Bridgeton pioneer., 1917-06-28
Obstreperous
Jim
Story of a Farmer
Boy.
By r. A. Mitchell


other automobiling. In these / have
found occupation and amusement after
fetlrng from business, though / am
Tree to confess that since gardening
Is confined to a portion of the year
and one can go motoring at any time
l have done more of the latter than
the former.
1t is in the spring that 1 have founG
comfort In my garden. I prepare ms
ground early, and then when the firgt
warm days come on / start out on q
brief tour in my car, for experience has
taught me that lone swallow does not
make summer" and I have obtained
better results by refraining from plant
ing till later when more reliance is to
be placed on the continued warmth Of
the sun terminating my seed than by
putting it in when cold is liable to fol-
low heat.
But there Is work In gardening, and
motoring is all pleasure. Therefore I
confess prefer the latter.
One morning l stopped at a farm.
house for water for my radiator. The
farmer came out, took bucket, pump.
ed the water and insisted on pouring it
into my tank. Before leaving him In.
dulged him In conversation, for have
noticed that If there is one thing q
farmer likes It is to talk.
This is natural. A countryman does
not mingle in the hurry burly Of city
life. The city man comes home in the
evening having had more talk than he
has needed and prefers to sit down and
be quiet. But the farmer is in a great
measure cut off from all interchange Of
thought with his fellow men. If he can
get city man to swap ideas with him
be will talk or listen, as his makeup
tkipels, till the cows come home.
"You seem to have a great variety OF
produce on your farm I said to the
farmer.
"Yes," he said, I'VE have. We're near
enough to the city for market, and
we put in lot Of different things, SO
that If some fail we don't make dead
loss"
At that moment sturdy boy of five
came out Of the house and stood look
LIS ouA1AA 1hSly dC uly lIdCAluc.
"Your boy?" asked the farmer.
"Im his granddad."
"What would the world be without
the childrenW observed.
you're right there, stranger" said
the old man. 1.-The only trouble about
children is to understand 'em. W.
don't consider that they're children
and not men and women. Consequence
is we rub 'em the wrong way. And
I've noticed that sometimes the most
obstreperous turn out the best. We
send 'em to school, and If they learn
easy we think they're fine. If they
don't we think they're no good.
II was readin' about the big inven.
tor t'other day-the man they call the
wizard and it said when he was lit
tie feller his teacher took him to his
mother and told her the boy was a
Ounce. The mother took the job o
teachin' him herself, but reckon that
boy was born to teach other people, for
that's what he's been doin' ever since.
II never had any trouble with any O
nv children, except my boy Jim, the
father O. this little shaver here. The
fault with Jim was that when he got"
to be thirteen or fourteen years old he
knew morn I and his mother and the
whole family. He was ready to tell
me how not to run the farm, but he
couldn't tell me how to run 1t. He
thought he could, and sometimes he did
I told him he'd better keep his opinions
to himself.
Sometimes he'd do things without
my knowing it or against my orders
I remember one day told him to trim
an apple tree and be particular to cut
off the lower limbs that was hangin'
near the ground. What did he do but
cut off all the top ones. didn't give
him q lickin' for his disobedience, but
I scolded him lot. Do you know the
little cuss' way O. dom 1t turned out
fine. After that the tree he trimmed
give us the biggest and the best apples
Of any in the orchard. And the best
part Of it was we didn't have to go up
on a long ladder to pick 'em and lose
lot by not bein' able to get at 'em.
"Well, Jim was always doin' sompin'
the wrong way. When man Is rum
lin anything he don't want his as
sistants to tell him how to do it, espe-
cially boy that he has brought up
from a baby. Jim was always monkey.
in with the farm machinery, thrown
1t out O gear mostly. though once n
awhile he'd make it run even. l toie
him to let 1t alone and to let every
thing alone, but 1t didn't do any good.
zone time l found a quarter acre e
ground that had always produced wen
ruined. Nothing came up there tn.'
season. Come to find out Jim had peen
putin some kind O chemicals INTO Il.
Jim was about sixteen when ne dih
this, and I concluded to get rid OF nin'
I told him he'd better go out Tor
hired hand, only warned him ths.
he'd better not tell the men he wofAe''