The Iuka vidette. (Iuka, Miss.) 1894-1912, 1910-06-16
Census Reflections.
The 18th census of the u

Nay 81, at IL NJ. but when ten
nq9'e years shall have rolled
around, for another to be taken,
what a change! Instead of with
portfolio afoot," the census tax
er will sail through the air, instead
of wandering through gullies, over
hills and along uncertain laby-
rinthian paths, electric shuttles
will play through ways prepar-
ed" Your census taker sought
in the byways and hedges to
gather them in" ard enroll them
on the great family record of IN
Gle Sam. He strolled through
cornhelds and cotton, through
boys and creeks, through dense
woods and deep hollows, elm bed
fences, leaped over ravines, fol-
lowed supposed roads, crept
through hedges in search for the
living. Where he found them,
there they were recorded; in the
various vocations of life-in the
the fields, in the kitchen, on porches
in barns, in stables. in the woods,
on plowbeams, in wagons, in gar
dens, on scaffolds, on house tops;
while blowing. while hoeing and
planting, while cooking, while
milking;in health and sickness the
work went on. Men in the pub
lie highways were held up and
enumerated;men in the fields stop
he'd their plows to chat with I'm
Gle Sam, and women gave him in
formation while cooking their
meals, milking the cows, or,watch-
ing the children. Children would
count their fruit trees, their chick
ems, their pigs to be ready to tell
Uncle Sam. The information was
cheerfully given by all that could.
In one instance 14-year-old girl
gave the complete family record
and farm schedule while her moth
er was out fishing and her father
away at work. All seemed to be
delighted to hear the tread of I'm
Gle Sans representative and his
interest in their affairs, and every
mark of respect and courtesy was
shown him. Even frogs in Dogs
and pools ceased their croaking
when they heard the tread of his
footsteps, as ne passed through
woods and hollows; snakes would
gaze at him for a moment and
gracefully glide into dense thick
cts; squirrels would leap and greet
him with frolicsome capers; owls
would hush their lonesome boot
ing in wooded hollows; pines moan
ing with deep signs would lapse
into silence as he treaded his way
into unknown regions. So earn
est was the visit of Uncle Sam
that neither heat nor rain, nor
thunder, nor hail would stop his
visits. AT night, figures and
phantoms of men, women, chill
dren, twins, geese, chickens, milk
and butter, eggs, horses, mules,
fruit trees, cabbage. corn, cotton,
pigs, and frogs, would dance in
violent commotion and haunt him
in his dreams. On the morning
after the earth passed through the
tail of Halley's comet, TO him the
sun rose in the west instead of the
east; but realizing that the census
was not yet finished, he Gained
the stormy fears of the supersti-
tious by assuring them that the
world must still move on. Some
times bewildered he would roam
along lonely winding wood paths
in search of inhabitants, but re-
turn to the place from which he
long-ago started. Wading through
streams, tramping through mud,
belated he would come to farm
er's cottage, yet always welcome
to any comfort that could be adj
muistered. No refusal, no denial
of the best the family could offer.
Such a spirit of kindness to the