{"id":109548,"date":"2019-10-18T12:01:42","date_gmt":"2019-10-18T16:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=109548"},"modified":"2019-10-18T12:01:42","modified_gmt":"2019-10-18T16:01:42","slug":"the-musings-of-a-simple-country-man-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=109548","title":{"rendered":"The Musings of A Simple Country Man"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Hobie Morris<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A Farmer: Coming Full\nCircle<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Hobie Morris<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat if they all quit?\nIt\u2019s hard work. It\u2019s repetitious and it\u2019s boring, and it\u2019s in the hot sun and\nthe cold rain.\u201d \u2013 author 2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

William Jennings Bryan, a century ago \u2013 said it best: \u201c\u2026burn\ndown your cities and leave our farms and your cities will spring up again as if\nby magic. But destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every\ncity in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our material success and alienation from the earth that\nsustains us, we have planted the seeds of our destruction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * * <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seventy-year-old Illinois farmer Norbert Cerny was once\nasked by a young doctor \u201cwhat is wrong with your hands?\u201d Taken aback Cerny\nreplied in his usual no nonsense way: \u201cWhy, nothing is wrong with them. I work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * * <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The earth received the old farmer on a good farming day. It\u2019s\nJuly. In the heat, all of life seems drowsing. High in the blue cloudless sky a\nhawk slowly circles. A nervous robin scolds from a tree branch. On a distant\nhillside, a tractor and baler are birthing bales of fragrant winnows of cured\nhay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a small, rural cemetery surrounded by an old, rusting\ncast iron picket fence. Shafts of sunlight filter through the overhead canopy\nof foliage from ancient maple trees planted in the cemetery a century ago. Weather-beaten\ngrave stones are scattered among these tree trunks \u2013 seemingly keeping each\nother company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The burial ceremony is simple and brief. A small group of\nmostly old friends and family move in closer as the perspiring pastor wipes his\nglasses and takes a small, well-used Bible from his pocket. Hands find hands. Tears\nare dabbed. The service ends. A wooden casket is lowered into the ground. The\nfamily pastor finishes with a prayer. Cemetery workers will shortly finish\nreplacing the earth. The mourners leave. The cemetery is empty and still. The\nwarm earth rightfully claims one of its own. The lifelong old farmer\u2019s powerful\nhands are still for the first time in his long life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tall, rugged and powerfully muscled, his hands \u2013 through\nwork \u2013 are vise-like strong. With them, he could hold, lift and do all the\ndaily work necessary in those years. His hands are far more than strength. His\nhandshake is his bond \u2013 his truthful reputation \u2013 his mark of honor. His bank\naccount is meager, but his wealth is in the golden vault of character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young very eligible farmer is widely considered a \u201cgood\ncatch\u201d by the young ladies in the community. One did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In time, two boys come into the family and grow up to be\nfarmers, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The years speed by with the inevitable changes. Streaks of\ngray come. Wrinkles become deeper and more numerous now. Passing time plays no\nfavorites. His hands change, too; fingers are bent, knobby and scarred. They\naren\u2019t as flexible as they once were, but the strength remains. He moves slower\nnow. His once tall, straight frame gradually bends into the increasingly strong\nwinds of aging. But he still rose early to do his share of daily chores. He is\na good farmer till the end. As a farmer, he knows the inevitability of life and\ndeath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the fiery red July sun slowly fades in the west, a tiny\nspeckled young robin falls from its nest. It squeaks and its tiny wings beat\nfrantically as the unfamiliar ground near the fresh grave approaches. Awkwardly\nit hops onto the fresh dirt. An adult quickly flies to its side, an insect in\nits beak for the fledgling. The circle of life continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His powerful hands help grow America into greatness. Never\nforget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hobie Morris is a\nBrookfield resident and simple country man.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Farmer: Coming Full Circle By Hobie Morris \u201cWhat if they all quit? It\u2019s hard work. It\u2019s repetitious and it\u2019s boring, and it\u2019s in the hot sun and the cold rain.\u201d \u2013 author 2019 William Jennings Bryan, a century ago \u2013 said it best: \u201c\u2026burn down your cities and leave our farms and your cities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23677,23808,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Morris-head-new.jpg?fit=226%2C287&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-suU","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=109548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=109548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=109548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=109548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}