Norwich bulletin., 1918-08-23
.Mrittsn speniarIr Efor .The Bunetin.l

and | in tAe last ten years about the | practicaL things of farming. We have chatted { or argued or debated about 1 corn and beans and potatoes and fer l tillzers and lime and silos and wheat and hay and tractors and markets and a good many other things which affect the farmers r,. trade or touch the farmers pocket But, while working at his job and securing the best returns he can 1 from his farm are primarily essential lfunctiops of the farmers life, they aren't all there is to it
 The farmer needs more than av- craze supply of gumptien, it is true k. He requires fmore than average lafnount of foresight He has daily use of more than the average amount kof all-round inferno tion- His voca- ktion caTs fur highly expert technical 2 skill The profitable sale of his prod sucts necessita tes his possession or kkeen business acumen. He must have 3 long head and a shrewd outlook and R Rmust coordinate the whole with per- \ sistent and strenuous industry.s
 | Oh, yes; we all know that the prac- ltical side of farming is extremely spra ctieal: that it keeps a mans nose tight against the .grindstole and his mind attentiyely fixed on the main chance about alf the time. It is quite right and proper that most farm talk should be concerning this side of farm work ee0 s7 7s~ saE
 But how about farm manners?
 Is there any reason why the man neEs of farmers should be less ad mirabie-- than those, say. of city sales men or bank clerks or professional men? Is there any reason why farm CTS should not give reasonable amount of heed to "the fair outside" which htiy clothes an equally fair inside?
 No, I'm not thinking of polished shoes and creased. trousers and silk haberdashery,s which don't fit with our sort of work. What I'm thinking of is courteous speech, and urbane manners, and suavity of approach or reception. T-..ts...
 As a rule. my experience leads me to believe that farmers are at heart a kindly aud a truly polite folk,- using that word polite in something more than 9 superficial sense. But there are exceptions. The worst of it is that these exceptions are so glar- ing that they attract more attention , than the others, and come to be con : sidered by many not as exceptions but as illustrations of a general rule.
 have in mind one neighhor who is, at heaart, as kindly a man as walks. He would do anything up to the limit of his strength and his means to help out another neighbor in any sudden emergency. He would pinch himself to relieve the needs of the woman next door, or go without sleep for a week to help care for sick man on the other side. A
 Yet he covers this real kind1iness of heart with such an overcoat of Bluster and intolerance that he is one of the most unpopular men in the vicinity. He's like chestnut burr,-so durned prickly outside that very few try to pry him opeh-fer the sake of the nutty sweetness within.
 used to have another neighbour he's dead and gone, now, peace to his hones!-whose love of personal clean illness was so great that, lacking a bath-tub or other means of bathing he used to take a thorough scrub. al the brook practically every day of the year. even when he had to break the ice over it to get into the water. Yet he went about his work and every where else clothed in such rags that strangers usually took him for a tramp.
 lie knew that he was clean in fact and didn't care whether he looked so
 Then Asrh J9 prgu.ys He IA pride. himself on what he calls Straight talk''-meaning thereby frankness anc candor AS a matter of fact, his frankness is usually rudeness and hi candor suggests the growing of bad-tempered bulldog.
 Under the laudable pretext of re- fusing to say nice things when the! aren't true. he seizes upon every pos sible or impossible opportunity to say n& iryo h1,, but to them face to face. He won lie for anybody, which is worthy trait But he will tell the truth whether he has any real callsto do st or not, and With special vigor ant coarseness of speech if 1t happens tt be unpalataSfeA to its hearers.
 Hes about as pleasant company a that ugly bulldog previously referret to. And most of us are just about a glad to see him coming as we woul be to meet bald-faeed hornet ou on a rampag age.ss s-
 Yet Jed considers himself somethint of modekand not infreauently com pares his own plainness of speed with the mealy mouthed' habits o others, to their disadvantage.
 Most of us farmers have our ow, special, private and individual idea about the way in which things shoul oe uones not only. on our own farm but on those of our neighbors an everywhere else. Most of us. alsC keep these ideas to ourselves excer when we are asked for. them, and si lently permit other folks to make fool of themselves in their own way, if the want to-
 But Old. Man waterhouse isn't ( that sort. 4 If he sees me putin ground limestone on a garden patel he can't keep still about it. He come right over to tell me that I'm a du1 fool and several other kinds of idio If he sees another neighbor novin his barn. he takes an hour off to- te that other neighbor that the new sii isn't as good as the old one; tf1s the barn doesn't stand true, anyway and that the money spent in movin II was just thrown away I've know him to refuse request for help hog butchering time, because the he owner was going to have the carcast skinned, instead of scalded and scra6e which Waterhouse considers the on orthodox way to finish up pork ?
 No, 1 told the dunn lunkhead S right to his face, too,n. said he ..
 "CritieismH IS good word. It com, from a Greek original, which rneaI simply the act of distinguishing,s d, ciding, Judging. s, That's what, crit