The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1872-05-30
The Loneliness OF Farming
7 ~ life in America.

The Loneliness OF Farmin
/, ~ life in America. ID
An American traveller in tn
Old World notices, among the mu
titude of things that are new to hi
eye, the gathering of agriculturs
populations into villages. He ha
been accustomed in his own countr,
to see them distributed upon tb
farms they cultivate. The isolate,
Ifarm,life, so universal here, eithe
does not exist at all in tho create
part of continental Europe, or it ex
lists as comparatively modern in
stitution. The old populations, o
all callings and professions, cluster
ed together for self-defense, anC
built walls around themselves. Gu
from these walls, for miles around
went the tillers of the soil in thu
morning, and back into the gates
they thronged at night. Cottages
were clustered around feudal castles
and grew into towns; and so Eu
rope for many centuries was cult
waited mainly by people who lived
in villages and cities, many of which
were walled, and all of which pos
sessed appointments of Defense
The early settlers in our country
took the same means to defend
themselves from the treacherous In.
dian. The towns Of Hadley, Hat
fold, Mortified, and Deerfeld, on
the Connecticut river, are notable
examples of this kind of building ;
and to this day they remain viii
lagos Of agriculturists. That this
is the way in which farmers ought
to live we have no question, and
we wish to say a few words about it.
There is some reason for the gen.
eral disposition of American men
and women to shun agricultural
pursuits, which the observers and
philosophers have been slow to find.
We see young mon pushing every
where into trade, into mechanical
pursuits, into the learned profess
sions, into insignificant clerkships,
into salaried positions of every sort
that will take them into towns and
and hold them there. We
find it impossible to drivt Door peo-
pie from the cities with the threat Of
starvation, or to coax them with the
promise of better pay and cheaper
far. There they stay, and starve,
and sicken, and sink. Young
women resort to the shops and the
rather than take service in
farmers houses, where they are re-
eeived as members OF the family;
and when they marry, they seek an
alliance, when practicable, with me-
3hanics and tradesmen who live in
villages and large towns. The
of the farmer fly the
farm at the first opportunity. The
towns grow larger all the time, and,
n New England at least, the farms
are becoming wider and longer, and
.he farming population are dimin-
shed in numbers, and, in some To-
,alities, degraded in quality and
character.
1t all comes to this, that isolated
ife has very little significance to
ocial being. The social life of the
7illage and the city has intense fas-
'ination to the lonely dwellers on
he farm, or to great multitude of
hem. Especially is this the case
With the young. The youth of
10Th sexes who have seen nothing |
II the world have an overwhelming |
Iesire to meet life and to be among
he multitude. They feel their life
o be narrow in its opportunities
nd its rewards, and tho pulsations
# the great social heart that come to
hem in rushing trains and passing \
teamers and daily newspapers,
amp with the dews of a hundred |
rows, thrill them with lougings
or the places where the rhythmic
hrob is felt and heard. They are
Iot to be blamed for this. 1t is the
nost natural thing in the world. Ifl
IL of life were labor,-if the great +
bject of life were the scraping to-
ether of a few dollars, more or
isolation without diver
ion would be economy and profit
ut SO long as the object of life is
fe, and the best and purest and
appiest that can come Of it, all
eedless isolation is crime against
he soul, in that it is a surrender
nd sacrifice of noble opportunities.
We are, therefore, not sorry to
oe farms growing larger, provided
hose who work them will get near
r together; and that is what they
ught to do. Any farmer who
lants himself and his family alone
far from possible neighbors-
axes upon himself terrible re-
possibility. It is impossible that
G and his should be we'll developed
nd thoroughly happy there. He
ill be forsaken in his old age by
he very children for whom he has
,ade his great sacrifice. They will
Y to the towns for the social food
nd stimulus for which they have
tarved. We never hear of colo
y settling on a Western prairie
rithout thrill of pleasure. 1t is