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Smmer, MOGKESSIYE THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. Vol. 2. WINSTON, N. 0., MARCH 2, 1887. No. 3. OUR FARMERS CLUBS. What our Farmers are Doing and How the Work of Organizing is Progressing. TRINITY CLUB. Subject Help for the Farmer Dr. Parker. There has never been a time in the history of the world when there was such a will ingness on the part of State and National governments to aid and encourage agriculture as the present. Even North Carolina is waking up to the necessity of uplifting the farmer,givinghim a surerfoundation and broader views of his calling, the most noble of all the avocations of man. And I hail this helpfull spirit as the bright morning Htar of a coming day of glorious prosperity for North Carolina. The cause is a good one and no statesman need feel ashamed or be afraid to speak out; the theme is sufficient to inspire the tongue of even him that is slow of speech to the highest strains of eloquence. This is a progressive, pushing age. Men cannot keep abreast with this moving, striving generation, if they fold their hands and stand idle. While other trades, professions, par ties and monopolies are contending for every inch of vantage ground and fighting to the bitter end for the ascendency, there are thousands of poor, unoffending farmers stand ing off at a good, safe distance with j arms akimbo and saying "if them fellows don't mind some of them will get hurt." Yes, farmers as a general rule are timid and rather suffer than speak out, for fear they will offend some Gen'eral Bumgarner or Col. Cold blood or other and thereby be deprived of the little garbage they already have. Yes sir, it seems that there are scores of them who prefer to dwell in the back yards of poverty and oppression than to breathe the freeairof the plainsof independence. Let us make a united surge to get out of these old ways. It can be done, and it will be done in the near future. Farmers do not ask special legislation in their favor, to the detriment of any other trade or calling. All they want is an even handed, fair chance with all others, and nothing short of this is going to satisfy the demand. But after all the law making and legislation for the farmer, this alone will not meet the case, even if persisted in until doom's day. For until he is educated up to a proper appreciation of his own interests, these enact ments will be to him a dead letter. Moses formulated and promulgated lavvs enough to save a universe, but law alone could not save man, or else what was the necessity of a crucified Redeemer? Men must have the gospel of light and help to bring them out of their wanderings in the dark. They must see their own best interests. In the main people do about the best they know how, for themselves. The old toper who has been on a drunk for a week really thinks that the best he can do for himself this morning is to get a drink, little dreaming that a hot bath, a clean shirt, and perhaps other garments just from the laundry, a breakfast of soft boiled eggs, and a cup of hot i cottee would do him a thousand ! A. -WW 1 A nines more goou. How is ne to know this, and who is to lead him out of the way that surely leads to min and death ? Not the latter day temperance apostle with his nause ating rigmarole of woman's tears, orphan's cries and poverty's rags. The drunkard always knows all about tears and cries and rags. It is his internal viscus, the stomach, he is concerned about. He cares nothing whatever about golden streets, glit tering palms, seraphic harps, white robes and the songs of the blest. It is the raging hell within -that absorbs his every thought. If his mouth was as big as the gulf of Mexico, he would fill it and turn into his burning gullet every ice berg of the Arctic ocean atone gulp and risk the consequences. He does not know any better. How is he to be informed of his real condition ; and how is he to be delivered from this bondage? Let a living example of temperance exemplified in yon, full of Christian sympathy, give him courage and hope. Take hold of him and tear him away from his idol, and bid him flee to the moun tain of refuge. Speed him on his way. Go with him as did the angel with Lot, show him, lead him and help him to wee with his own eyes that the hills of Zion yield a thou sand sweets before we reach the heavenly fields or walk the golden streets. Some will doubtless fail to see the fitness of these remarks. The application is just this. The farmer is in dilemma, he is in debt and in trouble, his land is poor, his crops are getting less and less remunera ting every year, his children are growing up and he cannot see any chance to properly school them, he is anxious for the future, he is dis heartened and well nigh ready to give up in despair. Many of our farm homes are as cold and dreary as a pauper's grave, no posies, no geraniums, no evergreens to bright en up the scene ; all is sad and lonely and cheerless. And while such scenes are common all over our land, men and women, churches and mis sionary societies are spending mil lions of dollars every year to send help and comfort to China, Brazil and the far off Islands of the sea. Well, this may be all right, but in the name of the Lord of Hosts, let us expend a little of our time and money on our own people! Can't we do something to lessen the bur dens of the common farmer, some thing to make his daily toil easier, his work more profitable, and his life brighter and happier? There are thousands of boys and girls growing up among us to-day, who will either be a curse or a bless ing to the State. Which shall it be? You may teach the boys as much grammar and philosophy and Eng lish literature and cube-root as you please, and all the co-sines and tan gents and parabolic curves of the colleges. You may teach analytic chemistry to its highest perfection, teach all the arts and sciences in their widest scope and fullest ex tent; but if the bov does not know how to work, how to do something, he is a dead failure; aye more, he is curse to the State. I know college graduates in North Carolina to-day who are little better t han professional paupers. They do not know any thing worth knowing, they are abso lutely worthless, unless to hold office and be fed at public expense. They are obtaining a living under a false pretense and are thereby cheating the devil out of the immediate- fuel necessary to keep the furnaces of Sheol in running order. Turn them over to his Majesty now, while they are fat on the hard earning of Others. An educated fool is the most hopeless of all fools. Let me give you a case in point. A distinguished Prof, of Natural Sciences, who lived in the cultured city of Boston, and on Bea con street, too, at that, the Boulevards of the western hemisphere, this man was on the street one day when a sudden shower of rain began to fall, but fortunately he had an umbrella with him and strange to say he had sense enough to open it; but mark you what happened when he arrived at his own door. He endeavored earnestly and faithfully to get in out of the rain, and would you believe it, he and that umbrella would not go into that door both at the same time. He tried it endways, side ways, edgeways, crossways and in every vvay possible to get that obstinate umbrella in through that doorway, but go it wouldn't. For tunately a laborer in the street see ing the terrible dilemma into which the philosopher had fallen, called to him and said, "suppose you try shutting it up" and as sure as fate that incorrigible umbrella went in as slick as if it had been greased. It is a positive fact, gentlemen ! Oh what stupendous folly to place such blubber-heads at the head, or even at the other end of our public enter prises and high schools. Don't you know that your own boys, if exposed to this dangerous malady, will bo inoculated with this deadly virus and will soon become as big fools as their teachers are ? It is as conta gious as the seven year itch and a great deal harder to cure. The worst cases of the. itch may be fin ally subdued by the persistent use of the proper remedies, such as red hot brimstone, boiling tar, carbolic acid baths, and then rub down with coarse sand and sheet lightening. This treatment I say, if persisted in may cure a bad case of the itch. But Solomon says you may bray a fool in a mortar and he will be a fool still, he is beyond remedy, he is hopeless. Solomon says so and he ourjht to know as he seems to have studied him more than any other man that ever lived. He was very hard, it is true, on the fool, but it can't be helped now. And by the way speaking of that very large class of our fellow mortals reminds me of what I saw in a recent issue of the State Chronicle. Some flunkey signing himself "Observer," making a sickly attempt to be facetious at the expense of an imaginary farmer about the market in llaleigh. Sup pose Solomon had caught "Obser ver" fooling around the market place wouldn't he have given him "goss." He deserves to have his head rubbed by some "horny hand of toil" until the bump of "fairness" is better developed. It would not bear very heavy pressure as no doubt the sphenoidal and ethmoidal bones which hold up his mental uper structure are thin like, and might break in ! But in spite of the sly cuts of these " underlings " the late meet ing of the farmers of North Carolina was a grand success and will tell for good all over the State. We long to see every county in the State thoroughly organized and Farmers' Institutes held twice a year in every county. There is no measure that promises as much immediate benefit to the common farmer as the wTell conducted Insti tute. They will impart a mental stimu lus which only comes of mental friction, and will immensely pro mote every agricultural industry, and would in time put all of our farmers to reading and thinking for themselves. Let us every one do our level best to make our institute in Asheboro famous for good work. We must make our farms more pro ductive, our homes more pleasant and attractive and thereby keep our young men or the farm, here in North Carolina, that her vast re sources may be developed and her waste places made to rejoice. We cordially welcome from abroad any good people who mav come among us to live but at the same time let us pay more attention to our people especially our young men, and offer them inducements sufficient to cause them to remain with us. Good work and skillful, steady going will pay here, as well as any where else. Give them the practical training on the farm and the school so that they will be qualified to do something and to do it well. There is no trade or calling which needs special training any more than farmers do, to fit them for their life's work. Let manufactories have their due prominence, as they are of absolute importance in the great work of building up our State. Let the common schools multiply and spread, give the teachers nor mal instruction the better to qualify them for their important work, for the Lord knows they need it if He ever saw them in the school room trying to teach. The mountains mayjbe tunneled, railroads may be built and equipped. You may heavily endow any college and high school in the State, you may tax drummers, invite immi grants, entertain and banquet north ern editors, do all this, and even more of the same sort, but if the common farmer is to be left to strujr gle on in almost total darkness and to fight single handed and alone the hideous monsters ignorance and poverty, "up building" will be slow indeed. There is wide-spread anxi ety among farmers, they are anxious ly inquiring every where w7hat they shall do. Adverse seasons, short crops, low prices, debts, and accumu lating interest are sorely pressing them to the borders of ruin. They must have help from some where, they must have a new inspiration of hope or give up in utter despair. I rejoice to see in the general awaken ing among farmers through out the State as shown in the organization of "The North Carolina Farmers' Association" the coming hand of deliverance. They mean business, and it is high time they do. There are so many things that can be done by the united efforts of the many for the farmers' betterment, that surely no one will excuse himself and depend on others to do for him. This, in a great degree, is what is the matter with us, we have been relying on the politician to make our laws for us, and leave it to the lawyers to construe and explain them in their mystic meanderings, depending upon the commission men and the merchants to transact all of our business for us, and in consideration of their very kind supervision over us, we mortgage to them our crops, land, and household goods, thereby relinquishing all of our claims to a noble manhood, and bequeathing to them and their heirs and assigns forever ourjnost sacred "titles clear to mansions in the skies" This whole order of things must be changed and it will be done in the near future. Go first to the com mon farmer with Farmers' Institute, get him to reading and thinking in a sensible way about his work. This will infuse into him a new spirit for work, and more vigorous manhood for the performance of all his duties. His boys and girls will catch the inspiration of this new life and will be ready and anxious to enter the Agricultural College to prosecute higher courses of scientific investi gation as directly applied to their calling. In this way in few years every farmer may be raised up to a higher and better life. Then the whimpering, gainsaying whipper snappers about the market place may giggle at their own" diminutive " cussedness," So mote it be I). M. Payne, Sec'y. THE WORK IN CATAWBA. Roseman, Catawba Co., N. C, February 26, 1887. j According to an appointment of Club No. 1, there met at Piney Grove School House on the evening of the 23rd of February, a large number of farmers of said district. After consultation, Club No. 1 sus pended business, and proceeded to organize a new Club the President and Secretary of Club No. 1 being the only officers present. The Pres ident called the meeting to order and expressed his surprise and pleas ure on seeing such a large and in telligent crowd of farmers out on such a rainy evening, and said it must mean something. He address ed the meeting upon the necessity of the farmers organizing. A Club of 27 members was then organized with the following officers: P. K. Little, President, D. W. Moose, Vice President, A. Deal, Secretary, A. S. Hollar, Treasurer ; Peter Little, D. E. Isenhouer and J. F. Hollar, Ex ecutive Committee. After the Club was organized it appointed delegates to the farmers' convention on the 2Gth of February to organize the various Clubs into a County Club. The name of this new club is Cat fish Club, No. 3, of Cline's Township. We expect good results from it. N. E. Sigman, President. W. P. Sigman, Secretary. organization of a farmers club. The farmers of the southeastern part of Cline's township met on the evening of the 12th inst., and organ ized a Farmers' Club No. 2 of the township. J. I). Itowe was elected president, Thomas L. Hunsucker, vice-president, D. Kayler, secretary, D. A. Yount, treasurer. M. L. Cline, J. J. Cline and Geo. Cline. were cho sen executive committee. Several members of other clubs were present, and by advice and in other ways assisted in organizing. C. W. Herman and S. E. Killian, bv request addressed the meeting. One o'clock P. M. of Saturday before the third Sunday in each month was selected as the time of the regular meeting. The address of the club, is Conover, Catawba county. Member. Feb.10 th, '87. NU3IBER 4. By request, the undersigned met a number of farmers at Bowman School House, on the evening of the 24th of February. The news was not generally known in said district and "the crowd was not so large. We addressed the meeting upon the im portance of the farmers organizing, and upon motion to organize, which prevailed, a new Club was organized with 11 members with the following officers, J. A. Hoke, President, Ja cob Bowman, Vice President, Win. Turner, Secretary, David Hepler. Treasurer. The election of Execu sive Committee was deferred till next meeting. Adopted Constitution and By-Laws of Club No. 11. Name of Club, Sparkling Springs, No. 4, of Cline's Township. N. E. Sigman, W. P. Sigman, NEW CLUB IN DAVIE. The farmers of Bethel School House, Davie county, met last Sat urday and organized a Farmers' Club with seventeen members. The following officers: Col, A. M. Booe President ; Cas per Sain, Sr., Vice-President ; N. H. C. Williams, Treasurer; E. W. Moor ing, Secretary. E. W. Mooring, W. P. Coon and N. II. C. Williams were appointed a committee to draft by-laws govern ing the working of the club, and ordered to report at the next regu lar meeting. After the organization, addresses were made by W. J. Atkinson and E. W. Mooring. After the discussion of 'several topics, viz : The benefit of clover and improved grasses, the best grass to sow on meadows, and the profits and loss in sheep raising, the Club adjourned to meet on the first Sat urday in March, at 2 p. in., sharp. The Montpelier Agricultural Club, j in Vance county was organized in 1878 and has been in successful operation ever since. Its constitu tion and by-laws are published in last week's issue of the Henderson Gold Leaf. It has standing commit tees to examine and report at the meetings on the following subjects : 1st. Condition of enclosure and lots around the dwelling. 2nd. Garden and orchard. 3rd. Stable and out houses. 4th. Stock of all kinds. 5th. Farming implements. 6th. Crops. 7th. Fences, gates and ditches. 8th Manures. 9th. General management. 10th Suggestions for the benefit of the owner. 11th Ideas suggested for the bene fit of the club. Wm. Wallace White, of Middlo burg, is Secretary. A meeting of the fartners of Davio county in the vicinity of Oak Grovo School House, meet to-morrow to organize a Farmers' Club. Concluded on fifth page.)
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 2, 1887, edition 1
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