The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-07-05
Obstreperous
Jim
Story of a Farmer
Boy.
By F. A. Mitchell

There are two things that especially
| interest me. One Is gardening, the
other autOmobiling. In these l have
found occupation and amusement after
retiring from business, though / am
free to confess that since gardening
| is confined to portion of the year
and one can so motoring at any time
| l have done more Of the latter than
the former
1t is in the spring that l have found
comfort in my garden. l prepare my
| ground early, and then when the first
warm days come on | start out on q
brief tour in my car, for experience has
taught me that zone swallow does not
make a summer" and 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
confess l 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 it
into my tank. Before leaving him in
dulged him in conversation, for | have
noticed that If there is one thing
farmer likes 1t 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
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" l said to the
farmer.
Yes he said, 1--WE have. We're near
enough to the city for market. and
we put In lot Of different things, SO
that il some fail we don't make 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
III 7 4
you're right there, stranger" said
the old man. THE only trouble about
children is to understand EN- 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 EN- to school, and il they learn
easy we think they're fine. If they
don't we think they're no good
81 was readin' about the Zig inven-
tor t'other day-the man they call the
wizard, and it said when he was lit
tie Teller his teacher took him to his
mother and told her the boy was
Ounce. The mother took the job O
teachin him herself. but l reckon that
boy was born to teach other people, for
that's what he's been dom ever since.
Il never had any trouble will: 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 l and his mother aid the
'.holc family. He was ready TO tell
70 how not to run the farm, but he
couldn't tell me how to run It. He
thought he could, and sometimes lie did
told him he'd better keep his opinions
to himself.
Sometimes he'd do things without
my knowing it or against my orders
l remember one day l 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. l didn't give
him lickin' for his disobedience, but
scolded him lot. Do you know the
little cuss' way o dom it turned OF.
fine. After that the tree he trimmed
give us the blsSeSI anu the DeSt apples
OF any in the orchard. And the best
part of it was we didn't have to go up
on long ladder to pick em and lose
lot by not bein' able to get at 'em.
well, Jim was always dom som'pin'
the wrong way. When a man is run
min anything he don't want bis as
sistants to tell him how to do II. espe-
cially a boy that he has brought I'D
from a baby. Jim was always monkey
in with the farm machinery. THROWN
1t out o gear mostly, though once In
awhile he'd make it run even. I told
him to let it alone and to let every I
thing alone, but 1t didn't do any good.
One time found quarter acre o. I
ground that had always produced well
ruined. Nothing came up there that
season. Come to find out Jim had been
putin some kind o. chemicals into If.
Jim was about sixteen when he did
this, and l concluded to get rid OF him /
| told him he'd better go out for
nrlr I