Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1875-07-13
NO. l64.
Mistella,1fons.
GROWING FARMERS.

Farmers may not know it, generally,
but 1t is fact, that most commercial men
who deal directly with them, speak of
them habitually as parcel OF chronic
GROWERS and grumblers. We wonder
why! Certainly there is no good reason
why the farmer should live in the darkness
when his prosperity is born of the bright
ness of sunshine, the beneficent showers
and the mellow and fruitful EARTH 1t Is
easy to acquire habit of finding fault
with blessings, no matter in what guise
they come; but it does no one good, and
is positive harm and pernicious habit
IN Its influence upon the individual grum-
bier as well as upon those who surround
him and with whom he comes in contact.
An old farmer once said to as that he
would not have hired man on his farm
who did not habitually whistle. Said he
never knew whistling laborer to. find
fault with his food. his bed, or complain
of any little extra work he was asked to
perform. Such man was generally kind
to children and to animals in his care He
would whistle chilled lamb into warmth
and life, and would bring in his hat full OF
eggs from the barn without breaking one
of them. He found such man more care
lul about closing gates, putting up bars
and seeing that the nuts on his plow were
all properly tightened before he took it in
to the field. He never knew whistling
hired man to kick or beat COW, or drive
her on the run into stable. He had no.
ticed that the sheep he fed in the yard and
shed gathered around him as he whistled,
without fear. He never had employed
whistler who. was not thoughtful and eco-
nomcal
That this farmers rule has exceptions
there can be no doubt; but that his philos-
ophy is generally correct is equally true.
A cheerful, hopeful, buoyant man is sure
to get through this life more smoothly and
with less friction than one of those chaps
with acute angles and rasp-like sides TO
their characters. A cheerful family on
farm is far more likely to be prosper
Gus one than one that is composed of glum
and growing individuals. who are forever
finding fault and turning even prosperity
and success into a complaint. An anal
ysis of the character of those who succeed
as farmers and whose homes are places of
rest and retreshment, will show that the
dark side of life is always subordinated to
the bright side-that cheerfulness is the
prevailing characteristic and gives temper
and tone. 1t is certainly worth while, as
a matter of dollars and cents, that the far
mer should cultivate cheerfulness and
hopefulness. 1t divests labor of two-thirds
of its friction. 1t makes the boys and
girls contented on the farm. 1t relieves
the self-sacrificing wife of large proper
tion of the load of care, which becomes
doubly weighted if there is no brightness
and cheeriulness in the habitual demeanor
of the farmer.
Men and women who are employed to
assist in farm labor will work cheaper and
more zealously with family who culti-
vate cheerful spirit, enjoy innocent fun
and wake the echoes all over the farm and
in the house, morning to night, with jolli-
ty and good cheer. The merchant will
sell cheaper and deal more literally with
keen, wide-awake, jolly farmer than
with long and sour-faced grumbler. This
is no trivial matter. 1t enters into busi-
ness as an integer, just as sunshine makes
crops.-Rurat Ne,0 Yorker.