Norwich bulletin., 1910-05-14
81 - LIZA "a
1.-THE FARMERS TALK1
50 TOFARMERS ~
Order is Natures First Law-Aunt Eliza Jane and the
Farmer Do Not Interpret 1t Ake-The Difference
Between Cumulative Order and Handy Order-Or-
der-Mad Folks See Disorder in Handy Order-We
Should Respect One Another's Ideas of Order.

I room for debate She can--and does
say a good deal for her Interpretation.
| Perhaps L say less in advocacy of
| mine. But I'm just as 'sot' in my
adherence to my way as she IS to
| hers. Probably the wisest conclusion
| of the whole matter is that her way
| is best for her and mine is best for
| me. Whether it's wisest or not, We
shall both continue to adhere to our
own ideas, anyway!
Whichever side of the controversy
you favor, dear reader, you'll make
big mistake If you undertake to do
even farming or gardening without
adopting some sort of order in the
keeping and care of your tools and sup
plies and seeds and SO forth had a
lad working for me, once, whose idea
of tools was that when you had finished
hoeing the corn patch, you should lean
the hoe against the nearest fence and
begin something else: when you had
finished wedding the onions, you were
to drop the weeder at the end of the
last row; when you had got the swamp
lot fence fixed UP, you were to leave
the axe lying on the ground wherever
you threw it last Some days later.
when 1 suggested to him that he'd bet
ter hoe out the beets once more. he'd
reply, plaintively. 'I can't find no hoe
Whereupon, it was up to me to do
some detective work. After much Ques-
tioning and a deal of head scratching
T., q
rea sonable suspicion that he must have
used 1t last on ble corn and that, as
he began by the fence on the east side
of the patch he must have finished by
the apple trees on the west side. So
he would wander over there and finally
return in triurnp phi with the hoe; pretty
rusty as a rule, and taking some time
to scour up so it would do decent work,
but the handle still fairly gOod-nOt
wholly rotted away
That kid hasn't any sense of order of
any sort or description. If he ever I'M
dertalxes to be farmer for himself,
he'll waste all his possible profits in
buying tools to replace those he's lost
or mislaid or spoiled carelessly. He'll
And lots Of company in that class,
when he gets into 1t too. The number
Of farmers know who keep their rakes
in the orchard and their plows at the
edge of the woods is too great That
there are so many of them is one ex-
PLANTATION of the fact that SO many
farmers are always in debt and out of
money. There are other explanations,
of course. But the agricl1lturalist who
has a place for his tools and keeps
them in their place and knows where
that place is, other things being equal,
is apt to do more work and better work
and get more returns than his hft-or-
miss neighbor who lacks all sense of
order.
If were asked to define "Order," ac-
cordfng to my understanding of it, the
reply would be as limited above-just
the old phrase, "A place for everything
and everything in it's place" But there's
room for wide variation in choosing
places for things. Years ago the hand
lest place for my box Of tenpenny and
efghtpenny nails was on a projecting
bit of shelf under one end of my work
bench. The box just fitted there and
was out of the way. I soon grew used
m ze II ms n
need a greater variety of nails, put
the spikes in a box on the floor, under
the same end of the bench, and the
shingle-nails in another box on the
floor under the other end. Now I have
also box-nails and tackS and brads in
sort of cabinet made of old cigar box
es, standing on the back side of the
bench, about the middle. Aunt Eliza
Jane can't see amy sense in such a mix |
up. why don't you have your nails |
all together, where you can find them?"
she wants to know. Bless her dear |
heart, they're where they are just SO |
that can find 'em. I had got used to |
finding my fence nails in a certain |
place. When came to add spikes and |
tacks and fourpennies and brads: etc. |
why should / change the tenpennies to |
an entirely new place, where I wasn't |
used to them and where they'd be in |
the way of other things, just TO have !
the nail department of my business |
'1ook'' orderly?
When ones sense of order becomes |
a fetch, which he must worship and |
obey at the cost of convenience and |
comfort, it's neither heavens first nor |
forty thousandth law. It's just a dunn /
nuisance. And when one becomes so i
welded to his own pet order that he |
insists upon com polling others to irni- |
tate him. then he becomes a dunn null
sance. If you have your own place for /
your own things and keep them there, |
is doesn't lie in my mouth to blame you
for what may seem disorder to my eyes
always provided you'll kindly let me
have my own things in my own place.
When borrow Aunt Eliza James scis..
sors, 7 am careful to put them back
under the other things, just as L found |
them. They're her scissors and in her
basket, and in the place she wants
them. When put them back there she
knows where to find them Her sense
of order may not be mine, as mine is
not hers. But we've each an indefeaS-
ib1e right to our own opinions-and no
right to annoy each other by selfish
disregard.
THE FARMER.