Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1869-05-07
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TIE oLpPeNNsYGvANIA rARmER.
BY BAYARD TAYLOR.

nrSt To- day.
Aud Reuben ploughs the bill for eorui
thought il would be tough,
But now / see the burrows turned, guess its
dry enough.
don't halflive penned up in DOORS stoves
not Ike he sun,
When I can't see how things 90 on, / fear
they're badly done;
might have farmed ulI now, think-one's
family is SO queer
As if a man can't oversee who's in bis eigh-
teth year
Father, mind, was eigh,y-fve before he gave
up hisi
Bat be was dim o sight, and crippled with
the rheumatic.
I followed in the old, steady way, SO he was
satisfied;
But Reuben likes new tangled things and
ways l can abide.
I'm glad built this southern porch; any chair
seems easier here:
I haven't seen as fue spring this five and
twenty year
And how the time goes round so quick "a
week, would have sworn,
Since they were husking on the fat, and now
they plough for corn
When was young, time had for me lazy
OK pace,
But now it's Ike blooded horse, that means
10 win the race.
And yeti can't fill out my days, tire my
self with naugbt;
ia rather use Eay legs and hands than plague
my head with thought.
There's Marshall, too, see from here, he
and his boys begin.
Why don't they take the lower field that one
is poor aud thin.
4 coat of lime it ought to have, but they're
doless set.
They think swamp mud's as good, but We shall
see what corn they get!
Across the level, Browns new place begins to
make q show.
thought he'd have to wait for trees, but,
bless me, how they grow
They say it's fue-two acres 6lled with ever
greens and things;
Butso much land it worries me, for not
cent it brings
He has the right, don't deny, please him
self that way,
But tbs bad example set, and leads young
folks astray;
BoOk-learring gets the upper hand and work
And they that come long after US will find
things gone to wreck.
Now Reubens on the hitber side, his team
comes back again
know how deep he sets the share, see the
horses strain:
I had the fields SO clean Of stones, but he
mus; plough so deep.
He'll have it ike turnpike soon, aud scarce
ly fit for sheep.
Iffather lived, I'd Ike to know what he would
say to these
New notions Of the younger men, who farm
by chemistries
There's different stock and other grass;
there patent plough and cart
Five hundred dollars for bull it would have
broke bis heart.
The naples mast be putting out; ; 1 see some
thing red
Down youder where the clearing laps across
the meadows head.
Swamp cabbage grows beside the run, the
green is good to see,
But wheats the color, after ali, that cheers
and Evsns me.
They think have an easy time, no need 10
worry now
Sit in the porch all day and watch them NOV,
and SOW, and plough;
Sleep in the summer in the shade, in winter
in the sun
I'd rather do the thing myself, and know just
how its done
WE'LL suppose In old, and yet It's not so
long ago
When Reuben spread the swarth to dry, and
Jesse learned to NOV,
And William raked, and Israel hoed, and Jo-
seph pitched with me;
But such man as was then my boys viii
never be-
l don't mind William hankeriug for lectures
and for books;
He never had a farming naek-you'd see it
in his looks;
But handsome is that handsome does, and he
is vel to do;
Twould ease my mind if could say the name
Of Jesse, too.
There's one black sheep in every flock, so
there must be in mine.
But was wrong that second time his bond to
undersign;
It's less than what his share viii be-but
there's the interest
In ten years more l might have had two thou
SAND 10 invest.
There's no use thinking oft now, aud yet it
makes me sore;
The'way I've shaved and saved, ough, to
count little more.
l never lost foot Of land, and that's com
fort sure,
And if they do not cali me rich, they cannot
call me poor.
Wen, well ten Thousand times I've thought
the thiPgs m thinking now.
I've thought them in the harvest field and in
the clover nov;
and sometimes 1 get 6raa " EAem, and wish /
"a s0methlng new
But this is all I've seen and know; so what's
!