Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1865-01-14
Farmers Department.
The Life of the Farmer.

hC AIAlC vi tilC al hlCls
From au address at The Annual Fair Of
the Agricultural Society at Green coun-
ty, Sept 80, 1864 by the Rev, Charles
Rockwell, D. D of Catskill, N. "
The highest hope and ambition of mul-
titudes Of those in large cities is that they
may live to see the line when they shall
have a home of their own in the country
If nothing more, at least
little barn, little farm,
A little horse TO till it;
pretty yard, pretty house,
A pretty wife to all it.
The farmer on the other hand, has no
such wish to crafty. From his own land
and dwelling he may ever freely gaze on
the broad and living page of nature, with
lessons of heavenly wisdom everywhere
around him. No close confinement OF
workship or of study to shut him in. No
thick dark clouds of city smoke and nox-
ious vapors overhapg and surround him
polluting the ar,and obscuring the bright
sunlight Of heaven. No lofty dwellings
with narrow streets hide from him the
fair face of nature around. No dust.la.
den, heated, sitting air Of busy, crowded
rooms weaken or exhaust him. No noisy
din of hammers, nor whirl of wheels and
spindles, confuses the brain, or browns
the voice of reflection within him. For
him, more than others, the sun shines, the
pure and healthful breezes blow, the night
dews fall, the rain decend ng from the
clouds feeds the mountain springs, and
sends the leaping rivulets to enrich the
plains below, soothing the spirit by their
gentle murmurs, of rousing to joyous effort
by their ceasless activity and motion =
For him the glittcring rain and dew drops
on leaf and plant and flower, like unnum-
bered gems of brightest radiance, dance
and tremble in the morning sunlight, as if
full Of life and joy. For him the brilliant
glories of the rainbow are painted, by the
hands Of G cd, on the misty curtains ofthe
evening sky. The joyous singing of the
birds of spring is his, For him the flow.
ers breathe their sweetest fragrance, and
the golden fruits Of autumn yield their
richest stores. For him the field, of sum
mer wave in graceful beauty beneath the
breath OF morn, and the rustling leaves of
autumn sing their plainive song of ruin
aud decay,
1t is further true that he who tills the
earth, as the minister of God, stands be.
tween his Maker and his fellow. men. to
convey to them the rich bounties of Proyi
deuce. Thus is he the priest at the altar
of nature, who receives and spreads vide
ly around him the gifts which God is ever
placing there. So too, should the constant
growth, and no less constant ruin and de-
ray which the farmer secs around hin.
lerd him deeply to feel that man is frail
and mortal, lowiy bending, and quickly
fastening 10 bis native dust We live on
the ruins of former generations, anG, like
the grass which whithers and the Aowe
which fade, shall soon be mingled with the
earth beneath US. Death is the price oil
life, and men and trees and plants moulder
aud decay, that other men and plants and
trees may live where they died.
Sin has brought US into sad communion
with the dust on which we tread, and the
monuments which mark our graves look
out upon the fields our hands have titled.
by war, famine. and pestilence, too, the
earth is thickly strewn and mingled with
the dust Of the dead, and the blood of the
fallen has enriched the soil of thousand
battles fields. Soon we, too, like those
who have gone before US, must mingle
with our native dust. The clods of the
valley will cover US, and those undyng
spirits which now give US life and motion
viii ascend to Aim who gave them. God
grant that in the Harvest Home of Hea.
ven, the sngel reaFers, as a shock of corn
10 its season, may ga.ber US in. and with
as, many whom we shall have turned un.
to righteousness for sure indeed in the
promise of God, that "What man SOW.
eth that shall he also reap )" that "He
that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing
precious seed, shall doubtless come again
with rejoicing, briugiug his sheaves with
him."
Es5- The embalmers at Washington
are doing thriving business. They are
very fastidious, however, as to the regu-