,transcriber's ,notes3    ,text enclosed
 by underscores is in italics 7italics71
 and text  enclosed by equal signs is in
 bold 7bold74    ,additional            
,transcriber's ,notes are at the end4   
99       99       99       99       99  
,illustration3 ,,walter ,,direct1       
#b3je-c_/d4           99       99       
99       99       99                    
,,trotwood',s ,,monthly        ,,vol4   
#a4 ,,nashville1 ,,tenn41 ,,october1    
#aije4 ,,no4 #a    ,luther ,burbank     
,he touched the spiculed                
desert--cacti-cursed--      ,and turned 
its thorns to figs1 its thistles1 fruit2
    ,he nodded to the daisy1 half       
immersed      ,in dwarfing dust1 and lo6
 a lily mute      ,rose from the        
weeds--a perfume with a flute4      ,and
 flowers ran to meet him--trailing      
vine--      ,and wild hedge-roses--they 
whose souls had died    ,beneath the    
feet of cattle and of kine--            
,sought him--those pallid               
,magdalenes--and cried      ,to touch   

his hem1 and so stood glorified4        
,trees dwarfed and soulless--fruits with
 hearts of stone1      ,wedded at his   
word2 and in the sacred tryst    ,of    
loves united1 that had yearned alone1   
,gave to the world the nectar of their  
bliss      ,in pitless peaches1         
crimsoned with a kiss4      ,who plants 
his poems in a berry's bed1      ,or    
writes1 with wild roses1 sonnets to the 
sun1    ,hangs pictures on orchard      
boughs in gold and red1      ,makes     
epics of fruitland where before were    
none1      ,is ,poet1 ,painter1         
,preacher--,master--all in one6         
,,john ,,trotwood ,,moore4              
,benefits of ,forestry to ,farmers      
,,by ,,percy ,,brown1 ,,of ,,ewell      
,,farm4    ,note4--,mr4 ,brown is a     
practical forester1 having been chief   
forester  for the ,houston ,oil ,co4 and
 a graduate of ,biltmore ,forest        
,school4--,ed4      ,the preservation of
 our forests is an imperative business  
necessity4    ,we have come to see that 

whatever destroys the forest1 except to 
make    way for agriculture1 threatens  
our well being4--,president ,roosevelt4 
,with abundant supplies of timber for   
farm consumption1 farmers of the  ,south
 have been inclined to regard the       
question of forest preservation  merely 
as a matter of sentiment1 and have come 
to look upon the  forester as an        
impracticable sort of sentimentalist1   
whose main object  in life is to keep   
some lumberman from cutting his timber4 
,this indifference has resulted in the  
loss of the support of the  farming     
element to the cause of forestry1       
whereas the lumberman  who at one time  
considered the forester his natural     
enemy and the  forestry cause a clog in 
the wheels of progress1 immediately     
began to  investigate the question with 
a view of combatting forest legislation 
and the creation of a forestry sentiment
 throughout the country4    ,the result 
was that a thorough understanding of the
 objects of  forestry and the aims of   

the forester has caused the lumbermen   
and  lumber associations to give their  
unqualified support to all practical    
forestry legislation4 ,and in the       
,southern ,states we find that the only 
journal of any importance that is       
persistently advocating forestry as a   
business is one of the foremost lumber  
journals south of the ,ohio ,river4     
,the silence that the farm journals of  
the country have maintained on  the     
question can be explained only by their 
ignorance of the question  and its      
important bearing on the agricultural   
interests of the entire  country4 ,and  
as it is the purpose of this magazine to
 discuss all  questions of vital        
importance as well as those that will be
 of passing  interest to the farmers of 
the whole country it is well to begin   
with  an understanding of what forestry 
is1 and to advance a few reasons why    
the farmer should be the most ardent    
advocate of forestry4    ,dr4 ,w4 ,h4   
,schlich1 the noted ,english forester1  

says the task with which  8forestry has 
to deal is to ascertain the principles  
according to which  forests shall be    
managed and to apply these principles to
 the treatment  of the forests40    ,dr4
 ,b4 ,e4 ,fernow1 formerly chief of the 
,division of ,forestry1 defines  it as  
8,the rational treatment of forests for 
forest purposes40    ,dr4 ,c4 ,a4       
,schenck1 of the ,biltmore ,forest      
,school1 gives the following  very broad
 and terse definition3 8,forestry is the
 proper handling of  forest             
investments40    ,we see from these     
definitions that the forestry is purely 
a matter of  business differing only    
from other investments in the time      
element4 ,a  forestry venture cannot be 
undertaken with a view of getting       
immediate  returns1 but contemplates the
 continuity of the investment which     
makes  it the first duty of the forester
 to determine what is the best use the  
forest can be put to in order to obtain 
the greatest annual return upon  the    

investment without drawing upon his     
capital invested4 ,this does  not       
necessarily mean that his forest must be
 devoted entirely to the  production of 
timber1 it may be maintained as a game  
preserve1 or as a  watershed1 in which  
case the returns to be obtained from the
 sale of  timber will be a secondary    
consideration4    ,consequently we see  
that the forester is not merely a       
botanist or a  tree planter1 but in the 
fullest sense of the term is a          
technically  educated man1 with the     
knowledge of the forest trees and their 
history  and of all that pertains to    
their production1 combines further      
knowledge which enables him to manage   
forest property so as to produce        
certain conditions resulting in the     
highest attainable revenue from the     
soil by wood-crops4    ,the effect of   
forest cover and water-flow has been so 
persistently and  constantly proclaimed 
as the one great need for forest        
preservation  that the more important   

one of supply has been neglected4    ,in
 a series of articles by ,dr4 ,fernow1  
on 8,the ,outlook of the ,timber        
,supply in the ,united ,states0         
7,quarterly1 #aijc71 after carefully    
considering the data compiled by the    
,chief ,geographer1 together with  his  
personal investigations1 he summarizes  
the situation1 which  justifies the     
urgent need of the forester's art in the
 ,united ,states1  from the point of    
view of supplies1 as follows3    #a4    
,the consumption of forest supplies1    
larger than in any other country  in the
 world1 promises not only to increase   
with the natural increase  of the       
population1 but in excess of this       
increase per capita1 similar  to that of
 other civilized1 industrial nations1   
annually by a rate of  not less than    
three to five per cent4    #b4 ,the most
 sanguine estimate of timber standing   
predicates an  exhaustion of supplies in
 less than thirty years if this rate of 
consumption continues1 and of the most  

important timber supplies in a  much    
shorter time4    #c4 ,the conditions for
 continued imports from our neighbor1   
,canada1  practically the only country  
having accessible supplies such as we   
need1 are not reassuring and may not be 
expected to lengthen natural  supplies  
appreciably4    #d4 ,the reproduction of
 new supplies on the existing forest    
area could1  under proper management1 be
 made to supply the legitimate          
requirements  for a long time2 but fires
 destroy the young growth over large    
areas1  and where production is allowed 
to develop in the mixed forest1 at      
least1 owing to the culling processes1  
which remove the valuable kinds  and    
leave the weeds1 these latter reproduce 
in preference4    #e4 ,the attempts at  
systematic silviculture1 that is1 the   
growing of new  crops1 are1 so far1     
infinitesimal compared with the needs4  
,that this is a question of serious     
importance to the ,south1 as well as  to
 the whole country1 is shown by the     

great increase in the ,south's          
production of lumber1 which1 owing to   
the depletion in other sections  of the 
country1 has risen from eleven and      
nine-tenths per cent in  #ahhj to       
twenty-five and two-tenths per cent of  
the total output of the  ,united ,states
 in #aijj1 and it is not hard to predict
 an even greater  production for #aiaj1 
when one concern alone has increased the
 number  of its mills in the long leaf  
pine belt from seven to fifteen1 and its
  daily output from #ejj1jjj to         
#a1jjj1jjj feet during the period from  
#aijj  to #aijd4    ,basing their       
estimates upon the present standards of 
grading1 the  hardwood lumber journals  
are predicting the total exhaustion of  
the  available supplies of this timber  
in fifteen years1 and the hardwood      
lumbermen are already looking to        
forestry as a means of relief4    ,in an
 address delivered before the third     
annual meeting of the ,hardwood         
,manufacturers' ,association of the     

,united ,states1 as an introduction to  
the subject of 8,the ,hardwood          
,producing ,centers of the ,united      
,states10  ,mr4 ,john ,w4 ,love1 of     
,nashville1 said3      8,i hope to be   
able to briefly call the attention of   
this body of    practical manufacturers 
to a few pertinent facts that may1 in a 
measure1 at least1 open our eyes to a   
painful truth1 viz41 the    rapidly     
decreasing area of hardwood timber in   
the ,united ,states1    and when we     
consider how very little is being done  
to conserve our    forest growth--how   
the forests are being cleaned from      
hoop-poles to    giant oaks1 and that to
 supply the one item of cross ties that 
are    used in this country alone1 about
 #d1jjj1jjj1jjj feet of timber is       
required 7clearing about #bjj1jjj acres 
of wood lot annually71 and    a large   
proportion of these ties are cut from   
thrifty young trees1    we must conclude
 that a matter so weighty as to give us 
pause4 ,the    one hopeful sign of the  

future is the hope that practical       
forestry    methods may be enforced by  
the ,government40    ,this in an address
 from a lumberman to an association of  
lumber  manufacturers is indeed an      
encouraging sign of the times1 but ,i   
fear  he has waked up 8to the           
realization that our efforts to secure a
 more  rational treatment of our forest 
resources and apply forestry in their   
management are not too early1 but rather
 too late3 that they are by no  means   
sufficient2 that serious trouble and    
inconvenience are in store  for us in   
the not too distant future2 that the    
blind indifference and  the dallying or 
amateurish playing with the problem of  
legislatures and  officials is fatal40  
,the railroads and the farmers of the   
,western plains were among the  first to
 appreciate the importance of making    
provision for a future  supply of       
construction timber and material for use
 on the farms4    ,with the far-sighted 
policy of manipulators of great         

corporations1 the  officials of the     
,santa ,fe ,railroad were among the     
pioneers in forest  planting in ,america
 on railroads1 as about twenty years ago
 they  planted #a1bhj acres in hardy    
catalpa at a total expense of #abh1jjj1 
and they estimated that at the end of   
twenty-five years from date of  planting
 this tract will have produced          
#b1ejj1jjj of poles1 ties and  posts4   
,a few years ago the ,illinois ,central 
made a plantation of catalpa and  black 
locust in ,illinois and during the      
current year the ,louisville            
,nashville ,railroad have arranged for a
 similar plantation in ,alabama4    ,it 
has not been necessary for the farmers  
of the ,south to resort to  plantations 
for their supplies of posts and fuel1   
and if we are not  improvident of our   
supplies it will hardly become          
necessary1 as we have  left on nearly   
every farm enough timber of suitable    
varieties from  which we can procure our
 future supplies by self-sown seed1     

provided  the sections to be reserved   
for timber growth are protected from    
stock  and fires4 ,in some instances1   
however1 it may prove cheaper and more  
expedient to plant as was the case with 
the now famous yaggy catalpa  plantation
 near ,hutchinson1 ,kan41 in which a    
ten-year-old block showed  a net value  
of #aig1 or a yearly net income of      
#ai4ge per acre4    ,and a              
twenty-five-year-old plantation of red  
juniper1 belonging to ,f4  ,c4 ,f4      
,schutz1 ,menlo1 ,iowa1 showed a net    
value of #bjj4ed per acre1 or a  yearly 
net income of about #h--not a bad       
showing for forestry1 when we  bear in  
mind that the net income from other farm
 crops seldom exceeds  that amount1 but 
from the farm crops the returns are     
secured annually1  while in the case of 
a forestry investment there is quite a  
period  preceding the first harvest1    
during which we have to figure in an    
accumulative value4    ,all wood-lot    
planting should be governed by the local

 demand1 for  that reason it would be   
hard to suggest either methods or       
species for  the ,south as a whole1 but 
generally speaking1 black locust        
7robinia  pseudoacacia71 hardy catalpa1 
mulberry and chestnut would be the most 
desirable1 as the first three would be  
quickly available for fence  posts1 and 
the chestnut would always be in demand  
for telephone and  telegraph poles as   
well as furnishing construction timber4 
,wood-lot forestry has the advantage    
over similar work conducted on  a large 
scale1 as the farmer is at no expense   
for protection or  supervision1 the     
location of forest on the farm assures  
its safety from  fire or trespass1 and  
he gives it his personal attention4     
,however1 to secure the most desirable  
management his supervision should  be   
carried on under the direction of       
trained foresters4    ,to secure this   
without appreciable additional cost it  
is to his  interest to ally himself with
 those who are striving for a ,state    

forestry system1 under which a forester 
would be employed whose duty  would be  
to look after the ,state reserves and   
give advice to farmers  and timber land 
owners on the management of all forest  
tracts set aside  for permanent forest  
investments4    ,the indirect utility of
 the forests is well known and          
appreciated by  those who have given the
 matter any thought1 but the average    
,american  farmer has little use for a  
thing which does not appeal to him in   
dollars and cents1 however1 the ,bureau 
of ,forestry realizing the great        
importance of this matter to the        
agricultural interests1 sent ,mr4 ,j4   
,w4 ,twomey to the ,san ,bernardino     
,mountains of ,california to conduct    
investigations of the 8,relation of     
,forests to ,stream ,flow10 and in the  
8,year-,book0 of the ,department of     
,agriculture for #aijd he reports these 
conclusions3    8,in humid regions1     
where the precipitation is fairly evenly
 distributed  over the year1 and where  

the catchment area is sufficiently large
 to  permit the greater part of the     
seepage to enter the stream above the   
point where it is gauged1 the evidence  
accumulated to date indicates  that     
stream flow is materially increased by  
the presence of forests4    8,in regions
 characterized by the short wet season  
and a long dry one1  as in ,southern    
,california and many other portions of  
the ,west1 present  evidence indicates1 
at least on small mountainous catchment 
areas1 that  the forest very materially 
decreases the total amount of run-off4  
8,although the forest may have1 on the  
whole1 but little appreciable  effect in
 increasing the rainfall and the annual 
run-off1 its economic  importance in    
regulating streams is beyond            
computation4 ,the great  indirect value 
of the forest is the effect which it has
 in preventing  wind and water erosion1 
thus allowing the soil on hills and     
mountains  to remain where it is formed1
 and in other ways providing an adequate

  absorbing medium at the sources of the
 water courses of the country4  ,it is  
the amount of water that passes into the
 soil1 not the amount of  rainfall1 that
 makes a garden or a desert40    ,with  
such evidence as this before them1 what 
farmer in the ,south will  dare question
 the importance of forestry to the      
agricultural interests  of every section
 of the ,south1 and especially those    
sections lying  adjacent to streams     
having their sources in the territory of
 the  proposed ,appalachian ,forest     
,reserve8    ,by protecting the forest  
growth on the watersheds of these       
streams the  flow of the water is       
rendered more continuous1 and the       
dangers from  violent floods1 which     
destroy fences and carry away the most  
fertile  soil1 are lessened4    ,the    
,south to-day is pre-eminent in         
agriculture and timber production1  but 
the wasteful destruction of our forest  
resources bids fair to  transfer the    
laurels to the great undeveloped ,west1 

where we find  over #fj1jjj1jjj acres of
 forest reserves1 which will for all    
time to  come offer a continuous supply 
of lumber for the manufacturer and  an  
abundance of water for the farmers who  
have made a garden of the  deserts4     
,it is the duty of the ,southern farmer 
to join with the hardwood  lumberman in 
his efforts to introduce forestry in the
 ,south1 and by so  doing give to       
succeeding generations the heritage that
 except for the  destructive forces of  
man would have come to them in nature's 
great  scheme of things4           99   
99       99       99       99    ,,to   
,,the ,,cahaba ,,river      ,ay1 laugh  
along1 thou cypress-crown'd stream1     
,thou echo of the cloud's kiss on the   
hills1    ,a ,southern maid with eyes of
 deep-pool gleam      ,and cheeks of    
dimpled whorls and smiles of rills4     
,dance1 sweet1 on sward of              
violet-crested green1      ,marked with 
the silvery pathway of thy track--      
,with blue embossing ridge of hills     

between      ,and hair mist in the soft 
wind floating back4      ,and sweet with
 soul of aromatic leaves1      ,steeped 
in thy crucible of sun-warmed pool1     
,and with the warm breath of the bay1   
that grieves      ,his love-sigh out    
amid thy shadows cool4      ,dance1     
sweet1 adown thy pathway's wooded hush1 
,laughing to 'scape the red arms of the 
hills1    ,yet bringing on thy cheek the
 telltale blush1      ,for chattering   
tongues of all the old dame mills4      
,the live-oak bends to kiss thee1 and   
his sigh      ,is mingled with the      
passing of thy charms2    ,the willows  
start from hidden coverts by      ,to   
clasp thee in their looping1 lover arms4
      ,is that deep shadow dark'ning now
 thine eye      ,repentant sorrow for   
the willow's plight1    ,as though the  
stern gloom of the cypress nigh         
,thou speedest like a ,naiad of the     
night8      ,o life--life--life--and    
hast thou found it so1      ,a journey  
now in sunlight1 now in shade--    ,a   

laughter from the willows bending low   
,a gloom-sob which the cypresses have   
made8      ,,john ,,trotwood ,,moore4   
,little ,sister      ,little ,sister was
 ,col4 ,rutherford's only grandchild4   
,she was also  ,capt4 ,john             
,rutherford's only niece4 ,i mention the
 last-named gentleman  because he had a 
great deal to do with the making of this
 story4 ,he was  quite original himself1
 and a braver1 bigger-hearted friend no 
man ever  had4    ,the ,rutherford home 
was in the ,middle ,basin of ,tennessee4
 ,the house  was built in #ahab by ,john
 ,rutherford the first1 who had eaten1  
slept1  fought1 and finally died1 with  
his old friend1 ,andrew ,jackson4 ,no   
truer1 better1 braver people than the   
,rutherfords lived4 ,no black sheep     
ever came out of the flock4 ,i have     
always maintained that a family's       
ability to refrain from throwing scrubs 
is the truest test of its  purity4 ,the 
prepotency that produced dead-game1     
honest and true men and  women every    

time1 is a long way ahead of 8,norman   
blood40 8,that's the  genuine stuff10 as
 little three-year-old ,sister once     
naively remarked  after looking over    
,uncle ,john's pacing filly4 ,however1  
that's a story ,i  will tell later4     
,when ,i first knew ,little ,sister she 
was only two years old1 for just  two   
years before a terrible gloom had       
settled over the ,rutherford home  when 
,little ,sister's mother1 the ,colonel's
 daughter1 had died4 ,death  is a       
terrible1 bitter1 hollow mockery to     
those who live4 ,some day1 in  another  
world1 we shall see things differently4 
,in this1 8cabined1  cribbed1 confined0 
in our puny environments1 we see only   
8through a  glass darkly10 and so ,god  
help us4    ,as ,i said1 she was the old
 ,colonel's only daughter--the fairest1 
frailest1 most lovely and most          
intellectual--a bride one year1 and we  
buried her the next4 ,that's all1 except
 ,little ,sister1 a fair1 frail1        
hot-tempered1 sensitive--all brain and  

nerve--little tot who came to  take her 
mother's place4 ,her bright blue eyes1  
pale-pink face and  red-flaxen hair kept
 one thinking of perpetual sunsets and  
twilights4  ,she was a fac simile of her
 mother--intellect1 impulsiveness1      
loveliness1 all except one              
thing--temper4 ,she was fire and powder 
there4 ,a flash1 an explosion--then she 
was sobbing for forgiveness in  your    
arms4 ,that was ,little ,sister4    8,i 
can't see where in the world she gets   
her temper from10 ,grandmother          
,rutherford said when two-year-old      
,little ,sister slapped her squarely in 
the face one day and then hung sobbing  
around the old lady's neck as if  the   
blow had broken her own heart4    8,col4
 ,rutherford10 she would add            
impressively1 8this child ought to be   
spanked till she is conquered40         
8,don't do it1 mother10 said ,uncle     
,john1 while ,little ,sister gave him  a
 grateful look through her tears2 8don't
 do it2 that is not the way  to train   

race colts4 ,a conquering1 your way1    
would spoil her4 ,she will  need all of 
that temper1 if it is brought under     
control1 to get through  life with1 and 
land anywhere near the wire first4      
,besides1 with her  sensitiveness1 don't
 you see she is suffering now more than 
if we had  punished her8 ,if she were a 
plug1 now1 she would slap you and never 
be sorry till you made her sorry with a 
switch4 ,but conscience beats  hickory1 
and gentleness is away ahead of blows40 
,and ,uncle ,john would catch the       
two-year-old up and take her out to  see
 the colts4 ,at sight of these she would
 forget all other trouble4  ,her love   
for horses was as deep in her as the    
,rutherford blood4 ,when  she saw the   
colts it was comical to see the great   
burst of sunshiny  laughter that spread 
all over her conscience-stricken face1  
while two  big tears--such big ones as  
only little heart-broken two-year-olds  
can  originate--were rolling slowly down
 her nose4    8,oh1 ,uncle ,john10 she  

would say gleefully1 8now1 ain't they   
just too  sweet for anything8 ,do let me
 get down and hug them1 every one40 ,and
  ,uncle ,john would let her if he had  
to catch every one himself4    ,the     
clear-cut way she talked ,english       
reminds me that there were two  things  
about ,little ,sister that always       
astonished me--her intellect and  her   
great sense of motherhood4 ,i could     
readily see how she inherited  the      
first1 but could never understand how so
 tiny a thing had such a  great big     
mother-heart4 ,she loved everything     
little--everything born on  the farm4   
,the fact that anything in hair1 hide or
 feathers had arrived  was an occasion  
of jollification to her4    8,oh1 do let
 me see the dear little thing10 would be
 the first thing  from ,little ,sister  
that greeted the announcement4 ,and she 
generally  saw it2 at least1 if ,uncle  
,john was around4 ,it is scarcely       
necessary  to add that during the spring
 of the year1 on a farm as large as  the

 ,rutherford place1 she was kept in one 
continual state of happy  excitement4   
,one day they missed her from the house1
 and ,uncle ,john quickly  8tracked0 her
 to the cow barn1 for it occurred to him
 he had only  the day before shown her  
the ,short-horn's latest edition--a big1
  double-jointed1 ugly1 hungry male     
calf1 who slept all day in the bedded   
stall like a young ,hercules1 and only  
waked up long enough to wrinkle  his    
huge nose around and mentally make the  
remark the ,governor of  ,north         
,carolina is said to have made to the   
,governor of ,south ,carolina4  ,but    
,little ,sister had declared he was     
8perfectly lovely40 ,that is  where     
,uncle ,john found her4 ,she had climbed
 over the high stall gate1  unaided1    
and1 after becoming acquainted1 she had 
given young ,hercules1  as a propitiary 
offering1 her own beautiful string of   
beads and placed  them around his tawny 
neck4    8,come out of there1 you little
 rascal10 laughed ,uncle ,john4 8,what  

do  you see pretty about that big1 ugly 
calf80    8,oh1 ,uncle ,john10 sighed   
,little ,sister1 8,i'm so sorry for     
him--he isn't  pretty1 to be sure--and  
so ,i have given him my beads4 ,but he  
has a  lovely curly head10 she added    
encouragingly1 8and he seems to be such 
a  healthy child40    ,on another       
occasion they missed ,little ,sister    
about night4 ,everybody  started out in 
alarm4 ,grandma found her first1 coming 
from the  brood-sow's lot4    8,where in
 the world have you been1 darling80     
asked ,grandma1 as she  picked her up4  
8,playing with the little yesterday     
pigs10 she said4 8,and1 ,grandma1 ,i    
ought to have come home sooner1 but ,i  
kissed one of the cunningest of  the    
little pigs good-night1 and all the     
others looked so hurt1 and  squealed so 
because ,i didn't kiss them1 too1 ,i    
just had to catch every  one of them and
 kiss them before they would go to      
sleep4 ,indeed1 ,i did40    ,inheritance
 had played a ,hamlet's part in ,little 

,sister's make-up4  ,most children crow1
 and babble1 and lisp1 and talk in      
divers and  different languages before  
they learn to talk ,english1 while some 
never  learn at all4 ,but not so with   
,little ,sister4 ,the first word she    
ever  attempted was perfectly           
pronounced4 ,the first sentence she put 
together  was grammatically correct4    
,the correctness of her language1 for   
one  so small1 made it sound so quaint  
that ,i often had to laugh at its       
quaintness1 while her deep earnestness  
and intensity but added to its          
originality4    ,and she picked up so   
many things from ,uncle ,john4 ,else    
where did she  get this3 ,pete was a    
little darkey on the farm whose chief   
business  was to entertain ,little      
,sister when everything else failed4    
,pete's  repertoire consisted of all the
 funny things a monkey ever did1 but his
  two star performances were 8racking0  
like ,deacon ,jones' old claybank       
pacer1 and 8playin' possum40 ,little    

,sister never tired of having  ,pete do 
these two4 ,and it was comical4         
,everybody knew ,deacon ,jones1  with   
his angular1 sedate1 solemn way of      
riding1 and the unearthly1              
double-shuffling1 twisting1 cork-screw  
gait of his old pacer4 ,the  ludicrous  
gait of the old pacer struck ,pete early
 in life1 and he soon  learned to get   
down on his all-fours and make ,deacon  
,jones' old horse  ashamed of himself   
any day4 ,the imitation was so perfect  
that ,uncle  ,john used to call in his  
friends to see the show1 which consisted
 of  ,pete doing the racking act1 while 
,little ,sister1 astraddle of his back1 
with one hand in his shirt collar and   
the other wielding a hickory  switch1   
played the ,deacon4 ,one evening1 as the
 company was taking  in the performance1
 and ,pete1 now thoroughly leg-weary1   
had paced  around for the twentieth     
time1 ,little ,sister was seen to whack 
him in  the flanks very vigorously and  
exclaim3 8,come1 pace along there1 you  

son-of-a-gun1 or ,i'll put a head on    
you60    ,uncle ,john nearly fell out of
 his chair4 ,only a week before he had  
made  that same remark to ,pete for     
being a little slow about bringing in   
his  shaving water4 ,but he didn't know 
that ,little ,sister had heard him4     
,the spring ,little ,sister was three   
years old the ,colonel came in  to      
breakfast one morning with a cloud on   
his brow4 ,it was a great               
disappointment to him--old ,betty1 his  
saddle mare1 the mare he had  ridden for
 fifteen years1 8the best bred mare in  
,tennessee10 had  brought into the world
 a most unpromising offspring4 8,it is  
weak1 puny  and no 'count1 ,john10 he   
said to his son2 8deformed1 or          
something1 in  its front legs1 knuckles 
over and can't stand up1 the most       
infernally  curby-legged thing ,i ever  
saw40    8,that's too bad10 remarked    
,uncle ,john1 as he helped himself to   
another  battercake4 8,i'll go out after
 breakfast and look at the poor little  

thing40    8,no use10 remarked the      
,colonel gravely1 8it's deformed--can't 
stand up2  and out of compassion for it 
,i've ordered ,jim to knock it in the   
head4  ,it'll be better dead than       
alive40    ,little ,sister1 with her    
big1 inquisitive eyes1 had been taking  
it all  in1 as she gravely ate her      
oatmeal and cream4 ,but the last remark 
of  ,grandpa stopped the spoon half way 
to her mouth4 ,the next instant1        
unobserved1 she had slipped out of her  
high-chair and flown to the barn4    8,i
 tell you1 ,john10 remarked the old     
,colonel1 8,i sometimes think this      
breeding horses is pure lottery4 ,to    
think of old ,betty1 the gamest1        
speediest mare ,i ever rode1 having such
 a colt as that2 and by ,brown  ,hal1   
too--the best young pacing horse ,i ever
 saw4 ,it makes me feel bad  to think of
 it4 ,now1 take old ,betty's            
pedigree----0    ,but the old ,colonel  
never got any further1 for piercing     
screams from  ,little ,sister came from 

the barn4 ,uncle ,john glanced at her   
empty  chair1 turned pale with fright1  
kicked over the two chairs which stood  
in his way1 then his favorite setter dog
 that blockaded the door1  and rushed   
hatless to the barn4 ,there a pathetic  
sight met his eyes4  ,a negro stood in  
old ,betty's stall door with an axe in  
his hand4 ,in  a far corner1 on some    
straw1 lay a sorry-looking1 helpless    
colt4 ,but  it was not alone1 for a     
three-year-old tot knelt beside it1 and 
held  the colt's head in her lap while  
she shook her tiny fist at the black    
executioner1 and screamed with grief and
 anger3    8,you shan't kill this baby  
colt--you shan't--you shan't6 ,don't you
 come  in here--don't you come6 ,how    
dare you80 ,and1 child though she was1  
the  flash of her keen1 blue ,rutherford
 eyes1 like the bright sights of the    
muzzle of two derringers1 had awed the  
negro in the doorway and stopped  him in
 hesitancy and confusion4    8,go away1 
,jim10 said ,uncle ,john1 as he took in 

the situation4 8,come1  ,little         
,sister10 he said1 8let's go back to    
,grandma40    ,but for once in her life 
,uncle ,john had no influence over the  
little  girl4 ,she was indignant1       
shocked1 grieved4 ,she fairly blazed    
through  her tears and sobs4 ,she would 
never speak to ,grandpa again as long as
  she lived4 ,she intended her very self
 to kill ,jim just as soon as she  8got 
big enough10 and as for ,uncle ,john1   
she would never even love him  again if 
he did not promise her the baby colt    
should not be killed4    8,poor little  
thing10 she said1 as she put her arm    
around its neck and  her tears fell over
 its big1 soft eyes2 8,god just sent you
 last night1  and they want to kill you 
to-day40    ,uncle ,john brushed a tear 
away himself1 and stooped over and      
critically examined the little          
filly--for such it was4 ,little ,sister 
watched him intently for1 in her opinion
 ,uncle ,john knew everything and  could
 do anything4 ,the tears were still     

rolling down her cheeks1 as  ,uncle     
,john looked up quickly and said in his 
boyish1 jolly way3 8,hello1  ,little    
,sister1 this little filly is all right6
 ,deformed be hanged6  ,she's as sound  
as a hound's tooth--just weak in her    
front tendons4 ,i'll  soon fix that4 ,no
 sir1 they don't kill her1              
,mousey0--,uncle ,john called  her      
,mousey when he wanted her to laugh4    
,the tears gave way to a crackling      
little laugh4 8,well1 ain't that just   
too sweet for anything2 and ,oh1 ,uncle 
,john1 ain't she just sweet enough  to  
eat80 ,and ,little ,sister danced about1
 the happiest child in the  world4      
,and what fun it was to help ,uncle     
,john 8fix her up10 as he called it4    
,she brought him the cotton-batting     
herself and watched him gravely as  he  
made stays for the weak forelegs1 and   
straightened out the crooked  little    
ankles4 ,finally1 when he called ,jim1  
and made him take the  little filly up  
in his arms and carry her into another  

stall where old  ,betty stood and held  
her up to get her first breakfast1 the  
little  girl could hardly contain       
herself4 ,in a burst of generosity she  
begged  ,jim's pardon1 and told her     
,uncle ,john confidentially that she    
didn't  intend to kill ,jim at all1 now2
 but was going to give him a pair of her
  ,grandpa's old boots instead4    ,in  
return for this1 ,jim promptly named the
 filly 8,little ,sister10 a  compliment 
which tickled the original ,little      
,sister very much4    ,but having said  
the little filly was no-'count1 the old 
,colonel stuck  to it--refused to notice
 it or take any stock in it4    8,po'   
little thing10 he would say a month     
after it was able to pace  around       
without help from its stays--8po' little
 thing2 what a pity they  didn't kill   
it60    ,but ,uncle ,john and ,little   
,sister nursed it1 petted it1 and helped
 old  ,betty raise it2 and the next     
spring they were rewarded by seeing it  
develop into a delicate-looking1 but    

exceedingly blood-like1 nervous1        
highstrung little miss4 ,grandpa would  
surely relent now1 but not so4          
,prejudice1 next to ignorance1 is our   
greatest enemy1 and the old  ,colonel   
looked at the yearling and remarked3    
8,po' little thing--that old ,betty     
should have played off on me like       
that60 ,and he turned indifferently on  
his heel and walked away1  whereupon    
both the filly and the little girl      
turned up their noses  behind the old   
man's back4    ,in the fall that the    
little filly was three years old the    
county pacing  stakes came off4 ,a      
thousand dollars were hung up at the end
 of that  race1 but greater still1 the  
county's reputation was at the feet of  
the  conqueror4 ,the old ,colonel had   
entered a big pacing fellow in the race1
  named ,princewood1 and it looked like 
nothing could beat him4 ,the big  fellow
 had been carefully trained for two     
seasons by a local driver1  and had     
already cost his owner more than he was 

worth4 8,but it's the  reputation ,i am 
after1 sir10 the ,colonel would say to  
the driver--8the  honor of the thing4   
,my farm has already taken it twice2 ,i 
want to take  it again40    ,now1 ,uncle
 ,john was quite a whip himself1 and the
 old ,colonel had  failed to notice how 
all the fall he had been giving ,betty's
 filly  extra attention1 with a hot     
brush on the road now and then4 ,the old
  man1 wrapped up as he was in          
,princewood's wonderful speed1 had even 
failed to notice that ,uncle ,john had  
frequently called for his light  road   
wagon1 and he and ,little ,sister1 now  
six years old1 had taken  delightful    
spins down the shady places in the      
by-ways1 where nobody  could see them1  
behind the high-strung little filly1 and
 that often1 at  supper1 when ,grandpa  
would begin to brag about ,princewood's 
wonderful  speed1 ,uncle ,john would    
wink at ,little ,sister1 and that little
 miss  would have to cram her mouth full
 of peach preserves to keep from        

laughing out at the table and being sent
 supperless to bed4    ,there was a big 
crowd on the day of the race--it looked 
like all the  county was there4 ,the    
field was a large one1 for the purse was
 rich  and the honor richer--8and       
,princewood is a prime favorite10       
chuckled  the old ,colonel1 as he stood 
holding a little girl's hand near the   
grandstand4    ,but the little girl was 
very quiet4 ,for once in her life 8the  
cat had  her tongue40 ,now1 anybody half
 educated in child ways would have seen 
this tot clearly expected something to  
happen4 ,if the old ,colonel  hadn't    
been so busy talking about ,princewood  
he might have seen it1 too4    ,the bell
 had already rung twice1 and all the    
drivers and horses were  thought to be  
in1 and were preparing to score down1   
when a newcomer  arrived1 who attracted 
a good deal of attention4 ,instead of a 
sulky1 he  sat in a spider-framed1      
four-wheeled gentleman's road cart1 at  
least  four seconds slow for a race like

 that4 ,instead of a cap he wore a soft 
felt hat1 and in lieu of a jacket1 a    
cutaway business suit4 ,he nodded       
familiarly to the starting judge and    
paced his nervous-looking little  filly 
up the stretch4    8,who is that coming 
into this race in that kind of a thing80
 asked the  old ,colonel of a farmer    
near by--for the old man's eyesight was 
failing  him4    8,why1 ,colonel1 don't 
you know your own son8 ,that's ,cap'n   
,john  ,rutherford10 said the farmer4   
8,the devil you say60 shouted the       
excitable old gentleman4 8,why1 damn    
it1 has ,john gone crazy80 and he jumped
 over a bench and rushed  excitedly up  
the stretch to head off the driver of   
the little filly4    8,in the name of   
heaven1 ,john10 he shouted1 8are you    
really going to  drive in this race80   
,captain ,john nodded and smiled4       
8,and what's that po' little thing      
you've got there80    8,it's ,little    
,sister1 father10 said ,captain ,john   
good naturedly4 8,i'm  just driving her 

to please the little girl4 ,i want to   
see how she'll  act in company1 anyway40
    ,the old ,colonel was thunderstruck4
 8,why1 you're a fool10 he blurted  out4
 8,they'll lose you both in this race4  
,for heaven's sake1 ,john1 get  off the 
track and don't disgrace old ,betty and 
the farm this way4 ,po'  little         
no-'count thing10 he added1             
sympathetically1 8it'll kill 'er to  go 
round there once60    ,the ,captain     
laughed4 8,it's just for a little fun1  
father--all to please  the baby4 ,it's  
her pet1 you know4 ,i'll just trail them
 the first heat1  and if she's too soft 
,i'll pull out4 ,but she's better than  
you think10  he added indifferently4    
8,i've been driving her a good bit of   
late40    ,the old ,colonel             
expostulated--he even threatened--but   
,captain ,john  only laughed and drove  
off4 ,then the old ,colonel repented1   
and it was  comically pathetic to hear  
him call out in his earnest way3 8,john6
 ,oh1  ,john6 ,don't tell anybody it's  

old ,betty's colt1 will you80           
,captain ,john laughed4 8,i'll bet ten  
to one10 he chuckled to himself1  8he'll
 be telling it before ,i do40    ,and   
the little filly--when she got into     
company she seemed to be  positively    
gay4 ,she forgot all about herself1     
threw off all her nervous  ways1 and    
went away with a rush that almost took  
,captain ,john's breath4  ,he pulled her
 quickly back4 8,ho1 ho6 little miss10  
he said1 8if you  do that again you'll  
give us dead away10 and he looked slyly 
around  to see if anybody had seen it4  
,but they were all too busy chasing     
,princewood4 ,that horse clearly had the
 speed of the crowd4 ,and so ,uncle     
,john trailed behind1 the very last of  
the long procession1 with the  little   
filly fighting for her head all the way4
 ,nobody seemed to notice  them at      
all--nobody but a little girl1 who clung
 to her grandpa's  middle finger and    
wondered1 in her childish faith1 if the 
mighty ,uncle  ,john--the ,uncle ,john  

who knew everything and could do        
everything1 and  who never missed his   
mark in all his life1 was going1 really 
going1 to  tumble now from his lofty    
throne in her childish mind8 ,and with  
him  ,little ,sister1 too4    ,she got  
behind ,grandpa4 ,princewood paced in   
way ahead4 ,she stuck her  fingers in   
her ears so she couldn't hear the       
shouts1 but took them out  in time to   
hear ,grandpa say1 8,well1 ,i thought   
,john had more sense10 as  that         
gentleman1 after satisfying himself that
 he was not distanced1  paced slowly in4
    ,this made ,little ,sister think it 
was all up with ,uncle ,john4 ,she went 
after a glass of lemonade1 but really to
 cry in the dark hall behind  the       
grandstand and wipe her eyes on the     
frills of the pretty little  petticoat  
,grandma had made her just to wear to   
the fair4 ,it was too bad4    ,when she 
got back ,grandpa was gone4 ,he was over
 in the cooling stable1  talking to     
,uncle ,john4    8,john10 he said       

solemnly1 8don't disgrace old ,betty any
 more4 ,i'm  downright sorry for the po'
 little thing4 ,i'm afraid she'll fall  
dead  in her tracks10 he added4         
,captain ,john flushed1 8,well1 let her 
drop10 he said1 8but if ,i'm not        
mistaken you'll hear something drop     
yourself40    ,the old ,colonel turned  
on his heels in disgust4    ,but ,uncle 
,john meant business this time4 ,he     
changed his cart for a  sulky1 and again
 they got the word4 ,gradually1         
carefully1 he gave the  little filly her
 head4 ,steadily1 gracefully1 she went  
by them one by  one1 until at the half  
she was just behind ,princewood1 who    
seemed to  be claiming all the          
grandstand's attention4 ,the field left 
behind6 ,if  ,princewood wins this heat 
the race is over6    8,princewood's got 
'em1 ,colonel60 exclaimed a countryman  
to the old man4  8,they's nothin' that  
kin head 'im60 and 8,princewood wins6   
,princewood  wins60 as they headed into 
the stretch4    ,and then something     

dropped4 ,little ,sister felt the reins 
relax1 and a  kindly chirrup came from  
,uncle ,john4 ,in a twinkling she was up
 with the  big fellow1 half frightened  
at her own speed1 half doubting1 like a 
prima donna when her sweet voice first  
fills a great hall1 that it was  really 
she who had done it4    8,princewood6   
,princewood60 shouted the crowd around  
their idol1 the  ,colonel4 8,princewood 
will break the record60 from partisans  
who knew  more about plow horses than   
race horses4    ,the old ,colonel arose 
in happy anticipation--and then1 as his 
trained  eye really took in the         
situation1 his jaw dropped4 ,what was   
that little  bay streak that had        
collared so gamely his big horse8 ,who  
was the  quiet-looking gentleman in the 
soft felt hat1 handling the reins like a
  veteran driver8 ,his son ,john was in 
a cart--this driver was in a sulky4     
8,who the devil--0 he started to say1   
when somebody clinging to his  finger   
cried out3 8,look6 ,look6 ,grandpa6     

,it's ,little ,sister4 ,ain't she  just 
too sweet for anything80    ,and the    
next instant the little filly laughed in
 the big pacer's face1  as much as to   
say1 8,you big duffer1 have you quit    
already80 ,and then1  like a homing     
pigeon loosed for the first time1 she   
sailed away from  the field4            
8,princewood6 ,princewood will break the
 record60 shouted a man who  hadn't     
caught on and was yelling for           
,princewood while looking at the        
champion pumpkin in the window of the   
agricultural hall4    ,and then the old 
,colonel lost his head and1 ,i am sorry 
to say1 the most  of his religion1 for  
he jumped up on a bench and shouted so  
loud the  town crier heard him in the   
court-house window1 a mile away3 8,damn 
,princewood6 ,damn the record6 ,it's    
,little ,sister6 ,little ,sister6 ,old  
,betty's filly--my old mare's colt60    
,and then ,uncle ,john laughed till he  
nearly fell out of the sulky4 8,i  said 
he'd be telling all about her first10 he

 said1 while a little  innocent-looking 
tot plucked the old man by the coat-tail
 long enough  to get him to stop telling
 the crowd all about the marvelous      
breeding  of the wonderful filly1 as she
 naively remarked3 8,and the little     
thing  did play off on you sure enough1 
didn't she1 ,grandpa80    ,the crowd    
laughed1 and ,grandma picked her up1    
kissed her1 and shouted3  8,and here's  
the girl that saved her1 gentlemen--the 
smartest girl in  ,tennessee--and she's 
got more horse sense than her old       
granddaddy60    ,there was one more     
heat1 of course2 but it was only a      
procession1 and  those behind cannot    
swear to this day which way ,little     
,sister went4      ,,john ,,trotwood    
,,moore4          ,a ,history of the    
,hals      ,by ,,john ,,trotwood        
,,moore4    ,illustration3 ,,capt4      
,,thomas ,,gibson4 ,owner of ,gibson's  
,tom ,hal and ,john  ,dilliard4         
,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,pacing ,,race     
,,horse4      ,full-muscled1 clean1     

clear-cut1 without a flaw1              
,deep-chested--shallow where the quick  
flanks draw--    ,round-footed1 flat and
 flinty in the bone1    ,eyes full and  
flashing1 as the opal stone1    ,neck   
like the deep-grooved classic column's  
ply--    ,massive at base1 tap'ring     
towards the sky1    ,ears thin and      
slender1 velvet-pointed1 fine    ,as the
 unbursted leaflets of the columbine4   
,shoulders well back1 slanting1 thin and
 strong1    ,ribbed close as steel1     
where girders run along2    ,quarters   
long and massive1 rubber-hard and round1
    ,quick in the stride1 but quicker in
 rebound--    ,back like the beam that  
held ,pantheon's dome--    ,gods1 give  
the word1 and see this horse come home6 
,,john ,,trotwood ,,moore4    ,the race 
horse has come1 by common consent to    
represent all that is  graceful and     
grand in the animal kingdom4 ,the       
culmination of perfected  strength and  
speed1 courage and intelligence1 he     
stands1 nevertheless1  the model of     

patience1 gentleness and forbearance4   
,how wonderful it  seems that in this   
dumb creature1 whose mental gifts1      
compared to  man's1 are as a clay bed to
 a bank of violets1 yet has he reached1 
through the misty channels of mere      
instinct1 a physical perfection and     
often a moral excellence which his maker
 and molder may never attain6  ,he is   
amiable in spite of force and desperate 
races1 and often blows  and cruelty2 he 
is gentle1 notwithstanding a training   
tending to make  him a whirlwind of     
wrath and a tornado of tempests2 he is  
honest in  spite of the dishonesty of   
those around him and docile and         
contented  despite the fact that there  
slumbers within him like sleeping bolts 
in  a flying cloud the spirit of madness
 gathered from the nerve granaries  of a
 long line of unnumbered ancestors4     
,a regiment with his courage would ride 
over the guns of a ,balaklava2  a state 
with his honesty would need no criminal 
laws2 give scholars  his patience1 and  

the stars would be their playthings2    
imbued with  his power of endurance1 the
 weakest nation would tunnel mountains  
as  a child a sand hill1 build cities as
 a dreamer builds castles1 and  shoulder
 the world with a laugh4 ,to one who    
sees him as he is1 and  loves him for   
his intrinsic greatness1 he is all this 
and more4 ,man's  honest servant1 dumb  
exemplar1 truest helper1 best friend4   
,in his master's hour of recreation1 he 
is the joyful spirit that whirls  him1  
at the swish of a whip1 along the dizzy 
course where the whistling  winds sing  
their warning4 ,in his hours of stern   
reality1 when fortunes  hang on his hoof
 beats and fame stands balanced on the  
wire that ends  the home-stretch1 he is 
the embodiment of power and dignity1 the
  champion of might and the god of      
victory4 ,and finally1 in his gentler   
moods1 he is the faithful servant of the
 stubble and the plow1 the  gentle      
guardian of the family turn-out1 who    
hauls the laughing children  along the  

by-ways amid the sweet grasses1 where   
the sunshine and the  zephyrs play4 ,out
 from the past1 the dim1 bloody1        
shifting past1 came  this noble animal1 
the horse1 side by side with man1       
fighting with  him the battles of       
progress1 bearing with him the burdens  
of the  centuries4 ,down the long1 hard 
road1 through flint or mire1 through    
swamp or sand1 wherever there has been a
 footprint1 there also will be  seen a  
hoof-print4 ,they have been one and     
inseparable1 the aim and the  object1   
the means and the end4 ,and if the time 
shall ever come1 as some  boastingly    
declare1 when the one shall breed away  
from the other1 the  puny relic of a    
once perfect manhood will not live long 
enough to trace  the record of it on the
 tablet of time4    ,the greatest       
distinct family of horses that has ever 
lived is the  ,hal family of pacers1 a  
distinctively ,tennessee product1       
originating  in that peculiar geological
 formation known as the ,middle         

,basin--the  bluegrass region of        
,tennessee4 ,to understand the greatness
 of this  family of horses--now known   
throughout the world1 wherever speed and
  endurance has a name--it is only      
necessary to publish the following      
table of world-records held by them4    
,these records have all been won  in the
 last quarter of a century1 the         
remarkable fact being that  before that 
time these horses lived only for the    
plow1 the saddle  or the wheel1 and that
 nearly all of them are sons and        
daughters or  descendants of one        
horse--a roan1 known locally as         
,gibson's ,tom ,hal1  from the fact that
 ,capt4 ,thomas ,gibson1 a gentleman of 
the old school1  then living on his     
estate in ,maury ,county1 ,tenn41 and   
now the efficient  secretary of the     
,nashville1 ,chattanooga  ,st4 ,louis   
,railway ,library1  first reclaimed him 
from obscurity and brought him to the   
county where  his greatness was         
recognized4    ,these world records1 the

 choicest in the harness world1 are held
  to-day1 ,august1 #aije1 by the        
descendants of the old roan pacer3      
#a4 ,first horse to go a mile in harness
 in #b minutes1 ,star ,pointer1         
#a3ei-a_/d4      #b4 ,fastest           
#d-year-old mare1 ,the ,maid1           
#b3je-a_/d4      #c4 ,fastest green     
performer 7#aije71 ,walter ,direct1     
#b3je-c_/d4      #d4 ,fastest heat in a 
race1 stallion1 ,star ,pointer1         
#b3jj-a_/b4      #e4 ,fastest heat in a 
race1 mare1 ,fanny ,dillard1 #b3jc-c_/d4
      #f4 ,fastest first heat in a race1
 ,star ,pointer1 #b3jb4      #g4        
,fastest third heat in a race1 ,star    
,pointer1 #b3jj-a_/b4      #h4 ,fastest 
fifth heat in a race1 ,the ,maid1       
#b3je-c_/d4      #i4 ,fastest two heats 
in race 7,dariel and7 ,fanny ,dillard1  
#b3jc-c_/d1    #b3je4      #aj4 ,fastest
 three consecutive heats in a race1     
,star ,pointer1    #b3jb-a_/b1          
#b3jc-a_/b1 #b3jc-c_/d4      #aa4       
,fastest three heats in a race1 ,star   

,pointer1 #b3jb-a_/b1 #b3jc-a_/b1       
#b3jc-c_/d4      #ab4 ,fastest          
seven-heat race1 ,the ,maid1 #b3jg-a_/d1
 #b3jg-a_/d1 #b3je-a_/d1    #b3ji1      
#b3je-c_/d1 #b3jg1 #b3jh-c_/d4      #ac4
 ,fastest mile in a race to wagon1      
,angus ,pointer1 #b3jd-a_/b4      #ad4  
,fastest team1 ,direct ,hal and ,prince 
,direct1 #b3je-a_/b4      #ae4 ,fastest 
three-heat in race to wagon1 ,angus     
,pointer1 #b3jf-a_/d1    #b3jd-a_/b1    
#b3jf-a_/d4      #af4 ,fastest green    
performer1 stallion1 ,direct ,hal1      
#b3jd-a_/b4      #ag4 ,fastest team in a
 race1 ,charley ,b and ,bobby ,hal1     
#b3ac4      #ah4 ,fastest pacing team1  
amateur trials1 ,prince ,direct and     
,morning    ,star1 #b3jf4    ,it will be
 observed that all of these records     
except a few were made in  races and not
 against time4    ,whence came this     
wonderful family of horses8 ,what is    
this pacing gait8  ,what mingling of    
blood lines have brought these horses of
 the plow1 the  saddle and the wheel to 

the grandstand and the pinacle of fame8 
,this is the story ,i shall tell as a   
serial during the first twelve  issues  
of ,trotwood's ,monthly4    ,the        
light-harness horse has come to be a    
type of its own4 ,it is  distinctly an  
,american type1 as distinguished from   
the ,english running1  or thoroughbred  
horse1 the ,german and ,french coach1   
the ,russian ,orloff  and horses of     
other nationalities4 ,there is a wide   
gap1 however1  between a race horse1    
whether runner or harness horse1 and    
other  breeds1 however pure1 their blood
 lines4 ,it is the difference of        
intelligence1 speed1 endurance1 of lung 
development1 of steel bone4 ,it  is the 
difference between genius and           
mediocracy--for speed is to the  horse  
what genius is to man4    ,whence began 
this speed--in the ,english runner1 in  
the ,american trotter  and pacer8       
,traced back1 the sheiks of the desert  
might tell2 they who  worshipped the    
midnight stars1 or chased on steeds of  

fire the wild  antelope of the plains1  
before ,abraham came from 8,ur of the   
,chaldees40  ,knowing the past now from 
the present1 seeing it so clearly       
through  the glasses of twentieth       
century science1 knowing the laws of the
  8survival of the fittest10 that land  
and air and sand and sun make both  the 
physical man as well as the physical    
horse1 we can easily guess  what        
centuries of wild gallops across the    
desert will do for the horse1           
supplemented by that natural love of him
 in his master--that love which  brings 
care and kindness and the exercise of   
common sense in mating and  maternity4  
,as to the ,american horse1 there are   
two distinct classes1 based on  their   
respective gaits--the trotter and the   
pacer4 ,in another chapter  these       
respective gaits are fully discussed1   
their difference shown1  their origin   
and the speed attained by each4 ,this   
brief history will  deal only with the  
pacing gait1 but so closely are these   

two great  gaits related1 and so often  
do the blood lines of trotter and pacer 
run in parallel columns that it is      
necessary for a clear explanation  of   
the subject to say a foreword about the 
trotter1 that grand type of  beauty1    
speed and utility1 so purely ,american  
and so superbly great  that the very    
mention of his name should excite a     
patriotic glow in the  bosom of every   
,american who loves his country and her 
just fame4    ,the history of the       
trotting horse began with ,messenger1 a 
gray  thoroughbred foaled in #aghj1 and 
imported from ,england to ,america in   
,may1 #aghh4 ,he was royally bred for   
his time1 being by ,mambrino1 son  of   
,engineer1 and through both sire and dam
 he traced to the famous  ,godolphin    
,arabian4 ,an old description of him    
says he was #ae-c_/d  hands high1 with  
8a large1 long head1 rather short1      
straight neck1  with wind-pipe and      
nostrils nearly twice as large as       
ordinary2 low  withers1 shoulders       

somewhat upright1 but deep and strong2  
powerful  loins and quarters2 hocks and 
knees unusually large1 and below them   
limbs of medium size1 but flat and clean
 and1 whether at rest or in  motion1    
always in perfect position40 ,with this 
beginning1 in #ahbb1 a  ,norfolk trotter
 called ,bellfounder1 who had trotted   
two miles in six  minutes1 and had      
challenged all ,england to a trot1 was  
imported4 ,it  was his daughter in which
 the strains of ,messenger met that     
produced  ,hambletonian #aj1 the head of
 the trotting type in ,america1 the     
first  great trotting sire of the world1
 and through him perpetuated by his     
great sons1 such as ,geo4 ,wilkes1      
,electioneer1 ,dictator1 and their      
descendants4 ,through all these years   
the trotting record has gradually  been 
reduced1 first by one great trotter and 
then another1 beginning  with the first 
queen of the trotting turf1 ,lady       
,suffolk1 and ending  with that superb  
little thing of fire and speed and      

sweetness1 ,lou  ,dillon4 ,literally1 in
 that century of progress millions of   
dollars  have been spent1 not only by   
thousands of small breeders1 but by such
  financial magnates and great breeders 
as ,vanderbilt1 ,sanford1 ,bonner1      
,backman1 ,alexander1 ,forbes1 ,lawson  
and others1 chiefly in ,new ,york1 ,new 
,england1 ,kentucky and ,california4    
,the effect of all this was to create   
that splendid race of trotters now      
known all over the world1 and to produce
 a horse capable of trotting a  mile in 
two minutes or better4    ,but even     
before the advent of ,messenger there   
had developed in the  eastern coast of  
the ,colonies1 chiefly in ,delaware and 
,rhode ,island1 a  family of extremely  
fast pacers known as the ,narragansetts1
 an account  of which will be seen a few
 chapters further on4 ,these horses were
  small1 but game1 docile1 excellent    
under the saddle1 and used almost       
exclusively for travel in those early   
days of pioneer roads4 ,their  speed was

 marvelous1 if the testimony of ,rev4   
,dr4 ,mc,sparrow1 #agba1 an  ,english   
minister who was stationed in the       
,colonies1 may be accepted as  proof4   
,this reverend gentleman1 writing to a  
friend in ,england says  that he has    
seen them pace in races under saddle1   
going a mile in 8a  little less than two
 and a good deal better than three      
minutes40    ,however1 for nearly two   
centuries the pacer never was thought of
 as  a factor in horse development1     
especially as a race horse until the    
advent of the ,hal family of ,tennessee1
 in the early #gj's1 with ,little       
,brown ,jug and ,mattie ,hunter1        
although the great bloodlines and speed 
of ,pocahontas1 ,james ,k4 ,polk and    
other noted pacers in the early '#dj's  
ought to have foretold what great       
possibilities lay in the despised       
pacing gait4 ,as usual1 the rejected    
stone found itself in the key of  the   
arch1 and out of ,tennessee1 by what    
some might term chance1 but in  fact the

 legitimate product of scientific       
breeding1 of soil1 of climate  and      
grass1 out of an obscure family of      
saddle horses1 bred with no idea  of    
racing and with never a thought of fame1
 but taken1 like ,coriolanus1  literally
 from the plow1 this horse is found--the
 first to go a mile  in two minutes or  
better1 and to do almost without price  
and without  effort what the            
millionaires of horsedom had spent      
fortunes to do in  vain4    ,this was   
first accomplished by ,star ,pointer1 at
 ,readville1 ,mass41  ,september #b1    
#ahig4    ,such a family deserves to be 
perpetuated in history1 however brief it
  may be and unpretentiously written4   
,and ,i beg the future as well as the   
present historian not to criticise too  
closely its style1 for in it1  as ,i go 
along1 a hundred fancies will twine     
themselves with my facts4  ,there is so 
much about man and horse that is akin4  
,there is so much of  human nature in   
both--there is such a chance for        

moralizing on their  life1 their death1 
their fame1 their fortune1 their brief  
days' strut  on the stage of time1 their
 passing out--8and the rest is silence40
  ,and1 speaking of fame in both man and
 horse1 is it not all a lottery8        
,with men she is a sly and uncertain    
goddess1 coming seldom to those who     
court her1 and often to others who care 
nothing for her1 so1 in the  rearing of 
race-horses the same uncertainty exists1
 and matron after  matron bred in purple
 lines may go on throwing quitters and  
lunkheads  year after year1 while some  
obscure dam1 whose breeding is barely   
tolerable1 but stamped by nature with a 
spirit of fire and a soul of  steel1    
sends out from some hithertofore obscure
 breeders' farm a race  horse that sets 
a new mark for speed and a new fashion  
for blood lines4    ,in a decision1     
,judge ,gaynor1 of the ,supreme ,court  
of ,king's ,county1  ,new ,york1 in a   
case against the president of the       
,gravesend track1  where runners are    

raced1 held that horse racing was not a 
lottery4  ,this may be true within the  
technical meaning of the term1 lottery1 
but if the honorable court had held that
 breeding race horses was not  a        
lottery1 we have our doubt whether the  
decision would have met with  the       
unanimous consent of the breeders       
themselves4 ,and1 as we remarked  above1
 fame itself is not more uncertain4     
,there is so much similarity between man
 and horse that a student of  either    
will constantly find himself comparing  
the two4 ,almost every  quality         
possessed by man has its counterpart1   
though often in a less  degree1 in man's
 favorite animal1 while now and then the
 master fails  to come up to the many   
excellencies of his beast4 ,a good judge
 of  human nature is invariably a good  
judge of horses and horse nature4 ,in   
fact1 so well understood is this rule   
that 8horse sense0 in man has  come to  
have a definite meaning of its own1 and 
classes the human thus  favored with a  

common sense stronger than usual4    ,it
 is almost certain failure for erring   
man to struggle only to be  famous4 ,she
 never yet came in all her splendor to  
the impetuous wooer4  ,like ,cleopatra1 
who secretly tired of the infatuated    
,anthony1 who could  not fight at       
,actium for thoughts of her1 and        
secretly died for love of  the young    
,caesar who heartily despised the       
character of the ancient  ,langtry1 so  
also with fame4 8,god tempers the wind  
to the shorn lamb10  and perhaps knows  
if he allowed the fools who burn up     
their lives and  their midnight oil     
seeking to become famous1 to become so1 
their heads  would burst with conceit or
 their own vanity would wreck them4 ,but
  on the other hand1 ,he often showers  
on those who honestly fight for  right1 
regardless of consequences1 who care    
more for principle than  for worldly    
honor1 and more for truth than for      
glory1 and who do their  whole duty     
regardless of consequences1 the greatest

 fame and honor4  ,the strutting peacock
 has all he can carry in his gaudy      
plumage and  resplendent feathers4 ,it  
would have been as much a sacrilege to  
have  added these decorations to either 
,ulysses ,s4 ,grant or ,robert ,e4 ,lee1
 as  it would have been cruel to deprive
 ,john ,pope and ,robert ,tombs of them4
  ,and the gap between the pairs is the 
true distance between fame and          
feathers4    ,the wild1 reckless and    
dissipated young rake1 who left ,rome   
more to  be rid of his creditors than to
 fight the ,gauls1 never dreamed of the 
glory in store for him as he threw the  
fire of his soul in his work and  blazed
 his way to fame both with a pen and    
sword--each so resplendently  bright    
that the student of to-day is lost in   
wonder and admiration  as he endeavors  
to decide on which ,caesar's greatest   
claim to renown  rests4 8,here lies one 
whose name is written on water10 is the 
epitaph  which the poor1 gentle1 timid  
,keats begged to have carved on his     

tomb1  begged it as he lay dying from   
shafts of cruelty and malice4 ,and yet1 
his fame is as enduring as his art1 and 
that is 8a thing of beauty0 and  8a joy 
forever40 8,what have ,i done to be     
worthy of this great honor80  asked     
,washington1 when he heard he was       
elected the first president of  the     
,republic4 ,shakespeare was silent1     
morose1 dissatisfied1 as all true       
artists are1 with his own work1 and     
judging from the epitaph1 which it  is  
said he himself wrote1 it appears he was
 fearful he might not have  even a place
 to rest his bones4 ,and so1 the world  
over4 ,simplicity is  greatness4 ,truth 
is fame4 ,honesty is glory4 ,if you     
doubt it compare  ,agricola and         
,cataline2 ,washington and ,arnold2     
,paul and ,iscariot2  ,shakespeare and  
,sheridan4    ,in the same line of      
reasoning it is an hundred to one when a
 breeder1  pinning everything on a      
pedigree1 an individuality1 or some     
supposed  excellency1 ever hits the     

mark4 ,it is said that the same man once
  owned ,kittrell's ,tom ,hal and       
,copperbottom4 ,the latter he thought   
was  the better horse2 the former was   
ignored4 ,time has shown1 perhaps to    
his loss1 the owner's error4 ,an        
exchange recently published a story of  
how a prospective buyer went to purchase
 one or two colts4 ,the first  was      
,hambletonian #aj1 then1 ,i think1 a    
yearling2 the second was a horse  called
 ,abdallah4 ,he regarded ,abdallah the  
handsomest1 the speediest1  the best4   
,he spent a good deal of time in his    
examination1 and as they  were priced   
the same1 showing that even the owners  
had not discovered  any difference1 he  
finally purchased the ,abdallah colt1   
and1 the writer  adds1 8,the first went 
to fame1 the second to a double-tree40  
,but some people think horse-breeding is
 not a lottery4 ,why1 even  man-breeding
 is4    ,and so the ,hal family1        
thinking not of fame1 find it thrust    
upon them4    7,to be ,continued47      

99       99       99       99       99  
,,the ,,last ,,hymn ,,of ,,the ,,biloxi 
7,the ,biloxi1 a noble tribe of ,indians
 who lived on the ,gulf ,coast many     
centuries ago1 were defeated in battle  
and besieged in their last  remaining   
fortress by an unrelenting enemy4       
,choosing rather to die in  the sea than
 to be captured and enslaved1 they      
marched out of their  gate on a moonlit 
night1 singing a death chant1 a stately 
procession  of men1 women and children1 
and continued seaward until the waves   
swallowed them up4 ,their enemies stood 
on the shore and watched them1  struck  
with surprise and admiration4 ,the      
remains of their last fortress  is said 
to be still standing at ,biloxi1 ,miss41
 and to this day there is  heard a weird
 music which comes in from the ,gulf1   
oftenest on still1  moonlit nights1     
which the natives call 8,the ,last ,hymn
 of the ,biloxi407      ,over the sea1  
the silent sea1    ,faint is the music  
that comes to me4                       

,pitifully pealing4                     
,silently stealing4    ,kissing the     
waves so tenderly4      ,starlight      
above--,june--chirrup of crickets--     
,fireflies and phantoms of stars in the 
glow4    ,corn in the tassel--faint odor
 of pollen--    ,blow6 ye soft night    
winds1 our requiem1 blow--    ,dear land
 that has known us1 no more will ye     
know4      ,over the sea1 the moonlit   
sea1    ,sad is the music that comes to 
me4              ,echoing--dying--      
,sobbing--sighing--    ,song of a race  
that would ever be free4      ,death in 
the land--grim death in the battle--    
,death--and worse death--for mother and 
maid4    ,bravely we fought1 but ,fate  
did not favor--    ,sons of ,biloxi1 ye 
were never afraid--    ,in caverns of   
corals our bones shall be laid4         
,over the sea1 the crooning sea         
7,weird as the wail of a wraith1 to me74
              ,soft as the light dew    
,falling the night through4    ,faint as
 a sea-shell's lullaby4      ,moonlight 

around--mist1 mist on the water--       
,mist--'tis the drapery of ,death on the
 deep4    ,white-robed we come--babe1   
mother and maiden--                     
,priest--warrior--pity us1 sweet sea1   
and keep--    ,dear ,sea that has nursed
 us1 in thee let us sleep4      ,into   
the sea1 the soothing sea4    ,singing1 
they entered1 and died to be free4      
,now1 when the echoing wave             
,sobs o'er their coral grave4    ,it    
sings the last hymn of the brave        
,biloxi4      ,,john ,,trotwood ,,moore4
          ,testing and ,redeeming ,soils
      ,,by ,h4 ,,alison ,,webster4      
,with the population of the world ever  
increasing1 and the acreage of  fertile 
lands ever decreasing1 with the         
consequent increasing demand  for1 and  
decreasing supply of all products of the
 soil1 is not the  duty of redeeming    
worn-out lands1 enriching naturally poor
 lands and  preserving the fertility of 
fertile lands a duty that every land    
owner  owes to posterity8 ,if the       

results of robbing the soil of its plant
  foods has already been felt by the    
farmer1 and if such a practice  be      
continued1 what will be the condition of
 the same soil by the  time it descends 
to his great-grandchildren8 ,if the vast
 majority of  the inhabitants of the    
globe are poor1 and scarcely able to    
provide  food and raiment at the present
 prices1 what will be the fate of  such 
a people when prices rise higher and    
higher1 as will be the  inevitable      
result of an inadequate supply8 ,is     
confidence the cause  of such shameful  
neglect1 or does the farmer lack        
confidence in the  practicability of the
 results of scientific research8 ,it is 
true that  the great variety of objects 
in nature are extremely bewildering1 and
  if every farmer were forced to        
comprehend ,god's creations in order  to
 equip himself to cultivate his land    
intelligently1 the soil would  continue 
to get poorer and poorer1 as the useful 
years of a long life  would pass in     

study2 but men of science1 in the past  
and present  generations1 by faithful   
and noble work1 have reduced all to     
simple  facts to be made practicable by 
the farmer1 and there is no longer any  
excuse for ignorance and neglect4 ,study
 the results of the work of  these men  
of science4 ,put them into practice4    
,experiment and work with  the soil4    
,study it and find out what it needs1   
and having found out1  supply the right 
thing in the right way at the right     
time4 ,it is work1  hard work2 but the  
reward is generous4 ,in the words of    
,mr4 ,charles  ,barnard1 8,try things   
and learn1 and having learned1 do what  
is right by  your soil1 and it will     
return all your labor in full measure1  
running  over1 and your children will   
inherit the land as a well-kept trust   
and  blessing40    ,as stated1 things   
have been greatly simplified4 ,chemists1
 by thousands  of experiments1 have     
found in all sixty-five single separate 
things  they call elements4 ,seventeen  

of these elements are in the soil4 ,out 
of these seventeen the farmer is obliged
 to provide only four1 as  the remaining
 thirteen1 with favorable weather and   
proper tillage of  the soil1 will take  
care of themselves4 ,the four to be     
provided are  nitrogen1 potassium1      
phosphorus and calcium4 ,the first three
 elements  are the most important1 as   
they are plant foods or fertilizers4    
,the  last1 calcium1 or lime1 is a      
stimulant1 and serves in the capacity of
  neutralizing the acids of the soil4   
,lime is abundant in many soils and  in 
such soils is not needed2 but where it  
is needed it is needed badly  and should
 be supplied4 ,nitrogen1 potassium and  
phosphorus are the  plant foods that are
 yearly consumed in various quantities  
by various  crops1 which are taken away 
and sold or otherwise disposed of4 ,they
  are foods absolutely necessary to     
plant life1 and if taken away and  never
 returned1 the soil is as certain to    
become poor and exhausted  as the sun is

 to set in the west4 ,this is the sum   
and substance of  the whole matter4     
,what you take from the soil1 you have  
to replace or  suffer loss4 ,your soil  
may need one1 two1 three or all four of 
the  elements4 ,what it requires can be 
found out by experiment1 as will  be    
shown further on4 ,these elements as    
everyone must know1 can be  easily      
obtained at costs varying with1 and     
depending upon1 the form  in which they 
are bought1 or methods by which they are
 secured4 ,the  all-important thing is  
to study the soil and prepare it to     
accept  and properly appropriate        
whatever foods are applied4 ,no         
fertilizer  is insurance against        
laziness and ignorance4 ,it takes work  
and  intelligence to accomplish any     
task4 ,study your soil1 and you will    
appreciate the fact that it has a       
constitution like yourself1 and  will   
get worn out1 and sick1 and need physic 
just as you do4 ,after  knowing its     
constitution1 you can prescribe and     

administer the physic  it requires4 ,no 
doctor can prescribe medicine           
intelligently without  knowing the      
constitution of his patient4            
,naturally1 though unfortunately1 men of
 science1 so far as the farmer  is      
concerned1 are quite as intricate in    
their explanations of the  objects of   
nature1 as are the objects themselves4  
,mr4 ,charles ,bernard  in his 8,talks  
,about ,soils10 published by ,funk      
,wagnalls1 ,new ,york1 is  the first to 
reduce matters to a practical plane4    
,his explanations and  experiments ,i   
therefore adopt to simplify and make    
clear many things  which are of         
unquestionable importance4    ,the soil 
having been formed1 in the main1 by the 
weathering away of  the rocks1 its      
foundation is either sand or clay or    
both combined4  ,on account of different
 quantities of sand and clay being found
 in  different soils1 and to distinguish
 one from another1 soils have been      
divided into six classes4 ,these are as 

follows3    ,a ,light ,sand4--,this is a
 soil containing ninety per cent of     
sand4 ,if it  had more sand and less of 
clay and other matter it would hardly   
produce  any useful plants1 and could   
not fairly be called a soil4    #b4 ,a  
,pure ,clay4--,this would be a soil in  
which no sand could be found4  ,a pure  
clay soil would be wet and cold1 and    
would not be good for our  common       
plants4 ,such soils are rare3 and what  
is commonly called a pure  clay soil is 
one containing a great excess of clay1  
and only a little  sand or other matter4
    #c4 ,a ,loam4--,this is one of the  
best of all soils4 ,such a soil contains
  both sand and clay as well as other   
matter4    #d4 ,a ,sandy ,loam4--,this  
is a mixture of sand and clay1 with more
 sand  than clay4    #e4 ,a ,clay       
,loam4--,this is a mixture in which     
there is more clay than  sand4    #f4 ,a
 ,strong ,clay4--,this is a clay        
containing from five to twenty per  cent
 of sand and other matter4              

,experiments with ,sand and             
,clay4--,procure a quart of pure sand   
and  spread it out in the sun to dry1   
and when dry place a small quantity  on 
a spoon1 and hold over a hot fire4 ,the 
heat has no effect upon it4  ,remove the
 spoonful of sand from the fire1 and it 
will be found that  the sand keeps its  
heat for a long time4 ,place a small    
quantity of sand  in a small sieve and  
pour water over it4 ,the water at first 
flows away  more or less discolored1 and
 presently runs quickly through the sand
  pure and clean4 ,while wet the sand   
sticks together slightly4 ,place it  in 
the air1 and it soon dries1 and the     
grains are as loose as before4  ,place a
 little of the washed sand in a bottle  
filled with water4 ,cork  the bottle and
 shake it up4 ,the sand will move about 
as long as the  water is in motion1 but 
the instant the bottle is at rest1 it   
falls  to the bottom1 and forms a layer 
under the clear water4 ,place some  of  
the sand in an oven or in the sun till  

perfectly dry4 ,place three             
tablespoonfuls of water in a saucer1 and
 then pour carefully into the  saucer a 
cupful of dry sand4 ,it becomes wet     
around the little heap  while still dry 
at the top2 soon the water will begin to
 creep up the  sand and in a short time 
it is all wet1 and remains wet as long  
as  there is water in the saucer4       
,these experiments show us that sand is 
not affected by heat1 and that  it keeps
 its heat for some time2 that water     
passes through it readily  and1 if      
clean1 the water passes through pure and
 clean4 ,when wet it is  very slightly  
sticky1 when dry this stickiness        
disappears completely4  ,in water it    
sinks the moment the water is at rest4  
,water rises through  it easily by      
capillary attraction4    ,another       
experiment1 taking more time1 is to     
place some clean sand in a  flower pot1 
wet it1 and sprinkle fine grass-seeds   
over it4 ,place in a  warm room and the 
seeds will soon sprout and send small   

roots down into  the sand4    ,these    
experiments show some of the            
characteristics of all soils  composed  
largely of sand4 ,we observed that sand 
when heated retains its  heat for some  
time4 ,any soil having a large          
proportion of sand1 when  warmed by the 
sun will keep the heat after the sun has
 set or is hid by  the clouds4 ,we      
proved that water would flow quickly    
through it4 ,a sandy  soil is therefore 
a dry soil1 and for this reason         
favorable to nearly  all our useful     
plants4 ,we saw that water would rise   
through sand by  capillary attraction1  
which makes sand useful in soil in dry  
weather to  bring water up from a damp  
subsoil to feed the roots of plants     
growing  in the soil4    ,however1 there
 are objections to sand4 ,as we saw1 it 
is loose and  easily moved about by     
water4 ,a sandy soil is therefore easily
 washed  away by rains1 and1 if too     
sandy1 may suffer great injury by       
washing in  heavy storms4 ,water flows  

through sand quickly1 and if there is no
 damp  subsoil immediately beneath1 the 
soil may get so dry that plants will    
burn up4 ,the water may also wash down  
all the light organic matter out  of    
reach of the plants4    ,we observed    
that sand is easily moved about4 ,this  
is important in that  all soils where   
plants are growing must be frequently   
stirred1 to let  air come into the soil1
 and to kill the weeds4 ,a sandy soil is
 easy to  hoe or plow1 because the sand 
is loose4 ,this saves time and money1 or
  work in caring for plants1 and is a   
business advantage4    ,if you carry out
 the experiment with seeds planted on   
sand you will  observe that the roots of
 the young plants easily find their way 
through the sand in search of food and  
water4 ,this shows that a soil          
containing sand is favorable to the     
growth of plants1 because in it  their  
roots spread in every direction4        
,procure a small quantity of clay from  
some clay bank4 ,place in a  warm place 

to dry1 and in a day or two you can     
crush it into a soft1  impalpable       
powder4 ,pinch a little between the     
fingers and it appears  to stick        
together slightly4 ,place some in a     
bottle of water1 cork it  tight and     
shake the bottle4 ,the powder floats in 
the water in clouds1  till the water    
appears completely filled with it4 ,let 
the bottle stand  and it will be many   
hours before the clay settles and the   
water becomes  clear4 ,wet some of the  
dry clay1 and it forms a sticky1 pasty  
mass1  that has a soft1 greasy feeling  
between the fingers4 ,spread some of the
  soft1 pasty mass over a sieve1 and    
pour water on it and the water will     
hardly pass through the sieve at all4   
,spread some wet clay over a rough      
board1 and pour water over it1 and the  
clay will cling to the board a  long    
time before it is swept away4 ,place a  
lump of wet clay in the sun  and it will
 be many hours before it is entirely    
dry4 ,spread some of the  wet clay over 

a dish and place it in the sun1 and when
 it slowly dries  it will be found full 
of cracks4 ,place a lump of wet clay in 
an oven  and it will dry hard like      
stone4    ,place some of the wet clay in
 a pot and scatter fine seeds over it4  
,the seeds may sprout and try to grow1  
but they will probably perish as  tender
 roots are unable to push their way     
through the sticky clay4    ,after all  
these experiments have been performed   
with the clay and sand1  another        
experiment can be made by drying both   
the clay and sand and  then mixing them 
together in equal parts4 ,when well     
mixed place in a  pot and scatter fine  
seeds upon the mixture4 ,water well1 and
 place in  a sunny window2 and the      
plants will sprout and grow longer and  
better  than in either the pure sand or 
pure clay4    ,these experiments with   
the lump of clay show that if soil      
consists  wholly of clay1 it must be a  
poor place for plants4 ,in every hard   
rain  the water1 instead of sinking into

 the soil to supply the plants1 would   
run away over the surface and be wasted4
 ,after slow soaking rains the  soil    
would remain wet and cold for a long    
time4 ,when the sun dries the  soil it  
splits and cracks and tears the roots of
 plants growing in it4  ,this sticky1   
pasty soil sticks to spade and plows and
 we find it hard1  slow work to         
cultivate it4 ,a pure clay from these   
would appear to be  a poor soil for     
plants4 ,we must not1 however1 be led   
astray by our  experiments1 as it is not
 easy to find a soil composed wholly of 
clay4  ,it is usually mixed with other  
things and then forms a valuable part of
  the best soils4 ,sand alone would be a
 poor soil4 ,clay alone would be a      
poorer soil4 ,mixed together and mixed  
with other things1 they make a  part of 
all good soils4    ,organic and         
,inorganic ,matter4--,organic matter is 
something that has  life1 or has had    
life at some time4 ,the organic matter  
in the soil has  been supplied by       

animals and plants1 in one way or       
another4 ,all else  is inorganic4 ,both 
organic and inorganic matters are       
necessary to the  existence of plants4  
,peaty soils wholly organic will not    
grow plants1  neither will sandy soils  
wholly sand4 ,inorganic matter forms the
  foundation of soils and generally     
forms from eighty to ninety per cent  of
 the whole soil4    ,testing ,soils for 
,clay1 ,sand and ,organic               
,matter4--,take from the ground  you    
wish to test1 a peck of soil and place  
on a board in a round heap1  and with a 
trowel stir it until completely mixed4  
,then pile into a  heap and divide into 
four equal parts4 ,next weigh out eight 
ounces1  and spread it out to dry4 ,when
 dry weigh it and note the loss by      
air-drying4 ,next put the soil in a pan 
and place it in an oven for  three      
hours4 ,then take the soil out of the   
pan and weigh it1 noting the  loss by   
fire-drying4 ,it is now dry soil and to 
estimate the organic  and inorganic     

matter1 place an iron shovel over the   
fire1 and when  red hot put the dry soil
 on it1 let it burn1 stirring it        
occasionally  as it burns4 ,it will     
smoke and smoulder away to ashes and    
dust4 ,when  it ceases to smoke1        
carefully weigh the ashes4 ,this ash    
represents  the inorganic sand and clay 
parts of the soil4 ,all the organic     
matter  disappeared in the smoke4       
,now take this ash and pour it in a     
bottle of water4 ,shake the bottle  well
 and then set on a table1 and just so   
soon as the water becomes  still the    
sand will immediately settle at the     
bottom1 while the clay  will remain for 
some time making the water muddy4 ,as   
soon as the sand  has settled1 pour the 
muddy or clay water off1 being careful  
not to  pour any of the sand with it4   
,then pour some clear water in the      
bottle  on the sand1 shake it and pour  
sand water and all on a cloth fine      
enough to catch the sand4 ,dry the sand 
and weigh it4 ,if it weighs two  ounces1

 then out of the four ounces of dry soil
 you have tested you  have two ounces of
 sand1 one ounce of clay and one ounce  
of organic  matter4 ,or your soil is    
twenty-five per cent organic matter and 
twenty-five per cent clay1 and fifty per
 cent sand4 ,you have a loam  soil4     
,testing ,soils with ,plant ,foods and  
,lime4--,in the field to be tested1     
select as level a place as possible and 
mark out ten squares1 each  measuring   
one rod on each side4 ,place these in   
two rows leaving spaces  three feet wide
 between the squares4 ,these empty      
spaces are to be kept  clear of weeds   
and used as walks4 ,each square should  
be marked by  stakes at the corners1 and
 properly numbered as in the            
accompanying  diagram4    ,the squares  
are to be planted with the same crop and
 well cultivated  through the season4   
,two of these squares1 ,nos4 #b and #i1 
are to have no  fertilizers1 that they  
may serve as a check or guide in testing
 the  other squares4 ,square ,no4 #a is 

to have a fertilizer containing nitrogen
  only4 ,no4 #d potassium and           
phosphorous combined2 ,no4 #e potassium 
alone2  ,no4 #f nitrogen and phosphorus2
 ,no4 #g phosphorus alone2 ,no4 #h all  
three  plant foods combined1 and ,no4   
#aj is to have calcium only4      ,no4  
#a4 ,potassium and ,nitrogen   ,no4 #b4 
,no ,fertilizer      ,no4 #c4 ,nitrogen 
,no4 #d4 ,potassium and ,phosphorus     
,no4 #e4 ,potassium                ,no4 
#f4 ,nitrogen and ,phosphorus      ,no4 
#g4 ,phosphorus               ,no4 #h4  
,nitrogen ,phosphorus ,potassium        
,no4 #i4 ,no ,fertilizer            ,no4
 #aj4 ,calcium    ,apply the fertilizers
 and work them in the soil about four   
inches deep  before the crop is planted4
 ,plant the same variety of seed on all 
the  squares at the same time1 and      
carefully cultivate through the entire  
season1 treating all exactly alike4     
,suppose that potatoes have been  used4 
,during the growing season1 carefully   
watch the different plats  and notice if

 any one or more seems more or less     
thrifty than others4  ,notice which plat
 appears to mature first1 which blooms  
first and keep  a record of all         
observations4 ,at the end of the season1
 carefully dig  the crop on each square1
 gathering all the tubers large and     
small1  and weigh each lot4 ,first weigh
 the crops on squares #b and #i4 ,this  
will serve as a standard of comparison1 
as it will show the natural  condition  
of the soil4 ,record the weights in each
 lot and just for  illustration we may  
say that they run something like this3  
,average of  #b and #i1 #hj pounds2 ,no4
 #a1 #chj pounds2 ,no4 #c1 #bej pounds2 
,no4 #d1 #cfj  pounds2 ,no4 #e1 #cej    
pounds2 ,no4 #f1 #cjj pounds2 ,no4 #g1  
#bbj pounds2 ,no4 #h1  #djj pounds2 ,no4
 #aj1 #abj pounds4    ,on the particular
 soil we are supposed to be testing1 we 
can clearly  see that the land is       
benefited in some degree by every       
element used4  ,calcium helps1 and that 
means that it should be used on that    

soil  in addition to all of the others4 
,this land plainly needs all four       
elements and needs potassium especially4
    ,what to ,do4--,after having gone   
through with ,mr4 ,barnard's            
experiments1  you will have a practical 
idea of what your soil is1 and what it  
needs4  ,the only remaining questions   
then are those of preparing the soil1   
and  obtaining and applying the plant   
foods and the lime4    ,a cold1 wet1    
clay soil needs to be made warmer and   
lighter1 and a  light1 sandy soil1 being
 too dry1 needs some moisture-retaining 
substance4 ,if conditions are favorable1
 it would be well at odd time  to put   
sand on the clay soil and clay on the   
sandy soil2 but in most  cases this is  
too expensive1 and therefore not        
practical4 ,to redeem  poor lands then1 
you will have to depend almost entirely 
upon green  manure and lime4 ,barnyard  
manures are1 of course1 at all times1   
with  all soils1 the best of all        
fertilizers1 as they return to the soil 

by  the laws of nature1 what has been   
taken from them1 or what it should      
have4 ,besides the plant foods1 it      
furnishes additional organic matter  or 
humus1 which makes the soil lighter and 
facilitates plant growth by  furnishing 
food to bacteria essential to plant     
life4 ,the trouble about  barn-yard     
manure is its scarcity4 ,every farm     
needs more plant food and  humus than   
can be supplied with common manure4     
,in the fall1 apply #ejj pounds of lime 
per acre to the poor land to be         
redeemed1 break it and prepare it       
thoroughly1 and seed it to rye4 ,in  the
 spring when the rye heads out1 turn it 
under and sow cow peas4 ,when  the peas 
mature1 scatter lime1 #ejj pounds to the
 acre1 over them and  turn them under4  
,the lime will prevent the green stuff  
from souring the  soil1 will decompose  
it and fit it for plant food1 and will  
prepare the  soil to accept any other   
foods that may be applied4 ,follow the  
peas  with wheat1 or wheat and clover4  

,the land once redeemed1 do not wear it 
out again1 but preserve its  fertility  
by the use of high-grade commercial     
fertilizers and barn-yard  manure1      
always rotating the crops so as to get  
back to some leguminous  crop and lime  
at least once every four years4    ,do  
not retard agricultural education by    
making warfare on commercial            
fertilizers1 for they are indispensable 
to every farmer in preserving  the      
fertility of the soil4 ,the world       
employs the use of just about  one-tenth
 of the artificial fertilizers it should
 use1 and about  one-half of what is    
used is used intelligently4 ,make war on
 low  grade fertilizers that have the   
attractive but deceiving feature of     
cheapness1 and buy grade fertilizers by 
the unit under the guidance of  the     
requirements of your soil4              
,phosphatic ,limestone4    ,the use of  
lime has been and is being sadly        
neglected1 especially in  the ,southern 
,states and1 when it is absolutely      

necessary to all soils  in which it does
 not exist or exists only in small or   
insufficient  quantities1 it does look  
like the move to provide it is one of   
imperative moment4 ,look at the         
,bluegrass ,region of ,tennessee and    
,kentucky1 the fairest and most fertile 
of ,god's country4 ,what made  it8 ,the 
dissolution and weathering away of the  
original phosphatic  limestone rock4 ,it
 is strictly a limestone country and    
teaches one of  nature's great lessons  
that the agricultural world should      
accept and be  profited thereby4    ,all
 the limestone of this region contains  
more or less bone phosphate  of lime1   
and in this fact lies the whole secret4 
,in the past ages the  foliage from the 
thick mass of trees and other vegetable 
growth fell  to the ground1 soured1 and 
formed an acid which immediately        
attacked  the bone phosphate of lime and
 converted it into phosphoric acid1     
while  the calcium carbonate or lime    
decomposed all vegetable matter and     

conditioned it for plant food1          
neutralizing all acids and stood ready  
itself to enter into all future and     
standing vegetable growth4 ,now the     
forests have given place to the cleared 
fields and we no longer have  the       
dropping from the trees to enrich our   
soils1 neither have we in  our fields in
 sections devoid of limestone any       
vegetation with roots  that extend deep 
enough in the earth to bring up the     
carbonate of lime  sufficient to support
 our crops4 ,therefore the vegetable    
matter the  cheapest of all manures1 we 
provide by turning under green          
leguminous  or nitrogen-gathering       
plants4 ,these plants sour and finally  
decompose1  but without carbonate of    
lime to perform its important duties of 
creating plant food out of this decayed 
matter1 all the fertilizer you  get from
 your crop is the nitrogen it has       
gathered from the air4 ,then  why not   
use powdered ,tennessee                 
phosphatic-limestone containing enough  

calcium carbonate 7not quick lime7 to   
furnish desired results and no  more    
bone phosphate of lime than will be     
entirely and immediately  converted into
 plant food4 ,if this                   
phosphatic-limestone product is used    
with leguminous crops1 potash is the    
only plant food that you will have  to  
provide during the two crop seasons     
following2 however1 every soil  that has
 a clay subsoil is a safe bank that will
 retain all you place  on deposit1 and  
if you have the money to spare1 deposit 
it in the soil  by investing in         
high-grade fertilizers and draw a high  
rate of interest  on it instead of      
letting it stand idle4 ,the calcium in  
the phosphatic  limestone will          
absolutely correct all free acids in the
 commercial  fertilizers1 the burning1  
deleterious effects of which you may    
have  experienced1 and it will rectify  
the sourness of any and all soils4      
,an object lesson in favor of this      
phosphatic limestone is taught  by      

riding along any turnpike macadamized   
with it and observing the  rankness of  
the crops about fifty yards on either   
side of the pike1  especially where the 
fields are worn and poor4 ,this         
demonstrates that  it is the dust blown 
from the roads over into the fields that
 makes  the rank growth alongside the   
roads4 ,it may be argued that the manure
  dropped on the pike produced the      
results2 but if so small an amount  of  
manure produced such wonderful results  
when mixed with the dust  from the pike1
 what would be the result if you would  
mix all of your  barn-yard manure with  
the powdered limestone8    ,recently the
 writer made twelve tests or experiments
 with litmus paper4  ,the first ten of  
these experiments were made with blue   
litmus paper and  samples drawn from ten
 different fields1 all of which have    
been under  cultivation for many years  
and have had liberal yearly applications
  of acid fertilizers4 ,the soils so    
tested are ,alabama soils1 and are      

decidedly acid1 as shown by the bits of 
blue litmus turning red on  coming in   
contact with them4    ,everyone must    
know that it takes lime to neutralize   
the acids of acid  soils2 but           
comparatively few farmers ever take the 
trouble to find out  whether or not     
their soils are acid1 even after failing
 to get a catch  of clover three or four
 years in succession4 ,all clovers      
positively  refuse to grow in acid      
soils4 ,inoculation will not do any good
 for  bacteria cannot exist and operate 
in such soils4 ,sweeten the soil and    
nature will in most cases supply the    
bacteria4    ,carbonate of lime enters  
into the frame of every plant and a lack
 of  it will cause soft stems and flabby
 leaves4 ,it improves the chemical1     
mechanical and biological condition of  
the soil4 ,it flocculates very  light1  
sandy soils1 making them compact and    
capable of retaining  moisture1 while it
 prevents clayey soils from becoming    
pasty hard and  full of cracks by       

causing them to crumble when dry4       
,lime is the great carrier into plants  
of other elements which go there  to    
form their organic compounds1 during the
 elaboration of which1  organic acids   
are created1 any and all of which would 
poison and kill  the plants were it not 
for the action of lime2 so lime1 in     
addition  to its all-importance as a    
salifiable base1 becomes the great      
carrier  of all foods into plants where 
it is again of paramount importance as  
a fixer of oxalic fermentation1 thus    
having the natural and distinct  power  
to act where all other elements are     
useless4    ,it will correct sourness in
 any soil regardless of its origin1 it  
will  neutralize all acids that come    
into the soil through cultivation1      
through commercial fertilizers or green 
manurial crops4 ,it will  facilitate    
cultivation and produce a greater       
porosity and granulation  of all soils  
and thereby lessen the bad effects of   
drought by reducing  surface            

evaporation1 will obviate excessive     
capillary rise of moisture  which       
elevates the water-soluble foods above  
the zone of roots1 provide  better      
circulation of air in the soil and will 
cause rapid percolation  of rain and    
thus reduce surface washing4 ,it        
stimulates and increases  nitrification 
and decomposes vegetable matter1        
extracting from it  all plant foods and 
leaving humus to lighten the soil and   
retain  its moisture4 ,it enters into   
the composition of all plant life and   
therefore into all animal life1 giving  
to animals its carbon combined  with the
 carbon of the air to furnish them fat1 
and its lime to furnish  them bone4 ,it 
is the phosphatic-limestone that has    
made ,tennessee and  ,kentucky horses   
the strength to excel in work and       
racing1 and it is  this same soil       
constituent that has given to the       
,jersey cow sufficient  butter fat to   
lead the world in butter tests4 ,it     
enables the clovers  and grasses to     

grow1 and without such crops what would 
the brothers of  the hoe do toward      
profitable farming and meeting the      
responsibilities  of life8 ,it          
perpetuates and permits the use of      
commercial fertilizers  which are       
becoming so absolutely essential to     
husbandry1 as it obviates  the evil     
effects of the acids these products     
contain1 and makes all  plant food      
available to the plant4 ,finally1 it is 
a property designed  by the ,creator to 
act for and enter into all vegetable and
 animal life1  and evil will be the     
reward to him who rejects it4           
,the ,watermelon ,sermon                
,watermelon time is in full blast in    
,tennessee now4 ,ordinarily1 the  whites
 in the ,south cease to eat watermelons 
after the fifteenth of  ,september1     
because they know that as soon as the   
cool nights begin  every melon contains 
a thousand chills4 ,but not so with the 
darkey4  ,a chill rattles as harmlessly 
off the armour of his constitution as   

buckshot from the back of the ,olympia4 
,he can absorb miasma like a  sponge1   
and1 like it1 grow fat as he absorbs4   
,the negro1 then1 eats his  melon until 
the ,november frosts kill the vines4    
,even then he carries  the half-ripe    
melon into his cabin and often1 on      
,christmas morning1 an  ice-cold        
watermelon is his first diet4    ,and a 
great treat it is4 ,did you never wander
 over the fields1 way  down ,south1     
after the cotton was all picked1 and the
 ,november breezes  came cool and       
ladened with that delicate1             
indescribably rare flavor  the frost    
gives when it first nips the mellow-ripe
 muscadine8 ,you  have shouldered your  
gun and gone out after old ,mollie      
,cotton ,tail4  ,it was cool and crisp  
when you went out1 but toward noon it   
has grown  hot again4 ,flushed and      
tired1 you stop to rest by the big      
spring that  flows from under the roots 
of the big oak near the cotton field4   
,in  the shadow of that oak1 half hid in

 the frost-bitten weeds1 you find a     
little striped watermelon--a guinea     
melon1 as the darkies call it--a  kind  
of a volunteer melon that grows in the  
cotton every year1 the  first seeds of  
which were brought by some ,guinea      
negro1 from the coast  of ,africa1 when 
he first came over to servitude1 with   
silver rings in  his nose and ears4 ,and
 though he failed to bring his idols and
 his  household gods along with him1 yet
 did he not forget the melon of his     
naked ancestors4 ,planting it as he hoed
 his first crop of cotton for a  new    
master1 it has never deserted him since1
 and so1 year after year1  it comes up  
amid the cotton1 to remind him of the   
days it grew wild in  a sunnier clime4  
,and there you find it this ,november   
morning4 ,boy like1 you pounce on  it   
with a shout and soon it is laid open1  
as red as your first love's  lips and as
 sweet2 and so cold it seems to have    
been raised in the  deep-delved cellars 
of all the centuries4 ,i am sorry for   

the boy who  has grown to be a man and  
never1 in a ,november morning's hunt    
after ,old  ,mollie1 had the exquisite  
sweetness of this satisfying            
surprise--the  like of which is not     
equalled by the sweetness of any other  
surprise on  earth4 ,no--not even should
 he grow to be a man1 and awake some    
morning  to find himself famous and the 
father of twins6    ,every darkey of any
 standing in ,tennessee 8gives a treat0 
at least  once in his life4 ,he will    
stint and economize for months to save  
money  enough to invest in watermelons  
and tartaric acid 7the acid makes  the  
lemonade74 ,then1 when the glorious day 
arrives1 ,nero1 giving free             
entertainment to the citizens of        
,eternal ,rome1 is not in it with that  
darkey4 ,henceforth he can get anything 
in that community he wishes1  from      
constable to presiding elder1 while the 
widows of the church are  his'n by a    
large majority6    ,i had heard that old
 ,wash was going to run again for       

justice of the  peace and the           
8deaconship of ,zion0 over in the coon  
district of ,big  ,sandy1 and that he   
was going to give his annual treat4     
,these had always passed off beautifully
 and ended in the unanimous  election of
 the old man to both offices and        
anything else he wanted4 ,i  thought it 
was all over and entirely harmonious    
until he came in the  other night1      
looking like ,montejo's flag-ship after 
,dewey's ten-inch  shell went through   
her1 8a-rippin' out her very            
innards0--as ,old ,wash  himself        
described it--8from eend to eend40      
,but when ,i saw the old man1 creeping  
into my library1 ,i was certain he  was 
in the last stages of ,asiatic cholera1 
and ,i rang the telephone  hastily to   
get my family physician4 ,but he feebly 
raised his hand1 and  beckoned me to    
desist4    8,no1 no1 boss2 he can't do  
me no good--no good10 as he feebly sank 
into  a chair4 ,then he whispered3      
8,jes a drap1 a leetle drap1 on my      

tongue1 boss--jes' to let the old man   
shuffle off dis mortal coil wid a good  
taste in his mouth4 ,it's all ,i        
wants40    ,under the stimulant of that 
eternal beverage of moonlight and       
melody1  he revived a little4           
8,what's the matter with you8 ,anybody  
been giving you a hoodoo10 ,i asked4    
8,no1 no1 boss0--feebly--8,i--,i--,i gin
 a treat at ,big ,sandy40    8,well1 you
 have given many a treat at ,big ,sandy4
 ,why should this one  make you look    
like a piney-wood coal-kiln after a     
cyclone had struck  it80    ,it took    
another dose from my side-board bottle  
to put enough life into  the old man to 
make him take any interest in things4   
,then he brightened  up and said3       
8,dat's jes' hit--a man may go on doin' 
de same trick year arter year1  ontwel  
it looks lak he cud do it wid his eyes  
shet1 an' den at last1 if  he ain't     
mighty keerful1 hit'll buck and fling   
'im6 ,de hardes' luck1  ,i take it1 in  
dis wurl'1 am when a man dun shuck de   

dice ob success  ontwell dey seem to bob
 up at his word1 only to play off on him
 an'  bust 'im es his palsied han'      
shakes 'em fur de las' time40    ,his   
tears were flowing so freely and his    
remarks seemed so true and  heartfelt1  
,i did not have it in me to fail to     
brace him up with  another pull from the
 side-board bottle4 ,then ,i saw he was 
ripe and  reminiscent1 and ,i lit my    
cigar1 struck an easy attitude1 and let 
him  do the rest3    8,on de ,sundy     
befo' de fust ,mundy ob de full moon in 
,september10 he went  on1 8cum off de   
'lection fur 'ziden elder of ,zion1 an' 
de next day  am de day sot by law fur de
 'lection of jestus ob de peace4 ,so    
las'  ,sat'd'y ,i gin a treat4 ,i axed  
ebry nigger in de deestrict dar1 an' all
  de members of ,zion1 an' ,br'er       
,johnsing wus to preach de watermilion  
sermon4    8,ain't nurver heurd ob de   
watermilion sermon8 ,hit's de sermon    
preached  at de feast ob de watermilion 
jes' befo' de new moon in ,september1   

an' it am one ob de doctrines ob ,zion  
to kinder take de place ob de  feast ob 
de ,passober 'mong de ,jews--only in dis
 case we don't pass  ober nuffin'1      
'specially de watermilions4 ,now1 hit   
tain't eb'ry nigger  kin preach de      
watermilion sermon4 ,hit takes a mighty 
juicy nigger to  do hit1 yallar with    
dark stripes1 juicy at de core1 full of 
tears an'  sweet penitence an' easily   
laid open by the blade of grace1 an'    
brudder  ,johnsing am de slickest one ,i
 eber seed at it4    8,now1 dat wus my  
time to git in my fine ,italyun han'1   
an' so ,i gin  it out that hit wus to be
 my treat1 an' ,i axed all de voters ob 
de  deestrick an' all de members ob     
,zion ter be on han' fur de revival ob  
de speerit an' de refreshment ob de     
flesh4    8',cordin' to my custom1 jes' 
befo' de time fur de sermon ,i had all  
de watermilions laid out on de grass1   
one hundred ob de bigges' an'  fattes'  
ones you eber seed4 ,you see1 boss1 ,i  
am constertushunally  upposed to long   

sermons10 he winked1 8an' ,i knowed dey 
wa'n't a  nigger libin' c'uld preach    
ober ten minnits wid all dem            
watermilions  a-layin' dar a-winkin' at 
'im an' waiting to be led1 lak' lambs1  
to de  sacrifice4 ,does you see de      
p'int80    ,i saw it4    8,wal1 suh1 you
 orter jes' heurd de prayer ,br'er      
,johnsing put up--it  wus short1 but    
mighty sweet4 ,de flavor ob de          
watermilions seem ter  git into hit1 an'
 de 'roma ob hits juice b'iled outen his
 mouth4 ,boss1  you've seed dese kinder 
preachers dat talks to de good ,lord wid
 all  de easy fermileriaty ob a         
deestrick skule-teacher axin' de        
presedent  ob de skule board fur what he
 wants1 an' wid all de sassy assurance  
ob de silent partner in a lan'-offis    
bisness1 ain't you8 ,wal1 dat's  de way 
,br'er ,johnsing prayed1 an' ,i wus de  
speshul objec1 ob his  conversashun wid 
de ,almighty dat day4 ,he tole 'im whut 
,i'd dun fur  dat community1 informed   
'im very posertively ob de fac' dat ,i  

wus a  ,godly man1 refreshed ,his mem'ry
 in a gentle way consarnin' sum' ob my  
long-furgotten deeds ob cheerity1 an'   
gin ,him sum' good1 brotherly  advice on
 how to git eben wid me1 an' in a       
measure pay off de debt  of gratitude   
,he owed me by makin' it ,his will dat  
,i wus erg'in to  administer de law ob  
de lan'1 both spiritual an' temper'l1   
an' fur  ernudder twelvemonth ter be de 
venerbul ram ob de flock ob ,zion1 to   
lead ,his sheep to de fold an' by de    
still waters4 ,wal1 suh1 when he        
finish1 mighty nigh eb'ry nigger dar    
said ,amen1 an' den dey lick dey  chops 
an' look sorter dreamy lak ober whar de 
watermilions lay 'n de  col' spring     
branch4    8,dis wus my time to spring  
de s'prise ob de ebenin' on 'em1 dat    
,i'd  fixed up4 ,an' so ,i riz up wid de
 most sancterfied look on ,i c'uld git1 
one ob dem onworthy1 miserbul-sinner    
sorter looks dat we elders allers  carry
 aroun' in our coat pockets along with  
our bandanna handkerchiefs  fur enny    

emergency1 an' ,i sez3 #8,brudders an'  
sistrin1 befo' we listen  to de soulful 
sermon in store fur our spiritual       
natures1 which ,br'er  ,johnsing        
gwineter gib us in his ellerquent way1  
,i've sprung a letle  s'prise on you1   
an' ,i wants you all to retire wid me   
an' refresh de  innard man a leetle4    
,brudderin' knowin' my onworthiness an' 
de many  obligashuns ,i am under to dis 
enlightened community ob ,christian     
saints  an' godly men an' wimmen1 ,i've 
made two bar'ls ob ice-cold lemmernade1 
an' you'll find 'em asettin'1 es a big  
s'prise1' sez ,i1 #8on de houn's  ob my 
ox-waggin1 in de cool shade by de       
spring1 wid plenty ob tin  dippers fur  
all4 ,we'll now adjourn twenty minnits  
fur refreshments4'    8,wal1 suh1 you   
sh'uld a heurd de shout4 ,ef de 'lection
 bed cum' off  den1 ,i'd a got eb'ry    
vote in de deestrick an' a fair         
sprinklin' ob sum'  in all de yudders4  
,i went wid 'em an' drunk1 too4 ,an' we 
all drunk ter  one ernudder's health4 ,i

 drunk to ,sister ,ca'line1 an' ,br'er  
,johnsing he  drunk to ,dinah1 an' de   
leetle niggers drunk1 an' de ole niggers
 drunk1  de gals an' de boys4 ,i hilt up
 my dipper an' laugh1 an' sed to ,br'er 
,johnsing1 #8,br'er ,johnsing1 here's to
 you1' sez ,i1 #8an' all dat goes up    
must go down4' ,an' wid dat ,i swallered
 down4    8,den ,br'er ,johnsing--he's  
mighty funny--an' he hilt up his'n and  
laugh1  an' say3 #8,br'er ,washington1  
here's to you1' sez he1 #8an' all dat   
goes  down nurver comes up ergin4' ,an' 
den we all laugh4    8,but dat wus one  
time he wus terribly mistaken1 es you   
will see4    8,wal1 suh1 when we all hed
 drunk enough we went back to hear de   
watermilion sermon1 an' den eat de fruit
 ob whut we heurd4 ',tain't  eb'ry man  
kin say dat1 boss1 dat he eats de fruit 
ob whut he hears2  digests de fustly1   
an' de secondly1 an' de thudly1         
assimmerlates  in de juicy rime ob de   
tangerbul thing1 de logical konclushun  
ob  de intelectual fac'4 ,an' darfore   

,i've allers sed dat drawin' yo'        
konclushuns frum de heart ob a          
watermilion makes de bes' sermon in de  
wurl'4    8,i b'leeve ,i tole you1 boss1
 dat dat lemmernade wus intended fur a  
s'prise fur 'em1 didn't ,i80    8,yes1  
,i believe you mentioned that it was a  
little surprise of yours in  store for  
them40    ,the old man groaned4 8,boss1 
fur heaben's sake1 annudder drap outen  
dat  bottle6 ,i'll hafter brace up      
erg'in to tell de sorrowin' scene dat   
follers4 ,thankee1 thankee6 ,i'm better 
now1 an' maybe ,i kin finish1 fur  dat  
lemmernade turned out to be de bigges'  
an' sorrerfullest surprise  dat ever    
come down a pike4    8,br'er ,johnsing  
tuck fur his tex' de sermon ob ,noah an'
 de ark1  an' whilst ,noah wus de man   
menshuned1 hit wus plain dat ,i was de  
applercashun4 ,he went on to show dat ,i
 wus a godly man1 jes' lak' ole  ,noah1 
an' dat ,i wus to de community ob ,big  
,sandy whut ,noah was to  ,jeerruselum4 
,he wus makin' it short1 but a-gwine in 

two-minnit time1  a-pacin' lak' ole ,joe
 ,patchen at a matternee fur a silver   
cup an'  wreath ob roses1 an' den all at
 onct he lifted up his voice an' sed3   
#8,yes1 brudderin1 de waters ob de      
g-r-e-a-t deep riz up1 an' de bottom    
drop outen de clouds2 de w-i-n-d-e-r-s  
ob heaben wus flung open1 an'  de       
upheaval ob de u-n-e-v-e-r-s-e          
begun----'    8,dat wus es fur es he    
got1 befo' de word upheaval wus outen   
his mouth1  sho' 'nuff1 de upheaval did 
begun4 ,i seed 'im stop so suddenly he  
kicked up behind1 clap his hands on his 
stummick an' try to bolt fur a  locus'  
thicket1 but he c'uldn't--he jes' turned
 a complete summerset1  athrowin' up his
 immortal soul es he turned4 ,den ,i    
heurd a turrible  commoshun in de       
congregashun1 an' ,i look erroun'1 an'  
eb'ry nigger dar  wus in de same fix es 
,br'er ,johnsing4 ,dey wus whoopin'1 an'
 barkin'1  and layin' out in eb'ry      
kinder way1 an' all on 'em bent on de   
same  thing4 ,an' whut dey wus doin' to 

dat groun' wus a-plenty6 ,dey thought   
dey was pizened an' wus gwineter die1   
an' den sech s'archin' prayers  es went 
up to de throne ob grace1 mixed in wid  
moans1 an' groans1 an'  ice-cold        
lemmernade dat seem to think hit wus    
time ter rise erg'in and  fetch         
eb'rything else frum de grabe along wid 
it4 ,by dis time ,i wus so  'stounded ,i
 didn't kno' whut ter do4 ,i look       
erroun' an' ,i seed dat me  an' ole     
,aunt ,fat ,ferreby wus de onlies' ones 
dat wa'n't tryin' to turn  inside out4  
,she wus lookin' mighty ashy erroun' de 
gills1 but she brace  hers'f up an'     
started out ter raise dat good ole hymn3
      #8,how firm a foundation'--       
,but she hadn't more'n got to           
#8foundahun' befo1 her foundation was   
shaken1 ,i seed her gag an' double up   
an' start in on3      #8,my risin' soul 
leaps up to sing1      ,a song of praise
 ter day4'    8',bount dat time ,i felt 
a 'tickler kinder mizzry in my own      
innards1  an' de nex' thing ,i          

disremember ,i had ,sister ,ferreby     
'round' de neck  an' we wus singin' dat 
hymn tergedder4 ,lor'6 hit wus awful4   
,i've seed  menny a sight1 but ,i nurver
 expect erg'in ter see three hundred an'
  sixty-five niggers throwin' up at de  
same time4 ,when sum' on 'em got  dey   
secon' wind dey wanted to lynch me1 but 
by de time dey got erroun'  to me wid a 
rope dey 'cided ,i wus too nigh dead to 
need killin'1 and by  dis time dey all  
had to 'zamperfly de truth ob de        
biblical sayin' about  de dog an' de    
thing he would go back to4 ,by dis time 
eb'ry doctor in de  country wus dar1    
fetchin' all de querrintine offercers1  
an' pest-tents1  an' disenfec-tents1 an'
 preparin' fer c'olera an' fever4 ,an'  
den we  foun' out what ailed us40       
8,in the name of heaven1 what was it80  
,i asked eagerly4    ,the tears rolled  
down the old man's cheeks as he feebly  
begged for  another drop to enable him  
to finish his tale4 ,then he said3      
8,ain't ,i dun tole you hundreds ob     

times it am de leetle mistakes we  make 
in life dat turns de tide8 ,ain't ,i8   
,wal1 dat's whut ruined me  dat day1 an'
 terday ,i am a man widout offis an'    
widout honor in my  ole age4 ,dat       
mornin'1 'stead ob gwine down to de sto'
 myse'f to get  de poun' ob tartar acid 
ter make up dat lemmernade wid1 ,i saunt
 dat  trifflin' ,jim ,crow gran'son ob  
mine1 an' he got de names twisted1 an'  
'stead ob fetchin' me back tartar acid1 
he fotcht me back a poun' ob  tartar    
emetic1 an' ,i didn't do a thing but    
make up dat lemmernade wid  it60        
8,but1 surely1 they wouldn't treasure up
 such a mistake against you1  seeing    
that you suffered with the rest10 ,i    
said4    8,boss10 said the old man1     
rising1 8how long you gwine ter lib wid 
niggers1 an' den hafter be tole ober an'
 ober ergin de same thing8 ,in  course1 
dey didn't beat me fur offis on ercount 
ob dat fool mistake1  but jes' lemme ax 
you1 whar is de nigger libin' dat       
gwinter vote fur  enny man dat'd lay out

 a hundred watermilions in de spring    
branch1 let  'em look at 'em an hour1   
an' den turn dat nigger's stummick into 
a  green-persimmon fur a week8 ,whar is 
he1 ,i ax80 ,and the old man crept      
feebly out to find him a cheap coffin4  
,,john ,,trotwood ,,moore4           99 
99       99       99       99      ,we  
never give1 but giving1 get again2      
,there is no burden that we may not     
bear2    ,our sweetest love is always   
sweetest pain1      ,and yet the        
recompense--the recompense is there4    
99       99       99       99       99  
,the sweet things of life do not lie so 
much in sight as in the heart  that sees
 them4          ,stories of the ,soil   
,the ,little ,things of ,life1          
,happening ,all ,over the ,world and    
,caught in    ,ink for ,trotwood's      
,monthly4      ,,tim',s ,,easter4       
,the first streaks of day were breaking4
 ,it looked to the fireman of  #dif that
 the old engine was sticking her nose   
into the red dawn as  she plowed ahead  

hauling her fast freight ,south on      
schedule time4 ,tim  ,doogan was at the 
throttle--an old engineer who stood at  
the head of  the road's list2 for ,tim  
had been in service longer than any of  
them1  had never failed in his duty and 
for twenty years had never taken a day  
off except one--to bury his wife4    ,he
 had never even asked for a promotion1  
and when it had been  offered--the      
highest post of the engineer--,tim shook
 his head and  declined4    8,i guess   
,i'm used to this old route and ,i'd    
feel lost if ,i didn't pass  through the
 ,little ,town every few days40    ,they
 were now approaching the ,little ,town1
 and ,tim had not spoken  since he left 
the city1 a hundred miles back4 ,he was 
naturally quiet1  but the fireman had   
never known him to make the run before  
and not  say something4 ,something told 
the fireman that ,tim had struck sadness
  somewhere1 and so at intervals he     
fired up but said nothing to the big1   
begrimed man in overalls and cap who    

stood silently at his post1 with  one   
hand always on the throttle of his      
engine4    8,i'm goin' to stop twenty   
minutes in the ,little ,town1 ,jim10    
said ,tim  as they began to pull into   
the station4    8,any orders80 asked    
,jim1 surprised4    8,no1 but it's my   
orders--ever' ,easter--been doin' it for
 twenty years4  ,company don't like it1 
kin lump it10 ,tim added dry4    ,this  
was ,jim's first year1 and he had never 
heard4    8,no4 #c may be late an' give 
me the chance4 ,if she don't1 why1 we   
stops  anyway1 ,jim40    8,why1 ,i'd    
rather she'd be on time1 so we can go   
on4 ,don't you want to  go on80 asked   
,jim4    8,not for twenty minutes1 ef ,i
 can he'p it4 ,fact is1 we're goin' to  
stop  here a little while anyway40      
,the fireman said nothing1 and ,tim     
slowed up ,no4 #dif in the yard4 ,then  
he jumped down and went in to report4   
8,no4 #c twenty minutes late10 he said1 
as he came back4 8,take keer o'  things 
till ,i git back4 ,i'll not be gone     

long40    8,you ain't that there thirsty
 for a drink this mornin' are you1 ,tim8
  ,you don't drink to speak of1 and ,i  
never knowed you to leave old #dif      
befo'40    ,tim said nothing1 but       
climbed up and opened his big box4 ,the 
fireman  smelt something sweet1 and very
 tenderly ,tim took out a longer        
pasteboard box4    8,flowers10 said the 
fireman4 8,say1 ,tim1 old man10 he      
laughed1 8,i've  caught on--it's a gal40
    8,she was a gal10 said ,tim1        
quietly1 8and the pretties' and sweetes'
  one that ever hit the soil o' this    
wurl4 ,an' the little boy wa'nt no      
fluke40 ,he brushed at his eyes as he   
spoke1 and left another grimy  smear    
there4    8,i'm a-goin' over to the     
little cemetery a bit1 ,jim--yes1 you   
stay with  #dif4 ,they're buried over   
there4 ,we lived--her an' the little    
'un--we  lived here after we was        
married4 ,she was allers sweet on       
,easter1 and  for flowers and sech1 an' 
,i love to do this for her an' the boy4 

,been  doin' it twenty year'4 ,we don't 
know nothin'1 an' maybe it's all        
so--an' if anybody'll rise again it'll  
be her--with her faith--for ,i  tell    
you1 ,jim it was as a little child4     
,yes1 they was both my children40    ,he
 was taking the flowers out1 lilies and 
roses and carnations and  cultivated    
violets1 big and blue and beautiful4 ,in
 his big1 grimy1  black hands1 and amid 
the soot and dust of #dif they lay      
beautified and  glorified1 and the sweet
 odor went through the rough fireman    
until he  saw pictures of a far-away    
home4    ,silently ,tim trudged across  
the hill to the little cemetery4 ,the   
village was asleep1 the unkept streets  
empty1 the cold1 gray mist hung  low    
over everything1 and finally ,tim       
disappeared in it4 ,but twenty  minutes 
later1 when the sun had risen and #dif  
was butting through the  gray1 her      
throttles open1 the smoke belching from 
her stack1 ,tim stood  at his post1 a   
smile lighting up his grimy face1 his   

eyes fixed on two  graves amid pines1   
far up on the hill upon which shone     
lilies and  roses and violets4    ,they 
thundered past1 and the old engineer    
took off his cap and1 turning  to the   
fireman1 said1 above the roar of wheels 
and steam3    8,she used to say it      
this-a-way1 ,jim--,i've heard her so    
often1 an' fer  five years she taught it
 to the little boy befo' he left40 ,he  
looked  toward the sun rising through   
the mist1 and said slowly3    8,in the  
end of the ,sabbath1 as it began to     
dawn1 toward the first  day of the week 
came ,mary ,magdalene and the other     
,mary to see the  sepulchre4    8,and1  
behold1 there was a great earthquake3   
for the angel of the ,lord  descended   
from heaven and came and rolled back the
 stone from the door  and sat upon      
it4444 ,and the angel answered and said 
unto the woman1  ,fear not ye3 for ,i   
know that ye seek ,jesus that was       
crucified4 ,he is  not here for ,he is  
risen40    ,he shut off steam as he     

pitched down a steep grade1 and then    
,jim heard  him say3    8,that's the way
 she said it1 an' we don't know nothin'1
 ,jim1 nothin'4  ,but we do know that   
stranger things is happenin' ever' day  
than jes'  the spirit livin' agin4      
,what's light8 ,what's heat8 ,what's    
love8 ,what's  that wireless talkin'    
through the air but things to tell us   
how little  we know1 how small our minds
 is an' how easy it 'ud be to be true1  
an'  we not know how to explain it with 
our little standards40    ,he threw a   
kiss at the vanishing hill of pines4    
8,no1 ,i'll keep on  sayin' it as she   
sed it1 anyway1 true or not3 #8,i am the
 resurrection  an' the life4'0          
,,ho6 ,,every ,,one ,,that ,,thirsteth6 
,the corn crop up in the ,bigbyville    
neighborhood is clean1 the cotton  shows
 not a spear of grass4 ,the potato field
 looks as clean and green  as a billiard
 cushion floor and the darkies are      
still1 still hoeing4  ,all this was     
caused by a sermon old ,wash preached   

there on foot-washing  day last month1 a
 literal extract of which ,i got from   
the old man  himself3    8,brudderin'   
an' ,sisterin'--,you'll find my text in 
de six chapter of  ,noah's pistols to de
 ,gentiles4 ,ho6 every one dat          
thirsteth6 ,ho6    8,de commandments we 
get from de ,bible am beyond de scrutiny
 of man1 an'  we natchurly think dat    
when a man gets hot an' thirsty de thing
 fur  him to do is to hunt de spring    
branch an' quench his burnin' lips4 ,but
  not so4 ,here it is sot down in black 
an' white in de book ob books1  dat when
 you git thirsty1 jes' keep on hoein'4  
,ho6 every one dat  thirsteth6 ,ho6 ,and
 dat is right2 de ,bible is allers      
right4 ,hoein' is  good fur de limbs1   
good fur de wind1 good fur de crap1 an' 
good fur de  soul4 ,de sun am hot now1  
but de wind'll be cold agin4 ,de rays   
pour down  now1 but de sleet'll come bye
 an' bye4 ,dese am de rays of drought   
an'  thirst1 but ef you want to set back
 when de rains come1 smoke yo' pipe  an'

 sing dat song--      8,bile dat cabbage
 down    ,for it ain't gwine to rain no 
mo'--    jes' take off yo' coat1 shed   
yo' shirt1 an' foller de corn an' tater 
row1 an' ef you git thirsty don't stop  
to drink1 but jes' keep on  a-hoein'6   
8,ho6 everyone dat thirsteth6 ho6       
8,an' ain't dat de law an' de sense8    
,whut you wanter stop an' drink fur8    
,won't you jes' get thirty agin8 ,keep  
on a-hoein'6    8,what did old ,noah do 
when de windows ob de heabens was opened
 an' de  flood ob de great deep began to
 kiver de earth1 an' de fools got round 
him an' laughed an' ax him whut he      
buildin' dat ole ark for8 ,he was       
tired1 an' thirsty1 an' hot1 but he kep'
 on a-hoein'1 for he knowed  he'd get   
water enough bye and bye4 ,ho6 every one
 dat thirsteth6 ho6    8,what did       
,abraham do when dey got roun' him an'  
tried to stop him from  gwine to de     
,promis' ,lan'8 ,he kept on a hoein' for
 ,jordan4    8,don't let de flesh ob dis
 wurl' fool you4 ,things ain't whut dey 

seem4 ,water looks mighty good1         
specially to ,baptists1 but whut we     
,meferdists want to do is to keep on a  
hoein'4 ,de wicked of ,noah's  day      
didn't hoe any4 ,didn't dey git water   
enough8 ,de ,egyptians didn't  hoe enny1
 but follered de ,israelites into de    
,red ,sea4 ,didn't dey get  water       
enough8 ,ole ,jonah didn't obey de ,lord
 an' hoe to de mark1 an' de  water      
swallowed him fust an' de whale         
swallered 'im next4 ,let dat be a       
warnin' to you to stick to de tex' of de
 ,bible an' de doctrine of de  church1  
an' when you get thirsty keep on        
a-hoein'4 ,it's hard now1 but  it'll be 
sweet bye and bye4 ,it's hot now1 but   
it'll be cold bye and  bye4 ,you git    
mighty thirsty an' you think de taters  
ain't never goin'  to come1 but when de 
winter rains come1 an' de winds blow1   
an' you sot  down round de big fiah wid 
de sweet brown 'possum an' dem taters1  
you  work so hard fur to get in de heat1
 an' sweat1 an' thirst ob summer1  den  

will de heart ob de faithful be glad1   
den will you shout an' sing3      8,ho6 
every one that thirsteth1 ho60    ,this 
last appeal was too much4 ,the          
congregation arose in a body at the     
words 'possum and potatoes and went off 
to hoe1 leaving the old man  with no one
 to pass around the hat4      ,a ,,race 
,,for ,,life4    ,i saw a race--a race  
for life1 too--that interested me the   
other day  more than any that ,i have   
seen this year4 ,it occurred in mid-air1
 in  a kingdom not our own2 but the     
fresh air was sweet where the race for  
life went on1 and the fields were green 
beneath1 and the brooks purled  below   
and the sun shone gloriously over all1  
and to the poor creature  who raced for 
his life ,i doubt not but he took it all
 in and life was  as sweet to him as it 
is to us4    ,it was a golden-winged    
butterfly1 one of those beautiful       
creatures  that is more of heaven than  
of earth1 more of the blossom than of   
the  brown heath1 and it seemed cruel to

 me that this beautiful thing1  thrown  
off from the film of a rainbow and made 
with an organism so  spiritual that it  
lives on the nectar of flowers1 dwells  
on the bosom  of a nodding lily and     
floats on the breath of a zephyr1 must  
come under  the great selfish law of    
life and be forced to fight for its     
brief but  beautiful existence4 ,man    
must fight1 we know--and all history1 if
 it  lie not1 is but a chronicle of     
battle1 blood and death1 in which the   
survival of the fittest and the         
achievements of human destiny have been 
gauged by the brains that were behind   
gunpowder1 and the courage that  comes  
of ,god4 ,man1 beasts1 birds1 reptiles1 
fishes--it is a survival  merely--and   
8nature1 red in tooth and claw10 has    
been demonstrated to  be more merciful  
than nature rotting in the decrepitude  
of age4 ,but1 ,o1  that this ethereal   
thing--half rainbow and rose1 half light
 and lily  blossom1 half child and      
cherubim--might have been spared6       

,and who were its enemies--two glorious 
mocking birds1 that had sung  like      
spirits from an angel choir around my   
home all spring and  summer--that had   
reared their young in contentment and   
happiness and  should have had nothing  
against any of ,god's creatures1 whose  
life had  been a poem1 whose breath a   
summer song--alas1 that these should    
have  been its murderers6 ,it almost    
makes me despair of the ethics of life4 
,i  feel like saying to man3 8,go1      
murder your fellow men--it is nature4   
,go1  rob1 steal and plunder--it is     
law40    ,and is it not law8 ,in spite  
of the ethics of religion and dictates  
of equity1 is it not at last a question 
of one getting and the other  giving--of
 money1 love--ay1 even life8    ,golden 
,wings was in my garden and he was      
content until that which  sustained his 
life gave out--food4 ,he had sucked     
every flower--he  must go to pastures   
new4 ,the distance to my neighbor's     
garden was  some two hundred yards1 and 

there was nothing but air between us4   
,he thought of it a long time--he       
hovered from flower to flower and       
thought--of his mate1 of life1 of death4
 ,had he been all spirit he  had stayed 
forever among the flowers4 ,he had run  
no chance of death4  ,but he was half   
spirit and half life and that life was  
rebelling  and begging for food4 ,he    
must go4 ,it was life or death4 ,he rose
  reluctantly--frightened--straight     
up--every sense awake--every nerve      
keyed--every eye on the lookout for an  
enemy--the spirit which had  never      
harmed even a flower1 and which should  
have had no enemy4 ,up1  straight up1 he
 arose--quivering1 scared1              
frightened--then winged his  way across 
the blue ether in a flight1 as it       
proved1 for its life4    ,the           
mocking-bird is a fly catcher1 but not  
an expert one4 ,compared  with the      
swallow1 the marten1 the crested        
fly-catcher1 the expert king  bird1 the 
wood pewee1 and ,phoebe1 he is a poor   

imitation4 ,but the  mocking-bird is a  
poet1 and everything is grist that comes
 to a poet's  mill--from the grasshopper
 on the ground to the butterfly in the  
air4    ,the male bird saw ,golden      
,wings first and gave him the first heat
 for  his life4 ,up in the air he       
darted1 circled and swooped4 ,poor      
,golden  ,wings fled1 turned1 ducked1   
dived--and escaped4 ,the poet dropped to
  his twig in disgust1 and his mate took
 up the race4 ,golden ,wings saw  her   
coming and his heart bursted with fear4 
,he fairly quivered in the  air4 ,he    
knew not which way to turn4 ,she darted1
 and all but caught  him4 ,for a moment1
 in mid-air1 ,i saw them whirling and   
twisting and  tumbling--poor ,golden    
,wings panting and fluttering for a     
chance once  more for home and life1 and
 the poetess for a morsel to eat4 ,it   
ended  in the butterfly getting above   
the bird--which seemed always its       
tactics--while the latter dropped down  
in disgust to her mate4 ,then  they both

 started after poor ,golden ,wings1 and 
it looked as if his time  had come4 ,but
 all the time he had been heading       
straight for the thick  trees beyond1   
where rested1 perhaps1 his distressed   
mate1 waiting for  his return4    ,it   
was a terrible chase the two poets gave 
him--the tumbling1 darting1  circling of
 the birds in fiendish delight1 in      
maddened earnestness4  ,their very wings
 were often so close that they fanned   
him about until  he looked like a speck 
of gold tissue paper hurled about by    
contrary  winds4 ,twice they got above  
him1 dropped on him and--missed4 ,twice 
,i  lost him altogether1 and1 except    
that ,i saw the birds fluttering and    
darting in the air1 ,i had thought he   
was lost4 ,when ,i saw him again  he had
 gotten above his enemies and was safely
 pursuing his zig-zag1  frightened1     
graceless1 paper-fluttering flight for  
the trees and life4    8,success to you1
 ,o1 ,golden ,wings10 ,i said1 8for     
already have you taught  me a lesson in 

life4 ,let us keep above our enemies1 if
 we would be  safe--not beneath them1   
for there we are a prey to their dirty  
talons2  not on their level1 for then we
 are no better than they2 but above     
them where they cannot reach us and     
where we may go on to our destiny  with 
only the sunlight around us and the     
stars above us40    ,the birds dropped  
down1 baffled1 to rest in the top of a  
sugar maple4  ,they had evidently lost  
their tempers1 and1 between panting and 
hard  breathing1 ,i could hear them     
quarreling3 8,it was you10 said the     
wife--8you conceited thing--all your    
fault4 ,i had him once if you had  let  
me alone40    8,o1 you had him1 you     
did--#8over the left4' ,if your talents 
equaled  your tongue we'd be better     
off40 ,they screeched and shuffled about
 and  almost spat at each other4 ,they  
were beaten1 chagrined and mad1 and     
they took it out on each other4    ,and 
if you want to see the refinement of    
ill-temper1 stir up two poets6          

,golden ,wings was safe4 ,he was high in
 the air1 his very flight was now  the  
flight of victory1 his poise the poise  
of one who had won4 ,twenty  yards more 
he would drop down into the green trees 
where his mate1  perhaps1 awaited him1  
and be safe4    ,i was about to hurrah  
with delight1 when ,i saw a lightning   
bolt of red  and white drop from the    
jagged bark of the dead limb of a       
towering oak  in the midst of the forest
 and high above poor1 weary1 fluttering 
yet  happy ,golden ,wings4 ,i paled at  
the thought1 for ,i knew no butterfly   
ever escaped him4 ,even ,golden ,wings  
recognized his doom and1 paralyzed  with
 fear1 stopped his flight in mid-air    
and1 in a few yards of his  goal1 and   
lay floating in the air in hopeless     
fear4 ,and well he might1  for the red  
and white bolt was the red-headed       
woodpecker1 not generally  known to be a
 fly-catcher1 but an expert in it1      
nevertheless4 ,often had  ,i seen him   
poise above a luckless moth1 drop like a

 plummet1 and no  moth would be there4  
,i despised him as a marauder1 besides1 
for only  yesterday ,i'd seen him pounce
 on a helpless young humming-bird and   
rend  it as if it had been a worm4      
,straight at poor ,golden ,wings he     
came4 ,the race was up4    ,he performed
 his old tactics1 darted above the      
butterfly1 some two  yards higher in the
 air1 gauged instinctively a plummet    
line from the  point of his own beak to 
,golden ,wings and then drops with      
folded wings  like a ball of lead4    ,i
 forgot to say that ,i was out that     
morning with the twelve-gauge1          
smokeless shells and one and a half     
ounces of ,no4 #g chilled1 thinking ,i  
might see a certain thieving crow that  
,i had a grudge against4    ,thoughts   
are lightning--words thunder1 and when  
,i caught the first  glimpse of the     
red-headed marauder of the air all this 
went through my  mind3 8,nature is      
nature--tooth and claw4 ,and yet there  
is a ,god who  says even when a         

butterfly shall fall4 ,he makes our     
lives and marks out  our destiny4       
,sometimes amid injustice ,he calls     
,himself ,retribution1 and  then ,he has
 been known to raise up a man and a gun1
 invent smokeless  powder and deadly    
chilled shot1 give accuracy of aim and1 
most  wonderful of all1 the voice of a  
purpose to say that harm shall not      
happen even to a butterfly40    ,there  
was no smoke from the report and so ,i  
distinctly saw ,golden ,wings  drop     
joyfully among the green leaves4 ,but a 
red-headed marauder lies in  the field  
where he fell4    ,and if some one who  
knows1 will tell me why ,i happened to  
be there1 why  ,i carried my gun that   
morning1 why ,i fired1 ,i will tell him 
who ,god is4      ,,his ,,chance4       
,the summer day was nearly gone1 and    
only a few clouds caught the gleam  of  
sunset in the west4 ,a woman of thirty1 
with a sweet1 sincere face1  came out of
 a cottage and walked to the little farm
 gate that opened  on the main road     

winding across the ,iowa prairie4 ,the  
cottage sat in a  small grove of trees1 
and farther off were neat outhouses1 a  
stable and  dairy4 ,flowers bloomed in a
 little bed near the front gate1 and    
several  hives of bees sat under cherry 
trees in the front yard4 ,everything    
around the neat cottage1 from the       
well-kept vines which climbed over  the 
porch to the orchard and fields of corn1
 clearly showed that ,thrift  and       
,industry were the handmaidens that     
lived there4    ,the woman was not      
pretty1 neither was she handsome1 but   
her face was  of unusual intelligence   
and strength4 ,her hands showed work1   
and a few  gray hairs shone over her    
temple4    ,at the little gate she stood
 while the shadows grew darker around   
her4 ,there were chirpings of summer    
insects1 and presently down the  walk   
stalked a huge ,st4 ,bernard1 looking   
like a great bear in the  twilight4 ,he 
seemed to think the woman had been out  
alone long enough1  and his very way of 

walking showed that he knew he was her  
protector4  ,he stalked up and thrust   
his big cold nose into her hand as it   
hung  listlessly by her side4 ,she      
started1 but closed it over his mouth   
with  a caress1 saying3    8,rex1 you   
are silly about me40    ,a buggy came   
out of the gloaming down the road1 and  
stopped at her  gate4 ,the woman turned 
pale in the twilight1 as she recognized 
the middle-aged man who came toward her1
 holding out his hand3                  
8,jennie--,i--well--it's me60    ,he    
would have opened the gate1 but the dog 
growled savagely1 and she  hooked the   
latch hastily1 as she said3             
8,ralph--why--why--,i thought--but don't
 try to come in--,rex--,i could not     
control him40    ,she was so agitated   
she could not speak further4 ,her knees 
shook1 and  she clung to the gate1 half 
leaning4    8,i have been back a week10 
he said slowly4 8,you haven't changed   
much10  he added1 eyeing her closely    
while she flushed under his gaze4 8,i   

never  expected to see you again40      
8,no--no--don't try to come             
in--,rex--,rex60    ,the great dog had  
rushed at the gate as the man tried to  
open it again1  and she held her hand on
 the latch4    8,he don't seem to know  
your friends from your enemies10 said   
the man  with a cynical laugh4    8,i   
think he does10 she said quietly1       
8better than ,i have ever known  them40 
,he looked at her quickly4 ,then he     
tried to laugh4    8,why--,jennie--you  
know ,i haven't seen you in so long40   
8,i never expected to see you again4 ,i 
was not looking for you now10 she  said4
    8,i never thought ,i'd ever come    
back1 but the ,klondike--well1 a man    
pays  two dollars for every dollar's    
worth of gold he finds there40    8,tell
 me about yourself10 she said1 still    
leaning on the gate1 one knee  resting  
on the lower plank for support4         
8,well1 ,jennie1 after we had our little
 quarrel and you broke off with  me--0  
8,you are mistaken10 she said quietly4  

8,you left1 ,hugh1 without a            
word--without telling me good-bye4      
,there was nothing left to do but to    
send you your ring40    8,we won't      
quarrel again1 now1 ,jennie4 ,i have    
come back to you to tell  you--0    ,she
 had been looking closely in his face1  
and her heart beat wildly4  ,she had    
seen it all--the bravado way1 the       
flushed recklessness1 the  sign         
everywhere of dissipation1 of modesty   
gone1 of truth1 of the old  manhood4    
8,not that10 she said1 quickly          
interrupting him1 8but of yourself4     
,tell  me where you have been and--and  
what doing40    ,he laughed coldly4     
8,well1 after we split up ,i went ,west1
 then to the ,klondike4 ,but it was  a  
nasty life4 ,as ,i said1 ,i have made   
nothing1 and ,i hoped all the time  to  
make a fortune and bring it back to you1
 ,jennie40    8,was it true--that ,i    
heard--the trouble80    8,why1 yes1 ,i  
did get to drinking too much1 and got   
into trouble--but  the papers had it    

overdrawn4 ,i returned him his money4   
,now ,i have come  back to you--to tell 
you ,i still--0    8,you need not tell  
it10 she said quickly4 8,you could tell 
nothing  ,i would believe now4 ,you are 
not the man you were before you left1   
and never will be4 ,then you were weak1 
but honest and sober4 ,now  you are     
weak1 but dishonest and a drinker4 ,and 
you must not come  in--no--no--you are  
not the ,hugh ,i once knew and loved40  
,she sobbed in a quick way as she said  
it1 but went on quietly3    8,after you 
left you know mother died1 then father1 
and ,i was left  alone4 ,our little     
farm--well1 ,i've paid off the mortgage4
 ,it was hard  work1 but the five years 
have passed so quickly4 ,they always do 
when  one works for love4 ,i changed the
 old-fashion farming ways4 ,i planted   
orchards and raised bees4 ,i diversified
 my crops4 ,i--well--0 she  laughed     
hopefully for the first time--a laugh   
which brought a pang to  his heart1 for 
it was the old laugh4 8,i am not yet    

started in that1 for  ,i am so          
enthusiastic a farmer and poultry raiser
 and stock woman that  ,i'll talk shop  
all night if you let me4 ,anyway1 they  
say ,i keep posted  and up with the     
times1 and ,i have time1 too1 for good  
reading4    8,hugh10 she said quickly1  
after awhile1 8really ,i have thought of
 you  often1 but ,i will not deceive    
you4 ,you have gone out of my life4 ,i  
have heard enough--before you           
came--heard it1 seen enough4 ,in all our
  lives1 our romances ,i mean1 it is    
imagination that counts more than  the  
reality4 ,common sense and farm work10  
she said1 8will cure it1 and            
,i--think--,i know ,i am happier than if
 ,i were now married to you--to you  as 
you are1 ,hugh10 she added more         
tenderly4    8,but--but1 ,jennie1 ,i'll 
change2 give me a chance40    8,why1    
,hugh1 that is what you had1 and ,i     
mine4 ,i have watched nature  since     
,i've been a farmer1 and ,i notice she  
never gives but one chance4  ,there are 

too many of her children that must have 
a chance40    ,he turned with a rough   
laugh and oath and walked off4    8,i've
 come home jus' to make a fool of       
myself10 she heard him say with  another
 oath4    ,but she did not pale even4   
,she turned and walked in1 the dog      
following  her4    8,i am so glad ,i saw
 him anyway10 she said1 patting the     
dog's head4  8,now1 ,i can forget him so
 easily4 ,oh1 ,rex1 life--life--how     
strange it  is1 but we all have one     
chance4 ,oh1 ,i am so glad ,i had mine1 
and it has  given me this sweet home and
 you4 ,for it were better to love a dog 
that  is honest and true than a man who 
it not40      ,,blue ,,john4    ,a      
,mississippi planter1 and a gentleman of
 the old school1 sends me  this one from
 a little town in the ,delta3    8,my   
dear ,trotwood1 do you know what it is  
to get out of whisky  ,christmas morning
 in a little one-horse ,mississippi town
 where you have  to put a darkey on a   
mule and wait until he rides five miles 

through  the mud before you can get your
 ,christmas toddy8 ,well1 ,i hope you   
never  may1 for that thing happened to  
me last ,christmas4    8,the truth is1  
there was no need why we should have    
been out of the red  ingredient of      
,christmas jollity1 for when we turned  
in the night before  we had a fine1 big 
jug of it4 ,but the ,major was there1   
and the ,colonel  and the ,doctor1 and  
somehow1 before we knew it1 it was gone4
    8,i am a bachelor1 you know1 on a   
big ,mississippi cotton farm1 and these 
were my guests and we went to bed with  
our boots on4 ,about daylight           
,christmas morning we all woke up with  
one impulse and an awful thirst4        
8,the ,doctor got to the jug first1 and 
we heard him growl3    8#8,what infernal
 hog drank all this whisky last night8' 
8,this stirred up the ,colonel1 and he  
sat up in bed and remarked1 with  his   
usual emphasis3    8#8,that licker gone 
a'ready8 ,christmas mornin'1 too8'      
8,by this time we were all investigating

 it1 and some of the talk  indulged in  
concerning the man who did it ought to  
have made him feel  anything but white4 
8,by this time we would have given a    
dollar each for a drink4 ,the  nearest  
whisky was five miles away1 where ,ikey 
,rosenstein1 a little  ,mississippi     
,jew1 kept a cross-roads grocery4 ,it   
was raining1 and cold1  too1 but there  
was nothing to do but to call ,blue     
,john and send him on  old ,kit1 the    
pacing mule1 for a new jug of it4       
8#8,blue ,john1' ,i said1 when he poked 
his head in the door1 #8you'll find  my 
bridle and saddle hanging up in the     
carriage house4 ,saddle old ,kit  and   
take this jug up to old ,ikey's and     
bring it back full1 p4 d4 q4'           
8#8,yassah1 ,boss4'    8#8,blue ,john1' 
yelled the ,doctor1 #8don't let old ,kit
 throw off on us  this heat and we'll   
give you first drink4'    8#8,yassah1   
,boss4'    8#8,and1 ,blue ,john1' said  
the ,major1 as he started off1          
#8remember it's  ,christmas1 old man1   

and get about in a hurry4 ,here's a     
quarter to help  you along1' he said1   
tossing it across the bed4              
8#8,yassah1 ,boss1 yassah4'    8,we all 
laid down again to wait for ,blue ,john4
    8#8,boys1' said the ,colonel1 after 
ten minutes of thirst1 #8,i'll bet ,i   
can  trace every step that old darkey   
takes4 ,let's see1 now3 ,he's got to the
  barn door1 hasn't he8 ,now he has     
found the bridle and has caught old     
,kit4 ,now the saddle goes on and he is 
mounting4    8#8,no1 he ain't quite up  
in the saddle yet1' chimed in the       
,doctor4 #8,he  has stopped to take a   
chew of twist tobacco and spit on his   
hands4'    8#8,that's a fact1 ,doc1 but 
he's up now1 isn't he8'    8#8,yes4'    
8#8,now he's pacing down to the big     
gate4 ,he's opening it----'    8#8,no1' 
put in again the ,doctor1 #8he got down 
off of old ,kit and opened  it4 ,hang   
the old fool1 but isn't he a slow one8' 
8#8,well1 he's going up the road now1   
ain't he8' said the ,colonel4           

8#8,yes1 and he's got to the big swamp4 
,he's creeping through it4 ,dad  gast1  
but ain't it muddy there8 ,gehew1 but ,i
 am thirsty1' broke in the  ,doctor4    
8,ten minutes later he added joyfully3  
#8,well1 he's out of the swamp1 and  he 
has spurred old ,kit into a gallop1     
thinking of that drink4 ,oh1 old  ,blue 
,john is a good one6'    8#8,he's at the
 three-mile post now1' said the ,major1 
twenty minutes  later4 #8,lord1 but that
 old mule can hump when he tries6'      
8,we all smiled in satisfaction4        
8#8,where is he now1 ,doc8' said the    
,colonel1 after it had seemed an hour   
of silence4    8#8,at old ,ikey's1 boys4
 ,see1 he's handing old ,ikey the jug4  
,now old ,ikey  is fillin' it4'         
8#8,from what barrel8' asked the ,major1
 excitedly4    8#8,lincoln ,county1     
,tennessee4'    8,we all grunted our    
assent in chorus4    8#8,he's started   
home now1' went on the ,colonel1 #8and  
the way that mule  can pace6 ,blue ,john
 is settin' up in that saddle1 holdin'  

that jug  under one arm and a-larrupin' 
old ,kit every yard4 ,scott1 but ain't  
he  comin'6'    8#8,he's got to the     
swamp again1 ,doc1' said the ,major1    
after twenty  minutes had passed4       
#8,he'll get here directly4'            
8#8,boys1 he's reached the big gate     
already4 ,i hear him coming1' said  the 
,colonel1 excitedly4    8,sure enough1  
we heard him4 ,there was no             
mistake--,blue ,john was now  coming    
down the hall4    8#8,open the door and 
let him in quick6' said the ,major1     
#8,by gum6 but  ain't he and that old   
mule a pair of buds8'    8,by this time 
we had all jumped out of bed and were   
hunting for  tumblers and sugar4 ,blue  
,john poked his head in the door4       
8#8,boss1' said ,blue ,john4    8#8,come
 in1 ,blue ,john6' cried the ,major4    
#8,fetch it right in4 ,you're a  good   
old man4 ,colonel1 lend me your spoon a 
minute4'    8#8,boss1 whar--whar----'   
stammered ,blue ,john4    8#8,come in1  
,blue ,john6' cried the ,doctor1 #8come 

right in4'0    8#8,boss1 whar de debbil 
you say you put dat bridle in de        
kerridge  house8 ,i been huntin' fur it 
fur er hour an' ,i can't find it ter    
sabe  my life4'0      ,a ,,drunken      
,,woman4    ,i saw in a neighboring city
 not long ago a drunken woman4 ,she was 
in  a fashionable hotel and stood beside
 a post in the little gallery  that ran 
around the court4 ,she was not three    
feet above our heads1  was dressed in   
the height of fashion1 wore a hat that  
looked like a  huge poppy and altogether
 she was not unlike a beautiful tiger   
lily  that seemed about to fall over    
into our arms4 ,instantly that wave of  
romance and reverence as natural to man1
 when he sees beauty clothed  in purity1
 as the tides that do follow the        
midnight moon1 swept over  me4 ,her form
 was faultless1 her gown perfect1 her   
face beautiful4    ,at least ,i thought 
so until ,i looked up and happened to   
catch her eye4  ,she smiled the sensual 
smile of a wood-nymph and leered as     

disgustingly  as ever ,bacchus through a
 glass of old ,falerian4 ,in a moment it
 all  changed4 ,her face was no longer  
beautiful1 but hard and cruel4 ,her form
  was made--her gown the gaudy thing of 
a demi-monde4    ,i blushed when she    
singled me out and leered1 and ducked my
 head1 for  fear someone had seen me4   
,but ,i soon saw that she leered at all 
alike  and knew no difference between a 
man and men4    ,for a half hour she    
stood there1 scarce able to cling to the
 post she  stood by1 the observed of    
every man in the court1 the disgusting  
moral  that pointed the old story of the
 fallen angel4    ,it is bad enough to  
see a drunken man4 ,nothing so quickly  
robs goodness  of its sweetness1 genius 
of its charm1 greatness of its colossal 
form1  than to behold it drunk4 ,there  
are some great men ,i know who1 if ,i   
ever  saw them drunk1 never again would 
,i believe they were great4 ,they say   
,poe was a drunkard4 ,i cannot imagine  
it4 ,and ,s4 ,s4 ,prentiss--,i cannot   

believe it4 ,i cannot think of          
,de,quincy and ,coleridge as opium      
eaters1  ,byron and ,burns as           
whisky-heads4 ,if ,i did ,i could never 
again read  anything they wrote4 ,for of
 all things that levels man to the      
beasts  and makes knowledge a strumpet  
and genius a bawdy1 it is the maudlin   
rottenness of a plain old drunk4        
,whisky and not death is the greatest   
leveler with the dirt4    ,but to see a 
drunken woman--,good ,god6 ,nature is   
partial to a man4 ,she  has made some   
laws for him she has not made for woman4
 ,she has filled  him with passion and  
strength and capacity for work and great
 things4  ,she overlooks it1 perhaps1   
when he steps aside1 under the burning  
law  she has forced on him for          
reproduction1 and she sighs and smiles  
when  he drowns his strenuousness now   
and then in the forgetfulness of the    
cup4 ,he may do all that1 and if his    
wife be pure still may he sire sons  who
 will be brave and honest1 and daughters

 who will be pure and noble4    ,but let
 the woman be weak and fall1 and see how
 quickly nature revenges  herself for   
the desecration of her unwritten law by 
throwing back on  humanity sons who are 
thieves and daughters who are impure4   
,this is an  unwritten law1 but it      
proves that the mother is the great     
moral force  of the world4 ,let her     
violate it and the punishment comes     
quickly on  the race4    ,as ,i looked  
at this woman ,i could not help         
thinking3 8,i hope1 as one  who1        
interested in stock1 is more interested 
in the human race1 that  you carry in   
your life that penalty of               
impureness--barrenness4 ,for it  were   
better for mankind that such as you     
should never be mothers1 to  fill prison
 pens with thieves and forgers and bawdy
 houses with painted  ,magdalenes4      
,indeed1 it is up to you to pass off the
 stage of life and  cease to encumber an
 earth on which not one single womanly  
law is left  you to fill4 ,the honest   

matron of the noble horse brings forth  
yearly  and within the sacred laws of   
nature an animal that is the pride of   
man and the glory of his kind4 ,the     
gentle mother of the dairy is an        
inspiration and a blessing to the earth4
 ,the very brood sow of the pen  suckles
 her hungry brood begot in honorable    
wedlock4 ,but you1 ,o1 being  of a      
higher world1 ,o breeder of immortal    
beings1 made in the image of  ,god and  
endowed with the reason of the angels1  
you from whom nature  expects so much1  
you fall below all of these and brand   
yourself the  harlot of humanity60      
99       99       99       99       99  
,we want a good live agent in every town
 in the ,united ,states for             
8,trotwood's ,monthly40 ,write for terms
 to agents4 ,address ,trotwood          
,publishing ,company1 ,nashville1 ,tenn4
           99       99       99       99
       99    ,depravity is not so much a
 creature of inheritance as of          
environment4          ,geers and ,walter

 ,direct      ,the most talked-of pacer 
in the light harness world to-day is    
,walter  ,direct4 ,the greatest living  
reinsman is ,ed ,f4 ,geers1 his breeder1
 joint  owner1 trainer and driver4 ,the 
object of this sketch is to tell the    
story of these two--the one a horse1 the
 other a man4 ,for when it is  all      
sifted down at last1 it will be found   
that there are many parallel  lines     
between a great race horse and a great  
driver4 ,each to succeed  must possess  
certain qualities in common which make  
for success4    ,illustration3 ,,ed     
,,geers ,the silent man from ,tennessee4
    ,and first1 each must be born for   
greatness4 ,this may seem strange to    
the uninitiated1 but no man knows the   
truth of it more than he who has  spent 
his life in breeding great horses and in
 studying great men4 ,it  is pedigree   
that counts in man and horse1 and by    
pedigree ,i do not  mean blood lines    
only1 though they count more in the life
 of the lower  animal1 the horse1 than  

in the life of the higher animal1 the   
man4  ,blood lines alone will not carry 
a man through the battle of life and    
bring him out victor at the end4 ,for   
there are two pedigrees in every  man   
which count for greatness or weakness in
 him4 ,one is the pedigree  of his body1
 the other is the pedigree of his soul4 
,with horse1 the  pedigree of body      
counts most4 ,with man1 the soul4 ,for  
it is that which  counts for honesty1   
for singleness of purpose1 for          
truthfulness1 for  silence1 for thought1
 for right living1 for that deathless   
spirit which  never says die4 ,in       
victory1 calm2 in defeat1 silent1 but   
saying proudly3      8,out of the       
darkness which surrounds me1      ,black
 as the pit from pole to pole1    ,i    
thank whatever gods there be      ,for  
my unconquerable soul40                 
,unfortunately for man--outside of the  
pygmies which some call kings--he  keeps
 no record of his pedigree4 ,this is    
wrong1 for man should at least  take as 

much interest in his own pedigree as he 
does in his horses' or  his dogs'4 ,and 
so1 now and then1 a master1 in his      
craft1 comes out of  the great mass of  
humanity1 with no extended pedigree but 
the product  of earnest and honest and  
strong ,god-fearing fathers and mothers 
of many1 many centuries4 ,the child may 
not know them but for one  generation1  
but they are all there--there in his    
blood and his brain  and his brawn4     
,and so he is born honest and earnest   
and strong4 ,such is ,ed ,geers--a  man 
who has come up from the common people4 
,common people of a century  ago1 but   
,o1 how uncommon now in these days of   
trusts and steals and  grinding graft6  
,in these days1 when a millionaire is a 
poor man1 these  days of the ,equitable1
 these days of ,rockefeller1 these days 
of the  cursed trusts and tariff and the
 unspeakable graft-days when man is     
nothing and money all4 ,god of our      
fathers1 give us back again the days  of
 the honest common people6    ,from such

 source comes ,shakespeare1 whose genius
 was also the product  of honesty1 of   
brawn1 of rest4 ,shakespeare1 who has   
written and left  nothing else to be    
said6 ,from such a source came ,james   
,knox1 and ,andrew  ,jackson1 and ,john 
,wesley1 and ,abraham ,lincoln--these   
and every other  great man whose silent 
statues now stand as the mile-posts of  
human  progress1 each marking an era in 
the epoch of the thing ,god made him    
for4    ,and so1 as ,i said1 from such a
 source came ,geers1 the honest man  and
 the master reinsman of his age4 ,and   
so1 as ,i said1 counting  the recorded  
pedigree1 ,walter ,direct has it over   
,geers1 for man1  who foolishly lets his
 own pedigree slip1 has been very       
careful in  preserving that of his      
horse4 ,strange1 isn't it8 ,and yet we  
are all  doing it4 ,ah1 well1 perhaps it
 is best for many of us that it is so4  
,for1 as we say of the horse1 in the    
fifth generation each one of us  would  
have to count for sixty-two fathers and 

mothers1 landing us back  two hundred   
years ago in ,scotland and ,ireland1 and
 out of that number1  in that age and   
country1 fortunate is he who was not    
sent up for  poaching1 for              
cattle-lifting1 for breaking heads and1 
perhaps--locks6    ,walter's pedigree is
 blue-blooded4 ,his owners1 ,chaffin    
,gears1 saw to  that4 ,we can make our  
horse's pedigree better than we can make
 our  own--for that is made for us1 and 
often1 in the making1 when two warm     
youngsters fall in love and decide to   
marry1 nothing but the grace of  ,god1  
or the breaking of a midnight ladder1   
has saved us4    ,in ,the ,horse ,review
 of #aijj1 when ,walter ,direct was then
 a suckling  at his mother's heels1 ,i  
wrote a description of him and predicted
 from  his blood lines that one day he  
would be the greatest of pacers4 ,it    
sounds prophetic now1 but ,i rise       
hastily to disclaim it4 ,any horseman   
posted in the pedigree and achievement  
of his sire and dam1 and of all  his    

bluelines1 would naturally have said the
 same thing4 ,his sire1  ,direct ,hal1  
was the greatest horse of his day4 ,his 
name and career are  household words in 
horsedom and will not be extended in    
this article4  ,but later on1 in 8,the  
,history of the ,hals10 now running as a
 serial in  this ,monthly1 a chapter    
will be devoted to him in its proper    
place4 ,it  is enough here to say that  
he was unbeaten and that his sire1      
,direct1  before him1 was the greatest  
pacing stallion of his day1 and that    
beyond that lies the great ,director1   
,dictator and ,hambletonian #aj--;an    
unbroken line of greatness--and in a    
horse greatness means gameness1         
soundness1 honesty1 speed4    ,isn't    
that enough to give us a tip on the     
breeding of boys and girls8    ,walter's
 dam is a homely little mare called     
,ella ,brown1 with a record  of         
#b3aa-a_/d1 made in #ahic1 to high-wheel
 sulky4 ,with the sulky of  to-day it   
would have been #b3je4 ,never have ,i   

known a gamer1 sweeter  little mare than
 ,ella ,brown1 and well do ,i remember  
when she first came  out1 and though    
suffering acutely1 all through her      
racing career with  nervicular disease  
of the foot1 often so lame that she     
could scarcely  score down for the word1
 yet1 when she was in the fight1 and the
  clatter and hot breath of her         
competitors sounded the warning in her  
ears1 she would forget her lameness and 
her soreness and race like the  game    
little thing she was4    ,and1 like all 
other great mares1 the pedigree of ,ella
 ,brown was no  accident4 ,she was sired
 by ,prince ,pulaski1 ,jr41 and he by   
old ,prince  ,pulaski1 the sire of the  
old queen1 ,mattie ,hunter1 #b3ab-c_/d4 
,the dam  of ,ella ,brown has only      
lately been correctly established4 ,she 
was by  ,evans' ,joe ,bowers1 son of    
,joe ,bowers #b3cb1 son of ,traveler4   
,her second  dam was by ,tom ,hal1 sire 
of ,brown ,hal1 and her third dam was   
said  to be by ,brooks1 sire of         

,bonesetter #b3ai4 ,every horseman knows
 what  these mean4 ,mated with ,direct  
,hal1 and hence doubled in strength and 
greatness1 and behold ,walter ,direct1  
champion green pacer of the year4       
,this is the pedigree of ,edward        
,geers--this is the pedigree of ,walter4
  ,both honest4    ,geers' honesty is   
proverbial4 ,his surname is 8,honest ,ed
 ,geers1 the  ,silent ,man of           
,tennessee40 ,did you ever notice how   
naturally greatness  and silence go     
together8 ,let that greatest of all     
great men1  ,shakespeare1 tell it3      
,silence oft of pure innocence          
,persuades when speaking fails4         
,there are many stories told of the     
honesty of ,ed ,geers4 ,it must be      
remembered that in the life he has led1 
the terrible1 bruising1  fighting       
battles of the turf1 when fame and      
fortune often hang on the  wire for     
which hundreds of others are driving as 
well as he1 that he  is often sorely and
 terribly tempted4 ,men are human at    

most1 and in a  fight for money1 for    
fame1 for the joy of victory1 all       
combined in one  race1 all the great    
stakes of life1 is it a wonder that     
millionaire  horsemen have tried to buy 
him1 that rich breeders have tried to   
bribe  him1 greedy owners corner him and
 tricksters and knaves foul him8 ,think 
of twenty-five years of this and then   
coming out without a stain on his  name1
 a breath of suspicion and the pseudonum
 of ,honest ,ed ,geers--won1  too1 in   
the light of the fiercest conflict4     
,walter is game1 so is ,geers4 ,in the  
many years in which the latter has  been
 in the sulky he has met with accidents 
which1 if they failed to  break his     
neck1 would have broken the heart of an 
ordinary man4    ,all horsemen will     
recall the bad accident he had with     
,searchlight and  the one that sent him 
to the hospital at ,memphis a few years 
ago1 with  a broken ankle4 ,but a few   
weeks ago he was in a bad mix-up at     
,buffalo1  when ,king ,direct's foot    

went into the sulky wheel of the        
contending  horse4 ,the ,nestor of the  
turf was unconscious when picked up1 but
  quickly revived and dryly remarked1   
8,now1 don't make a hurrah of this      
thing and scare everybody to death for  
nothing40 ,that remark is an  index of  
his character4 ,he hates a hurrah4 ,the 
plumage of the peacock  has never become
 the pit game trimmed for the fight4 ,he
 is loyal to  his friends1 modest1      
quiet1 honest1 and with reverence for   
all that is  sacred and good4 ,he is one
 of the large men of his calling4       
,the training of ,walter ,direct has    
been in keeping with ,mr4 ,geers'       
theory that colts should be trained     
early but not hard4 ,from the ,may      
night when he was foaled in a terrific  
thunderstorm1 so fierce that  ,old      
,wash1 who acted as his midwife1 was    
scarcely able to keep him from          
drowning1 until to-day1 he has had the  
best of attention4 ,his dam was  fed    
grain during the nursing period1 and    

,walter soon learned to eat it  with    
her4 ,he was broken to halter as a      
weanling1 and the next spring1  ,negley1
 the colored caretaker1 broke him to    
harness1 with occasional  jogs4 ,the    
fall after he was a two-year-old he was 
sent to ,memphis to  ,geers and given   
his first real lessons1 and so trained  
each winter1  with joggings in the      
summer by ,negley at ,columbia4 ,mr4    
,geers' rule is  to keep them feeling   
good with a brush now and then for      
speed4 ,he has  a horror of overworking 
colts4 ,indeed1 his stable is never     
asked to go  the fast heats that many   
other owners delight in before being    
shipped  to the races4 ,he saves their  
speed and vital force for the time when 
it is needed most4 ,in the spring when  
,walter was a three-year-old he  was    
asked to go a fast mile in #b3ad1 and   
was sent to ,columbia to be  jogged and 
turned out4 ,the next spring he paced   
his mile in #b3jh-c_/d1  when he was    
sent back home again4 ,on ,september    

#ae1 #aijd he was sent  again to ,mr4   
,geers and to fame4           99        
99       99       99       99    ,,lord 
,,ullin',s ,,daughter4    7,revised by  
,trotwood and brought up to date47      
,a chieftain to the ,highland bound     
,would steal ,lord ,ullin's daughter2   
,he bought a new machine in town--      
,a thing he hadn't auto4      ,he sought
 the castle by the sea      ,and stopped
 behind the kitchen2    8,this beats a  
pony bad10 said he1      8,because it   
don't need hitchin'40      ,he got the  
girl and started out      ,by pullin' of
 a lever1    ,and then that auto turned 
about--      ,it was a gay deceiver4    
,it snorted1 backed1 went round and     
round1      ,broke belly-band and       
breechin'1    ,reared up and            
kicked--then1 with a bound1      ,it    
started through the kitchen4      ,in   
there was ,ullin fast asleep1      ,his 
stomach full of mutton2    ,that auto   
knocked him in a heap      ,it broke his
 only button4      8,o1 haste1          

thee--haste60 the ,lady cries1          
8,tho' steams around me gather1    ,i'll
 meet the ragings of the skies      ,but
 not a naked ,father40                  
8,aha--farewell--and now we'll go10     
,said ,laddy1 smiling grimly2    ,he    
tried to head her for the door--        
,she started for the chimney4           
8,come back--come back60 old ,ullin     
cries1      8,not up there--that's my   
larder2    ,you'll ruin my meat and     
pies--      ,come back an' take my      
darter40      ,by this the thing grew   
loud of pace1      ,its waterworks were 
shrieking2    ,it started for the old   
staircase1      ,while ,ullin was       
a-speaking4      ,it met ,mrs4 ,ullin   
coming down--      ,she'd tucked the    
kids to cover2    ,she wore her         
night-cap and her gown--      ,she never
 wore another6      ,it buzzed amid the 
trundle beds1      ,ran over lairds and 
lasses1    ,went through the window1    
down the sheds1      ,and waked up all  
the asses4      ,it chased the          

hound-pups round the yard1      ,ran    
over kairn and cattle2    ,the clans    
turned out with tunics barr'd1      ,and
 pibrocks1 armed for battle4      ,the  
girl had fainted1 sore dismayed1        
,twice had it turned her over3    ,one  
lovely arm was stretched for aid1       
,and one was round her lover4      ,up  
spake a hardy ,highland wight--      7,a
 rope was round him1 ready73    8,just  
watch me rope her hind leg tight        
,and stop her1 staunch and steady60     
,he threw and caught her fast and fair1 
,it set their blood to fighting--       
,they saw him sailing through the air1  
,a tail he was--and kiting6      ,now   
,ullin had a mother-in-law1      ,a     
saint she was from ,zion2    ,her lungs 
were rubber1 cheeks were bra'1      ,her
 body--well1 ,,scrap iron6      ,she    
waked and heard the dreadful din1       
,ran down1 the thing to worst it2    ,it
 struck her1 knocked its inwards in1    
,it wheezed and groaned--and burst it6  
,they slew poor ,laddy where he sat     

,with blunderbuss and bullit2    8',tis 
not10 said ,ullin1 8'cause the brat     
,was monkeyin' with my pullit1          
8,but comin' here in this vile car      
,to run off with my darter1    ,an' not 
like neighbor ,lochinvar1      ,on      
hoss-flesh1 as he orter40      --,,john 
,,trotwood ,,moore4           99        
99       99       99       99    ,humor 
is a great thing1 but it has never yet  
won a battle1 built a  city or bred a   
horse4          ,the ,meaning of ,sorrow
      ,,by ,,rev4 ,w4 ,d4 ,,capers1     
,,rector ,,st4 ,,peter',s ,,church1     
,,columbia1 ,,tenn4    8,before ,i was  
afflicted ,i went astray1 but now have  
,i kept ,thy word40  7,ps4 #aai3 #fg47  
,from one point of view there is no     
mystery so impenetrable as that         
involved in the suffering and sorrow    
which exists in every department  and   
sphere of life4 ,the suffering of       
humanity1 the fact that 8the world      
groaneth and travaileth in pain until   
now0 presented to the sensitive  mind of

 ,dr4 ,john ,hall the supreme difficulty
 with which he struggled  during a great
 part of his remarkable ministry1 until 
courage1 faith  and experience taught   
him to understand and to recognize      
suffering  as having its mission in life
 and in the development of character1   
just as happiness has its place1 each   
acting as one of the two great          
interpreters of moral and spiritual     
development4 ,it is impossible to  have 
a creed or to form an adequate          
philosophy of life and overlook  the    
really essential and universal place    
suffering1 in one form or  another1     
occupies therein4 ,just try and think1  
if you can1 of a world  in which there  
is no suffering1 no sorrow1 no pain2 a  
world in which  there are no tears1 no  
bitterness1 no woe4 ,the thing is       
unthinkable1  it is simply              
inconceivable1 and as a condition of    
life1 utterly and  eternally impossible4
 ,why8 ,because pleasure and pain are   
relative4  ,suffering and joy face each 

other in a blessed contrast4 ,there has 
to  be a standard of comparison by which
 we are to make the proper estimate  of 
these things1 otherwise we would be     
unable to distinguish between  them2    
otherwise happiness would have no       
reality to it1 no vitality  in it1 and  
neither strength nor power of growth1   
while life would be  without an         
essential variety of emotions1 and      
therefore necessarily  become 8stale1   
flat and unprofitable0 indeed4 ,a       
remarkable description  of hell's       
severest punishment1 though very        
fanciful1 is that1 wherein  the victims 
are made to do that which they most     
loved to do here in  this life1         
incessantly1 continuously and           
strenuously4 ,the suggestion  to my mind
 is very significant and teaches that   
the most tortuous and  horrible         
suffering is just that which comes      
through uninterrupted  monotony4 ,to    
dance your life away1 to drink your life
 away1 to play and  fritter your life   

away in purposeless amusement and never 
to suffer a  reverse or be conscious of 
a struggle1 never to know a pang of pain
  or experience a momentary             
disappointment1 may seem to those who   
have  just sipped an occasional drop    
from the cup of pleasure and mirth an   
enviable existence1 a consummation in   
life devoutly to be wished4 ,but  to    
dance or play or laugh or sing through  
endless eons of time and to  experience 
not one inspiring struggle which brings 
moral and spiritual  strengthening1 to  
have to live through eternity would be  
misery indeed4  ,suffering then1 in the 
first place1 heightens and intensifies  
our joys1  it helps develop the power of
 enjoyment1 and it makes a larger and a 
more real happiness possible4 ,to       
illustrate3 ,there was unspeakable joy  
in the home of the prodigal1 as the aged
 father rushed out to meet and  greet   
his wayward boy1 for to the old man his 
son had been dead1 and  behold he was   
alive again1 he had been lost and was   

found4 ,it was the  suffering of the    
separation which alone made possible the
 intense and  glorified happiness of    
their reunion4 ,and how often it happens
 that  not only are 8troubled times     
praying times10 but that 8man's         
extremity  is ,god's opportunity40 ,thus
 suffering often brings a man to his    
senses  and makes him conscious of his  
dependence upon ,god4 ,as we read1 it   
was  only when the prodigal 8came to    
himself0 that he concluded to arise  and
 go to his father1 and we must conclude 
that it was the suffering1  sorrow and  
bitterness of privation and disappointed
 hopes that drove  him to a realization 
of his true condition1 and in the end   
brought  to him a real and lasting      
happiness4 ,in this and in similar acts 
of  conduct history never fails to      
repeat itself in every age1 in every    
epoch1 in every generation1 as well as  
yearly1 daily and hourly in the  life of
 individuals and of nations4 ,opulence1 
ease1 prosperity and an  unwholesome    

peace have repeatedly rushed peoples and
 principalities to  a shameful and      
untimely ruin1 wherein men have lost    
their reason and  nations drunk with a  
sense of power have reeled and staggered
 to and  fro like a drunken man and then
 lay prostrate in the dust4 ,in support 
of this ,i appeal to history4 ,in       
support of this ,mr4 ,kipling appeals to
  history when in his recessional poem  
he said3      8,far called our navies   
melt away--      ,on dune and headland  
sinks the fire--    ,lo1 all our pomp of
 yesterday      ,is one with ,nineveh   
and ,tyre4    ,judge of the nations1    
spare us yet    ,lest we forget--lest we
 forget40    ,suffering then1 often     
serves to give us a fuller1 freer1 wiser
 and  wider view of life4 ,it was only  
when through suffering that the         
prodigal 8came to himself10 and when he 
received this self-revelation1  then he 
8arose and went to his father10 and in  
like manner when man  8comes to himself0
 he goes to ,god4 ,but mark you1        

self-revelation seldom  if ever comes to
 one while sailing the seas of glory and
 sounding all  the depths and shoals of 
mere worldly splendor and prosperity4   
8,before  ,i was afflicted ,i went      
astray1 but now ,i have kept my word10  
said  the ,psalmist1 and when ,job came 
to himself through the trial of his     
faith and patience1 he ceased to        
question the ways of ,providence1 he    
reverently placed his hand upon his     
mouth and would 8speak no further10  for
 fear he now no longer knew ,god 8by the
 hearing of the ear10 but by  the       
8seeing of the eye10 and he went to his 
knees in supplication1 8and  the ,lord  
turned the captivity of ,job when he    
prayed for his friends40    ,again1 we  
are to notice that suffering brings us  
courage and broadens  and deepens and   
intensifies our sympathies4 8,pity makes
 the whole world  akin10 and so quickens
 our consciousness of brotherliness4    
8,at sea when  the ship is in great     
peril the passengers crowd together1 not

 because  they can escape peril by      
facing it in company1 but because they  
can  gain courage by companionship4 ,the
 sense of human kinship grows fresh  and
 keen when men stand together in the    
face of a common danger40 ,it  is       
therefore through suffering that men    
gain courage through a vivid            
realization of the brotherhood of man   
and the solidarity of the race4  ,it    
often is as ,dr4 ,mabie has said3       
8,through sorrowful ways men have       
climbed to the heights from which they  
now look into the heavens and  over the 
landscape of life40    ,and this brings 
us to our final thought which is that   
suffering in some  of its manifold forms
 gives that variety to life which is    
essential to  the proper development of 
all the faculties of heart1 soul1 mind  
and  body4 ,by way of illustration1 let 
us suppose that you could take from  the
 public and private libraries of the    
world every book that contained  a poem1
 a reference or a treatise touching the 

theme of sorrow1 and  what a dull1 dead1
 gloomy monotony of uninspired          
literature would  remain1 while1 in     
rather figurative language1 the world   
itself could  not contain the books thus
 mutilated and cast away4 ,apply the    
same  test to art1 and the galleries of 
the world would be destroyed1 miles     
upon miles of bare walls would greet us 
at every turn as we made our  heart-sick
 pilgrimage from gallery to gallery4    
,apply the same test to  music1 and you 
will never again hear the singing of a  
song with genius  and power in it strong
 enough to stir the heart's deepest     
emotions or  to cause the soul to glow  
with a conscious ecstacy of faith and   
hope  and the brain to burn with the    
fire of a high and holy resolution4     
,the organ's rich peal1 the ring of     
stringed instruments1 the wailing  of   
the lute would lose the voice of melody1
 while 8,the ,marseillaise10  8,the     
,star-,spangled ,banner10 8,dixie ,land0
 and similar martial airs would  never  

have found voice to speak for patriotic 
devotion or to chant the  glory of a    
martyrdom for home or for country1 had  
not the spirit of  sacrifice and        
suffering pervaded them and given to    
them immortality4    ,no1 suffering is a
 vital part and condition of life1 and  
from the  right use of it we gather     
strength and grow beautiful in moral and
  spiritual stature1 while we gain the  
only happiness that maintains and  has  
power to bless mankind1 happiness which 
is the child of conscious  strength     
acquired on the battlefield of conflict 
and in the vale of  tears4 ,how then are
 you going to use the sorrows1 the      
afflictions1 the  disappointments and   
the trials that must come inevitably    
into your  life8 ,the late ,maltby      
,babcock has a fine passage in this     
connection3  8,byron eagerly coveted a  
place among the immortals1 yet accepted 
his club feet with cursings and         
bitterness2 while ,st4 ,paul accepted   
his #8thorn in the flesh' with sweetness

 and was thereby exalted and            
transfigured4 ,the poet wishes to become
 a hero for the public while  privately 
tasting of the sweets of profligacy4    
,sinning against his  finer feelings his
 art steadily declines1 until at        
thirty-five it has  passed into the sear
 and yellow leaf40 ,let us strive to    
emulate the  example of ,st4 ,paul1 and 
when having no power to expel from our  
life  that which brings pain and        
suffering1 let us endeavor to accept    
such  sorrow as an opportunity to       
develop character1 and thereby be       
exalted  and made strong1 remembering   
always that since 8,the ,man of         
,sorrows0  hung upon the cross1         
transfigured sorrow is that which has   
blessed  humanity most1 and brought men 
nearest to the heart and mind of the    
,master4 ,and train yourself to believe 
that4      8,sometime1 when all life's  
lessons have been learned1      ,and sun
 and stars forevermore have set1    ,the
 things which one weak judgment here has

 spurned1      ,the things o'er which we
 grieved1 with lashes wet1    ,will     
flash before us out of life's dark      
night1      ,as stars shine best in     
deepest tints of blue2    ,and we shall 
see how all ,god's plans were right1    
,and that which seemed reproof was love 
most true40           99       99       
99       99       99    ,,our ,,star    
7,in memory of ,mrs4 ,annie ,horne ,fry1
 who died ,august #ac1 #aije47          
,sunset and ,sorrow's tide1        ,over
 the bar--    ,sunset1 and daylight died
        ,seeing a ,star4      ,twilight1
 and ,hope had fled1        ,fled from  
afar4    ,twilight1 and ,hope lay dead1 
,holding a ,star4      ,midnight and    
mourning loud        ,cometh to mar4    
,midnight1 yet o'er her shroud          
,shineth the ,star4      ,morning1 and  
from the mist--        ,sweet ,avatar-- 
,hope-crowned and ,sorrow-kissed        
,standeth our ,star4      ,,john        
,,trotwood ,,moore4           99        
99       99       99       99           

,,trotwood',s ,,monthly ,devoted to     
,farm1 ,horse and ,home4    ,,trotwood  
,,publishing ,,company1 ,nashville1     
,tenn4      ,,john ,,trotwood ,,moore1  
,editor-in-,chief4      ,e4 ,e4         
,,sweetland ,business ,manager          
,,geo4 ,e4 ,mc,k,e,n,n,o,n ,president   
,,john ,w4 ,,fry ,vice-,president       
,,eugene ,,anderson ,treas4    ,,wooten 
,,moore ,sec'y4    ,,terms ,,of         
,,subscription3 ,one ,year1 #a4jj2      
,single ,copy1 #aj cents4  ,advertising 
,rates on application4    ,,nashville1  
,,tenn4 ,,october1 #aije4          ,with
 ,trotwood      ,there are nearly a     
fourth of a thousand farm papers in the 
,united  ,states1 all bent on teaching  
the farmers how to attend to their own  
business4 ,some of these papers are     
good1 many are bad and the others  are  
awful4 ,the good ones may be had for a  
dollar and the others for the  asking4  
,looking the literary field over1       
everybody seems to be entitled  to      
something good but the farmer4 ,from the

 roasts and broils of the  intellectual 
feasts of to-day he will get the        
leavings1 next week1 in  the shape of a 
stale hash1 served on cheap paper1      
flanked with guessing  contests and     
patent medicine advertisements and      
surrounded by the  green1 green cresses 
of the same old thing4    ,and yet a    
large and most respectable majority of  
the people of these  ,united ,states are
 farmers or interested in the soil4     
,their daily needs  include all the     
things the man in the city needs and    
much more1 for  the man in the city does
 not plow1 neither does he reap nor sow4
 ,these  people of the soil are         
progressive to the extent of their      
chances1  honest1 and seekers of the    
truth and better ways1 lovers of the    
good  in fiction and in fact4 ,they     
constitute about seventy per cent of our
  population and commit about two per   
cent of our crime4 ,why should not  they
 have a literature8 ,why should not a   
magazine laid around the soil1  come    

into their homes1 as it comes into the  
homes of the dwellers in  the strenuous 
city1 not to teach them their business  
but to help to  amuse1 to interest1 to  
uplift8    ,this is the object of       
,trotwood's ,monthly4 ,if it does not   
tell you  when to plant your beans and  
when to eat your potatoes1 it hopes to  
give you a literature that will help you
 to be satisfied with your  diet of     
potatoes and your burden of beans4 ,for 
in truth1 the editor  of ,trotwood's    
,monthly does not know all about        
potatoes nor beans nor  corn4 ,indeed1  
he is willing to admit that any good    
farmer in all this  country who knows   
his business knows more about it than   
the editor of  ,trotwood's ,monthly4    
,for his business in life is literature4
 ,he has  made it his profession1 as the
 farmer or stockman has made farming and
  stock-raising his1 and he has toiled  
at it through years in the heat of  the 
noonday sun and often--often--while the 
world around him slept1 by  the light of

 a sleepless lamp4 ,he will not try to  
tell you1 therefore1  of the things he  
knows but little about1 neither will he 
attempt to  carry intellectual coals to 
a new castle of newly mown hay4 ,he will
  not attempt the impossible and the    
ridiculous2 but if1 in looking over  his
 handiwork month after month1 you find  
something to make you forget  for awhile
 the burdens and problems of life2 if   
through his magazine  you learn to      
realize the unseen sweetness and        
independence of the life  of him who    
claims kindred with the soil2 if you are
 shown nature with  truer eye1 and learn
 to love her and all that is hers2 if   
you catch1  now and then1 a spark of    
that finer spirit that burns so brightly
 in  true literature1 lighting the lamp 
of ambition in your boy or girl1 and    
carrying you for a moment from the world
 of soil to the world of soul2  if      
something in it uplifts you1 and        
something amuses you and something  in  
the special features by experts in the  

classes1 who know1 instructs  and helps 
you1 then you may know that ,trotwood's 
,monthly has done for  you what it      
started out to do4           99       99
       99       99       99             
,trotwood's ,monthly will1 each issue1  
contain special expert articles  on     
subjects relating to its scope4 ,there  
are four in this issue1  and we have    
reason to be proud of all of them4 ,this
 is an age of  concentration1 of        
specialization4 ,it is the man who      
concentrates that  accomplishes4        
,knowledge to-day is so vast and covers 
so great a scope  that ,solomon's wisdom
 would scarcely attract attention unless
 the  saffron press wrote him with      
pictures of his wives1 and that might   
make  some think he was not wise at all4
           99       99       99       99
       99    ,,lines ,,to ,,an          
,,automobile4      ,break1 break1 break1
      ,some other man's face with glee1 
,or shatter his collar-bone if you will1
      ,but1 pray1 don't run over me6    

,o1 woe is the farmer's boy      ,as he 
shouts with his sister at play4    ,but 
the chauffeur darts from a cloud of     
dust1      ,and carries a leg away4     
,o1 woe is the man who drives           
,where the automobile sweeps2    ,his   
horse butts into the wayside wall       
,and smashes the cart for keeps4        
,and the big machine goes on1           
,a-kiting over the hill1    ,but1 ,o1   
for the touch of a vanished hand        
,and the sound of a voice that is still4
      ,break1 break1 break1             
,whate'er in your path you see1    ,but 
an arm and an ear and a horse that is   
dead      ,will never come back to me4  
--,from a ,horseman4           99       
99       99       99       99    ,this  
is the page where all of those who wish 
to1 or who have a message  to tell1 may 
come in and talk with ,trotwood4 ,do not
 be backward--you  are welcome4 ,but be 
sure that what you write shall be of    
general  interest to our readers4       
,remember that they are paying for the  

,monthly  to be interested and          
instructed4 ,so come in1 but come in    
with something  to say1 something that  
will help others4           99       99 
99       99       99    ,for1 indeed1   
,trotwood is optimistic4 ,he believes in
 men and women2 he  has faith in        
humanity4 ,he would have men look up1   
not down2 forward1  not backward4 ,he is
 too busy doing to garner doubt and     
discouragement1  those twins which come 
chiefly from idleness and unclear       
thinking4           99       99       99
       99       99    ,therefore1 think 
clearly and live purely4 ,for one       
depends upon the  other4 ,believe in the
 men and women around you and they will 
soon begin  to believe in themselves4   
,get into the habit of thinking and     
speaking  kindly1 for character as well 
as life is made up of habits4 ,believe  
in  humanity4 ,try to be patient with   
fools4 ,it is the most difficult of all 
things to do4 ,believe in humanity4     
,sometimes you will get a jolt1 but     

when you come to weigh your own life1   
you will find that1 taking it all  in   
all1 the world has been kinder to you   
than you have deserved4           99    
99       99       99       99    ,we may
 be pardoned for being often personal in
 this1 the first issue  of ,trotwood's  
,monthly1 but we beg you to bear in mind
 that this issue  was created hurriedly1
 and while we are not ashamed of it by  
any means1  we did not have the chance  
to give it the scope it will soon       
attain4  ,this is not a sectional       
monthly4 ,its aim is to cover the whole 
country  ,north and ,south4 ,we are     
selling farm literature--not farm       
products--and  we will see that all     
sections1 ,michigan as well as ,alabama1
 ,maine as  well as ,texas1 is          
represented4 ,if you are not in it it   
will be your own  fault4           99   
99       99       99       99    ,a     
bright literary woman--one who has      
written novels that have sold--in  a    
personal letter1 says3 8,the publication

 of a book figures to me as  a marriage1
 in which the author is the woman1 the  
publisher the man1  and it is not well  
to let one's heart ache too much over   
mistreated  offspring in the way of     
books4 ,be glad that it is for a year4  
,just a  year1 that the contract is not 
for life1 and that in it divorce is no  
disgrace1 and with the optimistic belief
 that there is always to be  better luck
 next time40    ,was ever anything      
better said8           99       99      
99       99       99    ,the most       
encouraging news comes from the bedside 
of that veteran  breeder1 ,capt4 ,m4 ,c4
 ,campbell1 of ,cleburne ,farm4 ,capt4  
,campbell has  been very ill for over a 
month1 and once it looked as if the     
owner of  ,brown ,hal and the breeder of
 more great ,jerseys and pacing horses  
than  any living man1 would not recover4
 ,but the life he has led has been      
clean and pure1 and his strength was    
great4 ,like the great ,tennessee       
pacers he has bred he proved game1 and  

his friends1 and they are  counted all  
who know him1 are happy to think he is  
now on the road  to recovery4 ,no man in
 the ,state has made a higher mark for  
honesty1  manhood and all that makes a  
man than ,capt4 ,m4 ,c4 ,campbell1 and  
may he  live long and prosper4    ,in a 
personal letter from his son1 ,mr4      
,allen ,campbell1 who is also  manager  
of ,cleburne ,farm1 he writes that they 
have some of the greatest  colts and    
,jerseys ever seen at that famous       
nursery4 ,several of their  colts are   
showing extreme speed1 among them being 
the young son of  ,brown ,hal1 dam by   
,bay ,tom1 that ,cleburne ,farm has     
reserved to take  ,brown ,hal's place4  
,he is showing #b3aj speed as a         
three-year-old4 ,two  colts by ,direct  
#b3je-a_/b1 one out of the dam of       
,twinkle #b3jf-a_/b1 are  showing up    
very fast4 ,trainer ,john ,walker has a 
dozen head of ,mr4  ,geers' stable      
training them at ,cleburne's famous mile
 track4           99       99       99  

99       99    ,speaking of ,john ,r4   
,gentry's influence at ,ewell ,farm ,mr4
 ,geo4 ,campbell  ,brown writes3    8,it
 is the aim of ,ewell ,farm to breed    
beauty and let speed stand as a         
secondary consideration1 and for this   
reason it continues the use of          
,mc,ewen1 one of the grandest           
individuals in the country1 as shown by 
his  long list of showing prizes and of 
,john ,r4 ,gentry1 a horse of perfect   
conformation and unbeaten in the show   
ring4    8,the ,hal strain at ,ewell    
,farm is being perpetuated by ,hal      
,brown1  certainly one of the most      
successful young sires of that breed4   
8,the brood mares at ,ewell ,farm are in
 proportion to the numbers owned  there1
 the greatest collection of producers in
 the ,united ,states4 ,no  less than    
four have produced four each to beat    
#b3cj1 and ten are  producers of #b3aj  
or better horses1 while one has thrown a
 world's  champion4    8,the blood of   
,sweepstakes1 dam of ,star ,pointer1 is 

better represented  at ,ewell ,farm than
 at any other farm in the country4 ,two 
of her  granddaughters1 ,mabel ,best and
 ,windsweep1 daughters of ,villette1    
sister  to ,star ,pointer1 being owned  
there1 and both have foals by ,john ,r4 
,gentry4    8,of the dozen yearlings at 
,ewell ,farm by ,john ,r4 ,gentry1 only 
one  has been trained1 and he a trotter 
can now show a #b3eb gait4 ,he will     
certainly make a great trotter4    8,a  
three-year-old trotter by this great    
sire has beaten #b3bj1 and a            
three-year-old pacer1 ,gentry's ,star1  
can pace a mile in #b3aj4 ,the          
unparalleled beauty and speed of the    
youngsters by ,john ,r4 ,gentry         
foreshadows his future fame as a sire1  
and it is a safe prediction that  he    
will more than equal his sire1 ,ashland 
,wilkes1 that has for several  years    
been the leading sire of new #b3cj      
performers4 ,analysis of records  in    
,john ,r4 ,gentry's pedigree show him to
 be the fastest and best son of         

,ashland ,wilkes4 ,this horse is in turn
 the best representative of ,red        
,wilkes1 the greatest speed sire of all 
the sons of ,george ,wilkes1 whose      
strain has been preeminent in the       
trotting world for twenty-five years40  
99       99       99       99       99  
,trotwood can vouch for every word of   
the following letter4 ,he visited  the  
great ,dakota prairies last fall4 ,such 
vastness1 such fertility1  such lands6  
,fargo1 ,n4 ,d41 ,august #ae4    ,editor
 ,trotwood's ,monthly3    ,when ,i was a
 resident of your country ,i thought    
then that there was  only one ,god's    
country1 and that was the ,central      
,basin of ,tennessee4 ,my  reason for   
arriving at such a conclusion was the   
land in the ,central  ,basin1 but more  
particularly in and around ,maury       
,county1 had maintained  its fertility  
and wonderful productive power for a    
hundred years with  only the ordinary   
,american style of farming4 ,that is1   
taking all out  of the land and putting 

nothing back again4 ,but since that time
 a  discovery has been made which       
accounts for the land in your section   
of country maintaining its wonderful    
endurance for raising such an  excellent
 quality of wheat over a period of      
seventy years1 without  rotation of     
crops1 and that is the almost           
inexhaustible deposit of  phosphate rock
 that underlies so much of your lands4  
,but ,i have found  another ,god's      
country4 ,while it cannot boast of being
 underlaid with  phosphate rock like    
your lands in and around ,maury ,county1
 but when  this country was opened up   
for settlement in the '#gj's it was as  
rich in all the constituent elements of 
fertility as the lands in  the ,central 
,basin of ,tennessee4 ,this ,red ,river 
,valley is a wonderful  country1 and    
,fargo1 ,n4 ,d41 is the center of this  
granary of the great  ,northwest4       
,although ,fargo is not a very large    
city1 the population is  about twelve or
 thirteen thousand inhabitants1 it is a 

live town1 and  full of enterprising    
business men4    ,this town is the third
 largest farm implement distributing    
point in the  world4 ,that's saying a   
good deal4 ,moscow1 ,russia1 comes      
first2 ,kansas  ,city second1 and ,fargo
 third4 ,according to the ,bureau of    
,statistics1  ,united ,states           
,department of ,agriculture1 for #aijd1 
the ,state of ,north  ,dakota produced  
some fifty-four million bushels of wheat
 and the set  counties in the ,red      
,river ,valley raised of the above      
amount nearly  twelve million bushels4  
,this is not counting the ,minnesota    
side of  the ,red ,river ,valley4 ,the  
farmers in the ,red ,river ,valley seem 
to be  pretty well fixed4 ,the great    
,dalrymple farm is in this county of    
,cass4  ,these gentlemen farm about     
#cj1jjj acres of wheat land4 ,the soil  
in  this valley is a rich1 black1       
glacial drift1 and though it is not corn
  country1 not being warm enough1 yet   
all other farm products do fine  7there 

is an immense crop this year71 as wheat1
 oats1 barley1 rye1  buckwheat1         
flaxseed1 hay and the most excellent    
,irish potatoes are  raised here1 and   
#bjj bushels per acre is a fair crop4   
,but the farmers  in the ,red ,river    
,valley have been raising wheat almost  
exclusively for  the past twenty-five   
years1 and wheat of fine quality4 ,but  
if they want  to maintain the reputation
 of this land as a wheat-growing        
country1 the  farmers will have to put  
on their considering caps and ask you   
,maury  ,countians to send them up some 
acid phosphate to put and keep their    
land in balance1 so that they can go on 
and again raise ,no4 #a hard  wheat4    
,,wm4 ,,dennison4           99       99 
99       99       99    ,,to ,,my       
,,friends3    ,pardon this final word as
 the magazine goes to press1 but        
,trotwood is  gratified to see that     
subscriptions are pouring in from every 
corner of  the ,united ,states1 from    
,canada and from ,mexico4 ,far away     

,halifax1 ,n4  ,s41 sends a good list in
 the same mail with ,new ,braunsfels1   
,southern  ,texas4    ,i am indeed proud
 of this1 for it is the work of my      
personal friends1  whose loyalty and    
friendship have no measure2 who in the  
past have  sent me words of comfort and 
cheer1 in my fight through the columns  
of  that great turf journal1 8,the      
,horse ,review10 for what ,i conceived  
to  be clean living1 clean thinking1    
clean racing and clean and hopeful      
literature4    ,i have longed for this  
day when ,i might talk to my many       
friends  through the columns of my own  
publication1 and in the department      
8,with  ,trotwood0 ,i want to meet you  
often1 and ,i want you to meet each     
other4    ,to my old tried and true     
friend1 ,john ,c4 ,bauer1 of the        
,chicago ,horse  ,review1 whose firm and
 lasting friendship has helped to make  
life  pleasant1 and whose sterling      
manhood and unfailing courtesy in the   
twelve years that ,i was associated with

 the ,horse ,review1 has endeared  him  
to me and given me greater faith in man1
 ,i extend my hearty and  sincere thanks
 for the unselfish way in which he has  
so cheerfully and  willingly helped in  
starting us down the track of literature
 toward  what promises to be a          
successful goal4    ,to my many other   
friends who have responded so liberally 
with their  dollars and who have been so
 free with their expressions of loyalty 
and  good will1 ,i thank you one and    
all1 and ,i wish that ,i could meet each
  and every one of you1 and with a      
hearty handshake tell you how much ,i   
appreciate your friendship and your     
encouragement4    ,with my very best    
wishes and regards to all1 ,i am        
sincerely yours1      ,,john ,,trotwood 
,,moore4           99       99       99 
99       99    ,a word from the         
,business ,manager3    ,if you feel     
friendly toward ,trotwood1 no doubt you 
feel just as  friendly toward           
8,trotwood's ,monthly40 ,i want every   

reader of this  monthly to write us a   
letter1 sending us the names and address
 of your  friends whom you think would  
be interested in this monthly4 ,i will  
mail  them a sample copy with your      
compliments1 and ask them to join us in 
making what we hope to make--,the       
greatest farm and horse magazine in  the
 world4 ,respectfully1      ,e4 ,e4     
,,sweetland1    ,business ,manager4     
99       99       99       99       99  
,,traffic    ,a large tree has just been
 cut from the land of ,mr4 ,j4 ,r4      
,marshall1  four miles from ,columbia4  
,at its base it was sixteen feet in     
diameter1  and out of it five logs ten  
feet long were cut1 containing #g1fej   
feet  of lumber4 ,the top of the tree   
made thirteen cords of wood4--,columbia 
7,tenn47 ,herald4      ,and ,i would    
weep for thee1 thou monarch of the wood1
    ,thou king that long the scorn of   
,time has stood4    ,king by the royal  
right of strength alone--    ,with      
star-crowned head bared to the circling 

zone--    ,of good deeds done1 of       
sweetness and of mirth1    ,scion of the
 sun1 defender of the earth--           
,o1 ,i would weep for thee4      ,and ,i
 would mourn for thee1 ay1 truly mourn1 
,for what thou wast1 and all that thou  
hast borne4    ,brother to the skies1   
companion to the hills1    ,comrade of  
the clouds and mother of the rills1     
,gatherer of dews1 garnerer of herb and 
flowers1    ,guardian of the muse in    
trysting twilight hours--            ,o1
 ,i would mourn for thee4      ,and ,i  
would honor thee for what thou'st done1 
,scorner of winter's wind and summer's  
sun1    ,builder of birds' nests1 brewer
 of bubbling pool1    ,painter of       
shadows dark on landscapes cool1        
,wafter of odors sweet on summer's      
breeze2    ,warrior of winter's sleet   
and biting freeze--            ,o1 ,i   
would honor thee4      ,and ,i would    
reverence thee1 thou hoary one1    ,thou
 who hast stood while centuries have    
run1    ,thou who hast seen the ,indian 

lover stand    ,while virgin moon smiled
 down on virgin land--    ,the ax1 the  
rifle of the pioneer--    ,all these    
have passed1 and all had left thee      
here--            ,and ,i would         
reverence thee4      ,o1 ,ax of         
,traffic1 buzzing ,saws of ,trade1      
,dost think for thee alone the ,earth   
was made8    ,for thee1 to garner clean 
her fields of corn1    ,with barren     
hills to greet the babe unborn2    ,for 
thee1 to glutton in her sweet-stored    
vine6    ,and leave no grape on fainting
 ,future's vine8      ,,john ,,trotwood 
,,moore4           99       99       99 
99       99    ,fortunate is the man who
 has found his lifework1 and--his       
,jonah4           99       99       99  
99       99    ,build--for if you build 
at all you will build better than you   
know4           99       99       99    
99       99      #a3ei-a_/b ,,ewell     
,,farm #b3jj-a_/b    7,established      
#ahgj47      ,,george ,,campbell ,,brown
 and ,,percy ,,brown    ,spring ,hill1  

,maury ,county1 ,tennessee              
,,shetland ,,ponies ,,jersey ,,cattle   
,,trotting and ,,pacing ,,horses        
,,southdown ,,sheep    ,illustration3   
,john ,r4 ,gentry #b3jj-a_/b4    ,,in   
,,the ,,stud    ,,john ,r4 ,,gentry     
#b3jj-a_/b1 the handsomest of all turf  
horses4 ,has held  ten world's records4 
,twice grand champion for one and three 
heats4 ,a  winner in ,madison ,square   
,garden4 ,a sire of pronounced beauty1  
speed  and intelligence4 ,sires both    
trotters and pacers of extraordinary    
speed  and destined to be the greatest  
sire in the world4 ,fee1 #ajj4jj4       
,the ,,shetlands at ,ewell ,farm have   
been selected with great care1  especial
 attention having been paid to beauty1  
uniformity in size 7#cf  to #db inches71
 and docility of temper4 ,not for many  
years have these  ponies failed to      
delight their purchasers4 ,geldings #a  
to #c years old  for sale4           99 
99       99       99       99           
,transcriber's ,notes3    ,illustrations

 have been moved to paragraph breaks    
near where they are  mentioned4         
,punctuation has been made consistent4  
,variations in spelling and hyphenation 
were retained as they appear in  the    
original publication1 except that       
obvious typographical errors have  been 
corrected4    p4 #bf3 ,the description  
of the test plots is missing a          
description for  ,no4 #a1 and the       
description given for ,no4 #a is        
actually for ,no4 #c4    ,the following 
change was made3    p4 #cj3 delvered    
changed to delved 7the deep-delved      
cellars7