THE TIM BUNKEK PAPERS. 85 



know &quot; where upon airth I m gwine to neow,&quot; just as if I 

 had never been off my farm before. But the thick-headed 

 creatur never see the drift of my remark about sending an 

 apology, and went and wrote that letter. Everybody that 

 knows me knows well enough that I seldom do anything to 

 my neighbors that I have to apologize for, and when I do I 

 am apt to make it in person. Jake s letter looks curis up 

 here, and I shan t hear the last of it in a year. All I have 

 to say is that I m glad it set him to thinking. Folks had 

 better be thinking of something, even if they don t think 

 straight, than to be as stupid as dolts. Jake may make 

 something yet if he keeps thinking. 



I went up that morning to the city to attend the annual 

 meeting of our County Agricultural Society. You see, 

 last year, they put in the Colonel president, and all the 

 screws got loose, and we had that fuss of a &quot;gal hoss 

 race,&quot; as the boys used to call it. Now I have nothing 

 to say agin womankind in general, or the girls in par 

 ticular ; but it does seem as if, when you got a woman out 

 of her place, she made a good deal more of a smash-up 

 than a man. Everything goes wrong. It is just like 

 breaking down the hub of your cart wheel, when the frost . 

 is coming out of the ground in the spring. It is a mighty 

 dirty job, and business has got to stop. 



It was pretty much so with our County Society after the 

 fair. It made a great deal of talk. Some very sensible 

 men got disgusted, and declared they never would have 

 anything to do with the Society agin, because it counte 

 nanced horse-racing. The Colonel s friends said the oppo 

 sition was all a political move, agin their party. At one 

 time it looked as if we should have to give up the Society, 

 there was so much bitterness of feeling. It is surprising 

 to see how far men will carry their political prejudices. 

 Partisanship works into everything, controls men s votes 

 for the officers, and committees of the Society, and some 

 times determines the award of premiums. Democratic 



