Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1869-04-01
Ssl:tt DDoetrp, .
THE IDEAL FARMER AND
HIS WIFE.

The American Farmer, son Of the Sun
| Bronzsd with glow from it's glory won;
As free as the air it is heaven to inhale,
And strong as the steeds Of the prairie gale;
| Lord Of his castle and broad domain,
The herd his vassals, the flock his train,
And rich in the coin his granaries hoard,
He sits at the head Of his bountiful board,
And laughs at the crowded world afar,
Buzzing with ccaseless commercial war.
Behold him at morn his polished plow
| Traces dark lines with his silver PROV,
| Wri'ing the verse in alluvial mould
The summer shall print in letters Of gold,
And set to the t,ill Of the orioles tune.
| Behold him at rest in the laaguid noon,
Stretched on We grass and cooled BY the
breeze,
His kingly pavilion the glistening trees
Behold him at eve;-the evening his own,
Home.joys are his that to few are known;
lhe russet is brought from his last year 8
store;
His fruity>faced children play on the floor,
And his wife her cheek like orchard bloom,
Is the crown, the queen, Of .he cheerful room
| That mine of riches-that farmers wife
kow busy and happy and proud her lire!
From her pans she ''psns out" her rolls Of
gold,
And her eggs are all nest>eggs Of wealth uu-
told;
It tries not her patience to try out her lard,
And her lot, like her bread, 10 never hard,
she knlts her stockings, but never her brows,
Gives the fowls a dressing but no, her 81 use.
Oh, busy and happy and proud the life
The farmer lives and the farmers wife.
ls the picture too fair, too rosy its glow?
Tell us, thou husba adnan, John or Joel
What are thy musings the livelong day,
Or home returned in the twilight grayo
What honest pride, what bliss Of heaith,-
Of peace, content, what conscious wealth?
What converse with Nature what hidden lore,
Wiser than books, is it thine 70 explore?
What science untsught, in schools unh.ard,
VI soil and plant, or Of beast and bird?
John-who is one Of the rsrer kind,
sunny in heart and searching of mind,
Replies in few words: "Ah, well do know
Lifes flowers and briers commingline grow,
And man may pluck, il he 90 desires,
The flowers alone, or only the briers.
Que thorn there i'll feel it in truth
The lack Of studious habit in youth
Thus worthy John. Is he rights it so9
Come, give us thy mind, thou frequent Joe.
"Wal. now, | guess" Joe answering says,
IA ruther hard time on I the farmei bez;
There's nuthin TO think on but work aud eat.
And arter his chores man is dead beat;
An there's oilers bad luck feller frets,
High price an low price, notos an debts,
An breachy critters an losin boss,
An somehow the gain 8 no more'n the lose.
was down with the rheumatic May an June,
An the seed want sown the right o the moon
The Sleeps got foot>rot an market is down,
An wheat l kept hopin prices come 'roun;
An wife she is kind o droopin jest now.
An the chil'en took sick, cant tell how;
I'm sar'ain We gin EN- plenty O. pills,
But bilious fever brings doctors bills,
NAi, honest folks-;hey must oilers work;
Its only your village sharpers csa shirk."
Thus Joe discourses: alas how the real
Kicks over the pail Of the creamy ideal.
II Joe were honest there still would be
Some milk remaining for poetry's tea.
But he keeps, It's sad, the s.rippings apart
When he vends his milk by the pint or quart
There's q ,allow- faced hue in his butter and
lard,
And his four-foot wood is cut-by the yard.
Is ii then but dream-tl,is SON of the soil,
Noble and wise in his primitive toll?
Hail, these fair hails'-ye teachers, hail!
He"ce shall 60 forth no sitters pale,
Brooding fine words, and those of an age
That has reached the hydrosulphuric stage,
A diction not freshened by daily resort
Direct to the sea side of Nature and Art.
None shall go hence, who, when they are
through
At loss wl,a, the Lori has formed them to do
Save longer 10 paddi. in learnings pool,
Must enter perfsrce professional school.
But huher shall com and hence shall 20
Youth who their earnest work shall know
The artisans son and the farmers boy,
Whose fathers calling is honor and joy.
In mind and muscle strong and skilled,
BY them our iieal shall gradually be filed
The woolmau name be = name Of pride,
BY knowle &c aud character glori6ed.
True, from this vine in its verdant June,
Some common branches We may not prune.
Our mother tongue will be valued here.
And grandmother (gram- mari held very dear.
J, far as to teach that man is cl6wn
v no bitches one horse to plural noun;
Is Teuton profane with too many . "got;
Avows he's q topper in saying IL sot,'
Is - seitin'-what? ?-trsps when he sits
And that verbal murder, N done il, !" commits
For the rest We may hope that here the young
Will begin, not "commence," the Saxon tongue;
And that Mother Nature will find place
Az broad aud fair ~ her beaming face
Will be seated near the sovereign throue
Which He-the Groat Teacher-may claim
alone.
The ticking pendulum Of rhyme.
Measures too soon my share OF time:
The prosy people-let them dow
Like hour glass sand-as dry and SLOW;
My .winding up shall not be found
4 clock that runs the more tbs wound.
Would there we're time the life to trace
One, complete, who leaves this place
To SOW his knowledge with his seed,
Aud reap far more than mortal me ed.
What il his corn be not Increased?
He is = mind-A man--st least,-
Not q machine like that he rides.
Nor like the plodding horse he guides.
He reads in plant and soil and sun
Wonders undreamed by Solomon.
Or might VIC track his after course
Who pondcrs here the laws Of Force.
He sees in every breath Of steam
Shot from yon mill, q cloudy stream,
A mammoth Iowcr dissolved in air,
lie builds q township laundry there,
Aud frees the world-its hapless wife
From bondage to the plague of life.
But who the happy change may guess
When woman takes her proud B. So
Smile not She is in natures plan
Chemist and Doctor to every man.
Shall she. through scientific lack
Shall she-the duck-be bit y quack?
Doubt not! Ger all her daily toll
Science shall pour it's wine and oil
The skill that smoothes her weary way,
The light Of thoughts perpetual play;
This and religion are the wine
Shall make her lowly life divine.
Far East. convent, fair and new,
Looks of on Lake Cayuga's blue;
No cross surmounts its ample wallis,
No nictnrc.l aaint adarnA ifa halls.