The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-11-07

farming, as in other pursuits, he who
cannot make his head available, must
do the more with his hands. The ne.
groes OF Jamaica, accustomed To ''totc"
everything on their heads, being sup.
piled by their masters with wheel bar
rows, lifted these with their contents
to the attitude of their thick skulls and
walked off with them. | should not
wondor if this made some of them ap.
pear bent" or even "bald )" possibly
" rheumatic" also If so they suffered
not from their addition to tillagc, but
from their lack of intclligcncc-of
brains.
My rural home is in a township set
tied by Quakcrs, and still mainly peopl.
cd by them, Nearly all are farmers !;
some poor, others in very comfortable
circumstances. | am confident they do
not average four fair days work per
week, and that not one among the
hundred or so is wriuklcd, y bout" or
bald" by reason of excessive labor. -
| doubt that there arc five men among
them who work or worked 80 hard OF
30 as | do as GO. Yet all live comfor-
tably, and most of them are adding to
their worldly store.
Again
When | was a farmers boy, the aver
age of farm work was harder, that is, il
required more musclar cxcrtion than it
now does. Moving and reapiug severe.
ly taxed the physical energies of the
stoutcst; and they were the chief bust
ness of the too hottest months of each
year. Now, horses NOW and reap, men
simply guiding them. Hoeing corn,
potatoes, etc., drew the sweat out of me-
profusely; now, cultivation is mainly
horse work. In the West, farmer
rides i'll his Sulky, tllling his vast cx
pansc of corn | saw, last May, negro
lads of ii years running thirty horse
engines on the rich alluvial plantations
OF the lower Missippi, not merely pillow
ing, but tilling crops of growing cane u
foot high Negroes, lately slaves, guild
ing the plows and cultivators, which did
far better az we'll as cheaper work than
horsepower ever did. | have not a
doubt that ninc-tcnths of the cultiva-
ton Of the great valley will be impcllcd
by steam within the next twenty years
In other words, steam will do the work,
directed by human intelligence And
so fast rs labor becomes intelligent, will
drudgcry cease. Biddy and Diuah will
not use washing machine when they
abdicatc, their educated mistress will
not work without one And 50 in other
departments And now as to the city
man of rural birth, who "stanjs erect
walks elastic is at peace with him.
self and the world
There arc such, undoubtedly Those
who have achieved and succeeded can
afford it. But what proportion do they
bear to those who have rushed into
cities and |aIcd have been here
forty years, neither thoughtlcss nor I'M
obscrvant aud, in my judgment, more
country born men have died here in
prisons, hospitals and the almshousc,
in these forty years, than have achieved
even modest competence. And day
after day my soul sickcnS at the never
ending procession of the multitude who
crawl on Tic knees Of their spirits to
those who have achieved positions and
means, with the bcggar's Petition
" Please give me something to do" |
never knew u man or woman to grOvcl
for work while [ was a farmers boy in
the country. | am suro Gail Hamilton
did not mean to make my life more
care frought and sad than 1t need be, by
compelling me to say No to more aud
yet more of these AFFECT petitioners
yet that she has done.