The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-10-22

aesthetics Of Farming.

aesthetics OF Farming.
What is needed, perhaps, more than al
else, in our agricultural regions is-such
Ineligible, imitabie, and economic demon
| strations of the laws of good taste, as shall
provoke emulation, and redeem the small
farmer-unwittingly, it may be--from his
slovenly barbarities and his grossness of
life. Here is verge, surely, for mans
graces which shall fix his attachment while
| they plead their lessons of appeal.
1t seems hardly necessary to urge O ne
cessity for this direction Of effort. There
is certainly no race of country-lyers in the
world, who, with equal, or even kindred
intelligence, are so destitute of all sense of
the graces of life and home, as the small
New England farmer.
A certain stark neatners confined mostly
to Kitchens, pantries and such portions Of
the door-yard as are under the eye of the
good wife, mostly limit their efforts in this
white paint upon the house completes the
inyestiture Of charms, while, at every
hand heaps Of rubbish numbering the
public road, and piles of struggling wood,
dissipate any illusion which a well-scrubbed
ted.
Here and there we come upon certain
neatness and order in enclosures, buildings,
and fields, but ten to one the keeping Of
the picture ia utterly ruined by the slat-
ternly condition of the highway, to which,
though it pass within ten feet of his door,
paws no manner Of heed. He makes it the
Cfo al nd
upon the public the offal which he will not
tolerate within the limits of his enclosure.
And the highway purveyors are mostly as
brutalIy unobservant of neatnesss as the
farmer himself; nay, they seem to put an
ofiicious pride into the unseemliness and
rawness Of their work, and it is only by
persistent watehfulness that have been
able to prevent some bullet-headed road
member from digging into the turf slopes at
my very door.
Here and there see. up and down the
country, frequent attempts at what is coun-
ted ornamentation- fantastic trellises cut
out of whitened planks, cumbrous balus-
trades, with multitude of shapeless finals
OF whimsical pagodas-immitation of what
cannot be initiated, even if worthy but
of the hundred nameless graces, wrought
of home material, delighting you by their
unexpectedness, piquing you by their SIM
plicity, and winning upon every passer by,
by their thorough agreement with land
scape and surrounding, and the off,
ces of the farmer, l see far less.
The only idea of elegance and beauty
which finds footing, is of something extra
neous-outside his life--not mating with
his opportunities or purposes-and only to
ho caA NO yfrox
upon which some town joiner must lavish
his ogees, and which shall serve as bla-
tant type of the farmers forehandedness.
This is all very pitiful it gives no charm
it educates to no sense of the tender
graces of those simple, honest adorn-
ments which ought to refine the coun.
try-liver, and to refine the taste
of his children. / am not writing in any
spirit of sentimental romanticism. If Ar
eadia and its pastoral have gone by land
think they have), God, and nature, and
sunshine, have not gone by. Nor yet the
trees, and the flowers, or green turf, or
thousand kindred charms, which the hum
blest farmer has in his keeping, and may
spend around lis door and homestead, with
such simple grace, such affluence, such
economy Of labor, such unity of design, as
shall enchain regard, ripen the instincts of
his children to finer sense of the bounties
they enjoy, and kindle the admiration of
every intelligent observer.
Aneglect Of these attractions, which are
so conspicuous along oil the by-ways of
England and in many portions of the Con-
tinent, is attributable, perhaps, in some
degree, to the unrest Of much of our rural
population. The man who pitches his
white tent beside the road for what forage
he may easily gather up, and is ready al
ways for sale, will care little for any of
the more delicate graces of home. And
with those who have some permanent es-
adjustment, think the root of the diff
Guilty may lie very much in that proud
and sensitive individuality which il the
growth Of our democratic institutions.
There is an absolute and charming fitting.
ness about most Of these humble rural
adornments of which speak, which oar
progressive friend does not like to adopt,
! by reason of their ttingness, and because
| they give indication of limited means and
humble estate. When, therefore, such
an one makes laundering effort
to accomplish something in the way of
decorative display, it is very apt to take
| grandiose type, showing vulgar strain to-
| ward those adornments of the town which
are wholly unsuited to his habits and sur
roundings. Thus thriving ruralist, with
family of two. will build house as large
as a church, and perch a cupola upon it,
from which he may review the fat country
for miles, while he contents himself with
occupancy of the back-kitchen. If con-
tented with small space, why not, in the
name of honesty, declare it boldly,
instead Of covering the truth under
such numbering falsehood 2 What ior-
bids giving to the country home simple
propriety of its own, with its own wealth
Of rural decoration, its shrubbery, its
vines, its arbors, instead Of challenging
unfayorable compaii on with en- entirely
different class of homes? Ifa man is dis
posed to advertise by flaming architecture
and appointments, ~ am only farmer by
accident, and competent las you see) to
live in grand way" there is little hope that
be will ever do anything to the credit Of
farming interests, or contribute very
largely TO the best charms of our rural
landscape. The attempt to better ene's
condition is always praiseworthy; but it is
only base and igroble to attempt TO cover
ones condition with an idle smack Of some
thing larger.