Norwich bulletin., 1910-04-23

public life, he pooh poohed the whole matter. They're just malkin' a scape- | goat of this man, he declared He s no worse than the rest; they're all l grafters, only he happens to have been | found out. Some years ago, Neigh | bor Sherman made him a "split-log l drag after the western fashion, ana proceeded to put in a lot of unpaid and volunteer work on the roads, a half | mile each side of his house. He final l ly stopped it, I suspect quite as much | out of anger at the cyncical comments made on his action as from any other reason. One man would want to know
 how much he was going to get from | the town treasury for that sort of
 "boy-work;" another hinted that he must be looking after a nomination for l road commissioner! one even denounc- | ed him for putting in his time near his own place, and not going around the l mountain to stretch Of road, SIX miles distant which needed work more ic's own barn. Not one. outside the two or three who are Sherman's cron- ies seemed able to imagine the actual fact, which wass that he was anxious, as far as possible without neglect of his own work, to be of service to his neighbors and his town. Once, when I was trying my best. at cost of some money and a good deal of trouble, to serve a little bunch of people who needed the service, one of them came to me and said, frankly: What do you get out of this? know you're feath- ering your own nest, some way, but can't see how, and I'm curious to find out" Last fall Sister Hanna discov- cred that she had two big bulbs of certain lily which Molly Waterhouse had admired greatly while in bloom. it to Miss Molly. Humph." said that kindly creature, when Mrs. Hanna was well out of hearing up the road. thinks she's paid me now for them Ix<> I,t.~ -t--
 when her baby was sick and she hadn't time to bake, I s'pose-
 Now, brethren and sisteren, it is belong to the order of goats. Per
 haps the majority will have to go to
 the left when the general roll is called. Very likely we are a bad lot, as a
 whole. But even the criminal law re-
 qufres us to presume man innocent
 until he is proved guilty. The laws of
 manly honor and of neighborliness are
 even, more stringent. Here and there
 are burglars and murderers. But we do not watch every one who comes on
 our farms for fear that he may steal
 our diamonds, or bludgeon us to death
 I don't believe If I should jump over the fence into the field where you are
 planting potatoes that you would in stantly suspect me of intending mur-
 der and make a break. for your gun.
 Why should you suspect me of any OtHcT DlQuen nlOtlVe-D6IOT0 gave you reason for suspicion?
 have no vocation to reform the cit les. If city life results in cynicism am neither capable of changing it nor responsible for it. But we farmers didn't used to be cynical. We some times had enemies whom openly hated and vTtuperated. We had learn cd certain men-that we must be on the lookout against them if we didn't want to be skinned" But it wasn't our habit to look gift horses in the mouth. nor to assume, when somebody he was preparing to beg a. whole paper next day. We've got all the bad hab- 1 its, as it Is, that are safe for us Why, ! in the name of common sense, should 1 ism? There are lots and lots of good l men and women; the woods are full of i them; most people who are out of jail | deserve to be out of it; the chances are | a fellow and kindly and as honest | and as well meaning as we are our | selves; why not treat him on that as- sumption, till we have evidence of the | contrary
 can't guarantee that this habit of | trust in one'S fellows will cure the | grippe or reduce the cost of living But | I honestly believe that the general l practice of it would hasten the millen- l nium by at least fifteen minutes, and | hunch the eartly paradise several | inches nearer the boundaries of Con- 1 nect1cut. The effect of 1t upon its | practitioners would be even more sal l utary. Do. you suppose the first set 1 tiers really enjoyed farming, when 1 they had to take their artillery with l them every time they went out to hoe l corn, from fear of the Indians? l? Imag- l inc yourself grubblng away at the l Quack-gTasS, next June, with 8 dull 1 hoe in one hand and a musket in the | other, a powder horn over the right | shoulder and a bag of slugs over the | left. a spare flint in your pocket and a !, boiler iron shirt on to stop possible ar , rowst The physical annoyance of such 1 an accoutrement could hardly have been greater than the discomfort which comes from wearing continually an arnor of suspicion and cynicism. It's far, far better, and oh, so much more comfortable to keep on the right side | of the universe! And trust begets trust; confidence wins confidence; yoNI carry club handy when you pass the ugly old buck who stands glaring at you with lowered head, but you pat and caress the trustful lamb that runs bleating up to you for a bit of apple. Since there's so much had in the best
 of us,
 And so much good in the worst of us, It hardly behOoves the best of us
 to judge the rest of us"
 THE FARMER.