Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1872-06-10
NO. 1873.
H|1isfellauso,is.
LONELINESS OF FARMING LIFE.

agricultural populations into the villages.
He has been accustomed IN his own coun-
try to see them distributed upon the farms
they cultivate. The isolated farm-life, so
universal here, either does not exist at all
in the greater part of continental Europe,
or it exists as comparatively modern in
stitution. The old populations. of all call
ings and professions, clustered together
for self-defense., and built walls around
themselves. Out from these walls, for
miles around, went the tillers of the soil
in the morning, and back into the gates
they thronged at night. Cottages were
clustered around feudal castles, and grew
into towns and so Europe for many Cen
turies was cultivated mainly By people
who lived in villages and cities, many Of
which were walled, and all of which pos
sessed appointments of defense.s The
early settlers in our own country took the
same means to defend themselves from
the treacherous Indian. The towns of
Hadley, Hatfield, Northfeld, and Deer
field, on the Connecticut river, are notable
examples Of this kind of building; and so
to this day they remain villages of agri-
culturists. That this is the waysin which
farmers ought to live, we have no oues-
ton, and we wish to say few words
about it. rs
There is some reason for the general
disposition Of American men and women
to shun agricultural pursuits, which the
observers and philosophers have been
slow to find. We see young men pushing
everywhere into trade, into mechanical
persuts, into the learned professions. into
insignificant clerkships, into salaried po-
sitions OF every sort that will take them
into towns and support and hold them
there. We find it impossible to drive poor
people from the cities with the threat of
starvation or to coax them with the prom
ise of better pay and cheaper fare There
they stay and starve, and sicken, and
sink. Young women resort to the shops
and to the factories rather than take 'serv-
ice in farmers houses, where they are re-
ceived as members of the family; and
when they marry, they seek alliance, when
practicable, with mechanics and trades
men who live in villages and large towns.
The daughters of the farmer fly from the
farm the first opportunity. The towns
! grow larger all the time, and in New
England at least, the farms are becoming
wider and longer, and the farming popu-
lation are diminished in numbers, and. in
some localities, degraded in quality and
character.
1t all comes TO this, that isolatedi life
has very little significance to a social be-
ing. The social lite of the village and the
city has intense fascination to the lonely
dwellers on the farm, or to q great multi.
tude of them. Especially is this the case
with the young The youth of both sexes
who have seen noting OF the world have
an overwhelming desire to meet life and
to be among the multitude. They feel their
life to be narrow in its opportunities and
its rewards, and the 'pulsations Of the
great heart that comes to them in rushing
trains and passing steamers and daily
newspapers, damp with the dews of
hundred brows, thrill them with longings
for the places where the rhythmic throb is
felt and heard. They are not to be blamed
for this 1t is the most natural thing in
the world. If all of lite were labor,-if
the great object of life were the scraping
4 together of few dollars, more or less, -
why, isolation without diversion would be
economy and profit; but so long as the
object of life is life. and the best and
purest and happiest that can come OF it,
all needless isolation is crime against
the soul, in that it is a surrender and sac
rifice of noble opportunities. We are.
therefore, not SO sorry to see farms
growing larger. provided those who
work them will get nearer together;
and that is what they ought to do.
Any farmer who plants himself and his
family alone-tar from possible neighbors
takes upon himself a terrible RESPONSE
bility. 1t is impossible that he and his
should be well developed and thoroughly
happy there. He will be forsaken in his
old age by the very children for whom he
has made his great sacrifice. They will
| fly to the towns for social food and stimu-
lus for which they have starved. We
never heard of colony settling on a
western prairie without thrill of pleas
ure. 1t is in colonies that all ought to
settle, and in villages rather than on sep
arated farms. The meeting. the lecture,
the public amusement. the social assembly,
should be things easily reached, There is
no such damper upon free social life rs
distance A long road is the surest bar to
a neighborly intercourse. If the social
life OF a farmer We're richer. his life would
10y that measure be the more attractive.
After all, there are farmers who will
read this article with sense of affront or
injury, aslif by doubling or disputing the
sutliciency OF their social opportunities We
insult them with sort of contempt. We
assure them that they cannot afford to treat
thoroughly sympathetic counsel in this
way. We know that their wives and
daughters and sons are on our side, quar-
rel with as as they may; and the women
and children are right. The old man,
who rides to market and the post-office,
and mingles more or less in business with
the world, gets along tolerably well; but
it is the stayers at home who suffer. In
stead of growing wiser and better as they
grow old, they lose all the graces OF me
e in unmeaning drudgery, and instead OF
ripening in mind and heart. they simply
dry up or decay. We are entirely satisfied
that the great curse of farming life in
America is its isolation. 1t is useless to
saw that men shun the farm because they
are lazy. The American is not lazy man
anywhere; but he is social, and he will
1y' from life that is not social to one that
is. If we are to have a larger and better
population devoted to agriculture. isola-
lion must be summed, and the whole poll
Ecy of settlement hereafter must be con-
trolled or greatly modified by social con-
sideratiops DR.. Holland ia ScriJner for