Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1914-03-11
FARMER WOODR0W'S CRUELTY


ny rev. james L. StnMegsA
Tn following is clipping from
the Christian Socialist. The author
is the Rev. James l.. Smiley. Of this
city. The story is illustrated A car
toon shows the old woman in the shoe
with a number of children climbing
around to be fed and asking When
will we be fed" Opposite is the
father Of the family with a basket
loaded with food for the pigs. He
says Pigs must be fed first. The
story follows:
THE Old Woman w no. Lived-in-a-
Shoe had been the wife Of more than
score of husbands in succession.
when she married a strenuous man
named Theodore. Now il so happen
ed that the old woman had a fine
breed of hogs which che was fatten-
ing for exhibition at the County Fair.
The new husband admired the fine
stock, but strongly suspected that
the corn which went to the hogs was
mostly taken fiom the children's al
lowance. AT any rate, he used to sit
on the edge of the pen and throw
stones and stunning epithets at the
latest hogs.
"The next husband, William by
name, was a corpulent man and loved
corPulent creatures. Consequently
he would stand pat on the outside Of
the pen flor he couldn't climb like his
predecessorj and gloat over the beau.
tiful specimens Of hog flesh. Some
times when great armfuls Of corn
were being tossed to the porkers, the
hungry children would look on with
pathetic expressions, and sonce one
summoned up sufficient courage to ask
Whe will we be fed?'
with look Of supreme tenderness
and voice choke with tears. step
father William replied, God knows
The poor, emaciated children, almost
hundred (-million) in number, told
each other to have patience anyhow;
for when these fat porkers would be
killed, all the children would have an
abundance of meat; their hope lay in
a change Of step-fathers.
Then a farmer named Woodrow
married this much.mamma widow.
To him the children pleaded for the
slaughter of the hogs which had been
50 greedily devouring the family's
corn. Farmer Woodrow expressed his
cordial sympathy for the children and
denounced the fat hogs so unsparing-
ly that the children expected a great
feast of pork and hominy. They
eagerly watched the new step-father
go to the corn house himself, they
listened with happy plaudits when he
declared that the corn should no long
er go to the big hogs, but what was
their surprise and chagrin when he
started off in another direction and
threw the corn 10 large herd Of little
pigs which he had brought as a dowry
to the widow.
"The consequence was two-fold
cruelty-the fine, large hogs, which
had fattened for slaughter, be gan to
waste away, and the children contin-
ued 10 be shamefully underfed. The
only creatures to profit by Farmer
Woodrow's coming were the little
pigs, with the prospect that they,
too, would grow up to follow the
same life.h history as the big hogs.
However, strange as it may sound, the
nowkhalt-starved big hogs. began to en-
dorse Farmer Woodrow, for, as they
whispered confidentially among them
selves, hali.rations were better than
slaughter, and little pigs had better
be fed than little children. And thus
pigdom scored a new victory and will
continue triumphant until the chill
dren get together AMI elect new
step-father who will prefer humanity
to bestiality and will inaugdrate de-
mocracy in place of pigocracy.