Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-10-05
old People on the Farm.

Travellers in the far West can but notice the
absence of old people among the farming
population. One generation, or Mt the most
two, is all that he sees; and it someway makes
farming seem more like driving, restless in
dustry than where beneath the quaint old
fashioned houses sheltered by trees century
or two old, three or four generations live to-
gether, supported by the ancestral acres. 1t
gives respect and true dignity to the calling, to
see the good gray heads" the strong, intelli-
gent faces and the still-sturdy forms of men
past the ordinary limit of human life, mingling
in the work A civilized race is no more COM
pete without its patriarchs than were the wan
dering tribes of old. Spite of study and sci
ence, and progress i'll knowledge and inven-
ton, a man who has seen the promise of seed
time and harvest fulfilled for sixty or seventy
years on the earth, is apt to know things as
his juniors do not, and should be respected
accordingly.
The tenacity with which the veteran farm
ers stick to their farms not only, but to the
actual work on them, is one of the most inter
esting subjects for the student of social char
acteristics. A retired" farmer, living on n
small income in country village, with moth
ing to do but higgle over his purchases and
growl at the taxes is n proper object of pity.
Happy the man whose younger kinsmen will
carry on the old farm and let him work or
not as he pleases-giving him an easy chair by
the warmest corner of the fireplace in winter,
and shady nook on the verandah wherein to
nod over his newspaper and play with his
grandchildren in summer. Thrice happy the
good farm-wife whose daughter, or daughters
daughter, reserves the best ground-hoor room
for her and carries on the work herself-all
the while pleasing mother with the belief
that she is still doing it as she did for half-a-
hundred years How sweet and placid the
dear old face as she goes with feeble steps to
kitchen and dairy, looking arter things!
She knows just how many chickens there are,
and when the speckled hen ought to come off ;
she passes Judgment on the new COW, and
gives that finishing touch to the butter, which
won the first premium at the County Fair so
many years ago-before "help" was known
in the farmhouse. She "goes to meetn'
with n regularity that shames her children,
and passes gently down the farther slope of
the hill of life, serenely happy amid accustom-
ed scenes and familiar faces. What hampered
village existence could be so good for her as
that2 1t is poor work transplanting old trees
There is, we think, q danger that the old
men ON the farm will work too much. The
gritty New England stock gives up hard and
in the hurry of work, or from the thoughtless-
ness of younger men, the old frames are often
over-taXed. Enforced idleness is often the be.
ginning of the end with men whose whole
lives have been spent in activities. But tax
ing it easy" won't hurt them. Make Laying
of" and lighter cares around the house, sc
natural and easy for them that they will moi
know it was planned The younger genera
tons should take good care of the elder where
they are so fortunate as to have three or foui
of them living under one roof; for from the
present outlook, it is doubtful if the sight il
common one fifty years hence. Golden
Rule.