St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-03-02
Shiftlessness.

This is everywhere source of loss,
and it ought to be of shame, to its vic
tim but nowhere is it SO directly the
cause of injury as on the farm. The
pride of farming is in having a clean,
trim, snug-kept place, with the build
ings, fences, fields, and all appoint
ments in good order. The influence
which tells, in making farming de-
sirable avocation for young men, is i'll
the fine appearance of the farm. Who
that has any love for the soil ever rode
by nice looking farmhouse and barn,
with everything attractive around them
and did not wish he owned such place,
and was as good a farmerP Who ever
rode by dilapidated looking farm, and
was not glad that he left the farm home
to learn a trade OF profession when a
boy? The cOntentment, comfort, and
wealth of the farm home is in its order
ly management. An English writer,
who had travelled much in this cOun-
try, says of the influence of religion,
that he could tell as he came near to il
country village what were its religious
privileges. If the fences were in good
order, the roads well made, the houses
painted, the barns in good repair, the
carts and wagons housed, he was sure
to find the church steeple pointing
heavenward. The school house with
open doors, and an appearance of re-
tinement, respectability and religious
life in the community. What this wri-
ter discovered as the moral status OF
the country homes, will bear the same
test in its material character. We have
seen farmers who held in their posses
sion ''all the land adjoining them =
whose barnyard was so full of stock
that it had the appearance of hive OF
bees; who owed every body, and
whom every body owed. Every thing
seemed to be at loose ends on the farm
in business management and in general
appearance, and they were believed tC
he well-tO-dO; but we never knew one
of this sort of farmers whose estate
would settle for fifty cents on the dol
lar. On the other hand we never knew
Il farmer with much or little in his pos
session, who had clean, orderly, wei
arranged farm, that was not in com
Portable circumstances.
The very habit of shiftlessness is de
structive. A gate left with one hingc
broken until it is blown to pieces two
or three screws, in time, would have
saved the expense of a new gate. 4
barn door drags at the bottom or rub'
at the top; to close it, it must be slam
med it soon becomes loosened, broken
and a large expense is necessary to do
what a little, in time, would have
saved. The fences are neglected; thu
cattle and sheep crawl through, o
jump over, injure the crops, and learl
to be roguish, which diminishes thei
value. A shingle blows off of the roof
the hole is neglected until the hay i
wet, and becomes musty, or the plas
tering in the house is drenched, crack
ed, and falls off A pane of glass i
broken out, and an old hat is substitu
ted. The place would not sell for six
ty cents on dollar with that hat in til
sash. You may select the best farm, i
the most perfect condition, and put
shiftless man upon it; he shall not eX
haust the soil, nor unnecessarily wea
out the farming tOOls,-simply for
few years be shiftless,-and that farr
will not sell, after seeking long for
customer, for half price; yet til
amount of actual expense TO put it i
good order might not be ten per cen
The most expensive luxury farmt
can indulge in is shiftlessness.-GOIde
Rule.