The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-08-16

finest ever-the crisp barbecue beng
cooked after the style Of the immortal
Henry w. Peele, Of Wilson and Edge
thority upon barbecue as Agassiz was
upon everything connected with ma
ture. I have never found 1T in my
heart to blame that ma in China,
who, knowing no other way to bar
becue a hog than to burn down a
house, became Charles Lambs noted
house burner. Barbecue is almost
| good enough to cause a mar to COM
NIT arson if the savory smell of the
burning pig reaches a hungry man.
Well, we didn't have to commit any
crime to-day-all we had to do vas
to eat and eat of DR.. Blalock's succu-
lent pig and Mrs. Blalock's "ixings,'
and thank God for the room / had
inside Of me-" When the doctor in
Vited me to come out to eat cue l
thought that was the only good thing
in sight except the swapping jokes
with the doctor and his brother and
my old friend Adams, but | found
when the Simpkins automobile col
lege stopped tina the doctor had really
In part invited me to bring Mr.. Simp-
kins out to show the worlds cham
pion cotton grower some cotton that
is cottonl Right in front of the doc-
tors house lie thirty acres of land
which is naturally good and which he
has enriched until it does one good to
see how rich it is. Upon that land
the doctor has a crop Of growing cot
ton more beautiful in the luxuriance
OF it's beautiful blooms and bOlls han
any conservatory you ever saw. The
stalks are loaded with bOlls-some
containing 10, $50, 185 bolls-and the
whole thirty acres in such prime con
dition as to make certain of a great
crop. DIR. BIa1ocl's enthusiasm as he
showed US over the crop was beautiful
to see. and he has a right to be enthu-
~siastic, for he has put himself into
that crop and labored early and late
TO make it reach its present perfec-
lion He rallied Mr.. Simpkins to say
1t was 1.-The best cotton crop in the
county" but he could get only an ad-
mission that he had seen none better
eA1SpL III LtS " ~ 10 DIddI
full, and everybody who passes this way
stops to admire it.
About two years ago DR.. Blalock
fee and stated that he decided to
move to the new State Of Oklahoma.
He had been reading Of the po.sibili-
ties there and thought it was the land
of opportunity. I ventured to urge
him not to move, ever telling him he
was too old to max the change, and
told him that he could do just as Well
in Wake county if he would exert
himself as much as he would in the
mind and started West, as SO many
other North Carofinaans have done.
He did we'll there. and saw that he
could succeed. but he found AFTER
reaching Oklahoma that North Caro-
lima was as good a State as any, and
he began to ask himself why he
should stay away from the land of his
fathers and his friends. The more he
thought of it the stronger came the
determination to come back home.
and he dropped everything and fol-
lowed the pFomptings of his heart-l
and his head, too. Now he is doing
as Well here as anybody ought to want
to do anywhere. Il thought" he said
today, when ] reached Oklahoma.
Of your emark that [ ought to stay in
my own State, and that | was too old
to make a new home. I came back
and [ have never regretted it"
In every decade in the history Of
the State. particularly since 1910, IN
til the last decade, there has been
periodical feyers for going West.
When there vas plenty of free land,
it Wa "a tho intorou+ &c 49,