The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-07-24
Obstreperous
Jim
Story of a Farmer
Boy.
0v = A mitchell

other automobiling. In these I have
found occupation and amusement after
retiring from business, though l am
free to confess that since gardening
Is confined to a portion of the year
and one can 60 motoring at any time
have done more Of the latter than
the former.
1t Is In the spring that have found
comfort In my garden. prepare my
ground early, and then when the first
warm days come on l start out on a
brief tour in my car, for experience has
taught me that zone swallow does not
make summer" and l 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 1t in when cold Is liable to fol-
low heat.
But there is work In gardening, and
motoring is all pleasure. Therefore /
confess prefer the latter.
One morning l stopped at farm
house for water for my radiator. The
farmer came out, took bucket, pump
ed the water and insisted on pouring 1t
into my tank. Before leaving him In
dulged him in conversation, for I have
noticed that if there is one thing
farmer likes it is to talk.
This is natural. A countryman does
not mingle in the hurly 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
he will talk or listen, as his makeup
impels, till the cows come home.
"You seem to have great variety of
produce on your farm" said to the
farmer.
"Yes," he said, I'VE have. We're near
enough to the city for a market, and
we put in a lot Of different things, so
that If some fail we don't make a dead
loss"
At that moment sturdy boy of five
came out of the house and stood look
ing admiringly at my machine
"Your boy?" | asked the farmer.
"I'm his granddad"
"What would the world be without
the children?" 1 observed.
you're right there, stranger" said
the old man. "The only trouble about
children is to understand 'em. We
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 II 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 a lit
tie feller his teacher took him to his
mother and told her the boy was a
Ounce. The mother took tho job o
teachin' him herself, but reckon that
that's what he's been doin' ever since.
IT never had any trouble with any o
my 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
rhole family. He was ready to tell
! me how not to run the farm, but he
couldn't tell me how to run it He
thought he could, and sometimes he did
told him he'd better keep his opinions
to himself.
! Sometimes he'd do things without
my knowing 1t or against my orders
l 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. I didn't give
him a lickin' for his disobedience but
scolded him a lot. Do you know the
little cuss' way O. doin' 1t turned ou,
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 1t was we didn't have to 80 NJ
on a long ladder to pick 'em and loss
a lot by not bein' able to get at 'ern.
"Well, Jim was always doin' som'pin
the wrong way, When a man Is run
min anything he don't want his as
sistants to tell him how to do 1t, sspe
cially boy that he has brought W
from baby. Jim was always monkey
in with the farm machinery, THROWN
1t out o gear mostly, though once II
awhile he'd make 1t run even. tolt
him to let 1t alone and to let every
thing alone, but it didn't do any good.
Zone time found quarter acre o
ground that had always produced wei
ruined. Nothing came up there tina
season. Come to find out Jim had beer
putin some kind o. chemicals into II
Jim was about sixteen when he di'
this, and concluded to get rid Of him
I told him he'd better go out for ,
hired hand, only warned him tina
he'd better not tell the men he worke,
for how to run their farms and d.
things as he was told to do 'em.
about this time his grandmothe