The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1853-02-15
for tbf 9armfrs
Fum the Soil of the SOUTH
Thoughts ON the Vocation OF the
Farmer.

y MEssRS. EDITORS IL our KNOWN lrieuuii-
s ness to the agriculturist, and your laudable
solicitude to promote his interest, have en-
boIdened me to send you a few remarks, writ
ten in such brief intervals of leisure as an ac-
five life on a plantation afforded | wish they
possessed some charms Of style to palliate the
want of method and clearness, but ] indulge
the hope that the reader will overlook faults
which are frankly confessed.
) 1t is not my purpose at present to descant
upon the different modes ofcultivationinv vogue,
NOR TO enumerate the implements daily inven-
i ted to simplify aud diminish labor, but to en-
deavor to the best of my ability to inspire 'e-
spect for agricultural pursuits, and to remove
the silly prejudices cherished against them. 1t
\ is prevalent notion in some quarters, thatthe
Mariner leads drudgng undignlfed, and dull
3 life; that the nature of his avocations utterly
disonalifes him for participation in the refined
pleasures Of social life and il he enters life as
q. man of any scientific or literary attainments
he 5unavoidably loses them, and sinks down into
acountry pumpkin. These notions have ntec.
ted the women, and in some cases lead to the
banishment of the domestic employments,
which once SO honorably distinguished our Ia
dies. The eyoung ladies are onl ambitious Of
forming connection, with resident, OF the
neiahboring city or town aud in pursuance
soffhis unwise resolution, refuse advantageous
connexions on account oftheir being farmers.
The son before he Ms. fairly, escaped from
eI6uts, begins to regard his farmer father as an
antedeluvain relic, and by the time he is eigh-
teen,r has resolved to enter upon the study Of a
profession. What are these consequences of
his fatuity! He has attempted to move the
world without having power commensurate
to the enterprise and made shameful and ig-.
nominous failure. He becomes drone in So
cie:y, consuming substance he does not
help to create, a tax to his friends and frequent
ly is so maddened by chagrin, that ne reck-1
lessIy p'unges into the most brutal dissipation
in search Of Lethe for his own reproaches.
So is condensed history of hundreds and thou
sands of young men, who, squandering the
patrimonial pittance left to them, in acquiring,
a profession, and in vainly waiting for business
ailyictims to dissipation in the prime manhood
from respectable position in society. Law
yers and doctors multiply so rapidly as to re-
mind one Of the wish Of Sir Thomas Browne,
that smen might procreate like trees" Must
a man betoug to one Of the learned pre- fessions
70 command respect For one, differ from
any such opinion. 49,
Is not the farmer more independent in the
true sense of the term thansal! other classes!
Is there anything in bis pursuits Incompatible,
with Ethe culture Of his minds He lives in
daily and hourly communion with nature, en-
lows unlimited opportunities of observation
and reflection, and may ramble at pleasure
among the beauties of animated nature. The
yernal bloom Of spring and the mellow aAiu-
once of autumn, dispose his mind to contem-
nlasion and lead him to look up to the Giver
nf every perfect gift" with heart melted with
cratitude. Nor is he precuded by his avoca.
t;ons from the improvement Of his mind by
r,adinc and study. There are moments when
reading stands to him in the stead of the bois-
,erous pabble of the bar.room, and the beas-
,;,I o,Gies of the brothcl When prevented
from stirring abroad, reading becomes solace
and amusement, instead of being resorted to
merely to kill time. These moments, rightly
imoroyed by judicious reading, will enable him
% accumulate stores Of information. The ant
L;,l is formed by successive accretons of the
miputest particles, end knowledge is gathered
the same way. Let us compare him with the
,,oroners of the learned professions that we
NAV reach just conclusion in reference to his
means of mental culture and capacity for hap
pness. =,
The physician stands so much by the couch
of sickness and behoIdS SO much suffering that
lis finer feelings are blunted and chilled. If
he is a man of proper feelings the conviction
of his inability to relieve the suffering of dis
ease. must harrow his soul. lie who hourly
witnesses so much suffering, is but too apt to
become cold in heart and callous in feeling
The lawyer is telescope to expose the de-
pravity of human nature. His ear is stunned
with tie confessions OF sLocS:rg crimes. The