Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1872-06-26
Farm Life a School Of Manhood.

The whole tendency Of farm life is to de-
volop the body healthy and Internationally.
The child is not pent up in the narrow back
yard of a city dwelling, nor turned into the
lihrongcd aud filthy street to pursue his sports.
/ His eyes open first upon green fields aud fra.
grant meadows, and hs first football out Of
doors is upon the matted grass beneath the
shadowy trees Of his rural home, lie drinks
in health from every breeze, and all the
scenes around him call forth that playiulness
which performs so important an Office in our
carly training.
And this leads us to speak Of the influence
Of farm life upon home virtues. No occupa-
ton can be more favorable TO the cultivation
Of those qualities which are the charm Of a..
domestic circle, The farmer is much mJ.c
at home than is possible with any other man.
How many there arc in our cities who only
see their families at evening or on the Sab
bath They live for their business, aud this,
from its location, takes them from home early
and late. How many from this same cause
lorsako bousek ecping and huddle into board.
ing houses and hotels, where the charm and
beauty of the family as God constituted it
are entirely lost and children fall under q
thousand influences that would never reach
them at homer With the best arrangements
wealth can command in the city il Is well
nigh impossible 10 keep children under the
Influence Of their parents, so that they shall
have a distinct family character aud bear the
moral as they do the physical image Of their
progenitors.
Parental influence is dissipated amid the
varied social influences to which they arc
subjected from their earliest days Then
what perplcxites harrass the man OF business
in the city-his capital often invested in
prodtlcss enterprise, exposed to the depreda-
tions of dishonest men, betrayed, cheated and
ruined by knavcs and banktupts. From the
very character Of his business, be has to trust
Gar more Of his available means to the iuteg-
rity Of his fellows than the cultyator His
debts are often scattered over wide extent
Of territory, aud collections are not only cx-
pcnsiye, but exceedingly uncertain. But his
commercial credit depends upon the uncer-
tainty, aud be is often compelled to fall back
upon nothing a ruined man.
Ninoty-6ve failures it a hundred among
most business men in ;he city tell a sad tale
of the perplexity aud sorrow, the corrodiue
cares and anguish Of mercantile life. How
can father, goided with these ouxictics
from the beginning to the end Of the year, do
Justice with his children even it his busines.
allows him to be with them a part Of the
time He is not in frame Of mind to
-upcrintend their education and to perform a
fathers Office
The farm preserves the family in its in
tegrity. The home has in it that charming
word, and that more charming thing the fire.
side, around which parents aud children
gather, and where the bright and cheerful
blaze upon the hearth is but a true type Of the
flame of love that gows in every heart. The
parents have been drawn together, not by the
sordid motives Of wealth or the ambitious de-
sire Of social display, but for the quaIitie,
seen in each other. The glory of the dresd,
to the husband is that the wife is there and
to the wife that he is there who is head Of the
woman and the band in that home circle
Here they gather at morning aud evening and
at noon. Their board is almost Away sur.
rounded with the same circle, and here they
spend their long winter evenings together
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