Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-12-01

Gu Dy Keeping 1OuBiuS uOuocoB olO Soi-
ployes are better satisfied to obtain ac-
suited TO their taste and
their income. There is no good reason
why large farmers should board the
men in their employ. There is no more
occasion for their doing SO than there
is for employers in large towns. Most
of the comforts of a home are destroyed
by filling a home with boarders, most of
whom are strangers about whose habits
of life little or nothing is known. Any
farmer runs a great risk who takes into
his family strangers who go about the
country in search OF employment, and
who makes them the constant compan-
ions of his children. A farmer is gener-
ally very careful in purchasing horse,
or other animal to take on his place to
ascertain if it is free from vicious prac-
tices. He has poorer opportunity to
find out the character of the men he
takes into his house, and he is generally
at little pains to do so. A careful and
intelligent farmer will not place among
his horses one that is liable to teach
them bad tricks, but he often takes
among his children person whose con-
versation is corrupting and whose prac-
tices are bad. The manners of large
proportion of the men who seek employ
ment on farms are the reverse OF refin-
ing, and their influence is shown to a
greater less degree on all the members
of the household.
But, supposing the manners and NOR
ais of the persons employed to work on
farms are all that could reasonably be
expected or desired, there are then good
reasons why they shonld not board In
the houses of their employers. During
the past few years much has been done
to reduce the amount Of hard work in
the field, barn and stable. Most Of the
work of planting. cultivating, and har-
vesting of crops. once done by hand. is
now performed by machinery. 1nvoii-
tive ingenuity and mechanical skill have
accomplished wonders in the production
of crops, the ditching of land. and the
erection OF fences. The great burdens
in farming have been taken from the
shoulders of men and placed on the
necks of horses or the driving-wheelso of
steam engines. The once tiresOme oc-
cupation of cutting grass, securing and
thrashing grain, are now performed by
machinery. The farmer can now ride
when he plows, harrows. rolls and cul.
tiyates the soil that produces his crops.
During the time that so much has been
accomplished to tighten the labors OF
the farmer Tut little has been done to
decrease the amount of work to be per-
formed in the kitchen, chamber and
laundry. The ools of Boaz are presery-
ed as curiositles, but the crude house
hold implements used by Ruth are still
employed in the kitchens Of most mod
ern farmers Bread is kneaded. floors
are scrubbed and clothes are washed to-
day in the same manner they were in
the days of the Jewish patriarchs. and
there is more of each kind of labor to
be performed. Now, it holds to reason
that the farmer who has sufficient cap
ital to employ machinery to cultivate
his broad acres, and to hire men to Ope-
rate the machines, can relieve his wife
of the care, labor and responsibility of
keeping boarding house for laborers,
and his duty to do 50 is plain.
So far as the experiment has been
tried, men employed on large farms pre-
fer to board elsewhere than in the hous-
es of their employers, even if the food
and sleeping accommodations are not as
good. Those who are married desire to
keep house, and those who are single
prefer to board in the house Of their
fellow-laborers. The experiment Of al
lowing the single men employed on q
large farm to board in the family of a
married associate Is generally very sat-
isfactory. They find enjoyment in each
others society, and to use their own Ian
guage, shave better time" They are
free from the restraint they habitually
feel in the presence Of their employers,
their families and visitors. They can
make the hours for their meals more to
their liking, and can engage in games
and other pastimeS without fear OF dis
turbing persons who do not engage in
them. Where several men are employ
ed on a farm they would generally pre-
fer separate sleeping rooms. common
room in which to take their meals, and
a large room in which they can read and
enjoy themselves as they choose. Such
a building can be constructed sheaply,
and can be rented to married couple
on the farm, or to any other competent
person who may wish to take boarders.
The plan of allowing farm hands to
make their own arrangements for board,
lodging and washing. makes it necessa-
ry to pay them for their services in cash
or its equivalent at specified times. This
plan is the right one. Justice demands
that a farm hand should receive his
monthly wages when they are earned.
The use of the money is worth as much
to him as to his employer An order on
store where farmer has running
acconnt is not worth as much as the
sum called for. Cash is required to buy
goods at the lowest prices. and the pur-
chaser should lie allowed to trade where
he Wheeling Intelligencer.