Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1878-01-23
FARM AND FIRESTDE.


was talkin& 70 ieffEef's dau2nleF
the other day. and We naturally, it
seemed, dropped into sonplainiags and
each revealed the fact that she pas dis
coHtented. Iasked her what she IN
tended to do fsr q living, and she
answered 10, / don't know. ! want
to get away and make money somehow.
III could go tosehosl iiAle more l
could teach; bat they can't spare me-"
knew that all her life had been one
round of cooking, and milking, and
churning; of washing, and serubbng,
a.d ironing. I knew that her father
was wealthy farmer. . Granger, and
leading church member. He has
good farm and a cszy barn-such coy
barn!-and money in bank. And when
looked at the ugly old farm-heuse,
with its black doors and small windows,
its calves, and pigs, and chickens runn-
ing in uudistnrbsd tranquility over the
yard, did rot wonder that she found it
uattractivs, aud that she wanted to
"get away" The finer sensibilities Of
her woman nature were awakening, and
they called for something better.
!, Tor one, do not blame the farmers
Tor being dissatisfied. know how
much they have to make them so.-
When will these fathers learn that the
life is more than meat, and the body
than raimest?' When viii they cease
considering it waste Of time to send
their children to school, or waste Of
money to pay for books or magazines?
Why will they spcndtheir money giving
the heather a chance to be lost, when
their daughters are absolutely suffering
for something to read ? They toll and
sweat, wasting the souls best earnings
in providing for the poor frail body that,
were it not that it is the temple Of the
soul, would be worth no more to us
than q piece of wood or stone. They
reverse the positions and make the
rightful master servant. Their time is
wholly occupied in providing for the
temporal wants.
Holland tells US that farmers are afraid
10 be educated, or refined, or TO cult
vate the beauties Of nature, lest they be
thought "stuck up" He says that
their finer nature, being neglected, be-
comes sluggish and dormant. When
they 60 to sleep they merely 'go to
roost;" when they eat, they "tuch away
grub" that they surprise their backs
with clean shirts" and when they mar
ry they "hitch on" In all this we rec.
ognize more Of truth than poetry.
Perhaps ie is true the world 10 what We
make it; but the sad part OF this truth
is, that some of US casnot make it what
II ought to be, what we wish it to be.
1.-THE natures that are given US with ex'
istence that is thrust upon us are slug
xish and stolid, We must suffer the con-
sequences throughout time and eterni-
ty.
No matter how much we may do to
eradicate the baser part, we can never
attain the higher standard we might
have reached if loving and cOnsiderate
parents had helped to prepare the way
for US. We hear a great deal said about
the dignity and nobility Of labor; We see
the truth Of this in results Of the lives Of
such men as Hugh Miller, Agsssiz, and
eur old-time patriots, But labor hav-
ing no good end in view; labor that is
lnarely museular.expansion and contrac-
ton fer the sake Of making and keeping
noney,is only method Of ul.murder.
We need never be afraid of labor, pre- =
vided We work in the right spirit. Al
IA Dickinson used to clean street-cross'
ings to earn money to pay for books.
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