Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1872-06-26
The Loneliness Of Farm Life in America.


An American traveller in the OLD World
notices. among the multitude Of things that
are new to his eye, the gathering Of agricu-
tural populations into villages. lie has been
accustomed in his own country to see them
distributed upon the farms they cultivate.
The isolated iarm.liie so universal here, either
does not exist at all 10 the greater part of
continental Europe, or it exists as a compare
lively modern institution. The old popua-
tioDs, of all calings and professions, clustered
together for selfdeiense, aud built walls
around themselves. Out from these walls,
for miles around went the tilers Of the soil in
the morning, and back into the gates they
ihronged nj night Cottages were clustered
around feuda castles aud grew into towns ;
and so Europe for many centuries was culti-
waited mainly by people who lived in villages
and cities, and many Of which were walled
and all of which possessed appointments Of
defense The early settlers in our own coun-
try took the same means to defend themselves
from the treacherous Indian. The towns Of
Hadey, Hatfield, Mortified and Deefdelj,
on the Connecticut river, are notable exam
plies Of this kind Of building aud to this
day they remain villages Of agricuturists
That this is the way in which farmers ought
to live we have no question, and we wish 10
say few words about it,
There is some reason for the general dispo-
sition Of American men aud women to shun
agricultural pursuits which the observers aud
philosophers have been slow to dnd We see
young men pushing everywhere into trade,
into mechanical pursuits, into the learned
professions, into significant clerkships into
salaried positions of every sort that will take
them into towns and hold them there. We
dnd it impossible to drive poor people from
the cities with the threat Of starvation, or to
coax them with the promise Of better pay
aud cheaper fare. There they stay, and starye,
and sicken, and sink. Young women resort
to the shops aud the factories rather than take
service in farmers houses where they are re-
ceived as members Of the family aud when
they marry, they seek an alliance, when prac-
ticable, with mechanics and tradesmen who
live in villages and large towns. The daugh-
ters Of the farmer fly from the farm at 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 population are diminished in numbers
and, in some localities, degraded in quality
and character
1t all comes 10 this, that isolated life has
very little significance to social ceing. The
social life of the village and the city has in
tense fascination to the lonely dwelors on the
farm, or to great multitude Of them, Espec.
tally is this the case with the young. The
/ e 10Th t,, hu 90 a
the world have an overwhelming desire to meet
life aud to be among the multitude. They
feel their life to be narrow in its opportuni.
ties and its rewards, and the pulsations of the
great social heart that comes to them in rush
ing trains aud passing steamers and daily
newspapers, damp with the dews Of hundred
brows, thrill them with lougings for the places
where the rhythmic throb is felt aud heard.
They are not to be blamed for this 1t is the
most natural thing in the world. If all Of
life we're labor--if the great object of life
we're the scraping together of a few dollars,
more or less-why, isolation without DIVER
sion would be economy aud 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 surrender and sacrifice Of
noble opportunities.
We are, therefore, not 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-far
from possible neighbors takes upon himself
terrible responsibility. 1t is impossible
that he aud his should be well developed aud
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 the social food and slim
ulus for which they bav, starved. We never
hear of a colony settling on Western prai-
RE without a thrill Of pleasure. 1t is in COL
onies that all ought to settle, and in villages
rather than on separated farms. The meet
ing, the lecture, the public amusement, the
social assembly, should be things easily
reached There is no such damper upon free,
social life as distance A long road is the
surest bar to neighborly intercourse. If the
social life of the farmer were richer, his life
would by that measure be the more attrac-
tive.
After all, there are farmers who will read
this article with sense Of aifront or injury,
as if by doubling or disputing the suihcieucy
of their social opportunities we insult them
with a 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, quarrel with us as they may
and the women and children are right. 9TH
old man." who rides to market and the post
office, and minglcs more or less in bushes
with the world, gets along toleraby well
but it is the stayers at home who suffer. In
stead Of growing wiser aud better as the
grow old, they lose all the graces of life i
unmeaning drudgery, and instead of ripeninI
in mind aud heart, they simply dry up or de
cay. We are entirely satisfied that the grea
curse of farming life in America is its isoa
ton. 1t is useless TO say that men shun III
farm because they are lazy. The America
is not lazy man anywhere; but he is social
and he will fly from life that is not social t
one that is If we are to have larger an
better population devoted to agriculture, isC
ation must be stunned, and the whole pole
of settlement hereafter must be controlled G
} greatly modified by social considerations.
: Preserve this Carefully.