The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-09-29
Making the Farm Attractive.

g. vSA<D-a3 Did farmer to US the other day:
7 "Idont know what I'm going to do.
My last boy left me yesterday to go to
the city to work in the mill Boys, now
adays, amt good for anything. They
DOn't be farmers. Jack is no worse than
the rest of 'em, spose."
| We knew that the old man was speak
ing the truth, for it is a fact that few
boys can be found who are willing to
stay on farm; and as we looked around
us at Jacks rural home we were bound
not to blame the boy for getting away
from it. A square, Imprinted, forlorn-
looking structure was the house-the
door, painted red, dragged on the entry
floor, and required all ones strength to
get it open far enough for human body
to squeeze through. The shingles and
clapboards hung at loose ends, and the
top of the chimney had caved in on one
side, and the woodshed which joined the
kitchen, to use well-known country
phrase, cleaned toward Sawyer's." In
side the house things were even more
desolate. The walls were guiltless of
paint and paper, and time and the smoke
from the fire had darkened them to the
hue of first mourning. Half the seven
by nine window-glass was broken or
cracked, and mended with strips of pa
per and pieces of old hats.
The kitchen chairs were hard and an
gular enough for seats of torture-the
dinner table, which was spread for the
family was destitute of a cloth, and the
crockery represented a half-dozen sets,
with some odd pieces to spare. The
only article of luxury we saw about the
house was plaster of Paris cat, painted
in alternate stripes of red and green, and
she wore a frightened look, as if con-
sCious that she did not belong there
And the owner of this forlorn place
was wealthy man, as farmers are reck-
oned, with his thousands in the bank,
and round sum invested in fancy cattle
and long legged chickens. But he could
afford nothing for the establishment of
the building called home.
Now the life of farmer has been very
much decried. 1t is fact that farmer
is the only thoroughly independent per-
son en- the face of the earth. He is sure
of something to eat, and roof to cover
him, and though the banks may fail and
the cashiers of trust companies abscond,
and railways collapse, and mining stocks
turn to naught-it does not affect the
farmer, so far as the necessaries of life
are concerned.
Corn and potatoes grow just as well
when gold is $50 as wheh it is at par,
and the fact that Congress proposes to
increase the tax on whisky and tobacco
doesn't affect the growth of peas and
cabbages.
The farmers work is hard, people tell
US, but it is not so hard as the work of
the average mechanic. He is not CON
fined to ten hours a day. He is not rung
out of bed in the morning, and nobody
has any right to say that he shall not
take holiday whenever he chooses.
He is his own master. He is obliged
to bow to nobody in order to keep his
place. He can hold his own opinions.
There are many.days in the year which
he can have altogether to himself-for
reading, for studying, or for visiting his
friends. His evenings are his own. He
has scores of other advantages which
we might mention, but it is scarcely need
tul But farmers, as general thing,
do not seek to make their homes attract
i've. They have not been brought up
that way. They have been taught to
scrimp aud save, in order to lay up
money for the purchase of more land, or
to hoard up and leave to some thankless
heir at their decease.
They consider money invested in paint,
and paper, and carpets as thrown away;
and your ordinary farmer would look
Mortified if you should suggest to him
that ten dollars invested in pretty
chrome for his parlor would be a paying
investment.
Now, II farmers want to keep their
sons and daughters at home, they should
try to make their homes pleasant. Half
the farm-houses in the country are en-
tirely destitute of shade-trees. Shade,
they tell US, rots the shingles. Well, let
them rot. There are shingles enough in
the world. Comfort and beauty ought
not to be sacrificed for few thousand
shingles.
Not one farmhouse in fifty is supplied
with blinds, and blinds are an actual ne
cessity in a country where the sun is ever
expected to shine. Three dollars a win
dow would furnish a house with these
adiuncts, and make it, at the least com.
putation, worth thousand dollars more,
so far as actual comfort is concerned.
Have the smoky rooms painted and pa
pered, and get carpets for the floors of
the best rooms-you'll never grudge the
cost after you see how much pleasanter
it is, and how much happier your family
will be for the triaing expense.
And while you are about it have some
chairs and lounges on which person
can sit without dreaming of the inquisi-
ton. They need not be rosewood and
satin brocatelle-hard pine and bright
colored chintz will be quite as comforta-
| BILE.
Let the girls do fancy work at odd
hours, and cover the cushions with cheer