586 
Oic RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
I’wo P.iCf Drives. —They are now 
going on together, and. as they go, shak- 
ink lip the world and preparing to shake 
it back again into place. In Europe, thou¬ 
sands of our young men are standing up 
against a flood of barbarous human en¬ 
ergy such as never was known before. 
As I look out of my window and see 
the long sweep of the farm rising up to 
the hill orchard, with the sun .sparkling 
on the brook and the green starting here 
and there out of the brown earth, it is 
hard to realize that over in Kuroiie our 
boys are marching up to take their place 
in a battle line which marks where the 
finger of destiny dijiped in blood, has 
smeared a great track across Europe. 
While this was going on bells were ring¬ 
ing, flags were waving, war songs were 
being sung, and men and women were 
marching through town and city to an¬ 
nounce a new campaign for the sale of 
Liberty bonds. The two drives come 
together. The sword and the dollar 
march side by side. One is cutting the 
world loose from old habits and views 
of life. The spirit which goes with the 
other is, after this war is over, to heal 
the wounds of war and help make this 
world better than it has ever been be¬ 
fore. The destroying sword and the heal¬ 
ing dollar. They must fight .side by side 
or else civilization as we hope for it in 
Americ.n is doomed to failure. 
Sword and Dollar. —We have both in 
our house. Hanging on the wall, over the 
fireplace, is an old cavalry sabre with a 
little flag over it. This belonged to my 
father, and came from the Civil War, 
Upstairs there is a modest-looking bank 
book, which represents my father’s dollar 
invested long ago when the war broke 
out. That sabre is a clumsy old weapon 
—heavy and rusty. Now and then we 
take it down, and the children pull out 
the blade. It makes but a poor, homely 
appearance beside the bright, lighter 
swords which ofTicers now carry. I rather 
think my young folks might be tempted 
to let it go as junk were it not for the 
sentiment carried in the old scabbard. I 
am not .sure of its exact history, but I 
think it came from the battlefield of Mal¬ 
vern Hill. I have no doubt some of the 
older men who read this were in that 
battle. The Union troops were massed 
on the slopes of a ridge, and the Confed¬ 
erates attempted to drive them out. One 
charge made by a company of cavalry 
carried the riders right over a T^nion 
batter.v, and my fathers regiment was 
ordered to make a counter charge. They 
drove the horsemen back and recovered 
the guns, and after it was over my 
father found this sabre where its dead 
owner had dropped it beside the cannon. 
II is own sword being useless, my father 
took this clum.sy cavalry weapon in its 
place. It must have been a curious 
sight—an infantry officer leading his men 
, with this big emblem of slaughter, but 
these were the days when men realized 
the spirit of the weapon as well as its 
.shajie. When my father was killed the 
sabre was sent home with his other ef¬ 
fects, and here it hangs—an emblem of 
• old days. 
The Dank Rook. —My father was one 
of the ])lain, common men who repre- 
senti'd that wonderful middle class of 
working men of flO years ago. These 
men. as a rub', bad very little property, 
yet they had the independence and char¬ 
acter which made them the masters of 
their times. Our Civil War was one of 
volunteers at the beginning, and when 
Lincoln issued his call men like my 
father—40 years old or more—dropped 
everything and volunteered. !Money was 
scarce in those days, and families were 
large. I now understand that just be¬ 
fore he started for the war my father 
went to the local savings bank and de¬ 
posited one dollar or a little more in my 
name. I did not know it was there. 
While my father was fighting with the 
sword that dollar back in the bank was 
fighting, too. I think it, with other dol¬ 
lars, was invested in government bonds 
with which to buy food, clothing, bullets, 
powder—everything the soldier needed— 
and to care for the family at home. 
What impresses me today is that the 
sword and the dollar fought side by side. 
each in its own waj’—one absolutely 
neerling the other. 
Fighting Dollails Crow. —I did not 
know that this dollar was in the bank 
until I was over 50 years old. Then I 
suddenly learned that my fighting dollar 
had grown to .$1.3.85—clean, honest money 
which had stood up beside the sword to 
help hold this countr.v together. And 
another thing happened during the war. 
At one time the army was forced to re¬ 
treat, and it was necessary to leave bag¬ 
gage and valuables behind. My father 
packed his in a knapsack or kit and it 
was buried in the garden of a loyal man 
in Virginia. There it lay for months or 
years until after my father’s death it 
was dug up and sent back to us. The 
contents were .safe—my mother’s watch, 
a little money, a few trinkets, some cloth¬ 
ing and a few weapons. I can remember 
the day it came back to us. The goods 
were a little tarnished, and all except the 
money, not quite as valuable as when 
they were buried. You see the fighting 
dollar, working and turning itself in a 
patriotic cause, had grown in earning 
power. The idle, buried dollar, had lost 
something of its power and its value. It 
had done nothing for country or society. 
Thus the sword and the dollar have come 
down to me. They fought .side by side. 
The sword is now but a memory, an em¬ 
blem, for the battle, but the dollar must 
fight on over and over to back up the 
sword. 
The Sentiment. —A man of my age 
has earned the right to go back into the 
past now and then. The trouble with 
some men is that they wander back into 
the past and stay there—the useless com¬ 
panion of complaining ghosts which have 
growled themselves out of u.se. It is .a 
good and wise thing for the middle-aged 
to go back into the past, pick the truth off 
the dusty shelves, bring it out into the 
present and spend his time making it pre¬ 
sentable to this generation. A man of 
some imagination might take this bank¬ 
book, showing the earnings of that old 
dollar, and put it on the mantel under 
my father’s sword. Then let him put out 
the light and with only the flickering 
flame from the fire to dispel the darkness, 
watch the book and the sword. He will 
see the book slowly assume the form of a 
woman. She is past her youth. There 
are little children hanging to her dress. 
Her face is pale and anxious. Her eyes 
shine. 8he holds her hand out to the 
sword and you hear her say: 
“I am the spirit of the poor man’s dol¬ 
lar. I represent the tears andi sweat of 
human labor—the self-denial and sacrifice 
of saving. I must guard the feeble or¬ 
phan, I must cheer the lonely wife, I 
must protect the silent, lonely home in 
which are to be reared the men and 
women who are to be ma.sters of the 
world's tomorrow! I am the love and 
thought and care worked out through the 
toil and sacrifice of men and women who 
have gladly .slaved that their children 
might have education and power. I give 
expression to the noblest thought and 
hope ever formed in the human breast— 
the truest faith that my country will pro¬ 
vide for my loved ones! I am asked to 
give myself into your .service to march at 
your .side, to nerve the arm which swings 
you, to risk all with you. Before I do 
this, tell me, my brother, the sword, are 
you worthy of that trust?” 
AVe see the sword leap from its scab¬ 
bard, we see the figure of a strong, clear¬ 
eyed man with a great light upon his 
face. He holds the sword above him, and 
we may hear him .say : 
“Have no fear I I need you ; I cannot 
fight without you. The spirit of your 
offering will steel my heart to .strike the 
blow. When I remember the glory and 
the pricele.ss treasure of your gift and 
trust I cannot be a hireling. I shall know 
that I have at my back not only tbe over¬ 
flowing banks and money vaults, but the 
sacred treasures of humble homes, the 
sweat-stained sacrifice of plain, common 
people, who gladly put their trea.sure 
upon the altar of their country. Have 
no fear. I will fight and win for these 
humble people a peace which will bring 
them back the old time opportunity and 
hope for their children !” 
April 20, 1918 
The Application. —The vision will 
fade away. The spirit goes and we have 
only the clumsy pieces of steel and a lit¬ 
tle book, Y'et we cannot escape the truth 
and the power of this vision. Men of 
your age and mine can never hope to see 
the world come back to normal conditions. 
It n-iU come in the future, but only as the 
re.sult of our sacrifice and willing labor. 
The sword alone in the hands of our 
boys never can win this war. The dollar 
must march with it. The banker’s dol¬ 
lar will win .a banker’s victory. Peace 
will finally come, wearing the garments 
woven out of the gift which this nation 
has given out of its sacrifice and true pa¬ 
triotism. The farmer’s dollar will bring a 
farmer’s victory. We must not let this 
war be financed by town and city, but 
we must do our share. The future of our 
business depends more than we think 
upon the way in which we help in these 
Liberty loans. But, one will say: 
“The government has not treated us 
fairly. Other industries have had an 
advantage over us. Why, then, should I 
help?” 
I know of this injustice even better 
than you do. But what good can you pos¬ 
sibly gain by refu.sing now to buy tliese 
bonds if you are able to do so? The 
country has got to have this money. As 
a creditor of the government you will 
have a far better chance to help farming 
than you ever could have as a critic only. 
You say other industries have had an 
advantage. True, but one rea.son for it 
is that we as farmers have taken money 
out of our own business and put it into 
these other industries ! Is it not wiser to 
lend $100 to the government and thus be¬ 
come a creditor of the nation than to put 
that money into those other business 
schemes which have been robbing us for 
years? I would not ask anyone to invest 
liquid capital or money needed for living 
into Liberty bonds. It is a mistake to 
borrow money to buy thein, but if one 
has savings laid aside for the future or an 
assured income, I ask him to invest at 
least a part of it as a dollar to march 
with the sword. II. W. C. 
nation over 
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Izi andS2S 
Copyright 1918 
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& Co., Inc. 
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