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HOPE FARM NOTES 
I have just braid of a case involving 
hard cider which ought, to interest farmers, 
now that the nation has declared for pro¬ 
hibition. A man who owns a good-sized 
orchard is well known as an advocate of 
temperance—in fact, for years he. belonged 
to the Prohibition party. No liquor is 
ever permitted on the farm, and the fam¬ 
ily has been brought up to oppose drink- 
iiig. Every year large quantities of Wll 
apples are fed to the Stock, rathei ^th.m 
take any risk .vith hard cider, h or a 
good many years now there has been on 
this farm a man with many fine qualities 
—faithful and true. Ilis one great tail¬ 
ing was a craving for liquor which came 
upon him now and then with overpower¬ 
ing force. Many of us who pride our¬ 
selves on the fact that we do not drink tire 
mere pikers in the battle against tempta¬ 
tion as compared with such a man. ' erj 
likelv we joke and make merry over tno 
comedy of “King Alcohol" as Portrayed 
bv the violent temperance orators. JO 
the man 1 am speaking of. however, the 
taste or smell of liquor forced upon him 
an unspeakable tragedy. About the.only 
fair confparisou I can think of is to 
imagine a tiger endowed in some miracu¬ 
lous way with reason and the love which 
1 have truly seen Newfoundland dogs 
show for children. 1 have surely known 
such dogs to risk their lives m defense of 
little ones left in their charge. Imagine 
a tiger endowed with that same spirit and 
left alone to protect a little child. v\« 
imagine that someone kills a lamb or calf 
and throws it in the way of that tigei. 
Impelled by instinct he tastes the warm 
blood. In an instant the craving from a 
long line of cruel ancestors conn's to him. 
He is no longer the. guardian, but a blood¬ 
thirsty tiger, and he turns upon the child 
left iii his charge! 
***** 
Of course you will say that is ti foolish 
comparison, because there never was and 
never can be such tiger. 1 here are. how¬ 
ever, plenty of such men, and 1 have seen 
them act in just about that way. 1 he 
man I speak of was of that nature. I here 
was no chance for him except to keep en¬ 
tirely away from the stuff m any form. 
That was why he liked to work on the 
farm I refer to, since the entire spirit and 
practice of the place was opposed to 
liquor drinking. There was some de¬ 
mand for a good quality of vinegar and so 
two barrels of cider were made and left 
for the slow process of home vinegar mak¬ 
ing. In former years when vinegar was 
made the failings of human nature were 
remembered and the barrels of cider were 
sent oil to ti neighbor’s cellar for devel¬ 
opment.” There had been no trouble tor 
a long time, and all hands were busy and 
a little careless, so that cider was left m 
the barn, without thought of the conse¬ 
quences. When I was a boy I heard a 
temperance orator say he would as ewn 
have a barrel of gunpowder in the cellar 
of his house as to have a barrel of hard 
cider where anyone could get at it. At 
that time I laughed at the statement. It. 
seemed like a very stale joke, but since I 
have witnessed this tragedy I kuow that 
“orator.” for till his violence, was right. 
***** 
No one on that busy farm paid any at¬ 
tention to the two barrels of cider. J hey 
stood in the barn, innocent in appearance, 
while inside of them the devils own work 
was silently going on. For on the way 
between the innocent «weet cider and the 
useful vinegar “hard” cider steps in for a 
time to rule and ruin. 1 ersoually, 1 
think there are greater possibilities for 
crime and misery in a barrel of hard 
cider than can he found in ti keg of beer. 
I kuow that, when I say that many lead¬ 
ers will start up in angry protest and 
deny it.. Let. us not quarrel over a barrel 
of hard cider. Should we drink it w« 
might quarrel over anything. I just give 
you my own opinion. If you have never 
seen any evil results from the infernal 
work going on inside that barrel you are 
fortunate indeed. I am persuaded that 
these barrels of hard cider standing in that, 
barn had a worse influence over the man 
I am speaking of than the local ruin shop. 
For I know that he would stop at the 
saloon now and then, get a glass of beer 
and go on has way. But day by day, as 
he went about his work these barrel* of 
hard cider were constantly before him. 
The sugar of the sweet, cider and the acid 
of the vinegar meant, little to him, but in 
between them came the alcohol of the 
“hard cider,” and it meant, to him just 
what, the warm blood meant to the tiger. 
The smell of it and the taste of it. broke 
down every strong resolution and am¬ 
bitious desire. The rest of the family, 
brought happily into life without thi« 
horrible craving, came and went without 
noticing these barrels. To them this for¬ 
mation of alcohol was merely, an incident 
of vinegar making. They did not even 
realize what it meant to this man, nor 
did they see the horrible struggle he was 
making against it, tyid thus think of tak¬ 
ing it out of liis way. They were kindly 
and charitable people who would not in¬ 
jure a fellow being, hut through careless¬ 
ness and a failure to understand they led 
this man to ids fall. For he began se¬ 
cretly to drink that hard cider until he 
lost control of himself. I have read many 
stories of what liquor will drive a man to 
do, and I must say that many of them 
seemed improbable. I am now ready to 
believe anything they tell me about the 
possible influence of liquor upon human 
character. Happily I have never cared 
for the. wretched stuff, hut I have begun 
to think that half of the evils of intemper¬ 
ance are due to the fact, that people like 
you and me, who have little to fear per¬ 
sonally, are careless about the influence 
we may have upon others. 
***** 
■n. RURAL NEW-YORKER ' ' February 22. 1919 
... ....cimiMliHiniMmiiiim.nmimimiuimn...immuiniuininiiituuii.umummnmumuiimnma 
I am not going to give any further de¬ 
tails of this case. You may be sure those 
barrels of stuff have been put in a safe 
place. I do want to say just, a few words 
about. Prohibition and what it. may mean 
to some of us. Needless to say I believe 
in it. hut I am not so simple as to imag¬ 
ine that just because 44 States, out ol 48 
have declared for it the law will enforce 
itself and that, drunkenness aud crime are 
“all over.” Whoever thinks that is in for 
a rude awakening. T think this new 
amendment, to the Constitution will in the 
end bring greater blessings to the nation 
than any of the other 17 have ever 
brought. I also think it. is in great dan¬ 
ger of failure, and that it will require 
greater self-denial and courage to put it 
through. For this amendment lias to do 
with personal habits as well as property 
loss. It has been compared with the 
amendment abolishing human slavery. 
That was different, for slavery was really 
upheld only by a small minority of the 
people of a certain definite section, which 
at the time could not assert, itself. Pro¬ 
hibition was and is opposed by groups of 
people in till parts of the country. Some 
of these groups are very strong and in¬ 
fluential, and they will fight hard for 
what they call their “personal liberty.” 
Country people must not make any mis¬ 
take about that. 
***** 
I say country people, because this Pro¬ 
hibition question is essentially an agricul¬ 
tural development. It has been developed 
and made possible by farmers. It was 
started in the agricultural States, am 
the figures will show that wherever there 
are large cities it has been the agricul¬ 
tural vote that carried it. over. The only 
serious and organized opposition to it now 
is found in the large cities when 1 work¬ 
men have r ’opted the slogan “No beer, no 
work.” T s is largely a bluff, organized 
by the brewers and distillers, hut we may 
as well understand now that the enforce¬ 
ment of this Prohibition amendment will 
be very largely a contest between city and 
country! My belief is that the end of it 
will be greatly to the advantage of the 
country, but we cannot sit still and let. 
the amendment or the law enforce, itself. 
It will mean sacrifice and self-denial and 
courage of the highest order for many of 
us. and we must, stand right up aud face 
them. I think this amendment, properly 
enforced, will lead to an immense increase 
in the sale of apple juice, milk and grape 
juice. It will, however, and very prop¬ 
erly. cut. out. the barrels of "hard” cider, 
and we must all realize that and help cut 
them out. There may 1*' men who have 
denounced the saloon and at the same 
time kept hard cider on hand for . all 
friends. Both strong beer and hard cider 
will be classed as intoxicating drinks, and 
if one goes the other will have to go with 
it. Suppose the beer drinker growls and 
fights for his liquor while the hard cider 
man accepts the law which he has worked 
for, and without complaint gives up liis 
drinking. That, would he strife against 
sacrifice, and in all the history of such 
legislation you cannot name a case where 
what may be called sacrifice lias not. final¬ 
ly won. What I am getting at is that 
country people, having put this.amend¬ 
ment through, must now see that it is en¬ 
forced. First of all I think we must show 
in our lives (not with our mouths alone) 
that we believe in the law. Then we 
must stand right ut> openly and without 
fear and expose violators of it. I need 
not tell you that if our country people can 
honestly gain the reputation of doing 
these things faithfully and honestly they 
will gain the respect and admiration of 
the entire country. The farmer in.. that 
case will no longer he a “hayseed, hut 
will have the weight and character of a 
ton of Alfalfa hay. So perhaps I may 
say that Prohibition has come through 
the courage required to smash in the 
head of the hard cider barrel with an ax. 
When all country people gain that cour¬ 
age what a nation we shall have. 
***** 
As I have been thinking of these.things 
my fire has burned low. and I find it time 
to rake up the ashes for the night, 
have had a little snow, and the air outside 
seems filled with a whito mist. Down 
the road my neighbor’s light, shines bright 
l.v. Across the valley in a house oil tin 
hilltop there is a light which I take to bf 
in a fiick room. Above are the stars, and 
all around the gleaming whiteness of the 
snow. I fall to thinking of the many 
generations of men who, since the world 
began, have looked out upon such a night 
and felt themselves baffled by the old 
burning question. Men have lived and 
died and argued and fought over what 
they thought was the truth. What I hav< 
written here is my conception of th< 
truth, yet there are some who will deny 
it, and say truth lies on the other side 
On the table beside me is a iiig, black 
hook. Let. us open it and read : 
“To this end was I born, and for this 
cause came I into the world, that I should 
hear witness unto tin* truth. Everyone 
that is of the truth heareth my voice.” 
“Pilaff' saitli unto him, What is truth.’" 
There it is, ever and ever ns we journey 
on through life, Pilate’s old question 
seems to come to us: 
“What is trutht” w. < 
. * 
■ ■ 
mk&m 
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■ 
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