The Commoner.
JULY It, 1I1J
13
Tlio Harvest
List to the music tbat ripples and
trickles
Out of the fields as the harvest
proceeds.
List to the rythm of swift-moving
sickles
Garnering grain that humanity
needs.
Music for millions the sweet song
of reaping
Hinging around tho 7idp circle of
earth ;
Drying the tears of the hungry ones
weeping,
Filling their heing with laughter
and mirth.
Chorus of plenty tho sickles are.
singing,
Peans of praise for the hountiful
grain;
Louder and sweeter the music is
ringing
Over tho valley and mountain and
plain.
E'en to the uttermost parts of crea
tion Carries the music of plenty and
peace;
Filling the hearts of all men with
elation,
Bidding the horrors of famine to
cease.
Clicking and clacking! The song of
the reaper
Falls on our ears with a cadence
, . so sweet!
Heaj"t-touching chords that grow
richer and deeper
Out from the billows of ripening
wheat.
Listen! The nations are catching the
measure;
Heart throbs keep time to the
melody clear.
'. Chords that the angels in heaven.
might treasure
.All when our harvest of plenty is
- here.
Oat in tho Open
In Camp, Milford-on-the-Blue,
July 16. A shady nook in a bend of
the Blue river, with an ice house
within a hundred yards, plenty of
vegetables to be had for the gather
ing, channel catfish biting nicely, a
red-cheeked lass bringing rich milk
into camp -every morning well,
that's the situation of the Architect,
the Little Woman and five of the
Kiddles Six right now. We've been
planning it out for six months, but
Dad dodged it as long as he could,
-because he has done this camping
stunt before and knows how much
work it entails. But it is a new
experience for the kiddies, and that
repays all the labor.
It is really remarkable how many
things a fellow Just has to have to
make life endurable that he can get
along all right without when he is
camping. And he never murmurs
when thiufes happen in camp
things that would cause him to flare
up like a flambeau if they happened
at home.
Just out in front of the "big top"
where we sleep there is a stretch
of sandy slope leading down into
the river. The water isn't deep
enough to swim a good sized duck,
but it is clear and cool. The bottom
la gandy and a big elm tree shades
the spot. Sitting over here under
jthe tent, a hammering on the type
wrlter, I can hear the kiddles slash
ing and shouting. They are In the
water before 1 get up la the morn
ing; and I have to drive' 'em out to
t tan- tA bed. "- ' ' '
get ' to bed.
The Little Woman has a grouch
on against somebody. The some
body is the woman who wrote to a
household journal and said that tho
quickest way to shell peas was to
pour boiling water over them. Ac
cording to this writer the hot water
would make the pods burst open and
let the peas settle to tho bottdm of
the pan. The Little Woman tried
it this forenoon. As soon as the
peas cooled off she hulled them by
hand in tho old-fashioned way. The
printed directions were no good.
About 0 o'clock yesterday morn
ing I took a 4-pound channel cat
fish off the throw line. Before any
of the rest of 'em were up I dressed
the aforesaid fish, sliced a lot of
potatoes and filled the coffeepot.
Then I fried out six or seven slices
of. bacon, leaving the grease in the
skillet. Rolling the chunks of fish
in some cornmeal I fried them to a
rich brown, following up by frying
the potatoes in the bacon-fish grease.
By this time tho coffee was ready
strong and aromatic, filling the
grove with fragrance. Then I
roused the bunch and hustled them
down to the river for a waBh. After
that we fell to.
That's where I made a mistake.
The Little Woman insists that get
ting breakfast is to be my regular
stunt during the two weeks we are
here.
This afternoon a couple of gentle
men visited camp, and after learn"
Ing who I am they started to talking
politics. After they left I seized the
top of a crackcrbox and with a bit
of charcoal constructed a sign:
POLITICAL TALK
BARRED
IN THIS CAMP
That sign goes, too. We are out
here for a vacation.
This is the third day in camp and
we're not yet well settled. Haven't
gotten the lumps out of my bed on
the ground. But the kiddies know
the woods like Indians already, and
they've found enough musselshells
to fill a wagonbox.
I am not pretending to write an
article on camp life. In fact I'm not
writing this for any other purpose
than to make good on the week's
job. But next week I'll try and give
our friends a real story about camp
ing out. W. M. M.
All in the Family
It Is an awfully hot day. Mother
is running th sewing machine in
her bedroom upstairs.
Rena is practicing her lesson on
the piano.
Dorothy is practicing her lesson
on the violin.
Richard is out on the back porch
with hammer and nails, pretending
that he ia a carpenter.
Margaret is playing under the
east window, using a couple of
yowling young kittens for play
things. Charlotte, tho baby Is trying to
get the rest of the cake dough out
of a tin dish with an iron spoon.
What's Dad doing?
Dad is holding a finger in each
ear and wondering when he can get
a chance to take a nap.
Brain Leaks
The average man's idea of 'a Bard
time' Im to accompany kiir .wife"
through a big department store on a
shopping trip.
If you think you are old, you arc.
Some people pray as if they wore
making a requisition.
A golf stick is merely a univer
sity trained shinny club.
Responsibility may bo shirked,
but It can not be sidestepped.
Tho man who docs his level best
need not fear tho final judgment.
I'll, bo mighty glad when my
youngest boy is old enough to look
things up in tho dictionary.
Scarcely a day passes now but
what wo wonder If tho average wo
man is really as cool as she looks.
Isn't it wonderful how many things
you just have to have that you can
get along without when you go
camping?
Wo know business men who are
so tired after their day's work is
over that all they can do is to walk
around a billiard table for about
tbrco hours.
Somo fellows throw away tho crust
they do not want, then holler their
heads off because a whole bakery
does not como floating back tho
next day.
IN TIIE ROLL OF A BOSS
Grand Rapids (Mich.) Herald:
William Jennings Bryan is giving
tho nation another speclmon of tho
tremendous power behind one great
political personality.
His domination of tho Baltimore
convention regardless of its out
comes has been complete.
With autocratic self-complacency,
he has given his party a definite per
sonally conducted program for every
situation that has arisen in this his
toric pow-wow in the heart of Mary
land; and, In the mightiness of self
annointcd virtue, he has consigned
to political perdition all those who
might have tho timorous Indepen
dence to disagree or disregard.
He has wielded a one-man power
that the imagination could scarcely
place in the councils of a groat and
partially dominant political party
among ninety millions of free people.
With relentless and majestic force,
he has ridden against any and afl to
whom his mandates have been un
acceptable. Such is the positively awe-inspiring
power of one rampant personali
ty when it Is tho over-shadowing fac
tor in a given political equation!
Tho democracy has seemed afraid
to cross his will, lest from tho cross
ing, might come some untoward
disaster.
Minor bosses "leaders," they are
called, when they are on vour own
side of tho fence have melted away
like snow before the ONE great boss,
who, In the name of the people, has
austerely asked acceptance for his
divinity-hedged commands.
He fights the devil with fire boss
Ism with bossism.
The difference lies in the differ
ence of construction which HE puts
on HIS OWN motives.
HE is right, necessarily; others
wrong!
When ONE personality thus bo
comes dominant in a political or
ganization, there Is much to com
mand confidence and affection In its
kingly premiership Just as there
is much to fear.
And it is always a spectacle of
surpassing charm no matter what
the party or whether the scenes
be laid at Balltmoro or at Chicago.
What wo say of William Jennings
Bryan is without an lota of disre
spect He Is positively wonderful!
Think of a leader who has thrice
led his party to the cliff of victory
and then dropped them In the abyss
of defeat with a dull and sickening
.4ltilf ifPlitnlp rrt Mini. "!...
,1.11 uu. iiuua jg. buv.u JCJIUCr
after sixteen Tears of- failm- t m
febXdlhg'tae whip1 hand ;i the party
for whom he has never- won a skir
mish! Tho tmth Is that he Is a great,
wholesome Christian gentleman-
more nearly right today than he has
over been beforo in his life. Ills
greatness in defeat gives vague sug
gestion of. what that greatness would
bo in victory.
Without an entry on the credit
side of his party's ledger, ho has felt
the right to demand and command
amid the comings and the goings of
a thousand free democrats in na
tional convention assembled. No
matter what the final outcome (not
known as this Jo written), he has
"bossed" Baltimore to near perfec
tion. What; what would have been
his power had ho possessed tho cre
dentials of oven ONE victory to
back him up!
It's a contemplation well worth
thinking on!
When Mutt and Jeff were discuss
ing him the other day, Jeff quoted
"William Always Tryan" as follows:
"I should like to be nominated at
Baltimore. I don't care anything
about being elected. But I would
like to run. You seo I am trying
to solve tho problem of perpetual
motion."
Our view is that ho still has
wanted an ELECTION and what a
power ho would be If he ever WERE
elected.
In his assaults upon Tammany,
Bryan has earned public commenda
tion from party friend and party foe
alike. What were HIS DREAMS,
sixteen years ago, are sedate statutes
in many instances today. Let nono
discount his wisdom or his brain.
But after Baltimore- another ex
ample of ONE personality dominant
in a politcal crusade it Is tiot
Interesting to think of what such a
"boss" would be with the power of
tho White House added to the dyna
mic forces of his unsupported indi
viduality? This "one man business" has dan
gers as well as charms.
MR. CLARK'S MISTAKE
Dallas (Texas) News: Mr. Clark
Is evidently angered. He thinks that
"Bryan's slanders" lost him the
nomination, but when his mind re
covers whatever equlpose it Is cap
able of ho will probably conclude
that ho lost whatever chance he may
havo bad to get the nomination
when ho faltered and sought to com
promlso tho issue presented by the
selection of Judge Parker to be tem
porary chairman. One can readily -understand
why he should have re
gretted tho making of that issuer on
can even understand why he should
havo thought it unnecessary to make
that issue. But one 1t was mader
one can not understand, on any hy
pothesis creditable to him, why he
did not assume a definite attitude
with respect to It. But assuredly,
he did not do that; on the contrary,
ho sought to straddle it, to divide
tho votes ho could control between
Judge Parker and Mr. Bryan.
Thereby he betrayed his characteris
tics as a politician better than any
ono had been able to disclose themr
and when ho betrayed his character
istics he likewise proclaimed, his un
fitness for tho nomination. Appar
ently tho thought has never entered
Mr. Clark's head that these are not
compromising times; that all the
disturbance in both parties is, in the
final analysis, a protest against the
practice of compromise and barter.
No matter what Mr. Clark and the
platform might have said, his nomi
nation would have been an essen
tially reactionary step, for Mr.
Clark's mind has not kept pace with
the march of events, in, this country.
President' Taft has a -new private
secretary. CarmTA. Thompson 1$
bis name.
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