Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-09-28
Farm and Fireside.
From On. GEo. d. LoR1Se's Address at the recen
New England Fair, at Portland, Mel


Twenty years ago one Of the bright and
popular writers of Massachusetts drew a pic
ture of farm-life here, so dismal, that If true
it should have deferred every person of intel
hpenco and taste from falling within its infiu-
ences, or adopting its modes. The hard and
homely fare had nourshed hard and angular
forms; the degrading associations had de
stroyed the department and depraved the in
tercourse, and dued the sensibilities More
recently these views have been repeated in
somewhat modified form. with the addition of
some deeper objections to the social and do
nestle life of the farmer. 1t is now suggested
that 'the young man who takes his young
wife to an isolated farmhouse dooms her and
himself and their children to an unwhole-
some, unsatisfactory and vacant existence
and that the depressing influences OF farm
life can only be overcome by abandoning the
farm as an abiding place and resorting to vii
lagos for relaxation and relief. That the $50
lated farm has its trials do not doubt that
it has its discoungements. and depressing in
fluences and temptations. l am well aware.
That it has its freer opportunity for the cult
walton of manly virtues and substantial quail
ties. also, l have already stated And the
question now is whether the proposed remedy
of village life would remove the evils without
the danger of losing much of the good. The
advantages of village life rs set forth are more
immediate social intercourse, the pOst-office,
the lyceum the blliarl-room, the church, the
school-house. the refining influence of'a tidy,
well-ordercd town. The evils of village life
to Young and old IRE not alluded to. Of the
advantages of village life. the occupants of
almost every farm i'll New England can easily
avail themselves without burdensome trouble
and expense. while removed to safe distance
from the evils. avoidance of which every wise
father of family is glad TO secure. To OBJ
toi,, tho hauphts II il mt to live in a
village: TO avoid the evils it is necessary to
live out of it, And | count that family for
tunate. who, occupying an ample estate on
which they can proftably exert their industry,
are so situated as to be able to avoid the ener-
waiting influences Of dense and enjoyable
communities, while they safely receive their
benefits
That the evils said to surround isolated
farm-life have been exaggerated there can be
no doubt / have been n close and intimate
observer of our rural population for many
years and have failed to discover the defects
which are charged upon it. New England
. abounds with cheerful, well-ordered rural
homes supplied with books, means of alnuse-
ment, and comfort and observation-disclosures
whose fathers and sons are not hard and vul-
gar and whose wives and daughters are not
homely and discontinued and careworn. The
objections made to New England farm-life do
not apply to New England They may apply
elsewhere, but not here. The badly organized
homes are the exception and not the rule i'll
this section of the country, and anyone who
will take the pains to examine the farmhouses
of every locality here devoted to agriculture,
will find good order, domestic prosperity, in
telligence, hospitality and comfort us univer-
sal as i'll any community brought together by
more active occupation and presented as an
example for the farmer to follow. And with
out instituting any invidious comparison, l
am confident that i'll the domestic organization
known as a farmers home, as now established
in the rural districts of New England there
may be found as mnny of the elements which
go to make n happy and intelligent household
MS in any spot on earth. At any rate these
homes are part of our social and civil exper-
iment to-day, as they were in the days of our
fathers The independent landholder must
still find conspicuous place here Those
qualities which are strengthened by the patri-
archal position of the master of household
surrounded by his acres and surveying his
focks and herds, must enter largely into his
makeup, who would be a representative
American citizen. He may be over prudent,
reticent, slow to speak, calculating, from the
necessities of his occupation; but he Is strong
i'll his convictions devoted to his duty guided
by the best instincts hard to mislead, proper
rs the head of family honest and reliable in
server no sycophant, no disturber of the
peace. From him come the substantial and
fundamental elements of the most active
spheres of life. As the great landholders of
England preserve, against all adverse influ-
ences, the national characteristics which no
heated and excitable communities can de-
stroy, so the small American landholders nour-
ish and cherish and transmit those unchang-
able points of our national character, which
cOnguipnOuS in crisis and maintain
our peculiar position among the nations of
the earth Thus far l have found no DISPOSE
ton to abandon this system of independence,
isolated, occupied farms, and to resort to vii
lage life for relief The spirit which peopled
our frontiers still remains. The desire to oc-
cupy and reclaim land is as great Ms ever. The
love of the old farmhouse has not yet died
out, and the American farmer of to-day. true
to the spirit of his ancestors accepts and en-
joys his situation as ardently as do they, who,
born under another, and, as | think, inferior
form of state and society cOngregate i'll crowd
ed villages by night and go forth to their un-
alleviated toll by day.
And now n word with regard to the proposed
remedy for the supposed evils. Upon the
possible and, i'll many cases. upon the actual
beauty of American villages it is unnecessary
for me to enlarge Made up as they often are
of tasteful dwellings, sufficiently separated to
allow of ample grounds and gardens and to
preserve conspicuousy the architectural effect,
and adorned, as they often are with trees and
shrubs, they really deserve the name of ''ru-
raj" villages, and are oftentmes as delightful
as any clusters of residences to be found on
earth Combining as they do the busy air of
town, often subdued and quiet it is true,
with the aspect of the country, they possess a
capacity for beauty rarely seen-a beauty so
great that the church. the village green, the
modest public building the dwellings of the
! villagers, the shaded highways, all recall to
those who have ever been familiar with them
scene of rural loveliness rarely surpassed.
And they stand in as great contrast with the
villages of Continental Europe as the parks of
London do to the dngy and gloomy purlieus
of the Strand, And yet of the temptations
and tendencies of these attractive and beauti-
full spots do not care to speak. The hstless
side of country village is often as hard to
resist as the glittering and dangerous side OF
great city. And l am not sure that it would
be well to subject the young men of our farms
to the constant influence of those who gather
in the resorts of village idleness. Nor am
sure that the lyceum and the library, the post
office, the church and the school-house are
powerful enough to counteract these inhu-
ences, more especially if they are i'll the hands
of those who have exhausted themselves by
long days of toll on their outlaying farms and
have returned to their village homes for q
nights rest.
On the inconvenience of this mode of life
which makes the village place of rest, and
the far-of farm the scene of toll and business
it is unnecessary to enlarge. The wise and
judicious farmer knows that his most profta
BILE husbandry is carried on upon the lands
which lie directly around his buildings
The transportation of the articles of farm
is expensive enough at any rate, and should
be reduced to the lowest possible point. The
time and labor spent in transporting manure
long distance may destroy its value entirely
and every experienced man knows that II field