CHAPTER XXVI. 



MARKETING: THE TRIP TO THE SPINDLE 



Having come this far in all seriousness of spirit 

 may we not turn now to something a little lighter 

 perhaps even to a nonsense verse? If so, well, 

 you remember the old nursery rhyme, that runs : 



"Jack and Jill went up the hill, 



To get a pail of water; 

 Jack fell down and broke his crown, 

 And Jill came tumbling after." 



In a large sense this expresses the situation that 

 confronts the cotton farmer in handling his crop. 

 You and I and every man who produces cotton 

 must first go up the hill. Like Jack and Jill we 

 go there for a purpose; ours is to produce a crop 

 that shall, we hope, enable us to keep our farms in 

 a good producing condition ; our houses and barns 

 in repair; our reading tables reasonably furnished 

 with papers, magazines and books ; our family with 

 food and raiment; our children with the advantages 

 of education for culture and professional efficiency. 

 We have a right to expect these rewards. Jack 

 and Jill no doubt knew that water was there; we 

 at least know that the kind we want is there. But 

 it is hard to get it. The road that leads to the top 

 of the hill is a difficult one. That this was so with 

 the one that Jack and Jill went up, is evidenced by 

 the fact that " Jack fell down and broke his crown." 

 It was a steep, rocky road, no doubt ; rough and dif- 



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