Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-04-20
THE LONELINESS OF FARMING-LIFE
IN AMERICA,

NnO "a
lations into villages. He has been
accustomed in his own country to
see them distributed upon the farms
they cultivate. The isolated farm
life, so universal here, either does
not exist at all in the greater part of
continental Europe, or it exists as a
comparatively modern institution.
The old populations, of all callings
and professions, clustered together
for self-defense, and built walls
around themselves. Out from these
walls. for miles around, went the
tillers of the soil in the morning, and
back into the gates they thronged at
night. Cottages were clustered
around feudal castles, and grew in
TO towns; and so Europe for many
centuries was cultivated mainly by
neople who lived in villages and cit
les. many Of which were walled, and
all of which possessed appointments
of defense. The early settlers IN
our own country took the same
means TO OeleuU themselves iiOuA
the treacherous Indian. The towns
of HadIev, Hatfield, Mortified, and
Deerfeld, on the Connecticut River,
are notable examples of this kind of
building; and to this day they re-
main villages of agriculturists. That
this is the way in which farmers
ought to live we have no question,
and we wish to say a few words
about it.
There is some reason for the gen.
eral disposition of American men
and women to shun agricultural pur-
suits which the observers and phi
losophers have been slow to find.
We see young men pushing every
thing into trade, into mechanical
pursuits, into the learned profes-
sions. into insignificant clerkships,
into salaried positions of every sort
that will take them into towns and
support and hold them there We
find it impossible to drive poor peo.
pie from the cities with the threat
of starvation, or to coax them with
the promise of better pay and cheap
er fare. There they stay, and
starve, and sicken, and sink. YOUNG
women resort to the shops and fac
tories rather than take service il
farmers houses, where they are re
ceived as members of the family
And when they marry, they seek al
alliance, when practicable, with me
chanics and tradesmen who live IL
villages and large towns. Th'
daughters of the farmer fly the farm
at the first opportunity. The towns
grow larger all the time, and, in New
England at least, the farms are be
coming wider and longer, and tn,
farming population are diminished
in numbers, and, in some localities
degraded in quality and character
It all comes to this, that isolated
life has very little significance to ;
social being. The social life OF thu
village and the city has intense fas
cination to the lonely dwellers OF
the. farm, or to great multitude o.
them. Especially is this the cast
with the young. The youth of botl
sexes who have seen nothing of tht
world have an overwhelming desire
to meet life and to be among the
multitude. They feel their life tC
be narrow in its opportunities anC
its rewards, and the pulsations Of
the great social heart that comes tC
them in rushing trains and passing
steamers and daily newspapers
damp with the dews of a hundred
broWs, thrill them with longings fol
the places where the rhythmic throt
is felt and heard. They are not tC
be blamed for this. 1t is the mos
natural thing in the world. If all Of
life were labor,-if the great Object
of life were the scraping together Of
few dollars, more OF less,-why
isolation without diversion would bt
economy and profit; but so long as
the object of life is life, and.the bes,
and purest and happiest that car
come of it, all needless isolation is q
crime against the soul, in that it is 8
surrender and sacrifice of noble op
portunities.
We are, therefore, not sorry tc
see farms growing larger, provided
those who work them will get near
er together; and that is what they
ought to do. Any farmer who
plants himself and his family alone
far from possible neighbors-takes
upon himself terrible responsible.
ty. Ii is impossible that he and his
should be well developed and thor
oughly Lappy there. He will be
forsaken in his old age by the very
children for whom he made his great
sacrifice. They will fly to the towns
for the social food and stimulous fol
which they have starved. We
never hear of a colony settling on a
Western prairie without thrill OF
pleasure. 1t is in colonies that all
ought to settle, and in villages rath-
er than on separated farms. The
meeting, the lecture, the public
amusement, the social assembly,
should be things easily reached,
There is no such damper upon free
social life as distance. A long road
is the surest bar to neighborly in
tercourse. If the social life of the
farmer were richer, his life would
by that measure be more attractive.
After all, there are farmers who
will read this article with sense of
affront or injury, as if by doubling
OF disputing the suficiency of their
social opportunities we insult them
with a sort of contempt. We as
sure them that they cannot afford to
treat thoroughly sympathetic coun-
sci in this way. We know that
their wives and daughters and sons
are on our side, quarrel with us as
they may; and the women and
children are right. "The old man, :"
who rides to market and the post
office, and mingles more or less in
business with the world, gets along
tolerably well; but it is the stayers
at home who suffer. Instead of
growing wiser and better as they