The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1915-07-22
Lost-.in Old Fashioned 'Elired
Man."

Passing the discussion of what has
become of the passenger pigeon will
some one please inform us as to the
whereabouts of the old fashioned
hired MANI
Economically, sentimentally and
| in a lot of other ways we miss him.
| He was an institute not many years
ago. Agriculture rested on his
broad shoulders. The goddess Ceres
leaned confidently on his brawny
arm. He was skilled workman.
A good old fashioned hired man who
took interest in the work. was a
| treasure And he's gone seeking
the buffalo and the dodo and the old
fashioned girl and any number of
good old fashioned things and folks
and customs.
He hired out in the spring until
after harvest" or until latter corn
picking" In the older days he might
draw SIG to $40 month and his
washing and mending.' Later he
arrived at the dignity of horse and
buggy and included horse kept"
But that was after the farmer had
shut off on having his horses run
to town after a weeks hard work. y
Then the hired man asserted himself
and drove a shiny top buggy with
narrow seat adapted to counting, had
thinker springs" and body loops
and piano box before the farmer
himself did. He did the horse
chores and in consequence his horse
was sleek and satiny of coat. Some
times the farmers daughter favored
the narrow seated buggy and oft
times favored the hired man more.
He was an institution on. the place.
He took orders but he knew what
he was doing. In many instances
the hired mans Judgment was de-
ferred to by the employer as final
for some hired men knew more than
the man who paid their wages and
some employers were shreWd enough
to see it, He kept account OF stock
on the farm He knew the farmers
mind. A little thing like full
woodboX behind the kitchen cook
stove and full water pail made
him solid with "the Mrs" Those lit
tie attentions drew their reward In
we'll darned socks and smiling ac-
nuiescence in occasional sittlngs up
with the eldest daughter and later
in arguments with pa over prospec-
tive marriage. He got up without
calling. Indeed the laws OF the
Modes and the Persians were not
more strict than that the hired man
should wake and rise at half past 4
without warning from the employer.
He sat in the front room with the
family. He late with company
when it came and expected to be
| introduced" like member OF the
household should be. He stayed
late in the field when the hay was
down. He cut grain of Sunday
when it was "crinkling.' He was
never a servant but follower, a feu-
dal retainer who identified himself
with the farm as belonging to it and
who claimed himself, "the kings
puir cousin.
| Perhaps he was a neighbor boy
from the next farm, an heir to broad
acres when "the old folks got
through Mayhap he was one of
those wandering workers who fol-
lowed the harvest from the south on
up 10 the last farm this side the
Canada line. He may have been a
"piker" who told strange tales Of
driving six horses with one line
"back yonder in WASH nth county,
MARYLAND on the Baltimore N Ohio
pike near the barn where the man
was killed. unsophisticated and ig-
norant. If so his ignorance faded
and he finally learned to drive a
team with two reins and understand
western farming And later he own
ed farm of his own and had cat
tie and horses on half dozen hills.
For he had learned thrift back in
"Murland'' where $12 month had
been big wages and days work a
long one.
Where has he gone, the hired
man who, like the beggar maid re-