Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1860-11-14
November.

'Tis easy to resign toilsom place,
But not to manage leisure with grace;
Absence Of occupation is not rest, % .il
mind quite vacant is q mind distressed
The veteran steed, his task excused at length,
In Kind compassion Of his failing strength,
And turned into the park or mead to Craze,
Exempt from future service oil his days,
There feels pleasure perfect in its kind,
Ranges at liberty and snufs the wind
But when his lord would quit the busy road,
To taste joy like that he had bestowed,
He proves less happy than his favored brute,
life OF easca difficult pursuit.
The only period of rest in the circle OF
the farmers year is now at hand /; period
OF enjoyment, but also one of peril The
business of cultivation--the appropriate
occupation Of the husbandman done.
He has passed through the pressing cares
OF seed time and tillage, the joys of the
early and latter harvests, and has wel>
coined the last Of his crops 10 the barn
and the granary. His store-houses are
full, and the focks and herds now live
upon the accumulated provisions oc the
summer. The last of the flowers has
faded, and the frosts have turned field
ard forest to russet brown. The leaves
that put on such gorgeous coloring in
October, are now either changed to n
sombre hue, or fallen, leaving the forest
bare and desolate. The skies have lost
the roseate hue of summer. and begin to
look chill and wintry. The weather is
fitiul, and every sunny day is succeeded
by cloud and storm.
In the olden time farmers accomplished
very little after the potatoes and turnips
were gathered, and the cider was made.
until the opening of the Spring. At
home, the cider barrel had its potent
temptations, and abroad, the village tay-
ern and grocery held out their allurements
to drinking and dissipation. The country
was new, tho soil fertile, and the farmer
did not feel the necessity Of those i'm
provements which prepare the way for
successful cultivation. Draining had haI d.
ly been heard of, and the muck mines had
not been opened. He fed his cattle, pre-.
pared his fuel for the winter fire, mark eted
his crops, and the rest of his time ran to
waste. At this season he visited his
} friends, enjoyed their hospitalities, and
too often contracted their drinking habits
and prepared the way for debauchery and
ruin. 1t was the most perilous period OF
the year, because he had not learned how
10 uIpTONe itS leisure.
: We are so constituted that we canno.
enjoy idleness. This may satisfy the toll,
worn brute, rs he quits the yoke or the
: cart, and regales himself in fat pastures
He knows nothing better than the gratifi
cation of his appetite for food. But man
cannot be satisfied while the best part o
him, that which constitutes his manhood
, lies waste. The mind must have occupa,
tion Of some kind, and the release from the
more pressing cares of cultivation at this
season, should only induce higher activ'
! ity Of the mind.
1t is indeed well to employ portion oi
this leisure in visiting friends and rela.
; tives, and in keeping alive the sympathies
and associations of earlier years. Some
are so situated in their business, that this
= is the only time when they can return to
J the old homestead, to look again upon the
familiar scenes of childhood, and 10
receive words of blessing from father and
mother. These social reunions at the
annual Thanksgiving are worth all they
cost, aud more. There is reviving in
fluence in going back again to the old
hearth-stone of childhood's home; the old
vel. and its oaken bucket, the ancestral
trees gathering new glory with their in
J creasing years. the garden, the orchard
: the fields, the forests where our eyes first
opened upon the world. The farmer ls
mado better citizen and better man by
} thus cultivating his social nature, and
; keeping alive the ties that bind him to his
. kindred
, These annual visits are also profitable
! for his business, as they afford opportuni
ties for observation, Farming is nc
, longer a stereotyred business. One car
hardly visit the most limited and obscure
rural district without seeing abundant
evidence that the leaven of new ideas is al
| work. The tillers OF the soil are getting
out of the old tracks Of the fathers, aud
are beginning to ,se mind in their hus.
bandry The barn is no moro a mere de
pository of the harvests Of the field. 1t !:
; manufactory of fertilizers, the one thine
needful in profitable tillage. II is the
: great hinge on which everything in the
, operations Of the year turns. Barns ars
, now a profitable study, to learn hcw
, practical farmers eontriye to shelter al
D their cattle, and to mako the most of theii
I manure. The plow has become too
. constructed upon scientific principles
, turning the furrow with the least expen
, diture of strength, and making it broad
: or narrow, deep or shallow, and laying tn,
Q slice fat or at a sharp angle with the sur
: face Of the field, at the will of the plow
I man. Tools have become prime neces
. sity of economical cultivation, and tb,
s strength of the OK and the horse is NOR,
: and more taking the place OF human
. sinews. No man can observe the dteren
n nostbods NJ Ifsrn,efa IN, their busi ness