Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-08-06
NetmhMt Rattattt
American Farm Homes,

What picture of life attainable by per.
sons of moderate means can compare with
that of the owner Of a small farm, well
stocked, with good fences and buildings, with
no mortgage on il, aud with healthy, happy
occupants Gold may go up to $50, or
down to par railroad stocks may be worth
less or valuable; mills may be closed for
months, or wages reduced 10 per cent; Jay
Gould or Duncan, Sherman Il Co. may turn
bankrupts; village rents may be oppressive;
butchers may charge extortionate prices for
steak politicians may rise or fall; panics
and depression, or confidence and brisk trade,
may come, but it makes little difference TO
the small farmer. He has not only home,
but sustenance assured. "Seed time and
harvest shall not fall" The state Of the
market may affect him, but only in com.
paratively slight degree. Wheat may be
high in price, but his costs him no more to
raise than it did last year, when it was
cheap. He is free from the dread-ever
present with the city or village laborer--of
a suspension in his daily earnings, which
may cause his little ones to cry for bread
They labor for men, but when be plows his
fallow ground and puts in his seed he looks
for his reward to One who ever remember
that 1.-THE laborer is worthy Of his hire" aud
who "giveth to all men literally" True, h'
must toll in the scorching sun of summer, OIL
the bowling blasts of winter, but his toll i
no more arduous than that of the daily toilel
in the mill, the forge, or the shop, aud, a
we have said, his reward is far surer.
His wife is cheerful, healthy and con
tented. His children grow up healthy ant
happy, and become strong, useful men ant
women. They are free from the contami
mating influence of daily contact with tn,
lowering and debasipg influences which al
most inevitably reach ALL yes all, in the vii
lage or city-some more and some less
Their daily life brings them into con
slant contact with nature, and, uucon
sciously, they are drawn to "look from
nature up to natures Cod" 600
made the country man made the town.
1t needs no great acuteness Of per
ception to see which has proved the NOR
thorough workman.
The above may be called an ideal AM
Imaginative picture of the farm home, bu
the originals do exist. Few aud far between
they may be, but, thank God, they are in
creasing in number. The tendency is nc
towards the old-iashioned plan known i
England, whereby the farmer is only tn
lessor of his property, but towards the indie
pendent ownership by each Of his so, 10O
200 or more acres each sits under his ow
vine and fig tree, and his energies are en-
ployed to make home more enjoyable an
attractive. The farm houses Of to-day ar
as regal palaces compared with those of
century ago. Well done, New England
Let US see the change continue. Let eac
strive to make home the dearest spot on cart
to the growing generation as well as to max
it suit himself; let it be made beautiful
pleasant, attractive, and the old yet ever ne
song "Home, Sweet Home" will never di
out from our language. Yes; "be it ever 5
humble, there's no place like home,"-liL
the neat, quiet farm-home, free from Il
noise, hustle, and dust OF the town. To u
no other habitation can compare with OF
American farm homes