Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-02-22
Union AND AMERICAN.
FARM AND GARDEN,
LIBRARIES IN THE FARMERS
HOME

The above heading is suggestive Of con-
alterations of varied and significant import.
Many Of our readers as well as ourselves
have no doubt been impressed with the diff
ference in appearance the manly bearing
and general advantages of the intelligent,
well rsad farmer as contrasted with his
more igterate, but none the less honest
and hard-working neighbor, engaged in the
same high and healthful avocation. The.
contrast is strikingly apparent in the city,
In the town, in gatherings and intercourse
among men, as well as in the social and
the home circle. The intelligent, well read,
is full of life and elasticity, and
ispossessed Of bounding spirits and animated
lineaments; and then besides he has infinite
advantages in his DEALINGS and transactions
with the world. Healthful blood warns
and courses through his veins, and high and
noble impulses glow in his soul. He moves
with the tread Of a consueror, and stands
very monarch among men. His is educated
labor, and he subdues the forest and tames
his acres to his win with the appliances'tha
skill and science have brought into reuuisi-
ton, and in the fulfllment of his mission
he can look proudly on what he has created.
Take the unread man from his plow, fresh
from the furrowed earth, of whose constitu-
ent elements be is ignorant and although the
tracks of industry and toll may be marked
upon his honest features, his mind is dwarf
ed, and the windows of his soul are curtain
ed to all the beauties, glories, inspirations
and dignities of labor. Go to the home Of
Inc reading farmer, and the cause of the con-
trast, so marked and distinguishing,is clear
ly visible. You find that order, Gods and
Natures first law, prevails; neatness and
good taste are everywhere. Step into his
comfortable abode, and you find, among
other comforts, a well selected, If not an
extensive, library. Its shelves are stored
with those solid, valuable, but silent
companions, good books. Each one of those
books is to him soldier arrayed in col
umns and lines to aid him in the stormy
battle Of life. By comforting with the dead
and mixing with the living his ambition is
stimulated, his perceptions quickened, his
mind inyigorated, his faculties whetted and
sharpened, and his whole being elevated,
expanded and ennobled. His home is
adorned with the graces, the comities and
amenities of social life. Thought and &C
ton go vigorously and thrifty together His
winter fire shines and sparkles upon the
faces Of inteligen. children, whose soul9
are as warm as its glowing blaze. The
days work done, the reading of good books
and conversation upon the contents follow.
Health, happiness, content are there. The
bitter sky may freeze, and the wintry wind
may blow and whistle around his home,
but they can't dampen or chill the souls of
the happy inmates. Physical wants have
been provided without, and the library
spreads mental banquet within. Go to
the home Of the other. Night draws her
dark curtains over the unregulated sur
roundings; the supper is hastily disposed of
by children with unkempt hair and unin-
formed minds; noise and fretfulness, and
moroseness and discomfort prevail. No
newspaper invites 10 perusal with its
cheerful and piquant columns; no books
open their smiling pages for the minds d.
lstion in that sombre home. these are
some of the differences.
But again, what eminent advantages the
farmer with his library and his books, even
In pecuniary sense, possesses over his
neighbor without them. He is thoroughly
posted on all the uses of his soil, its adapta-
bility to various and peculiar productions,
and is familiar with the fertilizers and the
economiziIg appliances of labor. He keeps
the run of the markets, and is informed of
the buying and selling prices and is never at
loss where to procure an article or when to
dispose Of a commodity; while his illiterate
and less prosperous friend has to consult
him upon all of these vitality important
topics. 1t is folly and madness to assert
that the farmer has no need of books nor
of reading. 1t is fallacious to affirm that
the husbandman and the tiller of the soil
can SOW lis seeds and reap his harvests
without such intelligence as is to be derived
from reading and from books. True, he
might live after fashion, move and have
his being, without such aids. In the same
manner may the owl build his nest, and the
blind mole burrow his zigzag course under
the earth's surface without an aim or an
object. But we affirm that the
greatest drawback upon the success
and the almost unmeasured enjoyments of
farming among our people arises from the
want of books, the want of reading, of edu-
cation and general intelligence. We ven
ture the assertion that there is not an intel
ligent, observant and cultivated farmer who
reads this article but who viii agree with
us in the assertion. Then, for the sake Of
our high calling, for the sake Of the goodly
lands which are our heritage, for the sake
Of our wives and children, lei rs, as farmers,
procure good libraries, if even they be small,
aud through the medium Of reading, rs wen
as labor, prove ourselves worthy of our high
vocations.