The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1942-02-05
Turning Over An
Old Leaf
By Phillip A. Gladheim

There were faces to remember in the
Valley of the Shadow;
! There were faces unregarded, there
were faces to forget;
There were fires of grief and fear
that are a few forgotten ashes;
There were sparks of recognition that
are not forgotten yet"
The hero of this weeks column is
a farmer Some of the most genuine
personalities are those isolated on a
lonely farm, mingling very infre-
quently with other people, because
they are faithful and hardy. servants
of the soil and its daily miracle of
never-ending cycles. TownspeOple are
tradesmen; they are not understood
by rural folk and by them often in
terpreted as suspicious characters.
! Townspeople have the tendency of
| feeling superior toward the farmer
The present trend of events is show
| ing society a new angle of the voca
! ton of q farmer-and learning also
| JIlSlJ lGti illtIN al { ilOI OIllN q SLtlNN
and independent class-but have an
innate culture, whereas the culture
/ of townspeople is superimposed, and
never gets under a tough and I'M
yielding skin. The farmer is near the
soil-he is constantly associated with
things that grow-He is aware that
his inner life is a matter Of growth
and this is fundamentally what is
meant by culture. There are however
many farmers who just plod with a
dull thud. But let us keep attentive to
/ the other class of men and women
who rejoice in their work, their chill
dren, neighbors, home, and the soil.
In the last few years there has
come to our neighborhood a farmer
and his wife who have spent most Of
their years on farm east of Meadow
Mountain, between Glendale and Bit
finger. They raised a family of four,
three girls and one boy. These chill
dren are now grown, married, have
children. There are to date twenty
seven grandchildren-all hale and
hearty. Instead Of being dissatisfied
with simple life on the farm these
children married farmers-and for
tunately each have splendid large
farms, well equipped-and their land
| Joins together. The farm also of the
parents joins that of the children,
comprising today a total of 1900
acres of Garrett county's best soil.
But as | said above our hero-farmer
with his wife have moved from the
old place and have come to small
farm near Oakland. His name is
Irwin Custer; that Of his wife,
Melissa. Now Irwin and Melissa are
| happy with each other, their work,
and their growing family. They are
excellent neighbors, always willing to
give a helping hand-and always
have time for conversation on worth
while topics spiced occasionally with
a good story. Irwin and Melissa are to
that stage of their life where men
and women brought up in the cities
generally retire and finally disappear
from this earth as dry rot. Not so
this hale and hearty pair. They are
up at five-to bed at eight. In be-
tween rising and retiring host of
tasks. They are not only farmers
but have learned many other valu-
able forms Of handcraft If Irwin
wants to build barn or house he
builds tiff he wants to recondition
his car or tractor he can do it. He
has his own blacksmith, carpentery
and electric shop. He has kept up to
date-with all modern advances save
one He and Melissa have never seen
a movie.