Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1871-11-09
alisrfllanfpus.
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tIfat 4 fExnOwAboutF Farming.
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3 1ssstmT in an evil case. / have
Z .s19t,e san asSerthSa which / cannot
4EH6e FSSpQ1e herr TRACTION of city
TO soaHtf5 fp3ks and cOnfrasted the
spke afds fastic step -Of the lad
- - cify and made his for
- yfeinaturely bald, bent,
!; 4 b esEsi isges whofought it out
/ on i ne f6s's,E a;sE slowns comes Mr..
! l<f IL =. ms IsAsi sitlsfsF regiment of
4 5 s. ], aid gEssdfathers, all
straig ight,s slHSOth, hairy.
Iailft ~ IS OF Years EHdfand marsh
sslIs tht'ln b osIaasit Ion feIfiy ma ked as
eanAot answer iback. It is all
sfetkto bripg ON yQur bright-eyed,
aire7t ANCESTRY to compute and
q 4 5Eslr loss. but think of tne
sklt would come out of the
7e tear me ia pieces should go
lisI6rI Is.slasE 7 nj slaId acquain-
i'e S ;7iid saS d ;; ;6s sile 5ia other. Go
ssosk i5aI +. "a IL tEys< Greeley,
.il's ;sssaasl is,il ii,l. 81 ssssa.lls an
e 81 efjoiIs f6f J ,F.-tsfnst ss4fafa tofak
RE s;ee. oHa 44ftIf5be- Yts
siIsA rom Efe-- -fsps Fpop ini;lgiIttasi iissl,
! e fsiithins Z hf aza peftrait and li0fdfiesy
skfscli.s M generalfzatf6n may have
beenswrong, But hy observation was
J rigs sunless, ipdeed, Ham scalled on
4 tosprove it in accar9 6flak,in which
Tease shall nefzesf3y Pdenyits- correct
ness, but shall stoutiy maintain that |
/ never made il. s,sss &. :
And no more than can prove my
oxgf statements, can IsdispFove Mr.
/ Gree.ey's; butI can'do the next best
thing, and show that they 10 not
amount to anything. I.admit that his
family are all as tall, and hale and
/ old, as ne represents, though 1haVe
seen none of them. But / have seen
him. Now, he says he isss the Bald
est andtthe ebent"est of the whole
crowd, thinks he works harder at six
| ty, than his farming friends did at
thirty, with all his hard city work and
| city cares he has face like the full
moon for rOundneSs, and fairness, and
pl9cidity, and h-s voice OF tranquility,
and his step is the step of abstractIon.
undisturbed by hurry. When, there
| fore, he arrays his farming friends
| a aiPst MY farming facts, l simply set
his city face against his city facts, and
If that is not victory. it is ar least a
dead lock! We are Just where we were
wien we staftedI Nor the Greeleys are
all handsome together, and ruled out OF
court.
! What know about farming is that
| rs it exists be ore my e:eS. 1t Is hard
work and weari work, and uncertain
or rather uncertain wages. In the
| ong run 7 suppose "a man Is as sure OF
| getting aliving of farm as anvWhere
else, but he is tolerably sure of not get
ting muck more than living. In that
sense, indeed farming is certain " rk.
| Mr.. Greeley's own figures show this.
If farmers are healthy, happy, and
wise, ofeOurSe it l. immaterial wheth-
er they are worth two thousand or two
millions of tfO5l;iTs,g but as things go,
the prospect Of working haru fol nine
| ty-four wears, and never have more
than two thousand dollars to show for it,
| is anything but an enchanting one.-
| Mr.. Greeley may sing idyls all his life,
| but his good, calm face, his exalted pO-
Isition, and the rumOrs OF the fortune he
has gained and saved, and lost, will
1 overpoWer- his idy,s, and ure young
| life to the city with stronger attract
! ton than all the bright eyes and ing
ing voices, and slender purses of his
! highland-clan can eounteract. 1t is no
matter how many fail. WeCo not see
ihe failures, and we walk by sight.
We hear nothing of the Journals that
die in their infancy. We know only
how victoriously the Tribune has lived.
| We do not see the cOnntry-b0rn paupers
nerishing in the city alnS-hOuse. We
only see Horace Greeley calling no
man master We dnnot go up from
the country farms to be the ninety-nine
Failures, but the one success.
OF the fortunes offarming, compared
with these of other occupations, l am
aot competent to speak. Indeed, the
,nIy way in which / see how person
can ever become rich, is by writing.
There, you do what you like, what you
| you'll rather do than not, what you
scO,tjd do any way, and are paid ten
times what it is worth, even when you
are cheated. You please yourself on
nigh wages. But to accumulate for
tune by making half-cent profit on q
lpound of ugar, or yard of cloth, or a
Ihushel of potatoes, is rolling the one
Of Sisyphus. And farming seems to
have the steadiest run of unsteadiness.
Wheat is p, and your crop is down
| with tornado. Next year you have a
magnificent harvest, but 50 have your
neighbors. and the price is nowhere.
This wear your who farm raises three
lapples. Last yea the trees were load
ed, and market would not pay for
transportation. The cranberries -four
shed like a green-bay tree, but an ear
~ frost nipped themin the green. The
beaches and grapes promised well, and
hail-Storm destroys the whole year IS
growth. Hay is fifty dollars ton, but
he drought has starved your fields
The marshes at last were fruitful, but
tSudden north-easter carried your hay
stacks out to sea.
But when Mr.. Greeley asks "Wheth-
II our loving Father and Friend has so
Srdered His creation that obedience to
His commands IN" Ike us tearly Wrink-
led, ;" and SO forth, say at once, No.
But he has so ordered it that if We
don't know how to obey them wisely,
we suffeFjus as much as If we refused
to obey the willingly. ! will not say
that he has ordered us TO till the ground
Jut He has so arranged matters that the
one thing indispensable is TO till the
ground. Therefore / firmly believe
rat farming must one day be prOtiti-
lie. 1t is indeed becoming so. But in
multitudes of cases it is not so. | do
not deny that ignorance or thriftless-
ness may be the cause. only say that
farming is work which requires 81
much more brains, science, skill, than
many other occupations, that ignorance
more fatal. / think it requires more
,hrewdnesS and sagacity, 10 be sue
'esoful farming than itdoes to be sue
:essful shoemaker or tailor, and that
the reason why farmers work harder
: than their peers in trades, it not because
they are less intelligent, but because
Work is more exacting. The boy who
, is not bright enough to make new dis