Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-03-02

lHS, WINE the rural pOpuldlAoA 10 cieiSI
decreasing or barely holding Its own.
And there is not the slightest reason
for assuming that the school teacher
now has or ever did have anything to
do with the movement that has puzzled
many thinkers, and that aroused the
ire of the mighty Bismarck.
line two gentlemen from kentucky
have another guess coming. AS the
teachers are almost without exception
of the sex gentle. and to be defended,
the latter have an apology due them.
Reflections Of Furnace Feeder.
(Christian Science Monitor.)
1t Is wholly unnecessary to say that
tnruout the greater part OF the Cnitet!
States and all Of Canada the winter
that is now happily, if slowly, declining,
has been a busy one for the head of
the house who tends to his own fur
mace. In the first, but by no means
the last, place he has beer kept busy
paying coal bills In the next place he
has been kept busy burning the coal he
bought for cash or on the usual first
of-the month terms. In the next place
he has been kept busy removing the
clirkers and the ashes. In the next, and
really most important place OF all, he
has been kept busy trying to look
rassably well as to linen and clothing
while econonizing by tending his own
furnace. AS is customary at this time
Of year. when the fire is low in the
furnace and the coal is low in the bin.
when it seems as if really we were to
have an early spring, as is customary
at this time of year we say. this man
and how many hundreds Of thousands
there are Of him we would not venture
to guess-ths man sits on the lower
steps of the cellar stairs of quiet
evening and meditates.
Does it pay? he asks himself. Does
it pay to get up at in the morning to
open the draft, 10 get back into bed
again and find that by the mere act
Of closing his eyes two hours have been
made to flash by: to descend to the
cellar and shake the crate. to ascend
ard wash, to descend and put in some
coal TO remove the ashes, to ascend
and wash, to descend and find that
the cool is not burning, to remove a
bushei of clinkers: to ascend and wash;
TO descend after breakfast and give
The furnace a final inspection: to as
cend and wash: to change his shirt, to
brush his business suit, to run for the
trolley car-does it pay?
To come home in the evening, to
change his clothes, to go down in the
cellar. to shake the crate. to put on
some coal. 10 ascend AMI wash: 10 be
told that dinner is not quite ready, to
go down again and add a little more
coal. TO take out some ashes. to as
cend and wash: to change clothes for
dinner. to be told that the dining room
is chilly: to descend. to open the
damper. to add little more coal. to
ascend, to wash-does it pay? To
arise from the table and pick up a
clean newspaper or a good book. to be
told that the fire must have gone down,
to descend, to shake the crate, to put in
some coal. to get all over ash dust and
coal dust, to ascend, TO wash: to de-
eide rot to read, to descend and fix the
furnace for the night, to ascend and
take a bath, to retire, to get up again
at to open the draft--does it pay?
Ard. besides, to lose things out Of
his vest pockets every time he throws
in Il shovelful of coal, to soil his col
lars and cuffs. 10 knock his knuckles
against the sida of the door, to get Gin
ders in his hair or beard. or both; to
feel ali day long that with all Of his
washing he has washed the coal dust,
ash dust. and SCOT in instead Of wash
ing it QUITO be cons .ouS Of the fact
that there is nothing either morally or
intellectually uplifting in feeding $3.50
coal into a furnace and removing the
debris thru all the long months of
hard winters it any wonder that he
asks II it pays?
But why is it that he has gone thru
this routine fer twenty five winters,
and why is it that upon rising from
the cellar steps he smiles with self
conscious strength and contentment
and acts generally as if the sum of his
happiness were full? 1t is because his
eye has fallen upon the lawnmower,
standing in the corner yonder where he
placed it last fall. Only the man who
has tended his own furnace all winter
can realize what there is Of JOY in con-
templating the running Of has lawn
mower all the next summer. In the
presence of the lawnmower the fur
mace is forgotten. Spring and grass
and dandelions and pig weed will be
here anon, and the rest is a symphony
in rust-removers and lubricating oils.
Abusing a Good Law.
(New York WORLDLY
The foreman Of North Carolina