I136 
June 2fi, 1020 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
I imagine that most of us. at one time 
or another, expect to set the world on fire. 
So we start what we consider a nice little 
blaze and stand hack to see it spread. 
For we think the world is as dry as a 
stack of hay in a drought—only needing 
our little flare of flame to start it going. 
We find the world more like a soggy 
swamp. It does not flare up—our little 
Maze strikes the wet spots, and not hav¬ 
ing heat enough to dry out the water it 
comes to an end. Missionaries who have 
be.en- among the savage tribes of Africa 
say that the most wonderful thing to the 
average savage is the simple act of strik¬ 
ing a match. These men and their ances¬ 
tors have for centuries obtained fire only 
ajfjfer long and patient rubbing of two 
Sticks together. Often many hours of 
this laborious friction were needed be¬ 
fore they could obtain even a glow at the 
end of a stick, and then nurse it into 
flame. Here at one scratch this “magic 
stick” produced the effect of hours of 
hard toil! One savage stole a box of 
matches and undertook to “show off” be¬ 
fore his friends. He could start the lit¬ 
tle' flame of the match well enough, but he 
tried to make a fire out of big logs or 
damp sticks, direct from the match. Of 
course, the little match flame could only 
spread to things of its own size. You 
cannot jump flame from a glimmer to a 
giant log unless the latter is full of oil or 
gunpowder. 
:X * $ * * 
Two things have brought that to mind 
recently. My young friend. Henry Bark- 
man. came the other day with an oration 
which he was to deliver before some po¬ 
litical society. When a man is well sat¬ 
isfied with his own literary production, 
he goes about shedding the evidence of 
his admiration. When you come to be 
as old as I am. you will recognize the 
signs. I knew Henry felt that he had 
produced a world-beater—one of those 
great bursts of mental flame which every 
mow and then set the world on fire. Yet 
njft; honest person, except perhaps his 
mother or sister or sweetheart, would 
iihagine that society would stumble or 
eVf>n pause for an instant at its delivery. 
Hgnry would deliver it with a loud voice 
and many gestures, and then wait for the 
Wo)-ld to' blaze up. When there was no 
blaze he would feel that he had been cast¬ 
ing pearls before swine, when in truth he 
had thrown his match into a soggy pile 
of large sticks, where it sputtered for a 
moment and then flickered out.l "Youth 
ca.rtnot understand how long years of 
dnidgery are required to split and splin¬ 
ter those big sticks and dry them out 
with the fire of faith before the match 
can start the blaze, and then in after 
ytars the man who throws in the match 
'gets the credit which belongs to the patient 
\y'ofkers. who have been silently splitting 
and drying -the wood. T tried to tell 
Ilenry that when Lincoln delivered his 
speech at Gettysburg few people realized 
that it was to become a classic. A new 
generation with the power to look back 
through the mellowing haze of the years 
v v as needed to give it a full place in the 
American mind. Henry could not see it. 
Wtjen did youth ever know the back-look¬ 
ing; vision of age? It is a wise thing 
that youth must ever look ahead. 
$ if * * * 
; I: had all these things in mind as we 
came to the last lap of our journey to 
StfTrkville. Miss. That pleasant town 
lies! west of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad— 
on a side road of its own. When I went 
there 37 years ago the track wound on 
through what seemed like a wilderness, 
with here and there a negro cabin. Now 
it •seemed like one continuous stretch of 
fa|rm villages or Blue grass pastures. In 
forpier years the streets of Starkville 
we be just, ribbons of mud or dust, as the 
seasons determined. I knew a man who 
chme to town in November and bought 
an .empty wagon. He could not haul it 
home until the following April, so deep 
■was the mud. Now the main street was 
as .smooth and solid as Broadway, and 
firm stone roads branched out into the 
country in all directions. The streets 
were thicklv lined with cars. Here, as 
in-Kentucky, I saw men riding on genuine 
saddle horses, which shuffled quickly along 
like a rocking chair on four animated 
legsl It seemed like a moving-picture 
show taken from some old fairy tale, and 
if! is no wonder that the years fell away 
aha I went back in memory to those old 
days. 
$ # # $ $ 
It was in 1333 that I was graduated 
at ah agricultural college and went down 
to “reform and uplift the South.” Since 
then I have heard the motive or spirit of 
such a wildcat enterprise variously called 
“check.” “gall.” “nerve.” “assurance” or 
“foolishness.” with various strong adjec¬ 
tives pinned to the latter ! Yet. looking 
back upon it now. I feel that while per¬ 
haps all these terms were appropriate, 
they do not cover the essential thing. I 
had a smattering of such science as could 
be taught in those days. I had a great 
abiding faith in the power of education to 
lif.t men up and set them free. A few 
years before I had given up the thought 
of ever being anything except an ordinary 
workman, because I had had no training 
• which fitted me to do anything well. It 
seemed to me that the agricultural college 
had given me almost the miraculous help 
which came to the man with the darkened 
mind. Who could blame youth for feel¬ 
ing that the great joy and power of edu¬ 
cation could actually remove mountains 
of depression and trouble? I had been 
told that the chief assets of Missisippi 
were “soil, climate, character and the 
determination of a proud and well-bred 
race to train their hands to labor!” That 
was surely in line with my stock of ma¬ 
terial assets, and so I came to set the 
South on fire with ambition and vision. 
* * * * * 
Well do I remember the day I walked 
into the little brick building where The 
Southern Live Stock Journal was printed. 
Colonel O’Brien and Sergeant Hill looked 
me over. Colonel O’Brien was tall and 
straight—every inch a soldier. Sergeant 
Hill was short and fat. You would not 
think it. but he was with Forrest when 
they captured Fort Pillow. Sergeant 
Hill’s remark was: 
“Another one of them literary ei*anks, 
I'll bet.” 
Colonel O’Brien was more practical. 
"Come out and feed the press and then 
fold these papers.” 
And almost before I knew it my job 
of uplifting the South was on. I suppose 
you might call me a “useful citizen.” I 
fed the press, set type, swept the office, 
did the mailing, acted as fighting editor, 
tried to sing in the church choir, taught 
“elocution.” pitched baseball on the town 
nine and filled columns of the paper with 
soul-stirring editorials. At least, they 
stirred me if they had no effect upon any 
other reader. Those were the days wi.-.i 
living was a joy. Some days there would 
be a little run of subscriptions and per¬ 
haps a big advertisement would come. 
Now and then some ball club would come 
to town and our boys would send them 
home in defeat and disgrace. These oc¬ 
casions were bright spots on the calendar, 
but they were as nothing in the bright 
lexicon of youth to the great editorials I 
ground out at that battered and shaky 
table in the corner. Among other things 
I broke a labor strike in that town, alone 
and unassisted. It was the talk of the 
town, but to me it seemed a very poor 
thing beside the great editorial on ‘‘The 
South’s Failure.” which I wrote on that 
stormy day in Christmas week. 
* * * * * 
It comes back to me now as I write 
this. In those days everybody “knocked 
off” during Christmas week and we 
printed no paper. Yet we all seemed to 
come to the shop a few hours each day as 
part of our “holiday.” It was cold and 
wet. with mud nearly to your hips. Colo¬ 
nel O’Brien had started a fire in the fire¬ 
place. and he and Sergeant Hill stood 
before it smoking their pipes and telling 
war stories. Colonel O’Brien was telling 
how he heard the soldiers around their 
fires at night saying it was “a rich man’s 
war and a poor man’s fight.” Sergeant 
Hill told about the Indian who went after 
the molasses and glue to make into print¬ 
er’s rollers, and how in consequence the 
Yankees captured the printing outfit. I 
must tell you that story some day. And 
while these two old vets kept down on 
the ground in thought I was up on the 
heights developing a glorious future for 
the “Sunny South.” And at the last 
flourish of the pen I cleared my throat 
and read it to these old soldiers. And. 
honestly. I did not get the humor of it. 
These two men had given all they had 
of youth, ambition, money and hope to 
their section. They must walk softly all 
their remaining days around the ruins and 
the melancholy of defeat. And here was 
I without the least conception of what 
life must have meant to the Southern peo¬ 
ple, with the enthusiasm of a boy, pour¬ 
ing out dreams of a future which seemed 
even beyond the vision of an Isaiah. Great 
is youth and glorious are its prophetic 
visions. At any rate, the old soldiers 
let their pipes go out as they listened. 
“Fine.” said Sergeant Hill. “Splendid. 
I reckon you’ll have us all in Heaven -JO 
years hence !” 
“Fine.” said Colonel O’Brien. “Fine. 
I hope I’ll be here to see it; but today 
I saw that paper collector from New Or¬ 
leans in town. We can’t pay his bill. 
He’ll have to leave on the night train. 
Better shut up the office.” And they 
tramped out into the mud. and I knew 
that as they plowed up the street they 
were looking at each other as men do 
when they feel a pity for some weak- 
minded lunatic who has stepped out in 
front of the crowd with a thought or an 
act that is called unorthodox, and I 
locked the door and sat before the fire 
polishing that editorial. Collectors might 
pound on the door, paper and ink might 
run short—what were these poor material 
things to one whose winged thoughts were 
to save the country? Surely, I had it 
all planned out that night, and went home, 
rising far up above the fog and rain, and 
bumping my head against the stars! Do 
T not know just how Ilenry Barkman felt 
about his great oration? Heaven give 
him the philosophy to endure with pa¬ 
tience the day which finally came to me 
when I had to realize that T was not an 
uplifter. after all! And yet cursed be he 
who would, with a sneer, deny to youth 
the glorious foolishness with which lie 
“Longs to clutch the golden keys 
To mold the mighty state’s decrees 
And shape the whisper of the throne !” 
* * * * * 
And now. 37 years after, there is noth¬ 
ing left of all these dreams. Colonel 
O’Brien and Sergeant Hill have answered 
the last call. 
“They know at last whose cause was 
right 
In God’s, the Father’s sight!” 
Old Sol. the black man who turned the 
press, has passed on with them. Years 
ago The Southern Live Stock Journal 
was absorbed by a stronger publication. 
It is doubtful if in all the town or country 
Every Farm Needs 
The Saw Most 
Carpenters Use 
Time and money are lost 
when cattle stray through 
broken fences, when barns 
and housings for live stock 
are in bad repair. 
The wise farmer tries tc 
keep his buildings and fences 
in good condition. Some¬ 
times he uses poor tools and 
makes up for iheir shortcom¬ 
ings by the extra work of his muscles. I hat is mistaken economy. 
The best saws—Disston Saws—are cheaper than time and labor, 
especially today, and the farmer who puts a high value—a true 
value—on his time will get a Disston Saw. 
Disston Saws are made of strong, tough, finely-tempered 
Disston-made Steel. They stay sharp and hold their set. The 
hardest wood seems comparatively soft if you saw it with a Disston. 
Get a Disston Saw. Good dealers everywhere sell them. Send 
for a free copy of our booklet, “ Disston Saws and T. ools for the 
Farm.” It’s a good book for all farmers to have. 
HENRY DISSTON & SONS, Inc., Philadelphia, U. S. A. 
"America's Largest and Longest-Established Makers of Hand 
Saws. Cross-Cut Saws. Band Saws, Circular Saws, and Tools.” 
Canadian Distributors: Henry Disston & Sons, Ltd., Toronto, Canada 
New York 
Chicago 
Cincinnati 
San Francisco 
Boston 
Seattle 
New Orleans 
Memphis 
Vancouver, B. C. 
Bancor, Me. 
Portland, Ore. 
Sydney, Australia 
DISSTON 
SAWS AN D TOOLS 
KEEP LIVESTOCK HEALTHY 
BY USING 
Kreso Dip No. 1 
(STANDARDIZED) 
Easy to use: efficient; economical; kills 
parasites; prevents disease. 
Write for free booklets on the Care of 
Livestock and Poultry. 
ANIMAL INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT OF 
PARKE, DAVIS & CO. 
DETROIT, MICH. 
: THE 
^.••.ANTIMALS’ 
-FRIEND 
For keeping Flies, Gusts 
ami many other insects oflf 
animals Used and endorsed 
sine#* 1885, by leading dairy- 
men. Cows give 25% to 35% 
more milk during fly season 
if sprayed with Shoo-Fly. 
$ 1.50r;.. h$ 20 
in milk and flesh alone on each cow in n single season. 
Excellent for galla. Allays hctiiiiK. Aids in healim.- ruts, 
and sores. Excellent for lice and mites in poultry houses. 
Send $1.SO for enough Shoo-FIy to protect 10 coirs 2 
weeks, also our'.s-tuhe gravity sprayer. Muncy hack ir 
not satisfactory. Name Express Office. Booklet FKEE. 
SHOO-FLY MFG. CO., 1320 N. 10th St.. Phila. 
HAY 
PRESS 
40styles and sizes 
for every purpose, 
Catalog free. 
COLLINS PLOW COMPANY ' 
2044 Hampshire St., Quincy, III. 
r 1 p I in I 6 woodland; balance cleared 
rnr Nalp~ I M AfFPS and orchard; 12-room house; 
I IM uaic x s'A*'' 1 ^ all imid-ovemeiitN; commo¬ 
dious outbuildings; lot of implements ; on State road, Hm. 
from depot. Terms ouimiuiry, CARL A. KAHLBAUM, Nsnuct, H.T 
Y. M. C. A. AUTOMOBILE TRAINING 
for shop work—engine principles; self starter, 
lighting, ignition; repairing; vulcanizing; indi¬ 
vidual driving lessons for State examinations. 
Courses may be taken separately or combined. 
17th year. Largest school in East. Many out 
of town students. Send for booklet "R.” 
Educational Dept., West Side Y. M. C. A., 
318 West 57th Street, New York. 
We Sell Farms 
130 ACRES ON BEAUTIFUL LAKE 
14-room house. New 30x60 barn. Hen, hog, milk 
and ice houses. Garage; 12 row boats. Stock and 
tools included forS10,500. Write for complete 
list of New York Stato farms for sale. 
MANOEVILLE REAL ESTATE AGENCY, Inc., Dept. I, Olean. N.Y 
66 Acres of Level Alfalfa Land 
with fine buildings, short distance from town; good 
schools and churches. Owner wishes to retire. Will 
include 15 cows, team of horses, 50 liens, and all 
farming tools. Price, $51,000. Part cash. Get our 
catalogue with 150 descriptions of equipped farms. 
HUGH R. JONES COMPANY. Inc., Jones Building. UTICA. N Y. 
Eastern Pennsylvania FARMS'!^ 
best of soil at owner’s prices, for sale at all times. Ask for 
latest lists. 0. A. AMDRfS, National Bank Building. Quakarlown. Pa. 
Productive Eastern Shore l.\" r 7..* n " si“e “>* 
price to suit the buyer Hanoi S morris, FtAtralsknn, Mi). 
For Sale-FYinY and Dairy FARMS 
Free list. HARRY VAIL, New Mi llard. Oraoge Co., N. Y. 
a . MAKE A IIOliMIl AN HOUL SELL MKN11ETS 
flCrpIlK a patent patch for instantly mending leak® 
n&VlltO ina „ tl t k i 1 ». Sample p a c k age free. 
COI.I.KTTE MFC. CO.. u»S. Ams terdam. N. » • 
A GENTS— Mason sold 18 Sprayers and Autowashers one 
Saturday; Profits, $* 50 each; Square Deal; lartieu- 
lars ... ItlKl.KIt COM PAN Y. Johnstown. Ohio 
Feeds and Feeding now $2.75 
This standard book by Henry & Mor¬ 
rison lias been advanced to .$2.75, at 
which price we can supply it. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
333 West 30tli Street New York 
When you write advertisers mention 
The Rural New-Yorker and you if get 
a quick reply and a “square deal. See. 
guarantee editorial page. : •' 
