Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1922-05-10
Miss Florence Minis Believes
in the Old South and Its
Traditions,

in the Old South and Its
Traditions,
Dear Advertiser:
There is a poem called "out Where
the West Begins" In it are these
statements, "Out where friendships
little truer," and '4where the bonds
of home are wee bit tighter
Poets are given the license Of say
ing things that rhyme, things that
catch the imagination of reader. /
can not say that ! agree with the au-
thor Of the quotation.
In,the first place it is the old South
which has welded the bonds of home
50. tight that the exceptional South
erner and not the typical one leaves
, the South. r"The bonds of home" in
the South reach back even to the love
of the native soil, the Revolutionary
soldiers and the Confederate veter-
ans supreme love of state.
Sons of successive generations live
in the ancestral homes, and the
bonds Of those homes are trebly
strengthened by the Inherited love of
the places themselves.
The Western Coat-of-Arms would
ii:be large dollar mark. For variety,
some families might have it artist
cally framed on a background of
green wheat, while others might
frame it emblazoned among several
oil derricks.. I
The plow versus sentiment, haste
versus slow growth, hilarity versus
quiet refinement, might be fitting sem
timents to enrave under the ar
mortal bearings. These family mot
toes, are, L. believe usually seen in
Latin. The Westerner will prefer his
in slang for quicker understanding.
Speaking of slow growth, the trees
that are now shading the entire town
are poplars that sprang up over night.
They are planted in straight rows;
that arrangement was evidently some
pioneers idea of good landscape gar
dening.
Some days ago, in passing "a farm
some miles from town, / saw a huge
clump of trees growing very near to-
gether in a square, even, symmetri-
cal group. They are leafless, and with
out beauty. I remarked upon the Pc
culiar arrangement and also the
strangeness of seeing so many trees
at one time out here. I was told that
the land was more valuable if it had
a number of trees on it, and so the.
owner, rank materialist, had plant
ed them. They were not stately oaks
or pines that could be used for the
masts of great ships or for the walls
of home, but scrawny sticks that
would some day be used for inferior
posts. The owner planted them to in
crease his bank account.
If utility happened to bring with it
beauty, the beauty would not be OBJ
|jected to, but beauty without utility
would be void and senseless.
Someone said that the value ac-
cruing from having money was that
when one possessed it, it was not
necessary to think about it. But the
western idea seems to be that money
gives the opportunity of getting more
money and so on through the sue
ceeding financially successful years.
To be comfortable financially, gives
one a different mental attitude to-
ward the world, but miserly attitude
ever grasping and never satisfied is
worse than mental depression.
Labor is the law of life in the
West. There are no servants, and no
leisure class. The twelve hours of a
day are the allotted divisions in which
to accomplish material things for ma
terial ends. Meditation is foe to
occupation, therefore Life is an un-
broken circle of endless accomplish
ment.
School stops at noon. The church
service is supposed to end at noon.
Everything of the sort is systemati-
cally planned, so that the days work
and regularity may be undisturbed.
Twelve o'clock is the meal hour.
The West eats at twelve, because by
so doing the West can start back to
work at one.