It is an 111 Wind that Blows Nobody Good 



A Fable Sequel to Teaching Plant Diseases in the Grades 

 William Gould Vinal 

 Rhode Island College of Education 



"Abominable East Wind!" cried the farmer, as he gazed at his 

 potatoes; "to w4iat a woe-begotten end have you brought my 

 winter food!" 



"The same old story!" murmured the wind, in reply. "Always 

 blame the weather for troubles you have brought upon yourself. 

 What more could have been done for you? All this day have I 

 brought water to your garden to save you from famine. If you 

 did not spray your potatoes to prevent blight, when warned by the 

 Farmers' Bulletin, who is to blame but yourself?" 



"I am unfavored, indeed," rejoined the farmer. "I thought 

 you were a friend, but have been deceived.* 



"Not by me," replied the wind, patiently. "I tend to my 

 work every day." I bring the crops warmth. I bring them 

 moisture. I mislead none but the superstitious and ignorant." 



"Superstitious! ignorant!" cried the farmer. "How little do 

 you know as to who I am. Trustee of the Academy — Superin- 

 tendent of the Sunday School for thirty years — a leader of the 

 community." 



"A leader who cannot lead! Wise, perhaps, in the laws of the 

 village — ignorant in the laws of nature. You have mistaken 

 the friend that brings a good harvest for the pest that causes 

 famine. Alas for your neighborhood, if no better leader can be 

 found." 



The farmer turned away, and the wind played across the field. 

 The wind danced up and down the rows and mourned his luck- 

 less fate. "Yet," said he to himself, as he dried up a muddy 

 pool about to decay a hill of potatoes, "I will keep on trying. 



What an ignorant farmer!" 



****** 



Scene: The kitchen. 



Characters: Mother Hubbard, a rich lady who had gone 

 through the form of being patriotic by preserving peas without 

 being intelligent as to the correct method. 



Faith, the daughter of Mother Hubbard who had great faith in 

 her fashionable mother. 



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