Thursday, November 29, 1917
GET THIS, FELLOWS!
When the Fatherland has Boston Beans
for breakfast every day,
Then I’ll come back to you.
When they change “Unter der Lin den”
and rechristen it Broadway,
I will come back to you.
When the Stars and Stripes are flying
from each castle on the Rhine,
And German bands are playing “Yankee Doodle” in ragtime.
And the Kaiser tells his people, “Uncle Sam’s a friend of mine,”
Then I’ll come back to you.
When the German kiddies dress their dolls like dear Old Uncle Sam,
Then I’ll come back to you.
And when Wilson’s picture hangs inside the palace at Potsdam,
Then I’ll come back to you.
When our brave Sammie boys have called their big gigantic bluff
And canned their German Kultur, and their rotten U-boat stuff,
and the Kaiser says to Pershing, “Here’s my sword, I’ve got enough,”
Then I’ll come back to you.
– – –
This chapter is for men only, so the women will kindly refrain from reading what is here set down. Generally when there is one of these here evangelists around hollerin fire, there is a meeting advertised for men only. We attended one such meeting at one time, and came away sadly disappointed. There was nothing said at that meeting but what your maiden aunt might have heard without embarrassment. The speaker did not even say jackasses.
The other day a teacher in a Denver school asked the class what was the most wonderful thing that a man had ever made and a little girl answered that the most wonderful thing that a man had ever made was a living for his family. This has been running in our mind ever since we saw it, as we sit around the fire of nights in this Thanksgiving time and wonder how long we can keep it up.
The Thanksgiving proclamation of both the President and the Governor ring true. There are untold mercies and blessings that we should be thankful for this year even though we have been drawn into the vortex of a world’s war. There never was a time when life was as interesting as it is at this time, and there never has been a time in the recollection of man when the country was as near a perfect union as now. Men have ceased to ponder upon the question of selfish interest, and think now of what they can do for the good of the herd. They are willing to give work, and die for the herd. That is what the psychologists call the herd instinct, upon which all government is founded and which deteriorates when men wax fat and kick.
Wealth has never been produced as fast as it is now and it has never been more evenly distributed. With every body working at high wages, it is possible for every family to live, and for armies to be maintained in the field, and loans to be made to our allies. The immense bond issues that have been made do not affect the wealth of the country except for the better, as practically every dollar loaned to the government was loaned by an American citizen, and it is but a convenient way to handle our savings. We keep the money and help win the war at the same time.
But what we started out to discuss was the old man’s part in the scheme of life. He is generally assigned the position of the meal ticket in the family life…
Certain political economists have got the thing worked out to a decimal point and can compare the present condition with that of the dull old days, but we have not time or inclination to go into mathematics. We just sort of lump it by saying that it takes as much to keep one family now as it did two in other days, and there is no suspicion of a double life either. In fact the times are so expensive that every man has to love his own wife. But glory be, the men of the country are equal to the occasion.
They are making good livings, giving the government all that it asks for and more, doing these things cheerfully and getting along so well that no man but a fool despairs of his country…
It is so arranged that if the old man will not, or cannot make a living, that the woman can and must, and so life goes on in the city, town and country. As a rule however the important part that the woman has to play, is to keep the old man so well that he has leisure to work…
The lady bending over the cookstove to prepare something that will sustain the old man is the power that keeps the country going today…
BOYER SIDING
We are glad to see some snow and rain which will stop the forest fires.
J. R. Nottingham killed two fine hogs last week. We believe M. C. Cavenaugh has the champion hog of the county.
The North Fork Lumber Company has opened its store at this place. The Company is putting in two large boilers at the mill.
Arthur Nottingham and Roy Knight are running a saw on the bank mill.
SPRUCE
We are having some winter weather here – 10 below zero.
Mr. Clark, the store manager at this place, killed a fine hog – weighed 300 pounds.
Some of the boys are getting ready for military service.
The sheriff was with us overnight collecting taxes.
Rastus Pritt was hurt very bad by a pulp stick last week, but is getting along fine.
The telephone line seems to be all down from here to Slaty Fork. The linesman is quite busy.
HILLSBORO
Miss Mary Lynn Arbuckle, of Maxwelton, was here last week visiting her sister, Mrs. L. P. McLaughlin, and took in the first number of the Lyceum course.
E. H. McLaughlin went to Parkersburg last week to attend a meeting of the order of Masonry.
Born to Sam Sheets and wife, a daughter.
Miss Mack Callison has returned home after an extended visit with her brother in Virginia.