Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1873-07-10

We have no right TO disgrace onr
calling by working like slaves and liv-
| ing like beasts. Smooth -tongued poll
I ticians will cant about the honest,
hard-fisted yeomanry. Industrial re-
4 formers will talk themselves hoarse in
urging the vigorous employment ofall
spare moments in various forms of
toll. Soft-handed agricultural editors
grant us the inestimable boon of telling
us how we can profitably toll during
rainy days and frozen months, and how
| our wives can eke out scanty store
by making one new lampwick ont of
three old ones. II never occurs to our
philanthropic teachers that we have
any wants but additional opportunities
tour hands--to bow our forms, to weary
our minds and bodies.
| tell you, my brother tiliers of the
soil, there is something in this world
worth striving for besides hard work.
We have heard enough of this profess
siousl blafney. Toll Is not necessarily
glorious. To toll like slave, raise fat
steers, cultivate broad acres, pile up
treasures Of bonds and lands and herds,
and at the same time bow the form,
starve the body. dwarf the mind, and
ALLEVIATE the children, is damning dis.
grace to any man, and should stamp
him forever as worse than a brute. 1t
Is not honorable to sacrifice the mind
and body to gain. 1t is not trait Of
ltrue nobility to bring up children to
fhankless, unrewarded toll. It is not
Just nor good to wear out the wife of
your bosom In the drudgery Of the
farm with0uta q just return. You have
no right to make agriculture so disa-
grseable az to drive all young men of
spirit and enterprise into other busi-
ness. will be met right here by the
the thousand times repeated rejoinder:
Oh, we farmers have to work hard
We can't get along as mechanics. do
with 10 hours work. We can't afford
to hire help. We can't afford to have
holidays. We can't get time to make
vesetable garden and supply our wants
with fruits and flowers. We can't get
time to make lawn around the house.
You can't yoirAcan't! Then scAaf are
yos farming .for5 AS men, as citi-
zens, as fathers, as husbands, you have
no right to engage In 3 business which
will condemn you and your depend
cnts to life of unrequited toll. Ii the
calling of agriculture will not reason
ably remunerate you for your labor
if Il Will not enable yo,, and yours to
escape physical degeneration, and
mental and social starvation, il
II does not enable you to
enjoy the amenities, pleasures, COM
forts and necessities Of life, as well as
other branches of business, il is your
duty to abandon il ut once, and not
drag down with you your dependant
family.
But do not believe we need to I've driv-
en- tn this alternative. do believe that
agriculture, followed rs business, with
reasonable regard TO business principles,
can be made business success | believe
| that by keeping in view the primary end
| Of life; our happiness and comfort our
bodily health our mental improvement
and growth, they can be as well or letter
attaiu-a IN ary ~..,-- a-.s-.....ss.--
Let lis draw a pen-pcturs of what
farmers home should he, both in outward
ornameniation and internal arran gemeut.
In doing this we will not make one OF those
impossible ideals which no one can hope
ever to see bnt in imagination, but We will
take into cons liberation the facts Of every.
day life, as we find them and accomoiste
| ourselves to the inevitable. ~
There is scarcely farm in Iowa but has
| location which with suitable care woald
make beautiful home.
Select the haudsomest spot of all, and
erect house Of neat and tasteful propor-
tions and convenient arrangements. The
size, finish and expense will Of course be
governed by the means at commando
Plant trees, both forest and fruit, in such
| way as to break the sweep Of the winter
winds. Donate reasonable patch Of grouud
to small fruits and Vegetables, sufficient to
supply your table with abundance Of all
| desirable kinds, all the year round. Make
an acre or mere Of lawn in front and around
the dwelling, interspersed here snd there
with some ornamental Shade trees. ever
green's aud lowering shrnbs. Train an Ivy
over the porch, Honeysuckle' on the win.
dow. Hide the sheds and outbuildings
with cinmp OF trees or climbing vines.
Your wife and daughters will have some
artistic Mower beds cut in the lawn, and a
rose bush by the door, while singing birds
will build nests in the trees. Make the in
side OF the house attractive.--a pleasant
place TO sit. with inducements sufficient to
keep your sons from saloons and your
daughters from the streets. Among the
absolute necessaries of life, Imost decidedly
and emphaticaily place amusen,ents. sport,
fun. A good ringing laugh is worth more
to stir the liver and promote digestion, than
dose OF calomel, and deal pleasanter TO
, take. II you ever come across person,
old or young, who cannot. on proper prov
ocat,on. give ont good ringing, hearty
laugh, watch him He is either after your
pocket book or the undertaken. JOY. fun,
laughter, sterling, good healthy, wide awake
happiness, are among the most noble and
desirable Of human attributes. Nothing
but men can laugh Do not smother, bnt
cultivate this distinctive feature OF human
Iitv. s.e
Especially youth must have amusements.
It is no matter OF convenience, it is q dire
necessity The love Of fun is born with
their birth, and must have vent in some
| form or other Ii il cannot be gratified at
home surrounded BY its hallowed intiuen-
ces--it will seek for it abroad, amid dan-
| gerous PITFALLS and corrupting examples.
You may evade this truth as much as you
please andtry and cover up lis pakedsess,
and feed the youth who is starving for fun,
on good wholesome moral precept, it will
not satisfy the craving, and eat some un.
looked for moment, nature will assert its
trights and seize the delightful morsel, even
though sodden and corrupted with bitterest
sin. We must yield to the inevitable. es-
pecially. when - in this case, il is synono-
NOUS with the delightful, and provide
amasements, healthful aud mirthfnl, and II
at the same time you can include instruction
all the better, but amusements for smuse-
ments' sake, we must have. On the lawn
have Croquette, Quoits, Ball, Leap-Frog,
Hi Spy Dances, Chase-the-Squirrel and
other sports, in which boys, girls, parents
aud visitors canjoin. Indoors, Checkers,
Cards, Backgammon, Jackstraws, Thumbs
up, Dominoes and other innocent games,
should be always at command, that the
youth may not be compelled to seek them
in the purlieus OF vice, debauchery and
drunkenness. Vice ia not attractive,
amusements are, and thousands Of youth
have been compelled to encounter the one,
to enable them to attain the other, which
with the best but mistaken motives was de-
MED them at home. Maps, books, agricul-
tural and literary papers should be supplied
in abundance. and this can annually be