Union County star and Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1859-1864, 1859-08-12

ought to be, or need be- Farmers are, at
this moment, more steadily and speedily
advancing to wealth, than auy other class
of citizens.
Whydoes produce command SO high hptice
why has it done so for years past! Not
because there is scarcity of good soil TO
cultivate. Not because there has been any
particular foreign demand. But simply
and alone for the reason that, from some
cause or other, whatever it may be, too
large a number of our citizens have had
their attention diverted from farming to
other pursuits. The number of farmers Is
not in due proportion to the population.
There may be growing disposition to
get on faster and easier than farm life can
promise Though it be true that it is a
healthy business, aud leads to sure inde-
pcudence, yet men grow by it, not in
haste, like the gourd, but gradually and
firmly, like the oak Nor does the Garth
yield its increase without "the sweat Of
the face" This is perhaps too much to
endure for such as regard idleness as bliss,
aud foppish indulgences as the height OF
gentlemanly dignity. Thus, some may be
allurcd away from pursuit, not the least
of whose rewards it is, that it gives health
and vigor, both of body aud mind, for the
toll which it demands and which, in a
pecuniary point of view, more than makes
up in certainty what it loses in speed.
Perhaps, too, part of the fault of the
unpcpulariiy Of farming may lie at the
docr Of farmers themselves. They are
sometimes blamed--how truly We leave it
to them to say-fOr being behind the age
in many respects for making themselves
too much Of slaves 10 their business, and
thus neglecting to cultivate, as they should,
social, intellectual and christian refine
ments. We see 10 reason for this being
SO. Amy farmer not too greedy for gain,
can command leisure, and has all the re-
sources for every kiud Of Improvement Of
himself and family, and to enable him to
enjoy all that is pleasant and desirable in
social life. Indeed: who does not know
many farmers who are in this respect beau
tifully at ease, giving themselves dignifed
leisure, and holding themselves ready at
all times to join in any enterprise of pub
lie character, and whose pride aud joy it
is to make their families aud homes mod
els of leisrcly comfort aud of social re
nNHment!
Mha.sver ground there may be for the
censure alluded to, sure We are that it does
BY no means properly apply 10 all, and
need necessarily apply to none. As s"God
made the country" lie has ul.u made all
its resources of such a character as to sub
serve the true social, mental, moral and
religious elevation of all whose taste or
circumstances may incline them to dwell!
amid rural scenes, and to engage in rural
pursuits.
As for ourselves, We often wonder what
there is in dusty streets, in dull, i'm
pure air, in hot brick walls, aud in all the
smotheriDg, swilling, swiudling and swea-
ring of cities to attract toward them.
How homeSick We often are for the fresh,
tree, green, glad and glorious country.
Do not say that it is because "Distance
lends enchantment to the view; J" for We
know better. We know all about the
country. There is not sight or sound,
thought or feeling peculiar to it, but 10.
we know it altogether. The virgin snow
Of winter, the swollen rivulets Of spring,
the first greenipg Of the sod and the mod
est peep of the early violet, the blooming
orchards of June, the red rosy clover
fields and the rich golden roll of the bar,
vest-and then the yellow autumn, with
its kindly fruits, the rattling of the nuts,
the friendly blush Of the ripe apple and
peach, and the gushing of the presses
these scenes as they pass before US through
the changing year, after them, and that
belongs to them, We know all well Were
We now on some of those hills from wEich
We often made our boyhood surveys, when
We could still s'dance to see rainbow in
the sky" aud when to our inexperienced
spirit there had as yet "no glory passed
away from earth," without the fear of
any kind of dignity before our eyes, how
would We swing our hat and give three
cheers for the country-three more for
the happy people who in it do abide-and
last, loudest three, for the blessed re-
membranes of country life which are still
flush in our hearts, and which We hope to
carry with US down to the grave-if not
TO call to mind in heaven!
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