As a rule, traveling salesmen manage to extract and radiate as much joy and mirth as any class of citizens that I know of. But even these genial1 spirits have their own sorrows.
A drummer was sent by his house, shortly after his marriage, on a long trip to the Pacific coast. Some time after his departure the young wife was seized with appendicitis2, was hurried off to a hospital, operated on, and recovered all right. The strain, both mental and financial, had been great, but she was well again. Joe had remitted3 by check for surgeon’s fee, special nurse, hospital charges, and a few other items amounting to a hundred or so, and his spirits were just beginning to rise again as he worked towards Los Angeles, where mail from home would await him.
The “gang” from the 9:10 train hurried up to the office of the “Link-Schmidt.” The night clerk handed each his quota4 of these ever-welcome missives.
In the reading room Joe was seen to turn deathly pale. Several at once approached. “What’s matter, old boy?” “Bad news from home?” “Anything out of whack5?” and kindred interrogatories were fired at him from all directions.
Some griefs are too poignant7 for expression. Carefully folding back the first and last parts of a page, Joe exhibited, without comment, only this paragraph of its perfumed surface: “I am not feeling as well, dearest, as when I wrote you at Pasadena. Sallie is coming over to-morrow and we are going to have our kimonos cut out.”
Reader number one passed it down the line. Silence, that was stifling8, settled over the group. Then, moved by a common impulse, a solemn procession filed out and lined up before a rosewood counter, in front of which ran a massive gilt9 rail. “Martini,” “Black and White High Ball,” “Wilson,” “Same.” In the land of the high ball a poet once sang:
“Inspiring, bold John Barleycorn!
What dangers thou can make us scorn!
Wi’ tu’penny we fear nae evil;
Wi’ whiskey straight we’d face the divil.”
It was so in this instance. Joe came to first. “Ain’t that ——” (from the youngest in the bunch). “Say, Joe, the repair bills of you married men must be something fierce.”
“Oh, come on, boys, let’s go to supper.”
H. K. A.
Mr. Wallace Mistaken.
Editor Trotwood’s:
I have read with much interest your history of that remarkable10 family of pacers. If the Hal family of pacers can’t produce world’s record-breaking trotters, the theory that extreme trotting11 speed comes from the pacer, or originated from the pacing gait, must go to the wall.
Mr. Wallace was certainly misinformed when he was told that the dam of Vermont Black Hawk12 was a pacer. I hunted up the man who had charge of her for upwards13 of eight years, and he assured me that the dam of Vermont Black Hawk was as square gaited a trotter as he ever saw, and that she never paced a step during all the time she was owned in the Twombly family. This man was Mr. Shadrak Seavey, a grandson of Ezekiel Twombly, and men who knew him personally assured me that no man’s reputation for strict veracity14 was superior to that of Mr. Seavey. Horsemen who knew this mare15 agreed unanimously with Mr. Seavey in describing her color, size, conformation and gait.
The man who misled Mr. Wallace got on the track of the wrong mare. He was the same man (Allen W. Thompson, of Woodstock, Vt.) who strenuously16 contended that Vermont Black Hawk was by Paddy, and Ethan Allen 2:25½ was by Adams’ Flying Morgan, in spite of the fact that the stud book of Sherman Morgan showed that the dam of Vermont Black Hawk was mated with him May 14, 1832, and I learned from Mr. Seavey that Black Hawk was foaled about the middle of April, 1833.
The stud service book of Vermont Black Hawk shows that the Holcomb mare, dam of Ethan Allen, was mated with Black Hawk July 9, 1848. It is a matter of history that Ethan Allen was foaled June 18, 1849. These facts were known to Thompson, but because Ethan Allen was bay in color, Thompson was sure there must have been some mistake. He did not succeed in winning Mr. Wallace on that point, but touched a responsive chord when he hit upon the pacing mare as the dam of Vermont Black Hawk.
I read your Monthly Sundays, when, I suppose, I should be at church. If your publication is as great a success financially as in all other respects, you will have a bank account when you reach my age that will enable you to live comfortably the remainder of your days. That such may be the case is my sincere wish.
Pardon me for the length of this epistle. I won’t do it again. Very truly yours,
S. W. PARLIN.
Boston, Mass.
As to Football.
Editor Trotwood’s:
In college and university circles, during the year 1905, one of the vital questions receiving its share of attention was, as some one has aptly phrased it, “Is football to be mended or ended?” This and similar questions open the subject for discussion, in the progress of which a number of very caustic17 criticisms have been leveled at the game by the presidents of some of our great universities and colleges and members of their respective faculties18. The president of Columbia University, the first to abolish the game, recently declared that football as now played is no longer a sport, but a profession, and, like other professions, demands prolonged training, complete absorption of time and thought, and is inconsistent, in practice, at least, with the devotion to work which is the first duty of college and university students. He also calls attention to the “figure” “gate receipts” cuts in the conduct of the game, which, says he, “marks the game as in no small degree a commercial enterprise.” President Wheeler of the University of California, brings his indictment19 against the promoters of the modern game for “having changed the gridiron into a multiplication20 table,” and otherwise tampering21 with it, until to-day “American intercollegiate football has become a spectacle, and not a sport.” The president of the College of the City of New York reviews the evolution of football, and makes a strong plea for a return to the game of earlier times, “when football was rather primitive22; few practice hours, few out-of-town games; no training table; no excuse from regular university work, and the boys led a normal student life.” However, whatever may be the opinion of certain scholastic23 dignitaries, and however incompetent24 the “rank outsider” may be to judge the game, a reasonable survey of the situation reveals the fact that public opinion, the most powerful factor with which we have to deal, is now concentrating its forces preparatory to “bucking the centre” of the game as played, or, with the “flying wedge” of reform, dash through its lines and destroy the dangerous features of the “mass play.”
That there should be provision for physical culture in the course of every educational institution is, of course, universally conceded, but the question now up for solution is, what character of exercise, or what system of physical development will come nearer meeting the demand for such training. The champions of the great American game answer, “football.” And yet, when we consider the question in the light of all its pros25 and cons—and, like all other questions, it has its pros and cons—its three sides—i. e., your side, the other side, and the inside—we are led to believe that it specializes athletic26 sports to such a degree as to exclude the student body from participation27 in them. The systematic28 development of the physique was first given a pre-eminent place in the training and discipline of young men by the ancient Greeks, who sought in this way to perpetuate29 a hardy30 and vigorous manhood among their people. The origin of the Greek games is mythical31, yet we know that they were revived in 776 by the king of Elia and Lycurgus, the Spartan32 lawgiver, as a means by which intestine33 commotions34 might be pacified35 and a pestilence36 which at that time plagued the people, stayed. Foot racing37, wrestling, leaping, quoit and javelin38 throwing, and, in time, chariot racing were the chief sports with which they developed the physical manhood of the nation. And in this connection, but a moment’s reflection is required to suggest the benefits derived39 from such a variety of sports and diversity of exercise. Contrast the sports of the Greek game with the exclusive feature of football as played in the colleges to-day. A college president writes of his institution: “In the ten years from 1892 to 1902, only seventy-five different men made the team as players and substitutes out of four thousand or more different male students during that time in attendance.” But this is an age of “specialists,” therefore we will let that pass, and there yet remains40 the gravest possible objections to the “mass” game. It cannot be denied with any show of fairness, that its present tendency is to discredit41 scholarship and put brains at a discount, while it inflates42 and exaggerates the intrinsic value of beef and bone. The primary object of education is to discipline and develop all the faculties and endowments of heart and head, while the maxim43, “a sound mind in a sound body,” is by no means to be despised, and yet the hero of the gridiron, the idol44 of the college or university, might be a young man of mediocre45 ability, or with no brains at all, and with less character than brains. Then, again, the exaggerated importance which the average student attaches to the more brutal46 features of the game creates a false standard of courage and manhood, and demands ferocious47 tests that are unfair as the price of its vindication48. False standards of anything in life are, especially to the young, always perilous49, and of nothing is this more than of false conceptions of what constitutes real courage. For instance, it is a notorious fact that in the hour of actual battle soldiers who, in “the piping times of peace,” were renowned50 fist-fighters and bullies51, and generally looked upon as “bold, bad men,” have, when the thunder of cannon52 and the rattle53 of musketry broke upon their ears, failed to stand the test of courage, and disgracefully and ignominiously54 fled, seeking safety in precipitate55 flight, while other men, supposed to be physical cowards, walked calmly and dutifully, and with unwavering step, on through the storm of grape and shell into the very jaws56 of death. We are reminded, in this connection, that the “dunghill” fights splendidly with his “natural heels,” but it takes a game cock to stand the test of “steel.” Ought our young men to be educated in an atmosphere in which such base estimates of true courage and manliness57 must become the very breath of their nostrils58? Should a young man of culture, courage, refinement59 and a high sense of honor be subjected to the humiliation60 of being accounted a “cad” by his fellow students because he does not happen to aspire61 to “make good” on the team or approve the game? Such a young man may be a swift runner, a good rider, and a well trained gymnast, but there is no field for his physical development if he does not “make good,” and though he be manly62, straightforward63 and proficient64 in his work, he has no show with the students with the commonest, vulgarest and most ill-bred youth imaginable, provided that “darling of the gods” happens to weigh enough and have enough of the bulldog and tiger in him. Is it any wonder that the brutality65 of the game, with all its barbarisms and degrading tendencies, has at last awakened66 the sleeping giant of public opinion, who now threatens to destroy it? And what complicates67 the situation more are the revelations that from time to time have been made, fixing the crime of dishonesty and insincerity upon some of the faculties of schools and colleges, who have taken devious68 and questionable69 ways and methods to violate their sworn agreements with rival institutions, and persistently70 play professionals as students. But the foxy methods of such schools and colleges have most naturally tended to disintegrate71 the student conscience and re-acted upon their faculties so as to do either one of two things—i. e., cause the faculty72 to forfeit73 the confidence of the better class of students, or train the student to feel that there is no wrong in dissembling, cheating or lying where the success of the team is at stake, as well as the reputation of their college as a leader in athletic sports.
Such a state of affairs most naturally has aroused the interest of those who are jealous and zealous74 for the welfare of the colleges and universities and individual students, and the tide of public opinion has gradually been swelling75 until now it threatens the utter destruction of the game. But will the students themselves come to the rescue and save the game while there is yet time, by agreeing to an honest, clean abolition76 of the objectionable features of the game? For, in the last analysis of the situation, it is “up to them.”
WALTER B. CAPERS77.
Columbia, Tenn.
Southern Lien78 Laws.
Editor Trotwood’s:
The lien laws of most of the Southern states should be repealed79. They have served their purpose, and are no longer needed. They are millstones around the neck of twentieth century progress. To the uninitiated it may be necessary to explain that these laws make it possible to use as collateral80 for a loan things not yet in existence. It is a mortgage on air, sunshine, rain and prospects81. The renter of a small farm goes, say in January, to a village merchant, states how much land he will plant, what he expects the total yield will be and the merchant then agrees to advance him, from time to time, supplies of all kinds—food, clothing, implements82, and so on, up to an agreed upon amount. For this amount the merchant takes a lien or mortgage upon the prospective83 crop.
The cotton crop is not planted until April or May, so that a goodly part of the supplies are consumed before a seed is in the ground.
The wreck84 and ruin of a four years’ war left little besides the land of the South, and the enactment85 of these laws was an expedient86 adopted to meet an emergency. The necessity for them has long since passed, leaving the laws on the statute87 books. They have not been repealed because politicians are afraid of the poor man’s vote. They lack that independence that would do what is best for him over his protest. That such laws encourage idleness, dependence88, thriftlessness and improvidence89 among those who most need to practice their opposites is well illustrated90 by the following actual occurrence.
One afternoon last August a friend of mine came upon a white renter sitting on the bank of Saluda river fishing. During the conversation my friend expressed the hope that the long drought might be broken by a shower, whereupon the fisherman replied: “Yes, my melon patch needs hit powerful bad, but I’ve drawed about all I kin6 git on my cotton patch anyway, and I don’t care whether a drap falls on hit or not.”
H. K. A.
Laurens, S. C.
TROTWOOD’S MONTHLY
Devoted91 to Farm, Horse and Home.
TROTWOOD PUBLISHING CO., Nashville, Tenn. Office 150 Fourth Ave., North.
JOHN TROTWOOD MOORE,
Editor-in-Chief.
E. E. SWEETLAND
Business Manager
GEO. E. McKENNON
President
JOHN W. FRY
Vice-President
EUGENE ANDERSON
Treas.
WOOTEN MOORE
Sec’y.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION92: One Year, $1.00; Single Copy, 10 cents.
Advertising93 Rates on application.
NASHVILLE, TENN., MARCH, 1906.
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1
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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appendicitis
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| n.阑尾炎，盲肠炎 | |
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remitted
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| v.免除（债务），宽恕( remit的过去式和过去分词 )；使某事缓和；寄回，传送 | |
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quota
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| n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额 | |
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whack
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| v.敲击，重打，瓜分；n.重击，重打，尝试，一份 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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poignant
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| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
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stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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11
trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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13
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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14
veracity
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| n.诚实 | |
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mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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strenuously
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| adv.奋发地，费力地 | |
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caustic
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| adj.刻薄的，腐蚀性的 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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19
indictment
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| n.起诉；诉状 | |
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20
multiplication
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| n.增加，增多，倍增；增殖，繁殖；乘法 | |
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21
tampering
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| v.窜改( tamper的现在分词 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄 | |
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22
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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23
scholastic
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| adj.学校的，学院的，学术上的 | |
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incompetent
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| adj.无能力的，不能胜任的 | |
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pros
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| abbr.prosecuting 起诉；prosecutor 起诉人；professionals 自由职业者；proscenium （舞台）前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 )；赞成的理由；抵偿物；交换物 | |
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athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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participation
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| n.参与，参加，分享 | |
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systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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perpetuate
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| v.使永存，使永记不忘 | |
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hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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mythical
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| adj.神话的；虚构的；想像的 | |
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spartan
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| adj.简朴的，刻苦的；n.斯巴达；斯巴达式的人 | |
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intestine
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| adj.内部的；国内的；n.肠 | |
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commotions
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| n.混乱，喧闹，骚动( commotion的名词复数 ) | |
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pacified
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| 使（某人）安静( pacify的过去式和过去分词 )； 息怒； 抚慰； 在（有战争的地区、国家等）实现和平 | |
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pestilence
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| n.瘟疫 | |
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racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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javelin
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| n.标枪，投枪 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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40
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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41
discredit
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| vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑 | |
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inflates
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| v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的第三人称单数 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨 | |
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maxim
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| n.格言，箴言 | |
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idol
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| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
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mediocre
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| adj.平常的，普通的 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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47
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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48
vindication
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| n.洗冤，证实 | |
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49
perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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50
renowned
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| adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的 | |
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51
bullies
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| n.欺凌弱小者, 开球 vt.恐吓, 威胁, 欺负 | |
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52
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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53
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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54
ignominiously
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| adv.耻辱地，屈辱地，丢脸地 | |
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55
precipitate
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| adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物 | |
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56
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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57
manliness
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| 刚毅 | |
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58
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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61
aspire
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| vi.(to，after)渴望，追求，有志于 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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proficient
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| adj.熟练的，精通的；n.能手，专家 | |
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brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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66
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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complicates
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| 使复杂化( complicate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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devious
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| adj.不坦率的，狡猾的；迂回的，曲折的 | |
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questionable
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| adj.可疑的，有问题的 | |
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persistently
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| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
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71
disintegrate
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| v.瓦解，解体，（使）碎裂，（使）粉碎 | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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73
forfeit
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| vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物 | |
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zealous
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| adj.狂热的，热心的 | |
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75
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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abolition
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| n.废除，取消 | |
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77
capers
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| n.开玩笑( caper的名词复数 )；刺山柑v.跳跃，雀跃( caper的第三人称单数 ) | |
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lien
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| n.扣押权，留置权 | |
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79
repealed
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| 撤销，废除( repeal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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80
collateral
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| adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品 | |
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81
prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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82
implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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83
prospective
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| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
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84
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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85
enactment
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| n.演出，担任…角色；制订，通过 | |
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86
expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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statute
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| n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例 | |
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dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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improvidence
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| n.目光短浅 | |
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90
illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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91
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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subscription
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| n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方） | |
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advertising
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| n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的 | |
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