Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1909-10-02

written Specially for The Bulletin)
A little two line paragraph which l
CHANGED to read in a western farm
paper, recently has been dinging it
self away in the back part of my head
ever siSce:
Don't be a kicker;
Be a booster"
wish some cranky millionaire would
have several carloads of big red pla-
cards-about four feet by six-print
ed with Just those words on them, in
letters big enough to be read by an
old man a hundred feet away. Then
let him cause them to be distributed,
from two to ten in a bunch, 10 the
managers of every public or semi
public enterprise in New England and
the east. State and county fairs would
call for a lot; every newspaper Office
would be glad to ornament itself with
them from sidewalk to cornice; church
fairs and entertainments would find a
few handy; there ought to be at least
one for every two voters at town meet
ings; / think the trolley conductors
would be willing to find place for
some; ] have heard it intimated by
a feminine friend, lately, that some
thing of the sort might suggest new
topic of conversation in one or two
4AHA6C vi ScAAlADobiDAo- anu ~ Jill cAS
so forth.
We've Just got through with our an
nual grange fair. It's just little To-
cal fair, gotten up by one grange and
carried on by it alone. Sometime
may write a letter wholly about that
sort of thing, and it's value to any
local farming community. But not
just now. We had a creditable dis
play in livestock and poultry, a very
superior showing in vegetables and
fruit; and half a dozen other classes,
all Of which caused visitors from with
out TO express their wonder that so
much could be done by one small
grange in one wholly rural town. You
can imagine that the work of the
management. has been not inconsid-
cradle in preparing for and carrying
through all the multifarious details
of a two days exhibit. Every bit of
this work has been volunteer; not one
of the people concerned has got or
will get a red cent in payment. Their
only reward Is in the sense of SER
VICE done.
Well, the last night Of that fair three
or four Of us who had been busy for
two days. helping out in emergencies
and filing unexpected vacancies and
attending to our own exhibits, hap
pened to be grouped together, talk
ing over the fair. Some one casually
mentioned that it seemed to him the
most successful of all the seven we
have held. That's So" cried a sec
ond land / tell you Johnnie Banks
deserves a heap Of credit" Johnnie
Banks is the superintendent A third
took it up: Hes put in weeks II not
months Of planning and hard personal
work getting evCIN thing into shape
haf oct P,rlI khak = frrl,k
have earned at his trade, if he hadn't
taken time from his shop to work for
the fair" A fourth broke in: why
can't we raise little purse to show
our appreciation of his self-sacrificing
labor as we'll as partly repay him
what he's LOST" TIE was appealed to-
why. s-u-r-e," he said, hesitatingly
but wouldn't II set a precedent? Hey,
Jim" to another who was passing;
come over here" So Jim came and
he thought it was, "um'u'm, er-th
why yes, p'raps," but he guessed there
wouldn't be many who'd want to pay
Johnnie Banks for maxim mistakes.
And then George Barton sided in.
''Wa'al, he didn't know he hadn't no.
ticed nothin' very brilliant about the
way things wuz run. And Sister Sa-
rah Gordon stopped long enough pass
ing by, to inject a venomous remark
about there bein' no excuse at all
for givin' premium on brown bread
and corn bread. and none for real old
Iye-'nd-injun."
About this time ! noticed that none
OF the original party were left in the
group. So l, also. evaporated. Evil
IDENTIFY, 1t was getting to be more con-
genial for the kickers than for the
Boosters, right II ere. But 4 was =.
good illustration Of the way in which
every crowd naturally divides into
those two opposite camps And.
brothers and sisters, it's nightly bad
way to divide!
J don't, care what a man does, IL he
does anything he'll make mistakes
The only people who never make mis-
takes are those who never do anything
I've known mighty bright dogs to err
in judgment. occasionally. but I don't
suppose a clam ever made a mistake
IN al its muddy life. And a collie is
OF more use than a clam--on the farm.
certainly.