Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1941-07-31

about the army danger
some, even without lock, cock, stock
or barrel
However at the time of our story
new and improved mowers were be-
ing manufactured and put on the
| market with the cutter-bar forward
and the old, "horse and man kill
ers' went to the junk pile. The
Buckeye" champion, Wood"
and others followed in the wake.
But the prejudice that was created
and existed in the minds Of skepti-
cal farmers couldn't be brushed
aside by the crack Of whip. An
agent for one of the new improved
mowers went to a well-tO-dO farm
er who had a large acreage of grass
to cut to try to induce him to buy a
machine, but the old farmer talked
Spanish to him, wouldn't have it,
wouldn't it at all,-d-m boys cut
their legs off, However the new
mowers were destined to replace
the scythe in the harvest field, and
agents were nearly as thick as fid-
dlers' in Hitler's Green. At the
time of the story to which we are
urging our dilatory pencil, there
| were three local agents on the same
branch of the creek. AS 1t is these
agents with whom we are dealing,
! for the sake Of convenience, we will
call them Smith, Brown, and Jones.
! The latter was agent for the BUCK
eye;" Brown, the champion,
while Smith was agent for,-we
! cannot ecall,-but such a name
no one in the whole community had
ever heard of it before, nor since,
so we will just dub it the wild
cat" These oily tongued agents
could talk from Genesis to Chicago
on the merits of their respective
machines, but it took Smith to tell
whoppers His mower had them all
beat to a frazzle,-'the grass would
fall fat before the cutter-bar reach
it, These tall stories and other
bragadocia, led up to a moving
machine contest, a field trial. 1t
would then be proven what these
different makes of mowers were
capable of doing.
An acre Of level bottom ground in
timothy was secured to make the
test which lay along a public road
A narrow sloping grassy bank be-
tween the road and the field made
J it an ideal spot for spectators to
watch the show. The day was set
and it was widely advertised and
also open to all who would partici-
pate When the appointed time ar
rived, quite a crowd Of people was
gathered, as it was expected there
would be "hot time near the old
town." that afternoon, when all the
contestants got there. At the ap-
pointed hour only two agents, Smith
and Jones were on the ground.
Where was Brown. and others, that
were expected there? No sharp, or
unkind words passed between these
two rival agents. Smith looked
the way he evidently felt,-the
wildcat" couldn't be beat,-the
plum would fall into his lap.
Jones, with his Buckeye, be-
trayed nothing more than man
who might have something up his
sleeve" AS there were no more en-
tries, cuts were drawn to see who
would open the ball. The lot fell
to Jones He made a round or two
and Smith did likewise. What was
/ the difference? To all appearances,
there was none. Both mowers cut
the grass, and the swaths looked
much the same. AS for the horses,
/ neither team seemed worried 1t
/ looked as though the contest was
going to be kind Of a flop. While
! the crowd was jabbering away, pro
and con, Jones asked the owner if it
would be all right to NOW another
round. ''Certainly Wouldn't care
if it was all cut down. Jones, un-
observed by many, had removed the
neck-yoke from the point of the
tongue. zone Of the arguments