Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1877-09-05

H.) Mirror and Farmer writes and the Maine
Farmer copies the following:
"If farms have run down, the people who oc- |
cupy them are long way ahead in the race. We |
have got on our farms to-day class of people |
who can cipher through the algebra, play the p |
ano, and boast of an acquaintance with the fine
arts but they can't work They have got fine |
minds, but their bodies sicky, puny and weak
TO talk the matter plainly, have bred the bone
and muscle ont of our families until we have got
kind of human Jerseys, fne-bred, mdeyed,
and nice to look at, and pet and put exhibition
but so tender and weak that they are fit neither
for our climate our work nor our circumstances
Our fathers worked twelve fourteen hours a
day and never thought of getting tired We are
used up when we have worked four hours. Our
mothers made butter and cheese fed the pigs and
chickens, did the milking, raised dozen chill
dren, made the clothing for the family and when
a shower was coming could rake or load hay. Our
wives want maid to tend the baby and another
to do the house work, a boy to do the chores, and
If we keep more than one COW, a cheese factory to
prevent the milk from spelling. 1t is safe to say
that ten farmers wives to-day cannot do as much
work as would one fifty years ago. As farming
people we are played ont. If the New Hampshire
farmer, who wants wife to help him get living.
instead of one to hang ribbons on and pour patent
medicine into, would Just 90 down to the city
and find a good, strong, vigorous, industrious aud
frugal Irish or German girl, he would find his
| farm would pay better than it does now, and his
children would be likely to be worth ten times as
much as will be any of the next generation of
pure-bred Yankees
We do not know what signature was APP
pended to this delicious diatribe, but if it
had been sent to us we should have headed
it An Old Fogy on the Rampage" There
is just enough truth in what he says to set
off its essential fallacy. Human life aver
ages longer, and the old are more numerous
and healthier in New England, by at least
thirty per cent, than they were sixty years
ago The ease of life is so much greater
than formerly that more unsound children
are reared, and the presence of these alive
amongst us gives an impression the direct
opposite of the real state of the case. Among
the poor Irish and German immigrants the
young adults are mostly vigorous because
all the weakly children have died off. So it
was in the early times among the "Yankees."
During the flush times " no doubt some
extravagance has crept in among the farm
ers, but very little in comparison with the
cities and villages. And the farmers fam-
lies show greater willingness aud a greater
capacity to adapt themselves to the changed
circumstances that now surround us.
While we desire to see no one living be-
You'd their means, we are glad to see far
mers adopting more of the amenities of
civilized life We are not of those who de-
sire to see the silk dress and the piano driven
out of the farmhouse; and certainly we
want to see every farmers son aud daughter
receiving "a first-class practical education.
All these advantages are enjoyed by the in
habitants of cities and villages who possess
as much means invested in business as the
average farmer has in his farm.
But these good things, to be honestly EN-.
joyed must be paid for, and the farmer
must get the money out of the farm. He
can do it if he thoroughly studies his bust
ness, and understands it, Properly farmed
there are few hundred-acre farms in YER
mont that will not yield an income that will
admit of its tillers enjoying all the reason.
able comforts and luxuries of middle-cass
life The desire for these things should be
a strong stimulant to energetic aud Skilful
farming.
No man of common sense would demand
of a farmer in these days of improved I'M
plements the twelve and fourteen hours of
hard work required on the rough farms OF
fifty years ago. 1t is great mistake to say
that men "nevcr thought of being tired " in
, those times. Men worked themselves to
death in those days, to get a bare living.
, Now, thanks to the march of improvement,
a man with half the labor can do twice the
work and make twice the profit. If he puts
, the right knowledge with his work he can
again donble his gains.
There is considerable truth to the charge
that women are not so strong as they used
TO be. This is as true of the city as of the
farm. Its cause must be found mainly in
r. the foolish fashions of dress by which women
are prevented from wearing sufiiciencyfoi
Z warm clothing. This works i'll by prevent
n ing them from spending proper amount OF
q time in the open air, and compelling them t.
keep their houses too warm. These two
- things, aud unwholesome cookery, are the
causes of most of the jl.health and patent
J medicine taking that we see. When womel
e and bodies warmly, so that they will not b,
n struck with chill every time the fresh al
blows on them in cool weather, they viii
enjoy the open air exercise that is so neces
9 sary to health, and will not want the no
II fires that keep the pores of the body opel
[. and expose it to colds and catarrbs witt
70 every breath of outside air. Aud ever,
- farm housewife should make the same con
10 scientious study of the art of wholesom,
10 cookery that her husband should make Of
e. thorough agriculture.
:. We do not want TO go back to the 5000,
y old times" but to press forward to the bet
70 ter new times, when every farmer and fan
Is mer's wife will possess sound education
he and thorough command of all the know
,e edge requisite for the perfect Performance
of their daily tasks When that time comes
u all will enjoy every desirable comfort o
De life, without the need of that ignorant an,
b. slavish drudgery OF the past which an oil
fogy seems to think so enchanting.