help? Webster defines worry as "a
state Of undue solicitude." There you
have it. undue" solicitude. And I'M
due means "disprOportionate, excessive,
iInmoderate, tnordinate."
We must be soIicitous as regards our
work and our outlook. But there's a
big black line dividing due from undue
solicitude; foresight from worry. Take
those beanpOles, for example: I've al
ready got down a lot Of strong. tough
hornbeam and hickory saplings from
the hill: I've sharpened them we'll
I'm going to make deep holes with
crowbar, and stick them at least
sixteen or eighteen inches into the
ground; Pm going to lamp the dirt
around them. I'm going to experiment
with some by "wigwaming' them to-
ar1t Env IN, -.
to see II that old fashioned plan will
help them sustain themselves against
the July thunder gusts, when they are
draped in luxuriant vines, with sails
set to catch all the wind there is. And
now, having done what I can, and
planned as wisely as l know how, I'm
going to STOP WORRYINGi II the
wind blows 'em down, down they'll GO
If that's got to happen all my worry
ing won't stop it; if it is not going to
happen all my worrying would be just
wasted, anyway.
IF fellow could only shake himself
out of himself, once in a while, so he
could look at himself from the out
side. what a lot he'd learn about him
self that he doesn't know now! Fig
uratively speaking. 1t would be a
mighty good thing to do. And. in some
measure, we can all do 1t. Next time
you get into one of your blue or yellow
states. Just grind the brakes right
down, hard, and try to look at your
self and your worriment as Bill Smith
would look at them. Perhaps you may
not quite like Bill Smith: he may not
be your ideal of a farmer or a man.
But just try, for two minutes, to look
at yourself through his eyes. Or Il
Bill is too i'm possibly shiftless, take old
Grand dad Hopkins and try to realize
how your bothering appears to his
shrewd but kindly optics, which have
looked at the changing chances of
many long years.
You never nain anything by CROSSING
a bridge before you come 10 it. When
you arrive, look out for loose planks
or rotten places and steer clear of
them. But the chances are twenty to
one that there won't be any loose
planks or rotten spots. Even If there
are. it won't spike down the one nor
patch the other for you to begin wor-
rying over them a mile before YOU
sight the creek. When a man has done
all he can, the best he knows. it's time
to unload some Of the responsibility
for results off his own shoulders. and
let the rest of the universe take it's
share.
THE FARMER.