Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-03-23

| population
could be much ameliorated by similar con-
centration into communities where the ma
terial and moral benefits for better social re-
latiOns could be secured.
The paper considers the way in which land
may be divided 50 as to secure the end in
view with the least inconvenience to the men
who have to till the fields, and with the least
| drawback to the business OF the farmer
Two cases are considered /. When it is
question of the settlement of new lands. >
Where farm houses are already scattered
over the country, each on its own farm. la
both cases it is attempted to show how the
details of the plan may be regulated so as To
cause the least annoyance and loss of time to
the men, to compass the greatest convenience
OF the women, and to provide the best advan
tages for the younger members Of the com
munity. These two scenes are illustrated
by sufficient diagrams, which indicate the
way in which the farming land and the VII
lage tract should be divided
Suggestions are also given as to the laying
out ofthe village green, the care of roads,
paths, grass ground, and other open spaces,
so far as such suggestions are appropriate in
this connection.
The way in which the proposed change
would affect the work of the farmer his
wife, his hired men, and his teams, is fully
considered and it seems to be demonstrated
while it is admitted that in immediate mon
ey making there NAV be some slight disad-
yantage-tha. on the whole and in the long
run the general prosperity of our agriculture
who'd be advanced by the change.
Considerable space is given to the compar-
atiye effaet nf rho lifa nf rho i-o1o+aJ E,rp,
house and of the more sociable life of the
village on the character of the farmer and
his family, and, therefore, on the future
farming people of the country. The follow
ing quotations indicate the line of argument
at may seem strange doctrine to be ad-
vanced by a somewhat enthusiastic farmer,
but it is a doctrine that has been slowly ac-
cepted after many years observation,-a
conviction that has taken possession of an
unwilling mind,-that the young man who
takes his young wife 10 an isolated farm
house dooms her and himself and their chill
dren to an unwholsome, unsatisfactory and
vacant existence,-an existence marked BY
the absence of those more satisfying and more
cultivating influences which the best devel-
Opment Of character and intelligence demand.
1t is a common experience of farmers wives
to pass week after week without exchanging
word or look with a single person out
side of their own family circles.
"The young couple start bravely, and with
determination to struggle against the hab-
it of isolation which markes their class but
this habit has grown from the necessity of
the situation and the necessities of their
own situation bring! them sooner or later
within its bonds. During the first few years
they adhere to their resolution and 90 regu-
larry to church, to the lecture, and to the
social gatherings of their friends but
home duties increase with time, and the
eagerness of society grows dull with neglect,
and those who have started out with the
frmest determination to avoid the rock on
which their fathers have split, give up the
struggle at last and settle down to hum
drum, uninteresting and uninterested per-
fOrmance of daily tasks.
'In saying all this-and | speak from
experience, for have led the dismal life
mYself-it is hardly necessary to discaim
the least want of appreciation of the sterling
qualities which have been developed in the
American farm household.
''lf American agriculture has an unsati--
fed need, it is surely the need for more
intelligence and more enterpr;sing interest
on the part OF its working men and women.
From one end of the land to the other, its
crying defect-recognized by all-is that its
best blood, or, in ,other words. its best
brains and its best energy-is leaving it to
seek other fields Of labor The influences
which lead these best Of the farmers sons to
other occupations is not so much the desire
to lead a more satisfactory life,-a life
where that part of Us has been developed by
By the better education and better ciyiliza-
ton for which in this century we have work
ed so hard and so well, NAV find responsive
;ompanionship and encouraging intercourse
with Others.
1.-The social benefits and the facilities for
,requent neighbors and informal intercourse
Ire obvious. To say nothing Of the COM
and intimacies among the Young
people, their fathers and mothers would be
iept from growing old and glum by the con-
tant friction of their kind and in 50 far as
! more satisfactory social relation with ones
ellOw-men gives cheeriulneSS and the rich
less OF wilder human interest, in that
proportion would the village life have
wholesome, mellOwiDT effect that is not to
'e found in the farm house, nor even in the
ort OF neighborhood We sometimes find in
he country, where several farm houses are
within quarter of a mile Of each other. The
labit of running in for moments chat
With neighbor is good one, and it gets
nut scant development among the American
armers."
The better development of the church, and
specially of the school, is discussed at some
ength, ,.and the paper closes thus
= Tcho
rom the community of living, for modest
ilage library and reading room. Indeed, if
could have my own way, | should not con-
ne the attractions and entertainment of the
illage to strictly moral appliances. 1t
Tould probably be wiser to recognize the
act that young men find an attraction i'll
which our sterner ancestors re
arded as dangerous and would not eschew
il!Iards, nor even. by rigorous enactment
ne milder vice of social tobacco. Better
ave little harmless wicketneSs near home,
nd under the eye of parents, than encounter
ne risk that boys, after Il eertainage, would
EEK pretex for more uncontrolled indulgen-
es in the nerghboring town.
"One might 20 on through the long range
incidental arguments-such,, as lighted
.reets, we'll kept side walks, winter snow
lows, and good drainage, and wholesome
ride in tidy, cosy village, until even the
lost close listed of all our class would confess
lat the extra cost would bring full value in
,turn, and until he wouli recognize the
et that the attractions of such a home as
le village would make possible would be
kelly to insure his being succeeded in his
holesome trade by the brightest AMI bet
his sons-a result that would surely be
orth more than all it would cost