The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1882-10-14
Farmers Mistakes. {

An exchange speaks of the departure of
an old settler for Dakota, where he will
take up quarter section of land and start
again in life at the age of 20. The man
had nice farm near splendid town,
where he had lived and brought up fam
ily He got tired of farming, sold the
farm for $4,000, moved to town and went
into the livery business, and in three years
went through everything except team and
lumber wagon, and now he has packed up
and gone to Dakota, with heart heavier
than his pocket-book, and he will die out
there. The number of farmers that de-
eide to 90 to town to live every year, and
go into business, is appalling. Every town
has them, and nine out of ten become poor.
They get an idea that town business men
are the happiest people on the earth, and
have an easy time, and they get to brood
ing over their hard life, and they think
anybody can run a store, grocery, liv-
cry stable, and they sell out the farm and
go into business in town. The most OF
them go into the grocery business because
it seems SO easy to weigh out sugar and
tea. They can always find groceryman
who will sell out the remains of a sick stock
of groceries for ready cash, and when the
| farmer first sees his name over the door OF
a grocery he feels as though he was made,
and puts his thumbs in the armholes OF his
vest. The farmers girls and boys soon
realize that they are merchants sons and
daughters, instead of farmers, and they
have to keep up with the procession. There
has to be lots ofthings bought as merchants
that would never be thought of as farmers.
The farm house furniture is not good
enough, the democratic wagon gives place
to carriage, the old mare gives places to
high steppers, and the girls dress better
and do not work The family lives out of
the grocery, the boys play base ball and the
girls go to big parties. The farmer is
good fellow and trusts many other good
fellows who don't pay, and in some cases he
gets to drinking. Bills begin to come and
he can't collect enough to pay rent. Friends
that would help him out with money when
he had farm, will now tell him money
is mighty scarce, and he will have to give
chattel mortgage on the stock. The stock
runs down until there's nothing but red
tin can of mustard, with bulls head on it,
some canned peaches, and cove oysters on
the shelves, a few boxes of wooden clothes
pins, six wagon loads of barrels with lit
tie sugar in the bottom, couple OF dozen
washboards, box of Goldfish of the vintage
of 1860, which smells like glue factory,
show case full of three-cent wooden pock-
ct combs, and blueing, hair-pins and shaw
ing soap, some empty segar boxes that the
boys have smoked the segars out OF, and
few such things that do not bring enough
at an auction to pay for printing the auction
bills. Then the farmer breaks up and goes
West, leaving lot of bills in the hands of
a lawyer for collection, who manages to
collect enough to pay his commission, and
the family that was so happy on the farm,
and SO Independent. becomes demoralized,
the girls marry chambermaids in livery
stables rather than go West, the boys go
to driving hacks or working on threshing
machine, or tending bar, and refuse to 60
West, and the old folks go to Dakota alone,
and wish they were dead, and will be quick
enough.
This is the history of thousands of farm
ers who get tired of the old farm. If they
would but realize that they are better fixed
than nine-tenths of the merchants In town,
and that they cannot become successful
merchants any more than merchants can
become successful farmers, they would be
learning something that would be valuable
to them.-Peck's Sun. -r