Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1913-04-11
Dads Letter
Stockman and Farmer::


That was piece that touched
close to the hide of old fellows
like us. The chap that wrote it
must be halfway between q boy
and an old man so he can look
both ways, like the cross-eyed
man cutting one hoop pole and
looking for another when we
We're boys.
Well, the boys nowadays are
pretty smart, but you know
yourself that few boys are more
than half as smart as they think
they are. Boys now know lot,
but the trouble is they know 81
much that isn't worth anything.
They know "modern farming"
but don't know how to make a
double band. l set ore of them
to fail out some rye and lie
dubbed it like a woman killing
a snake with a pole. He could
not learn how to handle fail,
so | left him to practice his
modern methods ard when he
choked the sheaves TO death
with strings l inquired why he
used them and he asked me
what else he could tie with.
Say, Sam, don't you ever
think any boy makes me feel bad
as that Maryland man said old
men do, by having their dignity
hurt. | don't now how it is ir
your section, but we have a lot
of them here who can talk about
butter-fat, incubation, intense
farming and things, but hardly
any can split post, shear sheep,
lay tile or ring a hog. Most of
the time they look with pity on
an old "has been" like me, but |
when anything needs to be done
they stand back after they find
they are in the way.
And say. Sam, when it was
cold we wore mittS our mother
knit but you should see these
fellows in the hay fields, ali
with gloves on and watches in
their pants to keep tab on the
sun. We wore one suspender and
sometimes two, but they think
it more becoming 10 wear belts
and l can pitch half a load OF
hay while one of them finds his
watch and satisfies himself on
the time.
We liked to sweat but when
the perspiration dalnpens their
shirts they shrink their Shout
ders away from them. They
have one on us though in the
graceful way they can shoulder
a fork. They think that is what
the handle is fastened on for,
and they are the most elegant
walkers too, when their shoes
point away from intense farm
ing. They understand advanced
farming all right, but it is adj
vanced so far already that they
may never catch up, and they
are sure abreast of the times
because nearly the whole set of
them know how everything
should be done, but none of
them feels like working 60 to
80 hours week to do it.
If my dignity ever gets hurt
by one of them. l will hand him
whatever tool l am working
with. 1t is not likely he will
need two so as to have one
cooling. No, Sam, you mustn't
think that after l have dug
good farm, raised a family,
made every human and animal
happy, that this man who writes
in our paper can make me be-
lieve | am an antediluvian.
1t did not hurt my appetite
one day at dinner when young,
advanced farmer gave us a free
lecture on Fletcherism and said
while was at my third cup of
Coffee that it was injurious to
drink anything at meal-time,
that we should wait half an hour
and drink three-quarters of a
glass of milk-warm water. No,
Sam, my dignity can stand 1T
but it hurts my old muscles,
sometimes, doing the things we
know so well, that it is i'm
possible to get enough help now.
/ wonder if you think my boy
Bill was like all of them and
that he hurt me. Well, well, my
Bill has no butterfat in his
brains. He took the Short Course,
he says, to teach him to think,
but says now that the best time
to think is while working, and
the subject to think on is the
work in hand, then in his spare
time he reads up no that work
He never hurts me. We are
agreeable partners. | am proud
of Bill, especially when l see
him working with those modern
farmers in our fields. Bill thinks
i