Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1871-11-09

I fairness, and placidity, and his vo,cs
| is the voice Of tranquility, and his
n step is the step Of abstraction, undis.
. tnrbrd by hurry. When, therefore,
G he arrays bis farming friends against
! my farming facts, I simply set his
, city face against his city facts, and il
that is not victory, it is at least a
dead lock Wo are just where VIC
| were when we started, tor the Gree.
leys are all hamisomo together, and
ruled out OF court
Fl What l know about farming ia
that as it exists before my eyes. It
is hard work and wearing work, and
uncertain work-or rather uncertain
wages. In The long run I suppose a
man is as sure Of getting living off
farm as anywhere else, but he is toi-
erably sure of not getting more than
a living. In that sense, indeed. farm
ing is certain work. Mr.. Greelcys
own fignres show this. If farmers
are healthy. happy, and wise, OF
course it is immaterIal whether they
arc worth two thousands or two mil.
lions Of dolltrs, but rs things 60, che
prospect OF working hard for ninety
tour years. 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 ex
alted position and the rumors OF the
fortune he has gained and saved, aud
lost, will overpower his idy!s, and
lure young hfc to the city with
stronger attraction than all the bright
eyes and ringing voices, and slender
purses OF his highland clan can coun-
teract. 1t IL no matter how many
fail. We do not see the failures, and
VIC walk by sight. We hear nothing
OF the journals that die in their infan-
cy. We know only how victorious
~ the Tribune has lived. We do not
see the country born paupers perish
ing in the city nlms-house. We only
see Horace Greeley calling no man
master. We do not go up from the
country farms to be Che ninety nine
failures, but the one success.
o! the fortunes Of farming, COM
pared with those OF other occupa-
tions, am not competent to speak.
Indeed, the only way in which | see
how person can ever become rich,
is by writing. There, you do what
you like, what you would rather do
than not. what you ,could do any way,
and are paid ten times what 1t IS
worth, even when you are cheated.
You please yourself on high wages.
But to accumulate fortune by max
ing half cent profit on a pound of
sugar, or yard of cloth, or bnshel
of potatoes, is rolling the stone of
Sisyphus. And farming seems to
have the steadicst run OF unsteadi-
ness. Wheat is up, and your crop is
down with q tornado. Next year you
have magnificent harvest, bnt so
have your neighbors, and the price is
nowhere. This year your whole
farm raises three apples. Last year
the trees werc loaded, and the mar.
ket would not pay for transportation.
The cranberrles flourishcd like
grecn.bay tree, but an early frost mp
| ped them in the green. The peaches
and grapes promised well, and hail
storm destroys the whole years
growth. Hay is fifty dollars ton,
but the drought has starved your
fields. Tho marshes at least were
fruitful, but a sudden north-easter
carried your hay-stacks ont to sea.
But when Mr.. Greeley asks .
whether our loving Father and
Friend has SO ordered His creation
that obedience to His commands |
make us early wrinkled," and SO
forth, say at once, No. But he
has so ordered IT that we don't know
how to obey them wisely, We suff-
er just as much as if we refused to
obey them willingly. 1 will not cay
that he has ordered us TO till the
ground, but He has so arranged mat
tcrs that the one thing indispensable
is to till the ground. Therefore
firmly believe that farming must one
day be profitable. 1t is indeed be-
coming so. But in multitudcs of ca
ses it Is not so. / do not deny that
Ignorance or thriitlcssness may be
the cause. l only say that farming is
a work which requires so much more
brains, SCIENCE, skill, than many other
occupations, that Ignorance is more
fatal. I think it requires moro
shrcwdness and sagacity. to be sue
cessful farmer than it does to be
successful shoemaker or tailor, and
that the reason why farmers work
harder than other peers IN trades, is
not because they are less intelligent.
but because their work is more ex-
acting. The boy who Is not bright
enough to make new discoveries or
inventions in farming, may be bright
enough to tend corner grocer y and
to bright to be mere routine farmer.
But ifthe corner grocery will tire of
him and lie is too proud or too lazy TO
come back to the farm, don't let HIM
go begging to Mr.. Greeley and say l
sent him. l scorn him! scorn any one
who will whine rather than work.
never saw farming made easy or par
ticularly lucrative either to man or
woman: aud neither stake or scaffold
shall force mo to say that l would not
rather be sitt,agi in my own library,
writing for WOODS HOUSEHOLD MAG
AzlNE, at a hundred dollars 4 word,
than digging potatoes at dollar a
bushel, or churning butter at fifty |
cents a pound. But If Mr. Wood
rejects my papers. and l refuse to
dig or to churn, but JOIN " the never
ending procession of the multitude
who crawl on tho knees OF their
spirits" begging Mr.. Greeley to give
them somethingt to do-why let him
hand over page of his own manu-
ccr;nf tn zach ono tO decinher and