The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1876-02-23
LIFE ON THE FARM.
Boys Letter with Great Deal Of Sense
In II,

To-day as I was going "to town and
back again." I thought Of an article !
had read about the independence Of q
farmers life, and tried to make up my
mind that it was right, but did not sue
ceed very we'll on the whole, You see,
to begin with, We are poor, and !, the
oldest boy oil the family, am probably as
green and awkward looking young
granger as you seldom meet. Yet I
have (perhaps unfortunately for myself)
some aspirations and ambitions as well
as other boys. As I went along toward
town, turning ont occasionally with the
oxen and wagon to let team pass, and
stopping frequently to readjust the cord
wood, which would perversely keep
slipping about on the wagon, I am afraid
I didn't realize very fully the blessed in
dependence of my situation. For boy
who longs to be going to school to be
obliged to cut and haul wood to sell at
such price aa will not pay him dollar
a day for his work Che boarding himself
and team), is not very encouraging bust
ness. But what is to be done9 The
bugs killed the wheat, 80 that it was not
more than half a crop: the frost fore
closed on the corn; and though we had
plenty Of potatoes, We could get nothing
for them, and it required close pinching
for us to pay up our store bills, doctors
bills, and other little debts. Now winter
is here, and there are o hundred little
wants to be supplied. Tom and Steve
have not got their winter boots yet, and
mother, dear kind mother, has not yet
received the shawl which I planned to
get for her more than a year ago. So it
has been, or measurably 30, ever since I
can remember.
Some people say that father is not
very efficient. Perhaps they are right,
but he is certainly much the superior Of
most of his neighbors intellectually, and
I cannot help thinking that he might
have been successful in something. I
don't know how it may seem to others,
but it seems to me that our Life is sort
Of drudgery, and that some people, for
whom Nature has done no more than it
has for us, are enjoying more OF the
comforts Of life, with far less labor and
privation.
There is Charley Sharpe. I saw him
to-day standing by the post-ofice smok-
ing q cigar, and talking with Fanny
Howard. She was asking him to come
to their New Years party. She didn't
ask me to come, but passed me with q.
very cool "Good.morning." I remem-
ber how she used to laugh at his stupid
blunders when we all went to school to-
gether, two or three years ago. He is
the young man who asked If Tennyson
was Boston man, and thought "The
Woman in White" was the best one Of
Dickens novels he had ever readI But
he has attended the village academy
year since that, and is now reading law
with Judge Sprague. He wears good
clothes and shiny boots, for his father is
rich; but I wouldn't care for that If I
only had his chance to study.
Last fall went to hear great orator
speak, and as listened to his eloquent
remarks I felt that I would gladly spend
the best part of life in preparation, If
it were possible to become such power
for good as he was. shall never have
the opportunity for very much mental
Improvement on a farm. It is all we'll
enough to talk about educating ones
self, md to point to the example Of such
men as Lincoln, Greeley, and Wilson. /
doubt whether even they would have
ever accomplished what they did if they
had always lived on farms. try to read
and study some evenings; but I don't
get started very early, and when one has
been out in the cold all day, he does not
sit reading in warm room very long
before the lines begin to mix up, and he
hardly knows whether he is engaged in
reading history or hauling sawlogs. 1t
seems to me that it requires wonderful
amount of energy to overcome such
difficulties, and one cannot help observ-
ing that large majority OF those who
have risen to positions Of eminence had
good opportunities when they were
young. Advice is about the cheapest
thing in the world, and we are very often
advised to "stick to the farm" by those
who left it long ago for other pursuits,
and would do the same thing again un.
der like circumstances.