Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1860-02-04
ddOrtestet Qailp Syn.
HOW THE FARM IS DEpopULATED


where there has been no increase Of nonnIo'
uon or wealth for the last fifty years. In some
places there has been decrease the sanctpsrv
is closed, the school house is not opened ey-
cept In Winter, and everything wears the air
OF desolation. The farm houses onIv show
ghmpses OF the coat of paint that was put ON
Al the last generation, and the barns reveal
eieH scahty stores and diminished stock, through
many gaping hole and unhingsd door The
bucket Is not only moss grown, but leaky. the
curp Is shattered, and the well sweep is decay
ing Inc garden fence is mended with BRUSH
Dllers every year usurp a wider domain, under
tne wall, and the weeds increase in variety and
IuXurance as useful plants go out The boys
anu girls, long before they reach their MAORI
~ desert the homestead in quest of fortune in
the CITY or village, upon the prairie or on the
sea- Ihls very common fact is little under
stood in the region where it more frequently
occurs, and the parents are not able to conceal
their establishment when they cannot keen a
single child at homo to take care of them in
their old age. My lantern must throw A
little light upon the dark spot in farm life.
Joe Sedgewlek lives i'll one of these blighted
nelghborhoods, and is now with his wifi. hard
on upon seventy years of age They have
managed to raise up family of seven children.
1our sons and three daughters not one of
"nol Is LETT with them, or settled in their
nelgnDorhood. A grandson born and bred in
tue Guy with the prospect of full possession of
the larm IN no distant day, has been induced
10 take up his abode with the old folks, and
smooth their pathway to the grave.
me senior Sedgewick, has always been an
INDUSTRIOUS man, having ceen educated in that
sehool OF morals which teaches that the chief
END OF man is work. His farm was not paid
Ior, anu he felt 1t was incumbent upon him to
take no rest or recreation until that honorable
object was accomplished. He worked carly
and late at his business, hiring but little labor,
and that only in the summer. He was up at
four in the morning, the year round, taking
care OF cattle, tattening swine, carting wood,
plowlng, planting, moving, and gathering in
the harvests.
AS soon as young Joe was big enough to
mount horse, he was put on old Dobbin to
pillow out the corn for hoeing. This was very
entertaining for bright little boy of six years,
for while, and he almost felt like man as
the light pull of the rein guided the horse to
the right or left, according to his will. But as
the long, hot days Of June came on, Joe began
to get tired before noon and sometimes the
little fellow got asleep in his saddle. For this
he was scolded, and sometimes pelted with
SOD. His legs ached at the unequal motion of
the morse, and the. jerking of the pillow, and it
seemed TO hlm that the corn rows grew longer
every day that he rode. He was put into the
held to plant and hoe as soon as he had
strength tor the work. His childhood ended
when he was about ten years of age, and he
never had any youth. The senior Sedgewick
did not believe in play for his boys; could not
conceive that rational being had any strength
to waste In such nonsense, when work would
BRING money. This could not, however, be
wholly prevented. While the boy was at
school, he INDUCED in the sports of the play
ground, ball, goal, hideand-seek, sliding, and
skating. This was such contrast to the all
work life of the farm, that Joe grew
fond of his books. The school house
was sort of place to him, associat-
ed with bright faces, sunny smiles, and the
gladstone shouts of children. twas sad day
to him, when the winter school closed, and he
began the Spring work. For eight long
months, there was to be no relaxation, no fish
ing, even ON rainy days, for his father had al
ways work for stormy weather, sometimes I'M
der cover, but quite as often in the soaking
rain. The lad did not murmur much at this,
for his father worked, and the hired men work
ed, and 1t seemed very manly for boy to do
likewise
But his boylsh nature craved occasional play.
days, something pleasant to look forward to-
when the hoe and the pillow might be forgotten
lie had learned to read, and got occasional
glimpses of the household. But his father did
not fancy the bookish tendencies of his boy,
and always contrived to keep him as busy as
possible Ill the evening, SO that he could not
read. Sometimes it was shelling corn, some
times it was churning or asserting potatoes.
But Joe, learning that this was not the settled
policy OF his father, contrived to get tired very
early evenings, and put off for bed, where the
tow wick candle lit up the forbidden pages,
and the boy refreshed his mind more than his
body with sleep.
by the time he was fifteen these stolen wat
ers were SO sweet, that he could no longer en-
dure the cherries, all work life of the farm
lie was SO much set upon books and an edu-
cation, that his father consented to his leaving
home for school. By dint of teaching and
hard struggling, he worked his way through
college, became lawyer, and rose to eminence
i'll his profession in the city.
The second son had few of the intellectual
tastes of the first, took naturally to work, and
was the special delight of the father. But he
was kept with tight rein, and knew as little
of play as his brother. He was disposed to
remain longer upon the farm and to make ina
provements that his father did not appreciate
He had taste for fine cattle and horses, and
always wanted the best calves saved for cows
and working oxen. But the butcher also want
ed the best calves, and the butchers purse
usually outweighed the boys arguments He
wanted the steers kept clean, and their horns
ornamented with brass knobs, to make them
look better, as well as to keep them from gor-
ing other animals. He wanted the fences kept
in good repair, the brush cleaned up under
the walls, the summer fuel cut and piled in
winter, and all things kept snug around the
farm and its buildings. But the father de-
spiscd these praiseworthy tastes in a boy,
laughed at him for his painstaking, and some
times scoldcd him for his waste of time upon
these unimportant matters. AT the age of
seventeen the boys trunk was packed for the
village where he had found place in a store,
and could keep things in order.
The younger sons, following the sisters, had
still more cultivated tastes as they grew up.
While the fathers views of farming remained
unchanged, his discipline had relaxed some
what and in the garden the children were per-
mitted to carry out their own plans, when it
could be done without expense New fruits
and vegetables were introduced without he
aid or sympathy. He never could be in
duced to plant an orchard, though he was as
fond OF fruit as auy member of his household.
He never gave any attention to the garden,
and the flower borders and strawberry beds,
the grade arbors, and the rose trellises of the
young folks, were his favorite objects of ridi-
cule. Ho despised everything like taste in the
garden or upon the farm, and in due time sue
ceeded in emptyng his house of his children
This work of depopulation is not confined to
the farm of Joseph Sedgewick. Ag-
ricutmist,
SEWARD AS A School TEAcHER.-The fol-
lowing advertisement, re-published without
CHARGE appeared in the Milledgeville, Ga,