Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-05-29
A1ritmltmral.
The Loneliness of Farming Life in
America.

An American traveller in the Old Worll
notices, among the multitude Of things that
are new to his eye, the gathering Of agricIl-
tural populations into villages. He has hcen
accustomed in his own country to see then
distributed upon the farms they cultivate
The isolated farm life, so universal tere, el
Their does not exist at all IN the greater part
Of continental Europe, or it exists as IA com
raratively modern Institution. The old
populations, Of all callings and professions,
clustered together for self defense, and 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 thew thronged at mig ht. Cottages were
clustered around feudal castles, and grew
into towns and so Europe for many cen
turtles was cultivated mainly by people who
lived in villages and cities, many OF which
were walled, and all Of which possessed ap
pointments of defense. The early settlers
IN our own country took the same means to
defend themselves from the treacherous In
dian. The towns Of Hadley, Hatfield,
Mortified and Deerfeld. on the Connecticut
River, are notable examples of this kind Jt
building and to this day they remain vii
ages of agriculturists. That this is the way
IN which farmers ought to live we have no
question, and we wish to say few words
about it.
position of American men and women to
shun agricultural pursuits which the observ-
crs and philosophers have been slow to find.
We see young men pushing everywhere into
trade, into mechanical pursuits, into the
learned professions, into Insignificant clerk
ships, into salared positions of every sort
that will Ike them into towns and support
and hold them there. We find it impossible
to drive poor people from the cities with the
Il. - Nbavr, -r~1
the promise of better pay and cheaper fare
There they stay, and starve, and sicken, and
sink Young women resort to the shops and
the factories rather than take service in tar
mers' houses where they are received "a
members of the family and when they marry
they seek an alliance, when practicable, with
mechanics and tradesmen who live in Villages
and large towns. The daughters Of the
farmer hy the farm at the first opportunity |
The towns grow larger all the time, and, in |
New England at least, the farms are beco1n- |
ing longer and wider, and the farming popu- |
lation are diminished in numbers. and in |
some localities, degraded in quality an !
character.
1t all comes to this, that isolated life has |
very little significance to a social being /
The social life of the village and city has in |
tense fascination to the lonely dwellers on /
the farm, or to 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 and to be among the nut |
titude. They feel their life to be narrow in |
its opportunities and its rewards, and the |
pulsatiOns of the great social heart that
comes to them in rushing trains and passing
steamers and daily newspapers, damp with
the dews Of a hundred brows, thrill them
with longings for the pla ,es where the ryth-
mis- throb is felt and heard They are not
to be blamed for this. 1t is the most natural
thing in the world. II all of life were labor.
If tie great object of life were the scrap
ing 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 puTest and
happiest that can come of it, all needless
isolation is a crime against the soul, in that
1t is a surrender and sacrifice of noble or
portunities.
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
a terrible responsibility. 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 the social food
and stimulus for which they have starved.
We never hear of colony settling on
Western prairie without thrill of pleasure
1t is in colonies that all ought to settle, and
in villages rather than on separated farms
The meeting, the lecture, the public amuse-
ment, 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 inter
course. If the social life of the farmer were
richer, his life would by that measure be the
more attractive.
After all. there are farmers who will read
this article with a sense of affront or injury,
as if by doubling or disputing the suficien-
cy of their social opportunities we insult
them with sort Of contempt We assure
them they cannot afford to treat thoroughly
sympathetic counsel In this way. We know
that their wives and sons and daughters are
on our side, quarrel with US as they may
and the women and the children are right
90 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 stayers at home who suffer.
Instead of growing wiser and better as they
grow old, they lose all the graces of life in
unmeaning drudgery, and instead of ripen-
ing in mind, they simply dry up or decay.
We are entirely satisfied that the great
curse of farming life in America is its
isolation. It is useless to say that men shun
the farm because they are lazy. The Amer
lean is not lazy man anywhere but he is
social, and he will fly from life that is not
social to one that Is. If we are to have a
larger and better population devoted to ag-
riculture, isolation must be summed, and
the whole policy of settlement hereafter must
be controlled or greatly modified by social
considerations.-Dr. j. g. Holland, IN
ScTlbRer's for June.
Corn SowS FOR FoDDER--We have given
frequently detailed directions for raising