The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1859-08-17
Rural life.


perhaps, more happiness, usefulness, ana
contentment than among any other class oi
people Many are unaware of this fact,
and often the liller of the soil feels discon-
tented with his calling, and envies the lot
of others whom he deems more fortunate
in the choice OF an occupation than himself.
But he who entertaias this opinion is unac-
quainted with the high station to which he
has been called. Man was appointed to it
before he was compelled TO roam on &C.
count of sin /; for when the farmer of the
universe first fashioned this beautious world
and everything therein, according to mis- di-
vine pleasure and pronounced 1t good, he
created man in the image and after the
Likeness o! himself, and placed him in the
delightful garden of Eden "to dress it and
keep it,"
Ii we would seek for the nearest approach
10 that Eden from which man was compell.
ed, where would we find it sooner than in
rural site, the abode of some peaceful and
happy farmer, whose domain is his empire,
and whose greatest pleasure is the right
cultivation OF his fields and the embellish-
men. or his home. Go to yonder cottage,
surrounded by trees planted either for utili-
ty or ornament, and there you behold the
abode of Industry-the home of Cheerful.
ness and Contentment. Here we see marks
oil thrift and prosperiy-always the result
oil labor properly directed and cheerfully
performed. He rises with the dawn, and,
as he walks over his fields smiling with
beauty and presenting the appearance of a
rich and bountiful harvest, sees more %
raise his thoughts and feelings, and TO give
him just conception of Nature and her
beauty. than he who, living in the city and
shut in by human crowds, would see in a
whole life time, did he always remain pent
up in prison. He sees the glorious sunris.
ins-the innumerable diamonds of dew
scattered upon every blade of grass, spark.
ling amid his glittering rays-the fields
clothed with their mantles of verdure, the
meadows covered with the bussoming clo-
ver-all about are ''colors that please and
charm the eye," and upon his ear falls the
sweet music of the songsters issuing forth
in the joyful notes. No other occupation is
better adapted to him who is the lover or
student of nature. His life is with her sur.
rounded on every side by her works, from
which he may read instruction in every OBJ
ject.
But the farmers life is one of incessaIt
toll and labor. Each hand is employed
idleness finds no home here. From one
season to another new labors present them.
selves, from which there is no respite but
from being habituated to them, he learns
to love them, SO that instead of their being
task, they become pleasure. He fol-
lows the plow behind his "smoking teamn
round as the sun ascends the heavens and
moves on until il sinks behind the western
horizon. Through the long and sulry days
OF harvest he swings the glittering scythe,
and in the autumn time husks the yellow
corn.
In every age the farm has been the birth
place, or the farmers life the chosen oc-
cupation of men who have reached the
eminence of distinction. Cincinnattus, the
savior, at one time, Of the Roman Common
wealth, sighed TO leave his little fields for
the dictatorship of the "Mistress of the
World" Washington, after fighting with
The enemies OF his country and gaining its
freedom-after presiding for eight years as
its Chief Magistrate. retired to his peaceful
farm home, and there passed the remainder
of his days. it ever has been "the nursery
OF great men," Orators and statesmen,
poets and scholars, have had their early
training in its school.