The emigrant aid journal of Minnesota. [volume] (Nininger City, Minn. Terr. [i.e. Minn.]) 1856-1858, 1858-03-31
Written for the Emigrant Aid Journal.
A Farmers Life.
"a farmers life is the life for me
own I love it dearly,
And every season full Of glee

"A AuC . AAV IA - adN ~ INV
s.. own I love it dearly,
And every season full Of glee
I'll take its labor cheerily."
Who would not DO a farmer? Where, in the wide
world is there a calling so noble as the tilling of the
soil-or where a class of people so honest, industrious,
and independent as the farmers? True, the husband
man is involved in labor and toll of no ordinary kind,
yet, with good health, which is almost invariably hs, he
is able to accomplish a vast amount of labor with CON.
parative ease. And then with what a keen appetite
does he rclisl, the creature comforts of life, which no
man has in greater. abundance than he, and which he
himself produces from the soil. Nor is this all, con-
sidcred in a moral point Of view, from the very nature
Of things, the farmer possesses many advantages over
other classes. While they, perhaps, are spending their
leisure in idleness or dcbauchery-I speak here more
particularly Of the thousands of young men who swarm
our large towns, many of whom have fed from the
country to escape the pollution of a contact with mother
earth-Gcd pity them ,)-he, the farmer, usually I'M
proves the time in acquiring useful knowledge his
family and farm arc all the world to him, and he ID not
tempted to spend his evenings at the grog shop or gamb-
ling saloon his home is generally far removed from
the crowded alleys of a city, and the morals OF his
children, if he has any, are not exposed to the contain
in ating influence of a densely populated town.
The illustrious Washington was a farmer as we'll as
a soldier and q statesman, and while engaged in the
arduous duties of the camp, formed plans for the man
aeement of the farm, and transmitted them to his over
seer every week. He did not look upon agriculture as
a mean or servile employment, as a communication to
his fellow countrymen near the close of his life will
testify. He says, In my opinion agriculture is the
most healthful, the most useful, and the most noble
employment Of man. What need We more. The i'm
portance of husbandry to all the substantial interests
of the human race is SO fully recognized and established
| that it is almost unnecessary for me to enlarge here on
the attention to which it is entitled or to insist on the
great advantages which those nations enjoy, by whom
it is most successfully practiced. Some of the greatest
minds the world ever produced have assigned to Agri-
culture 9 superiority over every other art, and a pre-
| eminence over every other mechanical trade; while it
has been seen that individuals, even of elevated rank or
station, may engage in the cultivation OF the soil with
out descending from their high position. ),
Farmers of Dakota County, for what object, then,
may I ask, have we organized au Agricultural Society,
but for the promotion of this glorious science !! Let
US, then, as Providence has assigned to US this, the
fairest portion of the Western Continent, assist in ex-
tending, by every means IN our power, the bounds OF
Agricultural science for should we prove rccreant to
our profession, depend upon it tho loss Of wealth will
come upon US aud what is worse, shame will cover
our faces when We hear Of the success Of agriculture in
other parts of our beloved Minnesota. Up then, broth
ers, to the work the EM1aRANT. AID JOURNAL, the
best paper in the county, and Que Of the best in the
State, is hereafter to be our medium for the interchange
Of thought and sentiments. Let us be communicative
upon those subjects which so intimately concern our
growth and prosperity, and we soon may become second
to no county in the State in point of Agricultural
wealth and knowledge. Though it is our province to
guide the pillow, it is not exclusively SO; VIC may some
times be permitted to guide the pen, and though our
ideas may appear crude and ~ill-shaped when committed
to paper, may possess a gem of the FIRST water. No
matter if we do not express our ideas in aowery style,
the facts of the case are of more importance, and if the
Editor is ashamed to publish our articles in their crude
state, let him dress up our ideas to suit himself, he has
nothing else to do-ha-ha-ha.
Come on, then, who volunteers for the spring cam
paign P. F. CoUNTRYMAN.
Nin;uvc~. March 9th. 1853. r,-