Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1872-05-25
Loneliness Of Farming life in America,

notices, among the multitude of things
That are n.w 10 bis eye, the gait ling Of
agricultural populations into villages. He
has been accustomed in bis own country
to see them distributed upon the farms
they cultivate. This isolated farni-liie,
SO universal here, either does not exist at
all in the greater part Of continental Eu.
rope, or IT exists as a cUmparatiycly mod
ern institution. The old populations, of
all callings and professions, clustered to-
gcther for sclideicnse, and built walls
around themselves. Out from these
walls, Tor miles around, went the tillers
OF the soil IN the morning, and back into
the gates they througcd at night. Cot
tages were clustered around ftudal
castles, and grew into towns; aud so
Europe for many centuries was cultiva-
ted mainly by people who lived in
villages aud cities, many OF which were
walled, aud all Of which POSSESSED ap-
poinlments oi defense. The early set.
Tiers IN our own country took the same
means to defend themselves from the
treacherous Indian. The towns Of Had.
ley, Hatfield, Mortified, and Dcerfield.
on the Connecticut river, are notable OK.
amples Of this kind of building and to
this day they remain villages Of agricul.
turs.s, That this is the way in which
farmers ought 10 live We have 10 qucs-
ton, and we wish to say few words
about IT,
There is some reason for the general
disposition Of American men and women
10 shun agricultural pursuits which the
observers aud philosophers haye been
! slow to tind. We see young men push
ing everywhere into trade, INTO mecEan-
ical pursuits, into the learned professions,
INTO Insignificant clerkships, into salaried
positions OF every sort that will take
them INTO towns and support aud hold
'hem there. We find 1t impossible 10
drive poor people from the cities with
the threat ot starvation, or TO coax them
win the promise Of better pay and cheap
er fare. There they stay aud starve, and
slcken, and sink. Young women resor,
tc the shop, and the factories rather than
take service in 'tIrmers' houses, where
they are received us members of the
family and when they marry, they seek
alliance, when praclicable, with mechail-
les aud tradesmen who live in villages
aud large Towns. The daughters OF The
farmer fly from the farms at the first
opportunity. The towns grow larger all
;he time, aud, in New England al least.
The farms are becoming wider and longer,
and the farming population are dmin-
Ished IN numbers, and, III some localities,
degraded i'll quality aud character
1t all comes to this, that isolated life
has very httle significance to a social
being. The social lite Of the village end
the city has intense fascination 10 The
lonely dwellers on the farm, or TO a great
multitude OF them. Especially is this the
case with the young. The youth of both
sexes who have seen nothing of the
world, have an overwhelming desire to
meet life aud to be am Jng the multitude.
They teel their life to be narrow in its
opportunities and its rewards, and the
pulsaiions of the great social heart that
comes TO them i'll rushing trains and
passing steamers and daily newspapers,
damp with The dews of hundred brows.
fill them with Ion ,ings for the places
where the rythmIc thrub is telt and
heard. They are not to be blamed for
| this. 1t is the most natural thing in the
world. II all of lie were labor,-if the
great object of life were the scraping to-
gether oi few dollars, more or less
why, Isolation without diversion would
be economy and profit; but so long as
the object Uf lie Is life, and the best and
puleSt aud happlest That can come Of it,
all needless isoliti, is crime against
the soul, and that Is a surrender and
sacrifice of noble opportunities,
We are, therefore, not sorry to see
farms growing larger, provided those
who work them get nearer together; and
that is what they ought to do. Any
farmer who plants himself and his family
alone-tar from possible eishburs-takes
upon himself terrible responsibility.
IL Is impossible that he aud hls should BE
well developed and thoroughly happy
there. He will be ioIsakeu in his Old
age by the very children for whom he
has made his great sacrifice. They will
fly TO the towns for ,he social food and
stimulus Tor which they have starved.
We never hear Of colony settling on a
Western prairie without thrill OF pleas
are. 1t is in colonies that all ought to
settle, and in villages rather than on
separated farms. The meeting, the lee
ture, the public amusemeni, the social
ASSEMBLY, ishuutt De lhlp8S easily reached,
There is no such dauper upon Tree social
lie as distance. a long road is the
surest bar TO neighborly Intercourse. I'll
the social lite of the farmer We're richer,
his life would by that measure be the
more attractive,
Alter all, there are farmers who will
read this article with sense of atlront
or Injury, as it by doubling or disputing
the sutfciency of their social opportunl-
lies we insult them with sort Of con-
tempt. We assure them that they can
not afford TO treat thoroughly sympa-
thelic counsel III 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. "The old man." who rides to
market and the postotce, and nlingles
more or less in business with the world, !
gets along tolerably well; but it is the
stayers at home who suffer, Instead of
growing wiser and better as they grow
Oil, they loose all the graces OF life in
unmeaning drudgery, and instead of
ripening in mind and heart, they simply |