The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1869-08-31
DO Farmers Work Too Much 2

DO Farmers Work Too Much
1t is asserted that they do. We do
not believe it. Undoubtedly some do;
but not the mass of farmers. The
troubles is, they do not know when and
how to play. There is no systematic
recreation. We shall be told that farm
ing is not like other businessmen can
not give time to recreation at Will. NO,
not always at the same home or the
same day in the week But what is re-
creationi Change of employment. 1t
is not idleness. And the farmers hours
of recreation should be as profitable to
him, even in a pecuniary sense, as his
hours of labor. If a man ceases to work
with his muscles, he must accomplish
more with his mind. If the brain is not
active and sagacious, systematic and
creative, the body must do what other
brains may devise. So one may do too
much work with the body and not
enough with the mind, and rice Cersa
American farmers do not work too
much. They may work too much IN
wrong way and too little in the right
way. But there is limit to mems
strength; and while individuals may
overdo with their minds or with their
muscles for time, the aggregate work
they accomplish Is never too great.
Some men have way Of eXhausting
their strength by concentrated aud
great effort; others husband their
strength and live longer. TheIe may
be, however, no difference in the ag
gregate amount accomplished b. these
men during their respective lives.
As rale, men do the kind of work
they are best qualified to do, and in the
way they can best accomplish 1t with
their capacity and knowledge. John
Brown wants ditch dug, and digs the
ditch himself. He has no idea of any
easier mode; and if one were pointed
out TO hin he would not see it. So he
plods on in his way, happy and content
ed, working out his work. But ambI-
tious, go.ahead John Smith wants q
ditch of the same length and depth dug
He don't go at it with his pick and
shovel. With team, surface and subsOll
pillow. he throws out the bulk of the
dirt in half the time, and gets his ditch
done before his ncighbor Brown has
fatty commenced. But he works as
hard His mental powers and physical
vitality are accomplishing more in u
given llllt anu
more rapidly than Browns. Aud yet
nine. tenths of his unobservant neigh
bors will call Brown the hard working
man and Smith the fellow who takes
things easy"
We demur, therefore at the assertion
that farmers do too much work. We
think, however, that if the next gener-
alton of young farmers are taught ho'o
to work, they will accomplish vastly
more in given time and with the same
expenditure of vital power, than any
generation which has preceded them.
And when farm labor ceases TO be
burthen because it is performed con
dnOre, as an enthusiastic artist paints a
picture-when men tiud in their VEGA
ton a constant and glorious cOmpensa-
ton per Sc, regardless of ultimate re-
suits, far more will be accomplished,
with far less wear and tear 10 the phys
ical and mental organisms of farmers,
The trouble is, none of us know well
enoBgh how to work aad when, nor
when and how to play. Oar work is too
much a burthen TO rs and not enough a
pleasure. Our recreatiODs are not
natural and habitual, but artificial and
constrained. We make them hard work
and instead of being rested and refresh
ed We ale exhausted and disgusted by
them, and return to duty unimproved
and unbenehted.-Rur Near Yorker.