The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1920-11-19
An Imaginary Visitor
From Long Ago Comes
What Used TO Be and What Is Today
Contrasted-.. Question of Spending
Public Money To The Fore

II might be taxing the imagination
OF even the imaginative too much to
! speculate as to what the spirit OF
some Of the departed stalwart citizens
who resided III these parts and knew
all the haunts and bypathS OF Grenada
county, were TO return. still no one
can be hurt by imagining that if one
should descend from the skies and
with angelic wings fly over the county
and contrast the now with the thens
the days of a half century or more
ago.
That good citizen, whose yine-cov-
cred dwelling clustered among the
giant oaks and whose ears were first
greeted in the dawning by the songs
| OF the birds and perhaps the hoOt of
the owl and who gathered his double
oarreled. muzzle-loading shotgun and
HE'D himself across the creek bottom
in the springtime to bring low the
turkey. whose 2Obble resounded for
miles on the fresh morning air. After
feeling his turkey. on his return home.
| the squirrels had begun to jump
around in the tree tops, so he killed
some half dozen of them for dinner
Back at the house breakfast was had
Mary Jane looked after theturkey. the
grownup boys and all wage hands got
off 10 the field. The lowing of the
cattle and the bleating of the calf
ds we'll as the "spew" of the billy goat.
the cackle Of the guineas, the quacking
of the ducks and the Growing OF the
rOOster-these all bespoke his indie
pendence and bore witness 10 the fru-
helpfulness of his wife. The children
soon assembled in little, neat box
house. where the gOverness tutored
them and gave such care and atten-
tion as best adapted to their natures.
with the result that their Develop
ment and progress in their studies was
just little less than remarkable
This home was not bothered with the
school wagon to convey the children.
together with their neighbor's chill
dren. to the consolidated school five
miles away.
Yes, the roads We're not good; it
was oftentimes difficult to get in and
ont-froin The ,.ss iaises in, g.seesnd-
the public roads Were but little better
than the neighborhood roads. There.
was no rural mail-the mail came Gus
from the county site about once
week, when some one from the nei rh-
borhood wds in town and brought
it out. The wife and daughter had no
'store-bought coat suits" and fathers
trousers were in most cases jeans for
the winter and blue cottonade for the
summer.
Sunday morning the yellow mare
and the black mare were brought out
and hitched TO the spring wagon in
which all went out TO hear the par
SON. Not infIequently the neighbOrs
came home with the family for Sun
day dinner and for the pleasure of
social contact in the afternoon. This
character of citiZen-this home, these
things exist largely only in memory
now. In their. stead is the home with
It's improved appearances, screened
windows and doors. The hack and
horses have been supplanted by the
automobile. the daily mail is brought
within a few hundred yards of the
house, the children are either sent
to school or ''off to college," the aGri-
culturists come around once or twice
a year to talk over farming and stock
raising, the home economics agent is
nut ever and anon for the & .rls to do
club work and the mother is out look
ing after things in the neighborhOOd
in general and in many instances leav-
ing her own home to the care OF the
or TO look after itself.
Expenses, yes. they are awful. The
tax rate used to be u mills on a 20 per
cent assessment. now ii is 80 mills on
4 70 per cent assessment. Every man
an6 every home and indeed almost
hree-fOurths OF the enterprises are
stretched like a wet ShOestring to
make buckle and tongue meet OF
course, this spirit which takes q sur.
Tey of the county see many comforts
md many conyenienceS which its body
vas denied. yet it can but speculate
iH6er the present order of spending
IS 10 how long the public can keep
he present gait knowledge IS mere
diffused now than when this
piit was here III the body; things re
arded as big or great then are bu,
rdinary and of small moment now.
The saloon ard drunkenness of the
,,ys referred are no more. The
Ountry church, too, is almost gone,
nd the tendency TO move to town" is
lanifest throughout the country. Few
here be that would dare tC acclaim
nat there is not progress and pros
Gritty and that ne things of today are
OF far ahead of the things of a laalf
Antury ago There is not one thar
ould turn the clock back or who
ould swap the things of today for
le things OF half century ago. But
ould not the things OF today be more
'eful and would not people get real
more JOY out of living were just a
w things of long ago mixed in and
ade part OF the life sf today?
While Illuminating, as Bill Arp used
say 1t VIII not hurt any of the MANY
90 tnlngs OF today. to at least think
mixing IN with them some OF the
ou Things the fathers used to cali
ou and which they greatly enjoyed
10 individual independence of long
o is worth adverting to and nor.