Evening star., 1914-07-18

You paid the tax a while on new beans
but they've about reached a normal leve
now You are paying it and will con.
tinue to pay it for some time on sweet
corn. You paid. and paid high. for early
tomatoes but you may get some of that
back, for late tomatoes promise to be
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: I beseech you. don't mock and gibe
I thefarmer and call him croaker when
he laments that the sunshine and the
rain are not distributed to his liking. He
means because he has pain in a 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. II
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
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.
Nothing to Do But WORK.
Well. as before intimated. these
thoughts had been running through my
! was getting my eyes opened. or cutting
my eye teeth. or whatever you are
pleased to term it. In coming to the
country ! hadn't exactly expected to
plant my seed in the espring and then lie
in, hov oil INN
harvest time. but ] didn't realize there
were so confounded many things con-
spring all the time to trip one up.
haven't had a day off nor an evening
off since We came to the country. Even
on rainy evenings there always is plenty
house to keep me busy. In town. even
during the past few years when We 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
but I didn't expect so 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 it had nodded.
1t was Wednesday morning that 1 went
of his pen.
It seemed to me then that the last
straw had been loaded on. I walked over
and sat down on the fence. and I think I
said. "Oh, piff1le"'-or something there
abouts-right out loud.
When I 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 a stiff upper lip. She tried so hard,
in fact. that her lips went all auivery
and she had to hurry from the room.
Jane Has Been Working, Too.
It 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
I had been SO busy that hadn't realized
that Jane was working just a little bit
harder. if anything. than / was.
In the spring, after we came into pos
session of Old Bill and the Dayton
wagon. Jane and the children went driv-
ing almost every afternoon, generally
winding 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 jeilies and preserves and apple
butter, the daily drives had been aban-
doned- The fact that we now had
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 it and putting 1t
up in boiling hot containers.
Under other circumstances. I 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