1008 
Tbt RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 19, 1924 
Hope Farm Notes 
THE GLORIOUS FOURTH 
Part I 
“We hold these truths to he self-evi¬ 
dent, that all men are created equal, that 
thcij are endowed by their Creator with 
certain unalienable rights; that among 
these are life, liberty and the pursuit of 
hap pin ess.” 
How long since you have read the 
Declaration of Independence? The aver¬ 
age American would be stumped to quote 
five lines of it from memory. I am told 
that last year a group of Americans went 
into a New York restaurant for dinner. 
They were Americans, as they proudly 
claimed ; their grandfathers were all born 
in this country. By accident one of them 
quoted the extract I have printed at the 
head of this column. 
“That sounds familiar,” said his neigh¬ 
bor. “ ‘Life, liberty and the pursuit of 
happiness.’ I’ve heard that before some¬ 
where. Oh, yes, I remember now—it’s 
part of the United States Constitution.” 
“No, you’re wrong,” said another. 
“That is a quotation from the Bible. I 
cannot give the chapter and verse off¬ 
hand, but I will hunt it up and prove it.” 
“Nonsense,” put in a third. “That is 
taken from Shakespeare. 1 think it is 
from Coriolanus, where those women 
march out to induce the old fellow to 
spare Rome.” 
There was a warm debate among those 
Americans, and each finally bet $50 that 
he was right. While they were quarrel¬ 
ing over it a newsboy with an armful of 
papers passed by. lie was a little Jewish 
boy, with a keen, hawk-like face—of the 
type that will one day rule this country 
unless these Americans by heritage wake 
up. This boy listened to the debate, and 
with the instinct of his race, saw his 
chance. 
“Aw, youse guys is too slow. Dem 
words is from the Declaration of Inde¬ 
pendence ! Ain’t we had it in school 
this year? If youse Americans can’t 
tell what set you free you ain’t safe to 
handle the $50.” 
It was a true taunt, and would prob¬ 
ably be more or less true of many who 
read this. 
S)« * * * 
Before I started out to celebrate today 
I read the old Declaration, and also the 
one adopted at Mecklenburg, N. C., just 
after the battle of Lexington. The two 
read somewhat alike, and Thomas Jeffer¬ 
son was accused of copying part of the 
Mecklenburg document. I think it was a 
case where "great minds run in the same 
channel,” or “great souls are partners of 
eternity.” At least both documents agree 
that man has certain unalienable rights 
and that one of his chief objects is to pur¬ 
sue happiness. Which means, as I take 
it, that he should be permitted to cele¬ 
brate the “Glorious Fourth” as he sees 
fit. It is evident that in this respect at 
least all men are not created equal. I 
had my choice of a dozen forms of cele¬ 
bration today, and I chose the thing I 
like to do best; that is, hoe strawberries. 
So here I am, swinging the same old hoe 
against the army of quack grass and rag¬ 
weed which threaten the life and liberty 
of these strawberry plants. “That man 
must have strawberries on the brain,” 
you say. Quite likely. No one can ever 
grow prize berries unless there is a straw¬ 
berry mark on his brain. You see, un¬ 
thinkingly I put these berry plants (near¬ 
ly 5.000 of them) on ground too weedy 
for them. Having been responsible for 
their present trouble I will fight for my 
friends, and I will carry these plants 
through to fruiting if I never do another 
thing all Summer. Cars go puffing along 
the road, loaded with pleasure seekers. 
Some are headed for picnics, others for 
baseball games. Some of these dreesed-up 
people will march in parades or listen to 
windy orators who talk much and say 
little. They glance at me, and I know 
some of them are saying: 
“Poor old thing! What a shame he 
must work on a holiday ! He cannot be 
much of an American. Why doesn’t he 
show his patriotism in some way?” 
I do not see that any of these stout and 
smart young folks are prepared to stop 
and help the “poor old thing” with his 
work. I could easily supply half a dozen 
hoes, and in a few hours these devoted 
Americans could clean up the field and 
give this unpatriotic American a chance 
to “celebrate.” It strikes me that would 
be practical Americanism, but I do not see 
much of it practiced. As I get it, the 
man who really prefers to hoe straw¬ 
berries on a holiday rune up against a 
social tyranny almost as strong as the 
military tyranny which King George at¬ 
tempted to enforce among these very Jer¬ 
sey hills 148 years ago. 
All our folks are at work today—from 
choice. The boys are cutting hay in the 
upper Baldwin orchard. The hired man 
struck last week and walked off after sev¬ 
eral years of faithful service. Perhaps he 
thought he left us in a hole, but the two 
boys stepped right into the hole and filled 
it up. These boys are back from college 
ready to take their full share of respon¬ 
sibility. One of them is driving the mow¬ 
ing machine, while the other mows along 
the rows of trees. There is a good crop 
of Red-top and Alsike clover in that or¬ 
chard, and we shall need it next Winter. 
Under ordinary circumstances I would 
let this hay lie on the ground as mulch for 
the trees. We have a good lot of manure, 
and when the hay comes out that manure 
will be spread around the trees, so there 
will be no loss after all. These boys have 
a job cut out for them. There will be 12 
to 15 tons of hay to house; six acres of 
rye, 12 acres of cultivated crops, six of 
buckwheat to seed and harvest, and near¬ 
ly 2,000 trees of apple, peach and cherry 
coming along, besides about an acre of 
strawberries—though that is my job for 
odd hours and holidays. So we all realize 
that this “Glorious Fourth” must be 
made more glorious by labor. No one is 
forced to work today; we all do it be¬ 
cause we know it is needed. The women 
folks are getting dinner ready. There 
will be a couple of roasted geese, and we 
can go into the garden at any time and 
pick green peas, turnips, beets, onions, 
lettuce, spinach, radishes, and I could 
probably scare up a last mess of aspara¬ 
gus. There are plenty of Gandy straw¬ 
berries left. 
* * * * 
They have had a little accident in the 
hayfield. The knife blade snapped, just 
where the boys said it would. I thought 
it would go through, but this grass is very 
heavy. The older boy gets into the car 
and goes after a new blade. Years ago, 
when I was a herder in Colorado, I re¬ 
member one “Glorious Fourth” which 
came near ending in a tragedy. I was 
out herding when a man from “down the 
Platte’ came tearing by on horseback. 
I lie pony was on the dead run, and the 
rider carried the knife blade of a mowing 
machine across his saddle. The blade 
had snapped, and this man was rushing 
to the blacksmith to have it welded. In 
about an hour, back he came with the 
blade repaired. Just as he got near me 
the pony slipped and down they went 
among the cactus. Those sharp knives 
caught the rider on the shoulder—missing 
his throat by an inch. It was a fearful 
cut, and the man bled, as he remarked, 
“like a stuck pig.” That was my first 
experience in giving first aid in a serious 
case. All I had was a jack-knife, a ban¬ 
danna handkerchief—not very clean—a 
paper of salt and a bottle of water. The 
injured man insisted on my emptying his 
paper of tobacco on the wound. That 
was the remedy applied by the hunters 
when wounded by Indians. At any rate, 
it stopped the bleeding, and finally I 
helped this man on his pony and off he 
went with the blade. They told me later 
that when he delivered it he fell off the 
horse, bled to exhaustion. That always 
makes me think of the boy in Browning's 
poem. This boy came riding to Napoleon 
to announce a victory. He made his re¬ 
port and then fell off his horse—dead. 
He had been mortally wounded. He 
slowly bled to death, and only the great 
power of patriotic determination kept him 
alive to finish his duty. That’s a fine sen¬ 
timent for the “Glorious Fourth,” I 
think, as I aim an extra blow at a bunch 
of quack grass. 
* $ $ $ 
Here come strong reinforcements. The 
other boy conifs with his hoe until the 
mower is fit once more. We work along 
together, talking about seeding the buck¬ 
wheat. A six-acre orchard was plowed 
this Spring, and has been harrowed four 
times—the last time with a spring-tooth 
two days ago. Now the buckwheat will 
be seeded and Alsike clover put in. Then 
we will run the Acme harrow over it and 
call our job done. I hope to cut the 
buckwheat this Fall and keep the Alsike 
going for several years. Now word comes 
that the buckwheat seed has arrived. We 
might as well break in our new truck by 
getting that seed—besides we can see how 
the Democratic Convention is getting on. 
I have just exchanged my heavy truck 
for a lighter one. Our markets are 
changing, and quicker service is needed. 
So, with the boy at the wheel, we start 
the truck on its maiden trip. The seed is 
all there, and so is the Democratic Con¬ 
vention. Yesterday the New Y r ork papers 
were abusing Mr. Bryan roundly. Some 
of the pictures they printed were die- 
graceful. Today they seem strangely si¬ 
lent about him. Very likely they are hear¬ 
ing from “the folks back home,” millions 
of whom are “listening in” at their radios 
—all over the country. What a babel of 
sound there would be if these millions 
could express their thoughts right back 
as they are listening. What seems to 
have happened to these old parties? At 
Cleveland the Republicans split and 
showed quite a lack of discipline. Here 
are the Democrats apparently in com¬ 
plete disorder, and broken up into groups. 
Well, if the final outcome is to get con¬ 
trol out of the hands of the bosses and 
more into the hands of the people, I am 
well satisfied, and as it happens there are 
10 voters at Hope Farm today—ranging 
in age from the college boy of 21 to 
Uncle George at 82. h. w. c. 
(To be continued.) 
The Autoist and the Lilacs 
Some weeks ago the Hope Farm man 
had a little story, “The Lilacs,” in which 
he tried to bring out something of the 
spiritual influence exerted by this flower. 
It seems that the lilac may also engender 
or stir up feelings quite the reverse of 
those brought out in the story. It may 
be that gasoline may take away all the 
fragrance and joy from a lilac bush. The 
entrance of an “auto hog” may destroy all 
the pleasure of the occasion. Here is the 
story told by one of our readers: 
On June 1, 1924, Thomas Mullany of 
1785 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y., 
ruined one of my lilac bushes, breaking off 
81 tassels. His wife, I suppose (at least 
a female member of this auto party) did 
the damage. When I caught them at it 
they offered to pay for the damage done; 
however, they refused to dig up $5 which 
I demanded. I have written to Mr. Mul¬ 
lany, but he ignores my letters. People 
from the city come out here and steal loads 
of stuff during the Summer. Can you 
make Mr. Mullany come across and pay 
for the damage? edward hilker.. 
This case is probably typical of hun¬ 
dreds of others. Too many city people 
have no respect whatever for property 
rights. They seem to think that what¬ 
ever they chance to see in the country is 
theirs if they can get it before someone 
else does. We wrote Mr. Mullany and 
told him a few plain truths about auto 
hogs and their habits, without calling him 
by that name. We want to give all these 
people a fair chance. In reply we re¬ 
ceived a letter signed “New England Bu¬ 
reau of Credits and Collections.” This is 
probably a fair specimen of the defense 
in such a case of stealing : 
We wish to say, for your information, 
that neither Mr. Mullany nor any mem¬ 
ber of his family, was in the car at the 
time of the incident you refer to at Mr. 
Ililker’s place. We have advised Mr. 
Mullany that this is all that it is neces¬ 
sary for him to say, but he has insisted 
upon our telling you the complete story. 
We have interviewed the people that were 
in the car, and their statement bears just 
as much weight with us as Mr. Ililker’s 
statement. 
It seems that the car stopped at a coun¬ 
try road to make a slight adjustment in 
some part of the car. The car did not 
stop to steal flowers or fruit, or anything 
else belonging to Mr. Ililker or anyone 
else. There happened to be a child, five 
years of age, in the car, who expressed a 
wish for a few of the lilacs which were 
growing apparently wild on a bush close 
to the roadside. We want to impress 
upon you the fact that there was no fence 
or no sign of any kind to convey to any¬ 
one that it was private property. The 
place apparently was deserted, because, 
only upon close observation, could anyone 
see a ramshackle residence obscured from 
view by a large tree. At any rate, a few 
tassels, as you call them, were cut off, 
no more than four or five at the most, 
when some woman, apparently Mrs. Hil¬ 
ker, came running up, calling for them to 
stop. The woman and child were being 
subjected to such a terrible tongue-lash¬ 
ing that one of the men in the party took 
up their cudgels. By that time Mr. Hil¬ 
ker had arrived upon the scene and he 
commenced cursing and referring to the 
people in the party as being thieves from 
* v r , ‘ w York City. The gentleman that Mr. 
Huker aimed his abuse at attempted to 
pacify him by stating a willingness to 
pay for the few sprays of flowers taken 
from the bush. We believe he offered to 
Pay him $1, but Mr. Hilker evidently had 
the impression that money grows on trees 
in New York City, and insisted on $5, 
when you know, and we know, that you 
can buy a great many sprays of lilacs for 
$1; in fact, the writer had occasion to be 
down on Long Island a few weeks ago 
and Jie secured about all he could carry 
ior 50 cents. We are told that only the 
greatest kind of self-control on the part 
of the gentleman in the party saved Mr. 
Hilker from a thrashing that his vitriolic 
tongue entitled him to. 
We have acquainted you with all facts 
m this matter. We have been instructed 
to watch developments in this matter, 
and if anything is published by you. or is 
caused to be published by you, that is not 
strictly in accordance with the truth, we 
will take action under the laws covering 
libel. NEW ENGLAND BUREAU OF 
CREDITS AND COLLECTIONS. 
Assuming that this gentleman will 
claim that hit? statement covers the 
truth, we print it. He admits that he 
took the flowers without leave. If we 
entered his office and helped ourselves to 
what we found there lie would promptly 
accuse us of stealing. Such men cannot 
seem to get the idea that taking things 
from a farmer without leave is just as 
much a theft as robbing a store. 
Mr. Hilker says these people took 81 
blooms, while the other parties, say only 
four or five. As Mr. Hilker has the bush 
as evidence, we believe him. We have 
known such auto hogs to ruin a tree or 
bush by tearing it apart. It is a favorite 
trick of these gentry to break great limbs 
off cherry trees and carry them away. 
Mr. Mullany sends us a check for $1, 
which we have forwarded to Mr. Hilker, 
Mr. Mullany says he bought all the lilacs 
he could carry for 50 cents. The question 
naturally arises, why didn’t his people go 
back for more instead of taking what did 
not belong to them ? The $1 is in no way 
full compensation for the damage, but we 
advise Mr. Hilker to accept it under the 
circumstances. In case of further trouble 
with any auto hogs we advise him to have 
them promptly arrested and pulled before 
a justice of the peace. Most farmers arc 
quite willing to give up a few flowers if 
strangers will ask for them decently, but 
there has been so much of this high-hand¬ 
ed thieving that country people will stand 
it no longer. 
Protection from a Vicious 
Bull 
My neighbor has a large bull over one 
year old which he has turned loose in the 
pasture near our house. The pasture 
fence is not over 15 ft. from center of 
road. lie moved this over 3 ft., if not 
more, this Spring, so he wouldn’t have to 
cut the brush on one side, and on the 
other it is back from the road, but a 
house stands in front. The people there 
are also afraid of the bull. Has he a 
right to let it run so? They always come 
and put the cows in the barn, but carry 
pitchforks. I am afraid to go to the cor¬ 
ner after my mail; also the children that 
go by our place to school or town. 
READER. 
We have had many questions concern¬ 
ing the right to turn an ugly bull into the 
pasture or at large on the road. It is a 
serious problem in many localities. There 
seems to be no statute which prohibits 
pasturing of the bull, but there is a sec¬ 
tion of the penal law which is quite a de¬ 
terrent. This section provides “If the 
owner of a mischievous animal, knowing 
it propensities, wilfully suffers it to go 
at large, or keeps it without ordinary 
care, and the animal, while so at large, 
and not confined, kills a human being, 
who has taken all the precautions which 
the circumstances permitted to avoid the 
animal, the owner is guilty of manslaugh¬ 
ter in the second degree.” There are not 
many people who care to take a chance of 
being convicted of manslaughter, the pun¬ 
ishment for which is imprisonment for 
not more than 15 years or a fine of not 
more than $1,000, or both. It is a crime 
to drive or lead a vicious animal along 
the highway or to suffer a vicious animal 
to run at large in the highway. n. t. 
