The Red Cloud chief., 1880-10-21
Farmers Lives.

IT is related of Prof. Swing that in n
recent discourse before a convention of
Western farmers, he told them that their
lank bodies and sorrowful faces came of
too much work. too little sleep and too
little good food, and that the same was
true of their boys. His granger audi
enc must have taken him for a plain,
blunt man to intimate in so direct a
manner that he was addressing an as
semblage of gaunt and uncanny scare
crows; and it is possible that he put the
case a little stronger than the circum-
stances made necessary. Prof. Swing
knows a good many things. As a theO-
Logan, a philosopher, a teacher and a
preacher, he has attained considerable
success. and won considerable reputa-
ton. 1t is possible that he was once a
farmers boy, and was well acquainted
with the hardships and the deprivations
of a farmers existence. But if he has
sketched the Western farmer correctly,
the latter fares worse. with all his
boosted immensely of crop, than the
average agriculturist of the East. The
farmers of New York and New England
are not especially lank. They certain
ly do not make the smooth, rOtund.
delicate and well-groome1 appearance
that is peculiar to many business and
professional men; but they have mus
cles like whip cord, and surfaces that
can receive the sun, the wind and the
rain without shrinking or suffering in
jury. They live as long and enjoy as
good health as other people, for hard
work does not kill as fast as even the
mild designations of society.
Bodily labor does not consume nerve
tissue. and consequently physical
strength, as rapidly IS brain labor
alone. The professional man needs
more sleep than the man whose hands
are in as constant and active employ as
his head; but he rarely obtains more.
The former works into the night. but
the latter retires as soon as the dark
ness deprives him of the opportunity
to work, and enjoys refreshing slumber
that is in New England. The food
upon which the farmer subsists might
be varied considerably more to advan-
tage. But while it lacks variety, the
quantity or quality is seldom insufficient.
A farmer worthy of the name and
standing of that honorable class who
till the soil can hardly help having a
great deal of good food that city peo-
pie. who live right by the markets,
envy him. He has pure water and
fresh air. to begin with. These afford
an excellent basis of health, and it is
an extrsvagant theorist who will main
tain that a good sound superstructure
cannot be erected thereon. with vege-
tables right from the garden, and milk
drawn directly from its native ~founts,
which have no a~filiation with the clear
well or spring water; with butter like
gold. and sweet as the daisies that en-
ter into its composition, and bread such
as only q country housewife knows
how to make. ''Lank bodies and sor-
rowful faces do not apply to the hus-
bandman of the East. Perhaps they
eat more salt pork than is good for
them, but they Offset that surfeit by 3
thousand inexpensive dainties that "
considered in town the height of lux
ury. There are no people in the world
that live as well as the well-to-do farm
ers Of New England, and Prof. Swing
should spend q summer in an Eastern
farmhouse and revise his opinions
Boston Post.