Litchfield enquirer., 1858-10-07
OCTOBER.

l EO. :sf7
 "Where once we dwelt our nameis heard no more,
 Children not thine have trod thy nursery floor; l And where the gardener Robin, day by day, | Drew me to school along the public way, 1 Delighted with my bapble coach, and wrapped | In scarlet mantle waim and velvet cap;
 Tis now become history little known,
 That once we called the pastoral house eur own 1 Short lived possession but the record fair That rAemory keeps of all thy ki6dn$s therel Still outlives1fnany storm thatrhas effaced
 thousand other themes less deeply traced" CONFER
 This sketch of his early home, and his child sh days, which the poet gives us in his Lines to his Mothers Picture" is far more true of American than of English rural homes. What is there the exception, is here the general rule. Probably not one farm home in a hundred is occupied by the same family that dwelt there hundred years ago. There the homestead descends from father to son for many genera tions. Here the owner of a rural home sells out to the first good purchaser that offers, even though he may have inherited it from his father. His children have no strong local at tachmelts, and turn to new regions and new occupations with few regrets.
 In our examination of the causes which un- derlie the depopulation of the farm, we advert ed to the glori6cation of muscle over mind and heart, to the neglect Of all esthetic cultivation upon the farm, and ill the home. To theseywe must add the treatlnent of wives and mot hers upon thcsfarm
 l We do not hesitate to say, that under the parts of our country, woman's lot is 8 hard ments of human industry. As a rule, there is %l,. # flee of maternity, and of its holy cares. There is not that tender treatment, that kind coi,sid- eration, that belongs to the collaborating and l the chiId-trainng woman. The farmer, too Qten, falls below his own standard ofindul- geuce allowed to the females of his focks and herds. These are replenisled by animals dis missed from labor for weeks or months, or even ! kept solely for no other than breeding and rearing purposes They are and handled with extra care. How often d6es all the care feed, and milk of thoroughbred Durham or Devon, with the extra milk of a second moth- CT, go to tue arshment.of single calsA 1t, is reward enough for the services of the moth CT, if he can get what he desires in her off spring He knows that it is only by this care ful attention that he can keep up the stock of his domestic animals to thelr highest excel lence. He makes any sacrifice of immediate profit necessary to accomplish this purpose.
 But he does not show the same good sense and tenderness in his domestic arrangements The tolls of a house-keeper, and often those of ant mother, up to the period of confinement, and are often resumed long before the system has time to recover it's full strength There is ,,1 1rsl system betore aud after she becomes mother. or of the still greater care that comes upon her, as the educator of immortal beings There is too often q penurious planning to make the most of her services in the household, and her muscles are almost literally coined into gol& ] She occupies more laborous position than that of the wives of mechanics aud merchants, of the same social standing. The carpenter does not expect his wife to have any share in his business tolls, or to contribute directly to the income that supports the family. It is 1 enough that she is the mother of his children, and that she has the general oversight of the affairs of his household But the farmers Wife is expected to contribute in many ways to the | income of the establishment. She must see to the cheese and the butter, the poultry aud the garden, and not unfrequently to the marketing. She is overborne with these multiplied labors, and lite becomes scene of incessant drudging.
 The daughters, coming up to womanhood under these influences cannot fail to be repel- led from farm life. They have been to school, it may be, and mingled somewhat in society. | They have visited in the neighboring village, or city, and appreciate the blessings which their city cousins enjoy They cannot fail to draw unfaverabe contrasts, between their own homes aud those of the mechanic and mefc6- ant. When the young farmer comes wooing, they remember their toil-wCrn mother, her hands hardened by menial labor, and her form pre- maturely bent by life's burdens, and do not fla vor his addresses. They know that the VOW that binds them to a farmers home, is very serious affair. Love dies under such contem- plationS, and it is only as hast resort, and with the perils of single lot ill life before them, that they will continue iu the lot to which they have been born and bred.
 Another of the repulsive features of the far mer's life is its solitariness. Man is essential ] ly social being, and the frequent interchange 1 of thought and feeling with his fellows is es- sential to the healthful development of his fac uties and his happiness. Those settlements in New England. aud at the West, that were originally made in large bodies are at this day the most advanced in social culture, and in all the conyenlences and embellishments of civili- zed life. But these were the exceptions in the mode of settlement in this country. As rule, the irst emgrant went out alone, or, at most, with but few companions, to separate at the journeys end, to build each one his lonely log cabin in the wilderness. He was often miles from mil, froc. church or school. Years pas sed by without lis feeling the attractions of any social center, or knowing other companion ship than his own family, or the occasional ], stranger that lodged for night in his cabin.
 Now man living thus, whatever may have been his antecedents, becomes almost necessa-