The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Greetings to all in Western Illinois.
I'm a hopin all you'ns had good rain equipment last week to get from shelter to shelter.
Those that said, before the rains, that it would "polish the crops off" did not make it clear that they would be "polished" so thoroughly!
It has been said there never wuz a lane that didn't have a turnin''. (things will always change for better or worse).
Well just as some folks was start'n' on silage, "we got a real duck drownder" that put the cricks over their banks.
Record rainfall was recorded over the weekend, in many parts of the state.
Two weeks ago, those "worry warts with a propensity to borrow troubles, and a foggy crystal ball, was concern'n themselves about drought.
Now they is a try'n to find themselves high hip boots, a sump pump that works and a proper place to let things dry out.
Now, I knows there is no gain in advertisin' your troubles, because there ain't no market for'em" and compared to those along the river bottoms we uplanders don't have problems at all.
"You gotta take the fat with th' lean so I'll just follow ole Cornelius' advice when he sez, "Don't put up yer'' umbrella "fore it rains". (be positive in attitude).
But, I'm still reflect'n some on the complications of a muddy fall harvest.
I read an interesting email recently, sent by a friend entitled "Dark Tidings - A must read for all".
It gave me pause for reflection, so I'll pass it along to you as follows, just as I received it:
"Subject: Dark Tidings - A Must Read for All
A Chemistry professor in a large college had exchange students in the class.
One day in class, the Professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt.
The professor asked the young man what was the matter.
The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back.
He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist government.
In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question.
He asked, "Do you know how to catch wild pigs?"
The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said, this was no joke?"
"You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground.
The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn.
When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming.
When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence.
They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side.
The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat; you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.
Suddenly, the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught.
Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity".
The young man then told the professor, "That is exactly what he sees happening in America".
The government keeps pushing us toward socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops, welfare, medicine, drugs, etc. while we continually lose our freedoms...just a little at a time.
One should always remember: There is no such thing as a free lunch!
Also, a politician will never provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself, you see that all of this wonderful government "help' is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America; you might want to send this on to your friends.
If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life, then you will probably delete this email, but God help you when the gate slams shut!
In this "very important' election year, listen closely to what the candidates are promising you - just maybe you will be able to tell who is about to slam the gate on America.
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have."
-Thomas Jefferson