The Portland daily press., 1882-09-12
AGRICULTURAL.
Farm Life as it Might Be.

IN the winter mOruluS. Luz Aai mo- WV
persists in dragging his wife and children |
from their beds ought to be visited by |
missionary. 1t is time enough to rise after |
the sun has set the example. In the old |
times thev used to get up about three o'clock |
in the morning, and go to work long before |
the sun had risen with ''heallng upon his |
wings" and, as just punishment, they all |
had the ague ;and they ought to have it now. |
When you rise at four and work till dark |
what is life worth? Of what use is all the
improved machinery unless it tends to give
the farmer a little more leisure? What is
harvesting now compared with what it was
in the old time? Think of the da of reap
iag, of grading, of raking and binding and
moving. Think of threShing with the fail
and winDowing with the wind. And now
think of the reapers and mowers, the bind
ers and Neutrality-suspicious., and ploWs and
cultivators, upon which the farmer rides
protected from the sun. If with all these
advantages, you cannot get living without
rising in the middle of the night, go into
some other business. You should not rob
medicine in the world. Sleep until you are
thoroughly restored. When you work, work;
nd when you get through take good long
and refreshing sleep.
A great many farmers seem to think that
they are the only laborers in the world. This
is a foolish thing. Farmers cannot get along
without the mechanic. You are not indie
pendent of the man of genius. Your
p osperity depends upon the inventor. The
world advances by the assistance of all la
borers, and all labor is under obligations to
the inventions of genius. The inventor does
so much for agriculture as he who tills the
soil. Until genius and labor formed part
nership there was no such thing as prosper
ity among men. Every reaper and mower,
every agricultural implement, has elevated
the work of the farmer, and his vocation
grows grander with every invention. In the
olden time the agriculturist was ignorant;
he knew nothing of machinery, he was the
slave of superstition.
Tue farmer has been elevated through
science, and he should not forget the debt
he owes to the mechanic, to the inventor, to
the thinker. He should remember that all
laborers belong to the same grand family
that they are the real kings and queens, the
only true nobility.
Above all, let every farmer treat his wife
with infinite kindness. Give your sons and
daughters every advantage in your power.
In the air of kindness they will grow about
you like flow ers They will fill your homes
with sunshine and all your years with joy.
Do not try to rule by force. A blow from
parent leaves scar on the soul. l should
feel ashamed to die surrounded by children
had whipped. Think of feeling upon your
dying lips the kiss of child you had struck.
See to it that your wife has every conven-
fence. Make h r life worth living. Mover
allow her to become servant. Wives, wea-
ry and worn, mothers wrlnkled and bent,
before their time, fill homes with grief and
shame. If you are not able to hire help for
your wives, help them yourselves. See that
they have the best utensils to work with.
Women cannot create things By magic.
Have plenty of wood and coal-good cellars
and plenty of them. Have cisterns SO that
you can have plenty of rain water for wash
ing. Do not rely on barrel and board.
When the rain comes the board will be lost
or the hoops will be off the barrel.
Farmers should live like princes. Eat the
best things you raise and sell the rest Have
good things to cook with. OF all people in
our country you should live the best. Throw
your miserable little stoves out of the win
dow. Get ranges, and have them so built
that YOUR wife need not burn her face off to
get you a breakfast. Do not make her
cookin kitchen hot as perdition. The
The beef not the cook, should be roasted.
1t is just as easy to have things convenient
and right as to have them any other way.
Cooking is one of the fine arts. Give your
wives and daughters things to cook and
things to cook with, and they will soon be-
the basis of civilization. The man whose
arteries and veins are filled with rich blood
made of good and well cooked food has
pluck, courage, endurance, and noble i'm
pulses.
In the good old days there would be elev-
en- children in the family and only one skill
let Everything was broken or cracked or
loaned or lost.
There ought to be law making it crime
hob hu oprc npp N fry haaf-
steak. Broil it; it is just as easy, and when
broiled it is delicious. Fried beefsteak is not
fit for wild beast. You can broil even on
stove. Shut the back damper open the
front one, then take off griddle. There
will be draught downward through this
opening Put on your steak, using wire
bioiler, and lot particle of smoke will
touch it, for the reason that the smoke goes
down. If you try to broil it with the dam
per open, the smoke will rise. For broiling,
coal, even soft coal, makes better fire than
wood.
There is no reason why farmers should
not have fresh meat all the year around.
There is certainly no sense in stufing your
self full of salt meat every morning and
making well or clstern of your stomach for
the rest of the day. Every farmer should
have ali ice house. Upon or near every farm
is some stream from which plenty of ice can
D6 ODIdlD6u,dfiQ but lUuS SuiuluCl Qdyo mduC
delightful. DR., Draper, one of the worlds
greatest scientists, says that ice water is
healthy, and that it has done away with
many of the low forms of fever in the great
cities. Ice has become one of the necessi-
ties of civilized life, and without it there is
very little comfort.
Make your homes pleasant. Have your
houses warm and comfortable for the winter.
Do not build story and half house. The
half story is simply an oven in which, during
the summer, you will bake every night, and
feel in the morning as though only the rind
of yourself was left.
Decorate your rooms, even if You do so
with cheap engravings. The cheapest are
far better than none. Have books, have
papers, and read them. You have more lei
sure than jewellers in cities. Beautify your
grounds with plants and flowers and vines.
Have good gardens. Remember that every
thing of beauty tends to the elevation of
man. Every little morning glory whose pur-
pie bosom is thrilled with the amorous kiss
es of the sun tends to put blossom in your
heart. Do not judge of the value of every
thing by the market reports. Every flower
about the house certifies to the refinement of
somebody. Every vine, climbing and bios
soming, tells of love and joy.
Make your houses comfortable: Do not
huddle together in little room around red
hot stove, with every WINDOW fastened down.
Do not live in this poisoned atmosphere, and
then, when one of your children dies, put
piece in the papers commencing with
s'Whereas, it has pleased Divine Providence
to remove from our midst -" Have plen
ty of air and plenty of warmth. Comfort is
health. Do not imagine anything is unheal-
thy simply because it is pleasant. This is an
old and foolish idea.
Let your children sleep. Do not drag them
from their beds in the darkness of night.
Do not compel them to associate all that is
tiresome, irksome, and dreadful with cult
waiting the soil. In this way you bring farm
ing into hatred and disrepute. Treat your
children with infinite kindness-treat them
as equals. There is no happiness in home
not filled with love. Where the husband
hates the wife; where the wife hates the bus
band where children hate their parents and
each other there is a hell on earth.
There is no reason why farmers should
not be the kindest and most cultivated OF
men. There is nothing in blowing the fields
to make them cross, cruel and grabbed. To
look upon the sunny slopes covered with
daisies ,es not tend 20 make men unjust.
Whoever labors for he happiness of those he
loves elevates himself, no matter whether he
works in the dark and dreary shop or in the
nerfumed fields. To work for others is, in