Evening star., 1914-07-18

You paid the tax a while on new beans.
| but they've about reached a normal level
now. You are paying it and will Geo.
tinue to pay 1t for some time on sweet
corn. You paid. and paid high. for early
tomatoes. but you may get some Of that
abundant. And you're going to pay a
stiff tax on lima beans. unless, as in the
case of peas, you do without them be-
cause they are priced within reach Of the
plutocracy alone.
So. beseech you. don't mock. and gibe
I thefarmer and call him a croaker when
he laments that the sunshine and the
rain are not distributed to his liking. He
means because he has a pain in vital
spot-his pocketbook. He understands
causes and effects and knows he Is going
to have to pay in dollars and cents for
the eccentricities of the weather. 1t
seems funny to you people in town, but
that's because you don't understand
causes and effects. You think your only
concern with the weather is as to wheth-
er you shall take an umbrella when you
leave home in the morning. That's
where you're wrong. Just write this lit
tie thought down on your mental tablet,
for it's true as gospel: For every dollar
the farmer loses because Of adverse
weather the people in town lose two dol
lars.
Well. as before intimated. these
thoughts had been running through my
mind for some weeks. In other words.
1 was getting my eyes opened. or cutting
my eye teeth. or whatever you are
pleased to term 1t. In coming to the
plant my seed in the espring and then lie
around In a hammock all summer until
harvest time, but didn't realize there
were 80 confounded many things con-
spring all the time to trip one up.
I haven't had day of nor an evening
on rainy evenings there always Is plenty
of work around the barn or chicken
house to keep me busy. In town, even
during the past few years when wei had
been unable to go away for our summer
vacations, We could take an occasional
car ride in the evening, and on Saturday.
afternoons and during my leave from Of
flee we could go for picnic dinners in the
parks and to nearby points. came out
here with the expectation of working.
but didn't expect 80 plagued. many
things would bob up to keep my work
from being more worth. while.
Tuesday evening discovered had lost
fully ton of hay because 1t had nodded.
It was Wednesday morning that 1 went
out and found the pig dead in a corner
of his pen -.
1t seemed to me then that the last
straw had been loaded on. walked over
and sat down on the fence. and think I
said. ''Oh, pifale!"-or something there
a abouts-right out loud.
When l went in and told Jane about
it the blow almost put her down for the
count. But she tried to cheer me by keep
ing stiff upper lip. She tried so hard,
in fact. that her lips went all quivery
and she had to hurry from the room.
Jane Has Been Working, Too.
1t struck me all at once-just in time
to keep me from making something or
another of myself-that Jane had been
working pretty hard this summer. too:
that she hasn't been having any days OFF
nor car rides in the cool of the evening
1 had been SO busy that hadn't realized
that Jane was working just a little bit
harder. if anything. than I was.
In the spring. after We came into pos
session of Old Bill and the Dayton
ing almost every afternoon, generally
up by meeting me at the station
in the evening. But with the advent of
the canning season and the birth OF
James ambition to supply all Washing
ton with tellies and preserves and apple
butter, the daily drives had been aban-
doned. The fact that we now had a
maid of all work. which we didn't have
in the spring. merely meant that Jane
had that much more time to spend over
the hot stove or in the hot kitchen, peel
Ing fruit and cooking 1t and putting it
up in boiling hot containers.
Under other circumstances / should
have had that dead pig on my mind all
day at the Office. but I don't believe /
even thought of him more than a couple