Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1874-12-14
THE FARMERS EVENINGS AND
LEISURE HOURS.

The farmer ought to have his affairs
so arranged, now that the busy season
of the year has passed, that he is not
obliged to use all of his time, day and
evening, in labor. These cold days and
long evenings may be made the school
days and holidays of the year; and if
the farmer does not choose to devote his
entire attention and time to business,
they may be made profitable and pleas
ant.
A man ought to grow wise in broad
sense, as he grows old, and he ought to
become more philanthropic and useful,
as man and citizen, as he becomes bet
ter acquainted with the wants of the
world and MS relations to it. To in
crease in wisdom and become more gen
erous in nature. require constant study
and perpetual nourishment of the mind,
as we'll as free intercourse with the
world and its people.
The little knowledge acquired in the
school-house will grow constantly less,
unless it is relearned and replcnished
daily. Business and the cares and per-
plexities of life, will overwhelm us. un-
less we make great exertions to retain
or advance our intellectual standings.
We must give time to mind culture, OF
drift back into the shades of ignorance.
The eager pursuit of wealth. or the
exclusive devotion of mind and talents
to personal affairs tends to dwarf the
soul, and render its possessoa selfish anC
sordid; and if ore seeks to make him
self happy. or the condition of his friends
better, something more than schemina
and plodding is necessary. 1t takes but
little to make life agreeable, and less t,
make it miserable. Something for tn
hands to do, something for the mind t
do, some labor of love or charity to per
form, health and clear conscience, ar
all that are required to bring pleasur
to the heart and sunshine to the home
The farmers of Vermont possess in
greater degree, those things that max
up the joys of life, than almost any elias
of people in the world they have inde
pendence competence, health and leisur
sufficient for social and intellectual plea:
ures, and they are remarkably free froI
those perplexities and temptations tn;
bring unhappiness. If they are not
happy people, the fault is their own.
The leisure hours that the farmer an
laborer has, are not so many that the
can be squandered in frivolous anus
ments or in idlencss. They must be il
proved. The book and the paper mu
become their companions and their d
light; from them they must gather i
formation and wisdom. An hour devc
ed to reading will furnish materi
which the mind cannot digest in da
and full as much as the memory can I
tain. From that hours work NAV
gathered treasures that will be usef
through life. In the family there
more than one that ought to have t
benefit of reading, and the father a
the child should read aloud for the be
eft of all. The cares of the mother ne
er cease, her labor never ends and t
husband or child that will not try
Tighten the burdens that press upon h
is unworthy the love of her who devo
all of the hours of the day to his or tn
good. Read aloud for her pleasure, a
remember that the instruction or pr,
afforded by the lecture, the meeting
other interview, is more needed by
than by you.
Men need something beside be