‘Zh* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
645 
by their failure to stand up for the small, 
ordinary rights of humanity. They had 
put “smartness’' before sincerity. Thus 
they finally came to a point, where they 
feared and dared not oppose the mean¬ 
ness for which they were responsible, be¬ 
cause they thought the plain people of 
that town would not support them in any 
moral issue over such a small thing as a 
pile of bones. That was at a time when 
people were neglecting their work to 
shout at the injustice being done the 
black frecclmen. That was easy, for the 
freedmen were 1,000 miles away ! The 
village church would bo filled on Sunday 
night while some lecturer thundered at 
the wrongs of people who lived far away, 
but it was left to the little boys and the 
dog to fight for the principle which meant 
most to home life. The adults of that 
town could not see that. I lie arrogant 
meanness of Deacon Drake bad developed 
because they would not attempt to kill 
the little germs of meanness which meant 
so much to these boys. Like the tiny 
bacteria spreading all through the mass 
and changing the character by increasing 
life, the little meannesses had spread all 
through the community until education, 
law, business and religion as practiced 
in that town could not fit these boys for 
the job of gaining their fair property 
rights in these bones. They had to do 
the work themselves. If they selected a 
dog for a partner, they taught all of us a 
great lesson of life. We must all go to 
the homely, plain things about us and 
near us, with -which we are familiar, for 
our final strength. We must all do that 
when the higher forces of society, which 
ought to help us, become too highly or¬ 
ganized. When that happens, the or¬ 
ganization or the individual who should 
help becomes more interested in holding 
a job, or the party or the club together 
while the real rights of humanity must 
fake what energy is left after selfish in¬ 
terest has been satisfied. Then there is 
only one remedy —He must do it our- 
i el res. 
In a much larger way the world is full 
of Deacon Drakes. They have the sup¬ 
port of teachers, justices, business men 
and all too frequently the church. I 
would not have any of you think that I 
mean any disrespect for true education, 
law. business or religion. I yield to no 
man in my reverence for these great 
forces of society. I have simply de¬ 
scribed the public life in a small country 
town as I kuew it. These people were 
fully capable of great personal or public 
sacrifice when fully aroused. The trouble 
was that they did not practice in the 
small routine of their daily lives the little 
virtues •Out of which great public sacri¬ 
fices are made. I would like to ask if 
right in your own town you cannot find 
practically all the characters I have 
mentioned. 
There have always been Deacon 
Drakes, and for years they have been 
taking most of our bones and selling them 
back to us for about four times their 
value. It is this great margin of differ¬ 
ence which has developed our big cities 
into cisterns into which the roof of the 
country hills has for years drained its 
wealth of money and men down through 
the valleys and along the rivers. And 
everyone knows that the stagnant water 
In a big cistern can never be as pure as 
that in the springs and brooks, out be¬ 
neath the sun. All these things have 
been going on through the years until we 
find that law and habits have become 
fixed. Thus it has happened that “tech¬ 
nically.” as the village justice said in the 
bone ease, these captured bones belong 
to the Deacon Drakes of society. The 
“hoys” find themselves baffled at all 
points when they try to obtain their own 
property. Education fails to be free and 
fair when in our schools it is dominated 
by men who have little or no sympathy 
for children. In many a growing town 
the new schoolhouse is designed as an 
advertisement to show new comers, who 
will buy real estate. Our colleges may 
be endowed by Wealthy men who have 
made their money much as Deacon Drake 
obtained the bones, while too many State 
universities become a part of some po¬ 
litical game in order to make sure of 
their appropriation. Whenever the plain 
people stand back and permit others to 
think and plan for them, the great forces 
of society will become cowardly and per¬ 
functory, and cannot or will not. alone 
give us our fair share in the struggle of 
life. In such conditions the only way 
out will be along the line of self-effort. 
Education, law and all the rest are tools 
put in our hands for use. but of them¬ 
selves they will accomplish little unless 
those who use them can imitate those 
little boys and bring to their aid the com¬ 
mon love and sympathy which we must 
take from the ordinary things all about 
us. To sum it all up in five words: 
“IEc must do it ourselves.’’ H. w. c. 
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have become interested in Hope Farm and its people. They may not 
know that these notes , have been printed for 20 years and more. 
Some 2.i of the best of these old-time sketches have been published 
in book form. This book is called 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Every reader of the Rural New-Yorker should own a copy. Among 
other remarkable tributes is the following: 
Mr. M and I have just finished Hope Farm Notes, 
and l wish, you would express to Mr. Collingwood the 
pleasure that it gave us. We both liked it very much, 
and rarely do we both like the same book! 
Ohio. M. H. M. 
It is rare that any single book will appeal to all members of the 
family This one will because it is filled with kindly feeling and 
human nature. It should be in every country home. 
The Farmer 
His Own Builder 
By H. ARMSTRONG ROBERTS 
,A a °d handy book of all kinds 
of building information from concrete to 
carpentry. PRICE $1.50 
for sal* by 
THE RURAl NEW-YORKER 
333 West 30th Street, New York 
A New Use for Crows 
For the past three yen's we have had 
perfect success in keeping birds from de¬ 
stroying our strawberries by shooting a 
crow, wiring if into a sitting position, 
looking downward, on a roost about 2 ft. 
above the ground, and putting it in the 
eenter of our strawberry bed. All birds 
about the size of robins and smaller are 
very mueh afraid of crows. The crow 
will not prevent mice or chipmunks from 
eating the berries, but it is the best 
“seare-away-the-birds” I have yet discov¬ 
ered. I am thinking of trying a crow 
decoy this year instead of the real crow. 
New York. C. w. 
RURAl. NEW-YORKER. 333 West 30th St.. New York 
Gentlemen—Enclosed find remittance for $1.50, for which send 
me. postpaid a copy of “Hope Farm Notes.” 
Name. 
Town. 
State. R. F. D. or Street No. 
1| hen you write advertisers mention 
The Rural Slew- Yorker and you 'll get 
a quick reply and a **square deal. " See 
guarantee editorial page. ; 
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