mm3 
PHOTO ENG/COJ 
PRICE, FIVE CENTS 
$ 2.00 PER YEAR. 
VOL. L. NO. 2151 
NEW YORK, APRIL 18, 1891 
A TRIPLE-BARRELED SERMONS 
Poor Mule; Poor Roads; A Careless Huckster. 
R LAWSON VALENTINE found the “subjfct” 
shown below in Harrisburg, Pa. Under “Mud 
Spots” in the March 14th issue of Varnish he 
tells us how the picture came to be taken. The wagon 
belongs to a huckster who has gone to the market to 
secure his supply of “ truck,” leaving the mule hitched 
behind the vehicle. We may divide our sermon into three 
heads: 1. Care of Animals; 2. Care of Roads; 3. Care of 
Wagons. 
1. The mule in the picture has a right to look sorrowfu 1 
and disconsolate. 
good nature. In other words, it cost all this power, time 
and temp r to stick au ounce of mud on those wheels. Do 
you think it pays to go into the mud-sticking business ? 
Nature can do everything but make a good road. At that 
work she is a failure and she knows it. Let her alone and 
she will give you mud in spring and dust in summer, 
poking all the stones to the surface by way of variety. 
Sometimes wild animals help her by tramping a track to a 
spring. This gives a hard, firm bed in good weather, not 
dusty because it is shaded, but worse than a mud hole in 
wet weather because it has no drainage. Road making is 
an artificial process; nature is only too glad to give up the 
job. A good road is one of the things tba" man must make 
himself or go without. As Mr. Powell pointed out last 
week, the improvement of the country highways is now 
more important than further extension of our railroad 
system. Speaking in a general way, we have now rail¬ 
roads enough to haul our produce to market. It is the 
cost of hauling the produce to the railroads that must be 
lessened. In many places in the Eastern part of this 
country farmers and mechanics have sent vast sums of 
money in the aggregate from their savings to build West¬ 
ern railroads. At the same time they have neglected home 
improvements and nearby investments. As a result, their 
own sections are 
Life can have no 
joys for him. 
Look at his feet 
and legs! Plas¬ 
tered with mud 
to the knee, dried 
and caked so that 
the hair will come 
out and the skin 
about the hoof 
crack into ugly 
sores. Look a t 
the blanket down 
under his feet— 
slipped from his 
back, where it be¬ 
longs. Look at 
the tight, poorly 
fitting collar. We 
know that his 
shoulders are sore 
and tender. It is 
a tip-top repre¬ 
sentation o f 
“ How Not To Do 
It.” We are not 
surprised to see a 
big stick in the 
front of the 
wagon. Any man 
who will be so 
careless about 
such matters will 
easily forget to 
feed and water 
his mule. It will 
be impossible for 
him to succeed in 
any business and 
the wretched 
animal must 
carry a descrip¬ 
tion of his mas¬ 
ter’s character 
around with him, 
as plain as though 
he had these 
words painted on 
his side: “ My 
master is a poor, 
shiftless scamp of 
a man who hasn’t 
enterprise enough 
to save his own 
property 1 ” What 
sort of a story do 
your farm ani¬ 
mals tell about 
you? 
2. Those wheels 
tell an eloquent 
story. It is a for¬ 
cible illustration 
of an uneven 
trade. Every 
ounce of mud on 
these wheels rep¬ 
resents 500 lbs of 
wasted mule 
power, 10 minutes 
of more or less 
valuable time 
apd a bushel of 
now being “aban¬ 
doned” while the 
dividendson their 
Western invest¬ 
ments are dwind¬ 
ling away. Now, 
their only hope 
for disposing of 
their property is 
to improve their 
highways and 
thus place their 
farms within 
easier access o f 
the markets and 
comforts of the 
city. During the 
next 15 years 
there is sure to be 
a movement o f 
population from 
the city to the 
country indepen¬ 
dent of the move¬ 
ment in the op¬ 
posite direction. 
This movement 
will follow good 
roads. The road 
question is of 
more importance 
t o agriculture 
than the tariff, 
free silver or the 
sub-Treasury 
scheme. Think it 
up, talk it u p , 
fight it up. 
3. Would you 
buy milk, butter 
or vegetables out 
of such a looking 
wagon as this ? 
It seems almost a 
crime to put any 
article designed 
for human food 
into such a filthy 
place ! The driver 
of such a wagon 
would probably 
be willing to step 
out of the pig pen 
up to the wagon 
se it and go about 
selling milk o r 
butter. Good 
customers are 
ready to pay for 
neatness. The 
man who pro- 
po-es to work up 
a “special mar¬ 
ket” must be 
neat and clean or 
be satisfied t o 
sell second-class 
goods. “ Shuck 
up” or keep away 
from special 
customers. That 
wagon advertises 
a dirty map, 
A SERMON ON POOR ROAD MAKING. From Nature. Fig. 102. 
